Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MAKARI “HAVOC” SANCHEZ
Istepped out of the complex doors, and they both turned to look at me.
“Well, don’t you look sharp as fuck in that suit!” Shakur kidded and laughed. I flipped up my two middle fingers at him, and that only made him laugh harder. I then adjusted my tailored suit jacket and smiled because I felt good as fuck.
As Hell’s younger brother and right-hand man, there was never a need for me to dress in a suit.
All that official shit, my brother dealt with alone because Orlando didn’t want me too involved like that.
I would be sitting outside acting as a guard just in case something popped off, so this was all new to me, and I was liking it!
“I could get used to this,” I said out loud to myself.
Trini walked over to me and took in my new attire.
“It suits you,” she smiled, and I thanked her. I then looked at both of them. We were about to walk into unknown territory, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it without the two of them.
Today, Sincere was going to introduce me to his team. He wanted to spend the next month teaching me everything he knew before finally walking away. As much as I trusted Sincere enough, I was entering a world I didn’t know, and there was no telling what was going to happen.
I looked over at Shakur. He and I bonded over Kairi.
We both wanted the same thing—her safety more than we did for ourselves, and for that, we made a pact to protect her together.
There was nothing more to say than that.
I respected him a whole fucking lot because he cared about the person I wanted more than anything in this world.
I didn’t believe in coincidences. I knew that I met that girl when I was supposed to—at the appointed time.
God knew that Hell wasn’t gonna stay with me like I wanted him to, and so I knew in my heart that He sent Kairi to me too.
She made everything feel alright in this cold ass world.
To me, Shakur was her in another form.
I then looked at Trini. Through it all, she’d been there every step of the way, and I was grateful to have her beside me too. I had a third man missing, but I liked to think that he was watching over me from heaven.
“I, uh, just want to say thank you both—” I started but stopped when Shakur lifted his hand. Rude ass nigga.
I smirked, already knowing he was about to say something smart.
“Aye, leave all that kumbaya shit,” he playfully snapped.
Trini rolled her eyes. Something she’d been doing ever since I told her that Shakur was joining us today.
She’d only heard we were cool, but she hadn’t actually seen us together until today.
I already knew she was pissed off about him punching me.
Shakur already told me about the little scrap they got into over it.
That was Trini though. Although I’d told her to let that shit go, she didn’t play when it came to me and Kelechi.
She would fight anybody over one of us. I guess she met her match with Shakur.
Most niggas allowed her to run her mouth and puff out her chest, but from the way she was acting toward him, I knew he put her ass in her place, and she was pissed!
“Why don’t you mind your own business, Shakkuurr,” she said, drawing out his name.
“Come and make me,” he challenged back. All I could do was shake my head at them and laugh. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they ended up together, or at the very least ended up fucking. I could already see it, even if they couldn’t stand each other.
Trini waved him off, completely ignoring him, while he just shrugged, not in the least bit bothered either.
“Let’s do this,” Shakur excitedly cheered.
I had to laugh. The nigga spent three years dodging Sony because he wanted no parts of this shit, and now, his ass couldn’t wait to get involved.
I guess he just needed the right motivation—just like me.
An image of Kairi’s pretty face flashed before my eyes, giving me the push to get this shit over with.
We hopped in my car, and I made my way to the location Sincere gave me. This was the first time I’d ever been to this place.
“I don’t need to tell y’all to keep your head on a swivel,” I said to them both when I finally pulled up.
It was a big ass warehouse, but one of those expensive ones that housed private jets or yachts and shit.
There were so many foreign cars outside. I noticed Shakur’s face lit up at the sight of them. Anything car or motorcycle, and that nigga was all smiles.
“At least I know what you’re going to be spending your money on,” I said to him. He looked over at me and chuckled.
Trini climbed out from the back, and I stood there looking at them once again. We didn’t say anything because nothing needed to be said, but I just nodded before I turned and led the way inside.
I could hear champagne glasses clinking and low chatter as we walked inside. It seemed like money and opulent perfume permeated the air. My eyes landed on the guards, who were standing in formation, firm and ready for anything.
The crisp white tiled floors glistened under the bright lights shining above.
“Damn, is that Havoc?” someone called out, which made everyone around start to murmur.
“You know him?” Shakur asked me. I looked at the nigga. He was dark skinned, with shoulder-length dreads, and had one glass eye with a scar going across that eye. He was definitely someone I would have remembered from his appearance alone.
“Nah,” I answered.
There was no reason for anyone in this room to know who I was.
Outside of the mothafuckas Orlando worked with, like Viper and Sony, nobody really knew me like that because he made sure to keep me hidden.
Those closest to Orlando knew I was his son, and that was only because he wanted to train me.
However, outside of that, nobody really knew me.
The mothafucka wouldn’t even allow me to call him Pops.
So people in this room knowing me, a room I’d never been in before, wasn’t something I was expecting.
But then I thought about something. How did Sincere know who I was?
My eyes landed on Sincere, who was talking to an older man. He smirked at me and waved me over.
When I approached him, he shook my hand and introduced me to the man next to him.
“This is Lennox, my personal bodyguard who has been with me from the beginning,” Sincere explained.
The man bowed his head to me.
“Nice to meet you,” I said and shook his hand. Lennox then excused himself and walked away from us.
“Good to see you,” Sincere greeted Shakur and Trini. “Y’all can take a seat right there,” Sincere pointed to where Lennox was now seated.
Trini and Shakur looked me in the eyes, silently checking with me, and I nodded.
I felt proud as fuck. Even though I hadn’t been around Shakur for long, he’d already fallen into line, picking up on my movements. It was crazy to know how similar we really were.
I watched them walk away.
Sincere patted my shoulder, making me look his way again.
“I’m glad you didn’t turn up with an entourage looking like a fucking rapper and shit,” Sincere said. I chuckled and immediately thought about Hell because that was how Orlando had him looking out in these streets.
“You know I don’t keep a lot of people around me like that,” I explained. Sincere nodded.
“And you will go further in life if you remember that. Lennox was the only person, besides my wife, who was around me like that. The rest were nothing more than associates—only around to make money with.”
I took in his words.
“Havoc, you know one side of The Society that your father deals with, but this is another side,” Sincere said, pointing around. “Welcome to the black market.”
My eyes stretched wide at the realization of where I was standing, but it made sense why we’d meet in such an upscale warehouse.
Sincere then looked down at his watch and said, “It’s time to start. Follow me.”
He led me to a table right at the front of the warehouse. As he stepped up to his seat, the whole room fell silent. He nodded for me to approach, and I did.
“Before we get to work, a lot of you already know that this is Havoc.”
When he said that, I couldn’t help looking over at Shakur, who had a smile on his face. I guess these people did know me!
“I’m gonna say this and say it only once. He is like a son to me—if you see him, then you see me, and to fuck with him is to fuck with me, understand?”
My head snapped back to look at Sincere because I wasn’t expecting him to say something like that. I knew the nigga took a liking to me, but to refer to me as like a son wasn’t something I was expecting.
We locked eyes, and he gave me a crooked smile.
“Now, let’s get to work.”
Yesterday, Sincere exposed me to some shit I never knew, and I wanted more.
It was like he lit some type of fire under me because I just couldn’t get enough.
I’d only been exposed, and already, I was feeling limitless.
To know people knew who I was in a room I didn’t even know existed.
Orlando spent so much time hiding me, but can someone really block destiny?
Sincere had been telling me for the longest time that he was only offering me a place that was made for me.
I thought the old nigga was just talking mad shit, which was why I refused to answer his calls, but after what I experienced yesterday, people dying to work with me before I even knew who they were, yeah, I was now a believer.