Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
BILLION
Ihated seeing my wife cry. Out of everything my money could buy...Private jets. Vacation homes. Hotels. Businesses. Cars I barely drove. None of that shit could buy the one thing Kaizleigh wanted most.
A baby.
I stood outside the hospital cafeteria with my phone pressed to my ear, looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the parking garage across the street.
"...Mr. Stylez?"
My assistant's voice came through the speaker.
"You still there?"
"Yeah."
"The investors from New York landed. They're asking if you still plan on making dinner."
I rubbed my forehead.
"Naw."
"Sir?"
"I said naw."
There was a pause.
"They flew all the way?—"
"I don't give a damn if they flew from Mars. My wife just lost another baby. Figure something out."
"Yes, sir."
The line went dead and for a few seconds I just stood there.
Growing up, my daddy always told me a man's priorities would show before his mouth ever did.
Hell, business could wait. My wife couldn't. I slipped my phone back into my pocket just as Kaizleigh walked out of the cafeteria.
She looked...different. She was still beautiful but her eyes looked lighter somehow.
I wouldn’t say she looked happy, her eyes just looked less heavy. She spotted me leaning against the wall and smiled. The first one I'd seen all damn day.
I opened my arms. She walked right into them. I kissed the top of her head before resting my chin against it.
"You okay?" I asked.
She shrugged against my chest.
"I will be."
That wasn't an answer.
I knew my wife.
Whenever she said she'd be okay, it meant she wasn't nowhere close.
I grabbed her hand.
"You eat?"
"A little."
"You lying?"
She looked up at me.
"I had fries and wings."
I sucked my teeth.
"So basically...you ain't eat."
My wife was a steak and potatoes type of woman.
"I wasn't hungry."
"You say that every time."
She rolled her eyes.
"And every time you act like I'm five. I mean it’s not like I have a baby in my stomach to feed."
"You my wife."
"So?"
"So I'm gon' make sure you eat whether you like it or not."
A small laugh escaped her lips.
There she go. That was the sound I'd been waiting on. I would've bought the whole damn hospital if it meant hearing that laugh every morning.
We started walking toward the elevators. Halfway there, I looked over at her.
"Who was the girl?"
She frowned.
"What girl?"
"The one upstairs…The one downstairs. The one you bought food for."
"Oh..."
She smiled to herself.
"Her name's Nyrobi."
The name rolled around in my head.
"Friend of yours?"
"I met her tonight."
I looked at her sideways.
"You done made friends in a hospital?"
She laughed.
"You sound jealous."
"I ain't jealous."
"You a little jealous."
"I just asked a question."
She bumped my shoulder.
"Liar."
I smiled despite myself.
"So...what's her story?"
Her smile slowly disappeared.
"Her mama's upstairs."
"Sick?"
She nodded.
"Congestive heart failure."
"Damn."
"She takes care of her by herself."
"No family?"
"She said it's pretty much just her."
I thought about that for a second.
"What she do?"
"Walmart...and whatever side jobs she can find."
"Hmm."
Kaizleigh looked over at me.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You thinking."
"I always think."
"No…you got that look."
She shook her head.
"What look?"
"The one where your brain don't ever stop moving."
I smirked.
"My wife know me too well."
She intertwined her fingers with mine.
"I just...I don't know."
"What?"
"She reminding me of somebody."
"Who?"
"My mama."
Kaizleigh stopped walking.
"Your mama?"
I nodded.
"My daddy built everything."
I motioned toward the window overlooking downtown.
"The hotels. The office buildings. The restaurants. The charities…People always talk about him."
"They should. He earned that."
"But..."
I looked down at our hands.
"My mama carried all that shit on her back."
Kaizleigh listened without interrupting.
"My daddy was gone more than he was home. Meetings. Flights. Deals. Groundbreakings. Magazine covers."
I chuckled.
"I used to think that nigga lived at the airport."
She laughed.
"But my mama..."
I shook my head.
"She held us together."
"When Daddy couldn't make it to my football games..."
"She was there. When I got suspended in middle school…She handled it. When my daddy buried both his parents in the same year and damn near lost his mind...My mama carried him too."
I looked over at Kaizleigh.
"Strong women different."
She squeezed my hand.
"So that's what you saw in Nyrobi?"
"I saw somebody carrying a weight most people would've dropped."
The elevator doors opened and neither one of us moved.
Kaizleigh stared at the floor.
"Billion..."
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
My heart damn near cracked.
"For what?"
She wouldn't look at me.
"I keep failing you."
I let go of her hand just so I could grab both sides of her face.
"Look at me."
She didn't.
"Stylez,” I called her by our last name.
