Chapter 5
V Saint
“All this attention… and none of it meant anything.”
Ihad been many things before I became who I am today.
Some of them knew. Most of it, they didn’t.
They saw the end result. The interviews. The buildings. The numbers tied to my name. They watched it from the outside and made it make sense, however they wanted.
They didn’t see what came before that.
They didn’t see me sitting in rooms I wasn’t getting paid to be in, listening, learning contracts before I ever had one in my name. My father made that clear early. If I was going to do this, I needed to understand it first, without expecting anything back.
They didn’t see me balancing everything at once.
School in the daytime. Drove an Arrowhead water truck in the evening. Late night, I was in the streets making money. I learned how to move in different spaces without letting one mess up the other.
That’s why none of this ever felt new to me.
I built it.
The degrees came after. Real estate development. Finance. I didn’t like asking the same question twice. If I touched it, I understood it.
By the time I stepped into my father’s company for real as CEO when he got sick, I wasn’t learning anymore.
I was already sharp.
That part has never been my issue. It was women.
Now I had a line of women wrapped around my building because I made a joke on Alana’s podcast, and my social media influencer and publicist sister made it a thing.
I sat at the head of my conference table, eating eggs, grits, bacon, and toast, watching Vanessa move around the office like she had just launched something major.
She always been like that.
Extra when she was excited.
“You see this?” she pointed toward the glass. “Do you see this line?”
“I see it.”
“I told you this would hit.”
“You told me it would be funny. You ain’t say I’d have a crowd outside my office before nine.”
She smiled. “They came dressed too. Some of them brought resumes.”
“That’s on you. You made it look real, you conduct the circus.”
“It is real. We just didn’t think it would be this real.”
I kept eating.
“I got meetings. I’m not about to sit in here all day doing this.”
“You don’t have to. Just a few. Give them something for social media.”
I looked up at her. “You wanna keep your job?”
She grinned. “A little.”
I shook my head.
The first one sat down and started talking before I asked her anything.
That told me enough.
Everything she said sounded practiced. Loyalty. Peace. Submission. All the words women throw out when they think it’s what you want to hear.
I let her talk.
Finished my food.
Watched her talk herself out until she realized my phone and food were more important than her.
Vanessa stood to the side, waiting for something.
She wasn’t getting it.
By the third woman, I was done. She slid a fake resume across the desk with all her dating credentials. I didn’t even know women would actually fall for this. Hell, I didn’t think this many women even knew me.
“You filled this out yourself?”
“Yes.”
“You believe it?”
She paused.
I stood up. “You can go.”
She looked at Vanessa, confused, then grabbed her stuff and left.
Vanessa walked over. “You’re not even trying.”
“I am. That’s the problem.”
“You could at least act interested.”
“I’m not.”
“That’s obvious.”
I grabbed my jacket. “You set this up. You deal with it.”
“I didn’t think you’d hate it this much.”
“I don’t hate it. It just don’t do nothing for me.”
She studied me. “None of them?”
I left that alone.
Because the answer wasn’t in that room.
I left out the back.
No cameras. No crowd. Just my Lamborghini Urus sitting where I left it.
I stepped out and saw Alana Brooks before I even made it there.
She was leaning by my door, paper in her hand, wearing a cream business suit.
She smiled first.
I stopped a few feet from her. “Don’t tell me you were in line. You hop the gate?”
She laughed. “No. I slid in with another car.”
I looked her over. She was thicker than I remembered, and I couldn’t tell if she had a BBL.
“You too fine to be desperate.” I continued to size her with my eyes.
She turned up her nose, clearly offended. “I’m not desperate. I’m playing the game.”
“This shit is definitely a game. I ain’t ask for this.”
“I’m not here for the fiscal. I came to find out if you think we had chemistry during our interview.”
I smirked. “You think so?”
“I know so.”
I adjusted my watch, eyes still on her. “Thought I wasn’t your type. That’s what you said when I was working a nine-to-five.”
That memory came back quick.
My homeboy tried to line us up. I had just got off work, still in my uniform, ashy as fuck from carrying cases all day. I pulled up, spoke, kept it light. I wasn’t looking to hook up, but my homeboy kept pressing.
She was cool…. Just not checking for me.
I ain’t care.
But I found out later what it really was.
She only dealt with rich niggas.
That was enough for me.
I kept building, and I had women.
So now, seeing her standing here acting like something unfinished was there…
That part was funny.
She didn’t deny it. “Things changed. We changed.”
I shook my head. “Nah. I ain’t changed. And you ain’t either.”
Her smile shifted just a little. “Look at me. I’ve changed.”
I looked.
Took my time.
Came back to her face.
“What you want from me?”
She held the paper out. “What that say?”
I took it and skimmed it.
Clean answers. Everything she thought I wanted to hear, and nothing about her.
I folded it once and handed it back.
“I’ll call you.”
She smiled more slowly this time. “I was hoping I could be the one to see you tonight.”
I let out a short laugh. “You gon’ get down on one knee next and propose to a nigga?”
She laughed. “That’s not my style.”
I stepped closer. “Then let me lead. I’ll call you soon.”
I moved past her, got in my truck, and pulled off.
She stayed right there.
She knew what that meant.
Some people get a maybe.
Some get a call.
Most get nothing.
My phone rang before I hit the street.
Vanessa.
“You left?”
“I told you I was.”
“You didn’t even finish.”
“I saw enough.”
“None of them?”
I looked ahead.
“Not the one I want.”
“It’s Sade, huh. You need to let the virgin crush go.”
I hung up.