The Richest Gangstas in the Room

PROLOGUE

Yah-Yah ….

“I swear, this nigga gon’ make me catch a case.”

I slammed my phone down on the marble counter after trying Sosa’s line for the fifteenth damn time. My patience was gone. I stood over the steaming pot of macaroni, stirring like a fucking maniac. I was irritated by his ass to the fullest extent.

Across the kitchen, my two-year-old, Sontae, sat in the middle of the floor with his paw patrol trucks, making “vroom” noises, the sound only adding to my frustration. He just didn’t know that his mama was one vroom away from losing her shit.

The security alarm beeped and my back door opened. In came my little sister, Mya, with four heavy-ass Walmart bags weighing her down.

“Girl, this nigga Sosa better be glad I love his ass like a brother,” she huffed, dropping the bags on the counter. “I could be laid up in the Bahamas right now with my new lil boo, not out here sweating and runnin’ errands for these hungry ass niggas.”

“Bitchhh, who you telling?” I laughed, even though my nerves were fried. “At least you ain’t hosting. I’m in here cooking for over fifty grown-ass men like I’m the damn caterer. This some bullshit.” Mya chuckled, scooping my son off the floor.

“Heyyyy, Tee-Tee baby…” she kissed all over his cheeks until he giggled. “That’s what you get for being wifey to the head nigga in charge of GMB. You signed up for this shit, sis.”

I gave her the look. The one that says stop playing before I cuss. “That’s exactly the problem,” I muttered. “This nigga thinks I’m his personal slave every time he got a meeting. Like I don’t got my own life. He ain’t put no ring on shit yet,”

“Shid yo’ life became his when you had his baby.” Mya chuckled and I only rolled my eyes, but shit she was right and sometimes I hated it. Right on cue, my phone rang and it was Sosa’s irritating ass. “Finally,” I answered. “You still haven’t brought the ribs. They not gon’ be done on time.”

“I ordered from I-57 Rib House,” he said like it was nothing.

“And yo,’ my mama slide through yet?”

“No, yo’ mama ain’t here.” I sassed.

“Aight, she should be on her way. When she gets there, tell her I want her to make the potato salad.” He said and I frowned.

“So, you don’t like mine?”

“I love yours, baby. I just got a taste for my mama’s today.”

“Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot…you are a mama’s boy,” I shot back.

“Yah-Yah, chill with that shit. I’m on my way,” he said. I hung up without saying another word.

Mya’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “What the fuck he say?”

“He waiting on his mama…” I mocked his voice, making her crack up.

And just like the devil himself heard us talking, Miss Shaunie, his mama, and the mother-in-law who thought I wasn’t good enough for her son, busted through the backdoor.

“Yah-Yah, go grab those groceries out my car. I need to get this potato salad ready before my son gets here.” she ordered without so much as a hello.

I looked at Mya. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. I kissed Sontae on his forehead and headed outside. I had respect for Sosa’s mama but not love. I couldn’t stand her ass honestly, but my parents didn’t raise me to disrespect my elders.

Her Range Rover was sitting in my driveway like this was her home, she should’ve parked on the street with the rest of the cars.

But of course, Shaunie did things her way.

I just shook my head as I opened the backdoor and started to grab the Jewel-Osco bags from the back seat, and as I crossed the lawn, I felt all the eyes from the niggas posted up out front.

None of them said a word to me. They knew better than to speak to me without Sosa being present.

“Aye, Sis, you cool? I can grab them bags” Sosa’s right-hand, Trigg, offered, taking the bags from me.

“Thanks Bro, because I was swear I just got irritated all over again, today is gon’ be a long ass day.” I expressed.

“Mommy dearest in there, huh?” he smirked.

“Yup, her ghetto mean ass is already talking shit,” I laughed.

“Don’t let her get to you. You know Shaunie means well.” He chuckled.

“Shit if that’s whatchu call it.”

“Mya made it here yet?” he asked me and I side-eyed him.

“Yea she here, but leave my sister alone, Trigg. You know ain’t you gon do right by her.”

