Chapter 44
Cartel Ties it was 3:00 PM.
Ain’t no way I slept that long. I walked downstairs and saw a bunch of expensive women's boutique shopping bags scattered around.
I looked up and saw my grandfather sitting on the couch with fresh braids, a Prada jogger suit, and even more shopping bags stacked next to him.
When the fuck did this nigga get here? Why is he even here?
We don’t got all this nigga's money right now, and I’m definitely not dipping into my savings for him.
I had plenty of cash in my account anyway—I had five successful businesses, boys.
I had my four apartment complexes, plus the motel I let Silk run that had been open for a month now.
The way drugs and hoes flowed every single day was crazy.
"Good morning, grandson. I’m too much of a real guy to give condolences over the phone," he said.
"It’s smooth, Papa. You didn’t have to come all the way here. We still trying to get your money back; my man was robbed."
"It’s okay, I understand. Just find the motherfucker. We will deal with him cartel style. That son of a bitch is going to have the slowest death and the quickest run of his life."
"He’s hard as fuck to find. We looked everywhere last night. Since Rio worked for Don, I feel like it’s only right Don pays you back for his man's fuck-up. My men are moving work at a fast pace," I said,
realizing right then that I needed to teach Don some real responsibility instead of him just blowing money stupidly.
"What happened to working together?" my grandfather asked.
"Me or my woman ain't lazy either. I’ll cook the product and stretch it, or she will. Don wants to be a wholesaler, but he makes half the money I make. I could pay Rio's debt myself; I already paid for his funeral arrangements," I said calmly.
"When is the funeral?"
"I paid a healthy amount for a private cremation," I said.
"You will be blessed. A real king takes care of his family," my grandfather said, leaning forward and staring deep into my eyes.
"I’m not his family. I didn’t even protect him," I said, feeling fresh tears fall.
Gold walked over and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Come sit by me, son," my grandfather said. I walked over and sat by him. "You know how I know you are fit to run my empire?"
"How?" I asked, looking right at him.
"You’re showing love. You have empathy, but you can get cold like that when you need to.
Nobody understands why I’m training you to be the king.
You might think being a kingpin is something, but wait 'til you’re the king of my cartel."
He took a slow breath. "Son, in this life you are going to lose a lot of people.
Some will feel like assets, but they are only liabilities."
"Why me and not your daughter's kids?"
"You’re my favorite grandson, then it’s my Don, who I’m working like hell on."
He exhaled deeply. "Blood don’t make you family. Loyalty and love do. Take it from a man who had them kill his own mom, daddy, and siblings, and then made the empire ten times better than they ever could. May they rest in piss. My kids better be glad they came from me,
because I can tell they were cut from the exact same cloth as their ancestors. But you, my boy? You’re one of a kind. Don is too, but that boy don’t know how special he is."
He pulled me in and kissed my forehead. It was well needed.
I saw Gold walk past me toward the kitchen. Thirty minutes later, she walked out carrying a tray with two plates and two cups. She handed me and my grandfather each a plate loaded with fried rice, sautéed vegetables, steak, and shrimp, along with a cold glass of lemonade.
"Thank you, my love," I said, pecking her lips. She smiled and went back to the kitchen.
"You got to marry her. She’s one of a kind. I had one just like her, and I’d give anything to get that back," my grandfather said.
"I’m marrying her. I already proposed."
"Nobody told me nothing! My favorite grandson is getting married? I got a million for a wedding."
"For real?" I said.
He sat up straighter with a mouth full of food. "Hell yeah. When y'all want to get married?"
"In two months. I need to wait 'til things cool down."
"Just send me the date, I’ll send you the cash," he said nonchalantly.
We ate and talked about shit that didn’t really matter. Socorro was cool and nothing like my father; he was the father figure I never knew I needed.
Then I heard Gold in the kitchen talking to someone, so I went to see who the hell she was chatting with. I looked up and saw my mama standing right there in the kitchen, looking good as ever.
"Hey, mama," I said, walking up to hug her. She squeezed me so tight.
"Why didn't you use the front door?" I asked.
"Why didn't you tell me you added Socorro to your life? That man is dangerous as fuck." She stared at me. "You know he wiped his whole family out except his bastard child?" she asked.
Socorro walked right into the kitchen like he knew she was talking about him.
"And I had a reason to kill all their sorry asses," he spat bitterly. Then he turned to her. "But tell my grandson why you really don’t like me."
"I don’t like you 'cause you corrupted my husband. You wanted nothing to do with him 'til you saw he could move weight. We were better off 'til you wanted to be a daddy," she said, mugging him hard.
"He was never loyal. He always messed with other women, Pie. You just gave him a pass because you were selling pieces of your own pie. I upgraded y’all; I gave him resources. He switched because he wanted to, not because of the money. And since you love my son so much, why did you kill him?"
He paused. The kitchen went dead silent.
"He betrayed me. Didn’t pay me, then copped from my enemy. I let him live because he’s my son—I’ll never hurt my own children, and your boys are my sons," Socorro said flatly.
He walked back out of the kitchen. My mom stood there with a dumb look on her face. I had thought it was my grandfather's dope I had gotten from my dad's house before I burned it down, but I guess I was wrong.