Slowly her eyes met mine.
"Don't ever let me hear you say no shit like that again."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"You deserve a family."
"I got one."
"You know what I mean."
"No."
I wiped her face with my thumb.
"I know what you think you mean."
She tried to look away.
I wouldn't let her.
"My last name don't make me rich. My businesses don't make me rich. My hotels don't make me rich. You do."
Her lips started trembling.
"I just wanted to give you a baby."
I pulled her into my chest before another tear could fall.
"I know…I know you did."
She wrapped both arms around my waist.
"My daddy been asking questions."
I closed my eyes.
"I figured."
"He asked me last week if we talked to another specialist."
"We did."
"He asked again yesterday."
I let out a long breath.
"My granddaddy built the first hotel. My daddy turned one hotel into a damn empire."
I looked out the elevator window as it carried us toward the parking garage.
"Now everybody waiting on me,” I muttered.
Kaizleigh stayed quiet.
"The board. The lawyers. My daddy. The whole damn family. They all keep talking about legacy. They keep saying a Stylez got to come after me.”
I laughed without humor.
She looked up.
"And if one doesn't?"
I stared at the parking garage coming into view.
"I honestly don't know."
The elevator doors slid open.
I reached for her hand again.
"But one thing I do know..."
"What?"
I kissed her forehead.
"We gon' figure this shit out together."
I believed every word. I just didn't know when and how.
The ride home was quiet. Kaizleigh rested her head against the passenger window while soft R&B played through the speakers. Every now and then I'd look over just to make sure she was alright. She caught me staring around the fourth red light.
"What?" she asked, smiling.
"You got something on your face."
"I do?"
"Naw."
She rolled her eyes.
"You childish."
"I been called worse."
She laughed under her breath and shook her head.
"You know...I used to hate your name."
I looked over at her.
"My name?"
She nodded.
"When we first started dating."
"Damn."
"I thought it was the most arrogant shit I ever heard."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"I ain't pick it."
"I know."
She smiled.
"But imagine meeting a man named Billion…I almost didn't call you back."
"So what changed?"
"You."
I reached over and grabbed her hand.
"My daddy named me Billion because he swore, I'd be worth billions one day."
She looked over at me.
"He didn't mean money either. He used to tell me, 'Money come and go. A man's name is what survives him."
I smiled to myself.
"My grandfather was named William. My daddy was William Jr. Everybody expected me to be William the Third. But Daddy said our family wasn't supposed to keep repeating names."
"He said every generation was supposed to build something bigger than the last."
"So instead of naming me after him...He named me after the goal."
Kaizleigh rubbed circles across the back of my hand.
"That's a lot to put on a baby."
"It was. And somehow...” I laughed. "The old man was right."
For a second, neither one of us said anything.
I merged onto the interstate and waited for her to speak.
"You know what's crazy?" Kaizleigh asked.
"What?"
"I never wanted your money."
"I know."
"I never wanted the big house."
"I know."
"I would've loved you if you drove a Honda."
I cut my eyes at her.
"A Honda?"
She shrugged.
"I was trying to humble you."
"I would've at least had leather seats."
She burst out laughing.
"There go my husband."
I smiled.
"I missed hearing you laugh."
Her smile faded just a little.
"I know."
After another few miles, she spoke again.
"You think that girl made it back upstairs?"
"Nyrobi?"
"Yeah."
"I hope her mama alright."
I nodded.
"Me too."
"I feel bad for her. I can’t stop thinking about her"
I glanced over.
"You got a soft heart."
"I don't know if it's soft..."
She looked out the window.
"I just know what it feels like when life keeps handing you more than you asked for,” she added.
I squeezed her hand.
"You done been carrying a lot too."
She looked over at me with watery eyes.
"So have you."
I smiled without saying anything.
Truth was...She only knew half of it.
Losing babies hurt. Watching my wife blame herself hurt even worse. But there was another weight sitting on my shoulders I hadn't found the courage to put on hers.
My daddy was getting older. The board had already started asking questions. Every family meeting somehow circled back to the same conversation.
Legacy. Succession. The next Stylez.
I wasn't worried about the damn money. I could make more money. I wasn't worried about the hotels. Somebody could always run a business.
What kept me up at night was wondering who would protect everything my family had spent generations building once I was gone.
And lately that question had been getting a lot louder in my head.
The tires crunched against the gravel as I slowed in front of the gates. Before I could even roll my window down, the security guard recognized the truck and he hit the button.
The wrought-iron gates slowly opened.
"Evening, Mr. Stylez."
I nodded.
"How you doing, Reggie?"
"Can't complain, sir."
I eased onto the long driveway.