Cario “Crow” Domingo
Yellow evidence markers had been scattered across my parking lot like somebody had filmed a damn crime show out front.
The police had finally left my shop after that fuckin’ stunt Rebel pulled, shooting at my cousin’s car like she was at a gun range instead of my damn business.
Shorty knew how hard I worked to go legit and damn nearly ruined everything I’d spent years building because she couldn’t control her anger.
I had been keeping my nose clean, paying taxes, hiring people from the neighborhood, and proving I wasn’t the same reckless nigga I used to be.
One stupid decision could’ve brought all that crashing down.
Twelve had been all through my place, asking questions and looking around like I was the one who pulled the trigger.
That shit pissed me off more than anything.
I didn’t bust my ass for years just to get dragged into somebody else’s fuckin’ drama.
Honestly, I was just glad my mechanics had gotten back to work.
The last thing I needed was everybody standing around gossiping instead of making money.
Still, every few minutes somebody stopped to talk about what had happened.
Hell, the entire neighborhood probably knew by now.
By tonight, the story would be all over social media, and by tomorrow it’d be ten times worse than what actually happened.
Since I couldn’t control what people were saying, I focused on what I could control, my business.
I looked around the shop, making sure things were finally settling down before approaching Tony, one of my best workers, to see if he could hold it down for a few minutes.
“Aye, Tony.”
He looked up from the engine block he was working on. “What’s up, Boss?”
“I need you to hold it down for a few minutes.”
Tony glanced around the shop before nodding. “I got it.”
“Make sure these niggas stay working. Every time I turn around somebody standing around talking.”
Tony laughed. “Can’t blame ‘em. Today’s been some wild shit.”
“Yeah, well, wild shit don’t pay the bills.”
“Fair enough.”
I pointed toward the service bays. “If anybody got questions, they can wait until tomorrow. We got deadlines.”
“Say less, Boss. I got the floor.”
Satisfied, I gave him a nod before heading toward my office.
I needed a few minutes away from everybody before I ended up cussing somebody out.
The second I dropped into my chair, I leaned back and closed my eyes for a moment to chill.
Sadly, the peace and quiet lasted all of thirty seconds before a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” I called out.
A second later, Nico strolled into my office while I sat behind my desk, looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I had told that nigga a long time ago that messing with Julie was gonna bring nothing but problems, but he never listened.
Men never did when a pretty face was involved.
Now look at us. His car was shot up, Rebel was spiraling, and my business was caught right in the middle of the bullshit.
“What’s up?”
“Man, we need to talk.”
“About what, Nico?”
“About that crazy bitch Rebel. She gonna have to pay. My girl is shaken up.”
I let out a dry laugh and shook my head. “Fuck that. Nobody told you to date Rose’s friend.”
Nico frowned. “It just happened. We connected after everything and became friends. Why is that an issue?”
“Because you know Rain, nigga. You know how she is when it comes to Rose.”
“That don’t give her the right to shoot up my car.”
“I ain’t say it did.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Crow crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m saying you had to know this wasn’t gonna end well. Out of all the women in the city, you chose one of Rose’s closest friends. You really thought Rebel was gonna smile and be happy about that shit?”
Nico’s jaw tightened. “Rebel don’t control who I date.”
“No, she don’t. But you know damn well that woman has been carrying Rose’s death on her back for years. Half the time she still acts like Rose gone walk through a door and cuss everybody out.”
“That ain’t my problem.”
“The hell it ain’t. The moment you started messing with Julie, you made it everybody’s problem.”
Nico threw his hands up in frustration. “So what? I’m supposed to be alone forever because Rebel can’t move on?”
I stared at him for a long moment before answering.
“No. But you should’ve expected a reaction. Maybe not this crazy-ass reaction, but a reaction nonetheless.”
“Naw, she gonna pay. I promise you that.”
“No, she ain’t.”
Nico’s eyes narrowed. “Who gonna stop me?”
“Me, nigga.”