“Mannnn, whatever. She the one started fuckin’ with that nigga on me. I still can’t believe she did that shit. But it’s cool.”

“Anddddd that’s not my business, that’s y’all shit,” I shrugged.

He opened the back door for me, but Miss Shaunie’s voice cut through the air before I even stepped inside.

“‘Bout time you brought the groceries in, what took yo’ ass so long girl? Hey, Traylin, how you been, baby?” she said to Trigg as he placed the groceries on the kitchen counter.

“I’m good, Miss Shaunie,” Trigg replied then he spotted Sontae and scooped him up.

“What’s up, nephew?” He kissed his cheek. “Yo, I’m takin’ him outside with the fellas. It’s too soft up in here.”

We all laughed, except Mya, who called after him, “Make sure you watch my damn nephew, Trigg!”

“Shorty this my nephew too, at least you could speak to a nigga first before hollering out demands.”

“Whatever.”

“If you miss a nigga just say that don’t find any lil reason to say some shit to me.”

“Nigga fuck you.” Mya hollered out and I laughed. Trigg walked out the door but didn’t respond back to her.

Once they were gone, Mya shook her head. “He misses me, huh?”

“Mmhm,” I chuckled,

“Girl, fuck Trigg. That nigga don’t miss me; he misses this cat and the drama but not me.”

From the island, Shaunie chimed in without looking up from peeling potatoes.

“Y’all young girls don’t know nothin’ ‘bout keeping a man. Men cheat. Men become emotionally unavailable at times, but that shit comes with the territory. If you cry about it every time, you gon’ end up broke and alone.

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to keep yo’ man. ”

Mya’s head snapped up. “Shaunie, I’m not desperate for a man, a boyfriend, nor a fucking husband, nothing. I got my own motion. A cheating, emotionally unavailable nigga ain’t my idea of security.” I grinned. My baby sis never folded.

That’s when I heard the deep purr of Sosa’s Hellcat slid into the driveway, bass rattling the windows.

I peeked out the kitchen window, ready to light his ass up about being overly late.

But when I saw him step out, grinning like a man who ran the city, diamonds dancing on his wrist and gleaming in his ears, sweat glistening on his dark chocolate skin, my mouth stayed shut for a second.

This man was as fine as they came and he was all mine.

He dapped up the crew scattered across the lawn, all of them riding that high you only get after a big win. I’d heard bits of it about a freight train they hit. Them niggas came up on some shit. Whatever it was had the whole GMB moving like kings today.

Sontae was in the grass pushing his truck through the dirt and Trigg was leaning against the fence, he had a beer in one hand, while he kept a lazy eye on him.

“It look like them niggas just touched some money.”

“Probably did,” I muttered with a smirk.

The yard was all summer smoke from the grill, bass from somebody’s speaker thumping low, voices loud and laughing. From here, it felt like just another good day. But I’ve also learned that in this life good days don’t last forever.

Sosa

The first thing I did when I walked in the back door was slide my arm around Yah-Yah ’s waist, lean down, and kiss that pretty ass mouth of hers before she could start nagging a nigga. She tasted like whatever lip gloss she had on, and it was sweet and sticky.

“You mad at me?” I asked, grinning because I already knew the answer.

“Mad as fuck, you stay not answering that damn phone,” she shot back, still stirring her pot like she was tryna murder the macaroni.

“And where the hell the ribs at?”

“I told you I handled it bae” I said, smacking her ass before she could go off. “I ordered from I-57 rib house, Zurie’s picking them up for me.”

She side-eyed me. “Mhmm.”

I kissed her forehead. “You look too fucking fine to be mad right now. Chill, I got something for you later on. Let me go holla at the guys.” I told her while smacking her ass, it jiggled slightly and I loved that shit. She smacked her lips which caused me to laugh.

When I stepped back out, the yard was thick with my people.

We had our monthly meetings here. It was safe enough and familiar enough, but something was off about today, and I didn’t know why but shit just felt different.

