Chapter 3 #2
The cabin in Fremont, Kansas, sat far off the main road.
The roads and everything else were covered in snow due to the winter storm circling the area.
Inside, Dane tried to enjoy himself, toying around with his phone, trying to get a signal.
There hadn’t been any since last night. The power had just restored about an hour ago.
He’d had a dream, and his instinct left him wanting to reach out to his mama.
He didn’t like how they’d left things after Christmas, and nothing had been right ever since.
He’d been staying with Danilo and Mira, and although shit was sweet, and he pretty much got whatever he wanted, he couldn’t lie and say he didn’t miss his mother.
Unused fishing gear sat near the door, and a half-built fire crackled in front of him.
Danilo stood at the window, phone in hand, distracted.
Too distracted. They planned to bundle up and go ice fishing at some point, but then the storm rolled in, so they spent much of last night catching up on sports highlights and interviews on ESPN.
“I thought this was supposed to be like a bonding type thing,” Dane muttered.
His father didn’t turn. Instead, he kept his head down in his phone with a furrowed brow.
“It is,” he answered.
Scoffing lightly, Dane shook his head. “You’ve been on your phone the whole time. What’s so important anyway?”
That struck a nerve for Danilo. Exhaling, he pocketed it and finally faced him.
“Just had to handle something and monitor the situation.”
Dane wasn’t stupid, and he’d seen and heard enough code to know that his father wasn’t making money the legit way.
His homies already told him the rumors they’d heard about Mira and the hoes she ran.
It was no secret. Some of their parents didn’t even want them to hang with Dane anymore after learning how his family moved.
A few of the wives were already pissed that their husbands sometimes used her escorts or visited her brothels that she disguised as strip clubs and burlesque type shows.
“I’m hoping we do get some service soon, though. I want to check on my mama.”
“Why?” Frowning, Danilo lowered himself into a brown leather chair and faced his son.
“I don’t know.” Dane leaned back in the matching leather sofa and draped his arms over his stomach. “Had a dream. Just got this feeling she needs me.”
“Inari is fine. She’s strong. Stronger than most niggas I know.” Danilo sniggered. “Last thing she needs is anybody worrying about her.”
“What was she talking about that night of the party, though? What happened with you, her, and Auntie Ayla?” Dane wondered, his brown eyes drifting to his father.
Danilo gaped emptily back at him before swiping his beard.
Eyes going cold, he shook his head. He didn’t want to have this conversation with his son.
Not like this. Dane wasn’t necessarily soft, but Inari had sheltered him a lot.
He wasn’t a product of the streets like his friends and so many others.
She did everything in her power to keep him from that life, even if it meant she had to live it for him.
“Just some bullshit.” He brushed it off. “You know your mama is still mad at me for getting jammed up, like a nigga wanted to go do time and leave y’all.”
Dane didn’t buy it. His mother had her ways, but there was usually some kind of reasoning behind it.
She didn’t move recklessly and never had.
Did she take chances? Sure, but she always kept a plan b and c.
In his eyes, she was one of the most prepared women he’d ever met.
Now, at fifteen, he couldn’t imagine being a father, but somehow, she beat the odds and managed to raise him right.
He admired that she never gave up on herself.
It was inspiring, and if he was all the way one hundred with it, she’d taught him a hell of a lot more about life than Danilo ever could.
Yeah, his father was a man at the end of the day, but Dane didn’t see him as honorable.
Inari set boundaries and taught him right from wrong. Danilo wanted to be his friend and stay on his good side out of guilt for not being there. Now he was trying to make up for it, thinking he was suddenly the ‘better parent’.
“I’m fifteen, not five.” Dane dropped his feet on the floor from the coffee table where he had them kicked up and stood abruptly.
Danilo followed him with his eyes. His son towered over him. The two of them were pretty much the same height now, give or take an inch or so.
“So, what? You want to get live with me over Inari and your auntie?” he asked, leaning forward and steepling his hands together.
“I’m just asking for the truth. Don’t cap with me about it.”
“You want the truth?” Danilo sneered before releasing a wicked laugh. “You ain’t ready for that, kid. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust you,” Dane confessed, sending a chilling silence over the room.
“The fuck you say?” Danilo narrowed his eyes on his son, and darkness swirled in them.