He stared at me for a second before letting out a harsh laugh. “You serious right now? You telling me you coming at me over this dyke?”
“Nah. I’m telling you I ain’t about to let you turn my shop into a damn battlefield because you’re emotional.”
“Emotional?” he snapped. “That bitch shot at my car.”
“And your ass still standing here talking to me, ain’t you?”
“The fuck that’s supposed to mean?”
“It means what Rebel did was stupid as hell, but you running around talking about payback ain’t gonna solve shit. And besides, if she wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
Nico shook his head. “You always got a soft spot for her.”
That statement irritated the hell out of me.
“This ain’t got shit to do with a soft spot.”
“Looks like it from where I’m standing.”
“No, what it looks like is you trying to drag everybody into some bullshit because your feelings hurt.”
“My feelings hurt?” he barked.
“Yeah, nigga. Your feelings hurt.”
“You see all this shit outside? The police, the questions, my customers getting scared off? I’m already dealing with enough. The last thing I’m gonna do is let you go after Rebel and bring even more heat to my doorstep.”
Nico stared at me before shaking his head. “You trippin’.”
“Nah,” I said firmly. “What’s crazy is thinking I’m gonna stand by and watch y’all destroy each other when neither one of you got enough sense to walk away.”
Nico said, “My brother said you always been a flaky nigga.”
That was it. The second words left his mouth, every ounce of patience I had disappeared.
He had crossed a line he had no business crossing.
Mentioning his scary-ass brother, the same nigga who folded under pressure, ran his mouth to the police, and shaved years off his own sentence by putting my black ass behind bars for five years, wasn’t something I took lightly.
My jaw tightened. For a moment, I just stared at him from across from my desk.
Then I slowly leaned forward and rested my forearms on the desk.
“What the fuck did you just say?”
Nico shifted in his chair but held my gaze.
“I said my brother always thought you was flaky.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“Your brother?”
I shook my head. “That’s the nigga you wanna quote?”
The office suddenly felt smaller. “The same nigga who told the police everything they wanted to hear to save his own ass? The same nigga who put me behind bars for five years?”
Nico’s expression hardened. “That’s still my brother.”
“And he’s still a rat.”
Silence filled the room as I leaned back in my chair and pointed at him.
“So, I really don’t give a fuck what your brother thinks about me. Now get out my shop, man.”
I stood up from the desk and headed toward my office, figuring I’d cool off and get back to work before things got any uglier.
Instead of leaving like I told him to, the nigga followed behind me and talkin’ shit.
The crazy part was he knew exactly what he was doing.
He was trying to get under my skin, to provoke me in front of everybody standing around the shop.
The problem was, I wasn’t the type of nigga to let disrespect slide, blood or not.
Before I opened this shop, before I went legit, I was heavy in these streets.
My name carried weight for a reason. Back then, disrespect got handled immediately.
There wasn’t no back-and-forth arguing, no social media posts, and no warning shots.
You either stood on what you said or dealt with the consequences. I got right in Nico’s face.
“Nigga, don’t ever compare me to your rat-ass brother.”
The smirk vanished. “Crow—”
“Nah, let me finish.” I paused and then continued. “Five years. That’s what his scary ass cost me. Five years away from my family, my money, and my freedom because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. So, before you start talking reckless, remember who the fuck you’re talking to.”
The entire shop went silent, and every eye in the garage was locked on us, but Nico still couldn’t shut the fuck up. Even after everybody else had enough sense to mind their business, he kept running his mouth like he had something to prove. That was his mistake.
Before he could get another word out, I stepped into him and drove my right fist straight into his jaw.
The crack echoed through the garage. His head snapped to the side.
A split second later, I followed it with a left hook that caught him near the temple.
Nico stumbled backward before crashing onto the concrete floor.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he stared up at the ceiling, looking more shocked than hurt.
The shop remained dead quiet. Nobody moved or said a damn word.
I stood over him for a second, my chest rising and falling as years of frustration simmered beneath my skin.
“Now maybe you’ll learn when to shut the fuck up.”