The freight train lick we pulled a couple of days ago, went perfect.

No heat came back on us and there were no witnesses.

We’d hit a shipment loaded with Louis Vuitton and Gucci luggage sets, Rolexes, Cartier bracelets, iPads, MacBooks, and limited-edition sneakers straight from the manufacturer.

Shit you could flip for damn near retail if you had the right fence.

After the split, each man was looking at a piece of six figures.

The crew was posted under the canopy, mufuckas had plates piled high with food, liquor bottles sweating in the sun. My lil man was still tearing through the grass with his truck, Trigg keeping watch, while still talking shit with a couple of the fellas.

I stepped up, in front of them niggas, with my voice on full bass. So muthafuckas could hear me clearly.

“Aight listen up y’all… y’all niggas happy right now, I see it on your faces. But listen, don’t get stupid with this shit. I don’t wanna see no fifty-thousand-dollar watches on your wrist by next week, no iced-out grillz like you just signed a rap deal.” A couple niggas laughed but I didn’t.

“All that shit does is bring eyes on us. This shit in the streets is chess, not checkers. Y’all niggas don’t see me flossin’ every fucking dollar we touch, right, y’all don’t see my girl postin’ gucci bags and diamonds and shit on the internet right?

That’s why we’re still here. That’s why we haven’t been knocked yet, we move smart, and we spend quietly. ”

I paced a little, scanning the faces. They were listening, but not all of ‘em was hearing me. I caught Trigg grinning at something Sontae did, my boy had just “parked” his truck next to Trigg’s Timbs like it was a real garage. It was all good vibes… until it wasn’t.

POP! POP! POP!

Without warning gunfire cracked through the yard.

Screams erupted. Niggas dropped plates, flipping tables for cover.

The smell of gunpowder hit instantly, hot, and metallic in the air.

I spun toward the sound just in time to see two masked men storming the side gate.

one blasting wild shots, killing some of my crew with one bullet this nigga moved like a marksman, and the other masked up nigga was heading straight for my son.

“YO! GET MY SON!” I roared, charging forward with my gun out aiming straight for them niggas dome.

Trigg grabbed Sontae, trying to shield him, but the gunman fired. Boc!

Trigg dropped to his knees clutching his side. The second masked man ripped my boy out of Trigg’s arms like he weighed nothing.

I hit the dirt, bullets snapping past my ear. A third masked man appeared, covering them niggas with more shots, driving the crew back. Yah-Yah ’s screams were loud and panicked, and it cut through the chaos from the kitchen door.

“SOOOOSAAAAA!” hearing her yell my name broke something in me.

I was moving, but them niggas were faster.

The man holding Sontae turned, locking eyes with me for just a second and I saw in his eyes what mine held for years…

no fear. The black SUV waiting for them squealed off so hard the tires smoked.

I chased behind it, sending shots to the back of the truck.

But it didn’t stop them niggas from moving.

Moments later it was just silence. Just my ragged breathing, Yah-Yah trying to break free from Mya’s grip, my mama frozen like she had just seen a ghost, and Trigg groaning in the grass, blood soaking through his shirt.

I wasn’t thinking about the police.

I wasn’t thinking about witnesses.

Somebody had just declared war… and they did it the dirtiest way possible. They took the one thing in this world I could never replace.

I couldn’t blame anybody for this shit but me. I made too many enemies in my past, I stacked grudges like bodies, and now I had to play with the devil. Whoever did this shit knew exactly how to reach me. They didn’t come for my money or my empire. They came for my son.

And in doing that, they ripped my heart straight out my chest.

As I stood in the wreckage of my own life, all I could think about was how the hell I ended up here. I’m not perfect, and I never will be. but I’d been trying. Trying to be better. Trying to be present.

Trying to rewrite my future.

But you know that saying that the streets didn’t forget nor did they forgive. Well in my case that deemed to be true.

So, before I lose my fucking mind completely, let me take y’all back for a second… because I gotta story to tell and can’t no mufucka tell it like me.