Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
KAIRI MOORE
Iwalked up to the door with a smile on my face, seeing that I was next. I’d been waiting to shop at this new boutique that everyone was raving about. The clothes were expensive but definitely worth it. The long queue of people showed that.
“Sorry, we’re full!” the girl said to me with an attitude, blocking me from entering. Those standing around laughed at me. I felt my face flush red. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Ocean and her friends walk up. Without even asking, the girl standing guard let them through.
“I thought you said it was full?” I questioned the girl.
Her shoulders hunched.
“It is.”
She then let another group of girls in that were behind me. Shaking my head, I turned to walk away and was pulled back.
I looked up to see it was Sparkle. We met by chance a few months ago.
“Hey!” I greeted her.
“Come in with me,” she said and turned to face the girl. Her face immediately flushed red, and she stepped aside while staring at me in anger.
“Just ignore that sour-faced bitch,” Sparkle said. “She’s scared of the Diego family, so she won’t dare say anything to me.”
“Thank you!”
She turned to look at me and winked.
“Stick with me,” Sparkle said, and I promised that I would.
A smile was on my face as I remembered one of the many times Sparkle had been there for me, and this time was no different.
Just like I suspected, my father’s work ban included me. A few days after they beat my father up, Carlene sent me a message. She ran the catering and cleaning companies used by The Society, who I worked for.
She sent me this long ass message about how she was sorry but had no choice but to let me go. Even her trying to get me to work at the club had gone out of the window. Viper was pressing us under his thumb to remind us who had the power, but thankfully, I had a best friend like mine!
She came through for me in a big way. Because of her late husband, Sparkle was in contact with a few wives and girlfriends of The Society heads. People I wouldn’t be in the same room with unless it was to hand them a drink or clean up their mess.
She heard that someone was looking for a housekeeper and gave them my name. Now, I was on my way to meet this woman.
At least things were starting to look up for us. My dad had been stressing about money, and now, we wouldn’t need to.
Shakur was back, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he found a job too.
Viper and his ugly ass son might have tried to mess with us, but thank God for a girl called Sparkle!
My jaw was on the ground when I pulled up at this luxury complex. I’d only ever seen a building like this on television. As I stepped out of the car, the air here just smelled like luxury. Nothing but foreign expensive cars filled the parking lot, making my dad’s Jeep look like a burner.
I quickly found somewhere to park, grabbed my backpack, and rushed for the elevator. Taking my phone out of my backpack, I found the message of the lady I was meeting. She’d texted me a code to get upstairs to the condo.
It didn’t get any more lavish than that!
As I rode up to the elevator, listening to it silently hum, I couldn’t stop myself imagining me living in this complex. The woman had to have some serious money to live in a place like this.
When the elevator doors opened, I was greeted with a beautiful exotic looking lady.
Her wavy hair was pulled back into a slick bun with not a strand of hair out of place.
She was my height, at five-six, and had a nice shaped body for her to be an older woman.
Looking at her face, I could see she was in her fifties and around the age my mother would have been if she were still alive.
She had a light brown complexion and a few freckles on her face.
Bright glasslike eyes landed on my face, and she smiled wildly, showing perfect white teeth. She was gorgeous!
“You must be Kairi,” she said, approaching me with a hand outstretched for me to shake.
“Yes, that’s me.”
We shook hands, and she led the way to the front door that was at the end of the hallway.
“Thank you for coming to see me. You came highly recommended as a hard worker,” she said, and I smiled.
Sparkle came through!
“Your name was brought up by someone a friend of mine knows, but it was my cousin Carlene who spoke so highly of you.”
“Carlene?”
That was my old manager. The lady nodded with a smile.
“Yes, she said she had to let you go because of an issue with the higher ups, but she was sad to lose you because you’re such a good person.”
The lady’s words brought me back to the night I helped Carlene when her ex-husband tried to attack her.
Everyone else just watched, but I helped her get away from him.
Since then, she always looked out for me.
I guess this situation was out of her control, but she still found a way to help me in return.
“Oh,” I said with a smile.
“Listen, I’m not here to judge nor do I care what that issue was. I’ve been around The Society long enough to know that it’s not easy dealing with people like them.”
I felt a sense of relief to know that she understood where I was coming from.
“Still, thanks to your friend and my cousin. Us women in The Society have to stick together.”
She gave me another warm smile, putting my unease to rest.
“We must know which battles to fight and which ones to walk away from. Understand?” she said, giving me a warning tone. Her voice and words let me know that she’d had a run-in or two with someone in The Society and was speaking from experience.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The lady unlocked the door and pushed it open. My eyes weren’t ready for what it was beholding.
“All I need is for you to come in once a week, make sure it is clean and food is stocked,” she explained as she showed me around the luxurious condo.
My favorite feature was the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room that let in so much light.
It overlooked the whole city and gave me a tranquil feeling I knew I was going to love.
There was a hint of citrusy smell in the air that I didn’t expect for her—it was more masculine than soft as she appeared.
The marble countertops in the kitchen were clutter free, almost looking unlived in, which also surprised me.
“My son is barely home, but I still think it would be nice for someone to keep on top of things and at the very least, make sure he has groceries.”
I stopped taking in the scene before me when I heard her say that.
“Sorry? Your son?”
The citrus scent and empty countertops made sense.
“Yes. This is his condo. I don’t live here.”
My eyes bounced around, knowing I was standing in a condo that belonged to a man and not a woman like I suspected.
For whatever reason, that hit differently. I tried my hardest to locate a photo of this man or anything to identify him, as if that would change anything. Maybe to me it would!
“That won’t be a problem, will it?” she asked, looking at me.
I hesitated. Why? I wasn’t sure, but something just felt uneasy knowing I was in the condo of an unknown man. Especially if he was connected to The Society. He had to be for this lady to know about them.
But all I have to do was clean up. That wouldn’t be a problem, would it?
But what if it was a problem, a huge problem?
Again, I searched the room as if the answer was going to appear.
“Kairi? Is that a problem?” she asked me for the second time.
Yes! My mouth was screaming for me to say yes, but instead, I said, “No. Not at all.”
Hey, all I had to do was clean up and buy a few groceries. How hard could that be??