“I said I don’t trust you,” Dane repeated, although he was less confident in the statement now that his father was looking at him like some YN off the street.
“You don’t trust me?” Danilo aimed a finger at his chest before his thick brows bunched together, and he stood. “Your bitch ass mama is the reason for all this!” he roared, fire now ignited behind his eyes. “Maybe your little soft ass does need a lesson or two.”
Dane’s nostrils flared at the insult.
“Your mama ain’t some sweet, innocent angel, kid.
Far from it. She can out-hustle just about any nigga I know.
We ain’t talking about slanging nickel and dime bags either.
Your mama knows how to move birds like a true hustler, and she’s been doing that shit since you were a fucking toddler.
How you think she could afford to renovate your grandparents’ house and drive around in a fucking Maybach on weekends, living in the suburbs of fucking Ree Heights?
It damn sure ain’t her check from Vintage Vault paying for all that.
I taught her the game, and when I got jammed up, she kept going.
She gave all that up years ago, and when I came back and asked for her help to get back in, she turned me down.
I had to figure some shit out to bring her back, and I did. ”
“So, that’s what all this fake family shit been about all this time?” Dane queried. “You using her to line your pockets?”
“The fuck you talking to?” Danilo practically leapt over the table to get in Dane’s face.
Going toe to toe with his son like some nigga in the hood wasn’t what he’d expected. He couldn’t let him disrespect either after all he’d done for him since he’d been home. He did feel bad about missing time with Dane, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.
“She fucking owe me! That’s what I know! And ever since I got home, I been there for you! Let’s not forget that!”
Outside, a black SUV rolled to a silent stop, then another right behind it. From a screen in the back of the second car, Mozzi watched what was happening inside, his laptop glowing faintly in his face. Dane and Danilo were having words, and it was turning heated.
“I’ve got ’em. No movement on the perimeter. Looks like it’s just him and Dane,” he reported calmly.
Kong and Moose were in the car ahead of him.
Mozzi’s fingers swiped over the keys, and he adjusted the earpiece in his ear so he could hear what was happening.
Danilo didn’t seem happy with Dane as the two faced off in the living room.
Kong stepped out of the truck first. Still.
Focused. Taking in everything around them as his boots crunched against the snow.
Moose hopped out, quieter than usual, but locked in with his brother observing.
Last was Inari, climbing out the back passenger door.
Her face gave nothing away as she adjusted her NorthFace coat around her.
When Kong hit her up and said they found Dane, there was no way she was not coming.
Even if that meant she had to deal with Moose for the hour drive into the hills.
“You ready?” Moose questioned, looking to his left where she stood and sizing her up.
Inari’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t hesitate.
“Let’s do this.”
Feet crushing the snow beneath their feet, Kong, Moose, and Inari approached the cabin porch together. Once he picked the lock, Kong turned the knob and slowly stepped inside. Pine and smoke from the fire filled his nostrils, and the warmth inside the cabin wrapped around all of them.
“Get off me, man!” Dane shoved his father and turned to the living room entry.
Danilo went for the pistol behind his back the moment he saw Kong and Moose. Too late. Kong already had his weapon aimed at his head.
“The f—” Dane’s face balled in confusion when Inari slid in behind them.
Moose moved first, slamming Danilo into a wall and snatching the gun from behind his back.
“What you doing?” Dane demanded. “Ma, the fuck going on?” Looking between her and Danilo pinned against the wall, his brows furrowed.
“You need to listen to me.” Inari stepped forward, steps slow and measured.
“Listen about what?” Dane shook his head slightly. “Why are you here?”
“Dane.” Her voice cut through his panic, very firm and grounding like always when she had something to tell him.
Pausing, her son searched her puffy, red eyes. He’d never heard her like that before, and it scared him. Something had wrecked her. It was written in the somberness now residing in her expression.
“I’m sorry, baby.” Inari’s face wrinkled in pain, and tears glistened in her eyes. “Your auntie Lala is dead.”
“Wh—” Dane stumbled back like someone had punched him in the gut.
He blinked, once, then twice.
“What you talking about, Ma?” He struggled to breathe and gradually lowered himself to the sofa.
“She’s dead, and he’s the reason why.” Inari’s voice recovered, stronger, angrier; her eyes shifted to her child’s father.
Moose tightened his grip on the Balmain sweater Danilo wore.