Goon #2
Menace had gotten up from his seat and was now slowly pacing back and forth, wringing the fuck out his hands, and he kept blinking fast. “How she doing, G?”
I could tell the question was to keep his mind from going crazy. His pace sped up a bit, and his hands were turning white from the way he was wringing them like they were a dish towel.
“Just talk,” Corleon advised, as he continued on his computer, knowing his best friend better than I did.
They had been friends since childhood, so he knew how to navigate that twisted ass mind that Menace Caselli had, so I was going to listen to all his pointers.
“She has her days… some days she wants to be bothered, and then others when I can feel her pushing away because that’s all she knows.”
He looked at me. “Think she may hate me forever for keeping something else away from her.”
Menace Caselli didn’t give a fuck about anything or anybody else, but it mattered to him if Zoya hated him.
“I can’t speak for her, but I would have done the same had I been in your shoes. I’d do whatever to protect my cousin and brother without a doubt, even if that means to hide shit from them.”
“Yeah,” he said more to himself than a response to what I had said.
“Again, I can’t speak for her, but I don’t think she hates you. Maybe she doesn’t understand you, but I don’t think she could ever hate you.” Witnessing the way, she looked when she made me promise to bring him back to Stevie, I knew she loved her brother.
They were both misunderstood. Communication was their biggest problem, which caused a lack of understanding and lot of miscommunications between them.
Shit.
They were similar in a lot of ways, and I didn’t know if I should have ran when I had the chance.
He nodded his head repeatedly. “Wonder does.”
“Everybody isn’t Wonder, Mens. You’ve allowed them to have their own lives.
I respect that, but you need to let them in…
let them know the shit that you know. Yeah, I know the shit that you know would break them, but you’re there to hold them together.
Being real, who the fuck held you together when you found out? ”
“Me,” Corleon muttered, as he continued on the computer, never taking his eyes from what he was doing. My damn eyes crossed with the amount of shit that was flying up on his screen, and boxes requesting access codes.
I respected what they had. It was a true brotherhood, one where they had seen each other in the rarest form while still having each other’s back. Nobody needed to understand what they had, it was for them to understand.
“You and Zoya are very fucking similar. Like oil and water. My aunt and uncle are the same way. So similar that they clash often, feel me?”
He nodded his head as he continued to pace, while Corleon turned around. “Ollie.”
“What about him?”
“Remember that shit we been keeping an eye on with Castello?”
Menace nodded, waiting for him to continue.
“Ollie met up with him… a few times. The way they came at us… that shit was too seamless for some bullshit street shit.”
Now, it was my turn to stand up and pace. “Ollie, as in my baby’s security? I’m gonna need you to run that back again for me, Corleon.”
“Exactly that. I went into this nigga’s GPS and was able to tap into the system in the car. I listened to the shit he been doing in his whip. I’ll save y’all the details on when he was beating his shit to Zoya,” Corleon shuttered in disgust.
“He was fucking what?” Me and Menace were damn near holding each other back like Corleon was the one waxing his pickle while working.
He never moved, not even phased that me and Menace were beyond pissed. He just continued on delivering the bad news. “Met up with Sigel, too… had him in the whip. He got close with him while being Zoya’s security. Sigel must have noticed him and that’s probably when he made contact.”
My ears were burning because I was that fucking mad. “That’s the reason he’s obsessed with knowing who you are. Ollie ever met you, Mens?” I questioned.
“Security never meets him. They just know who to protect and if they fail, that’s their asses. It’s the reason Duke and Washington always handle shit.”
Menace looked at his best friend. “Where was that freaky bitch today?”
“Zoya said he had a death in the family or some shit. I told her he wasn’t needed because she was gonna be with me anyway.”
We all collectively looked at each other as we put the pieces together.
“Makes a lot of sense why he wasn’t there and made some bullshit excuse.
He set the shit up. Menace’s security detail is never announced beforehand, but because all the Caselli’s were gonna be in the same place to surprise Landon, it was shared through everyone’s security. ”
“Guess I’m confused on why the fuck he would want to shoot the party up, and bite the hand that fed him?”
“Sit down because I’m about to explain some shit… some shit that’s gonna have you both angry. Try and hit me and I’m hitting y’all the fuck back. Keep a level head, and then we get our get back. Cool?”
He already knew we were going to fly off the handle, so he didn’t press it when we both decided to remain standing.
“Castello is getting his palms greased both ways. Alex Dass, remember how desperate he was to sell the basketball team?”
They were talking about shit I had no clue about, so I was letting them talk and waiting for them to fill me in on what I wasn’t privy to.
“Yeah… damn near begged me to take it from his hands. Only did the shit because of Don. I like to see people like him beg and struggle.” Menace smirked.
Core leaned back in the chair. “He’s in so much debt the nigga doesn’t even own his toenails. Selling that team didn’t do shit to help that debt, either.”
“Who he owe the money to?”
“Kenzotti’s.”
“Kora,” Menace muttered.
Corleon nodded. “Kind of watched that shit crash and burn right in front of my eyes. Instead of investing in Kofi Maze’s tech company, where he would have seen a return, he decided to invest in some other tech company that fucking tanked.
Money gone… so he had no choice but to sell the basketball team to get his ass out of debt, but that didn’t help so he had to borrow that money. ”
“And you invested in Kofi’s company?”
“Me and Quameer both invested, and he had Quasim do the same.”
I stood there. “Guess I’m not in the let’s get money fucking group chat. I’m over here trying to marry a woman who is accustomed to fucking billions, and you didn’t think to put me on? My baby ain’t cheap, and she ain’t going in her pocket for shit.”
Menace snorted. “Respect.”
“I got you, G. Got a few things that look promising that me and Meer been considering.”
“I can lend you some money,” Menace offered.
I looked at him like he had just spit in my face and lit me on fire.
“You said I’m a bum ass nigga, Mens? I can’t take care of my fucking wife?”
“Just checking.”
I was far from that broke nigga who went into prison.
My money was good, and my family was straight, however, when it came to Zoya and my seed, I was going to take care of them.
It didn’t matter that she had a trust fund and her own money.
Her hand wasn’t ever going into her pocket to pay for anything as far as I was concerned.
Menace was rubbing his hands, bringing us back to the current topic of discussion. “Castello?”
“The Haven’s List. We told Castello about that shit…
told him when it wasn’t making much noise, but we both knew that it would become bigger.
Those who can’t afford Case House or want to be cheap are going to stray to someone giving the same vibe and much cheaper.
Castello has his hands involved in both Case House and Haven’s List.”
Corleon stood up, crossing the room to the small bar in the corner. He skipped pouring the drink in the glass and took the bottle straight to the head.
“I’m assuming Haven’s List be selling pum pum, too, eh?”
“Jude Castello* is one of our biggest clients. The amount of shit we have on this man. We damn near own his ass. Not to mention, that seat he’s in is for Kora when his old ass dies.”
“Which is now,” Menace spoke, looking straight ahead.
“Killing Menace Caselli means you can’t hold shit over him. He let somebody get in his ear, convincing him that Haven’s List can replace Case House.”
Menace looked down at his phone while sending out a text message. When he was finished, he took the phone and launched it across the room, hitting the door.
It was my turn to make sure I understood. “Ollie is working with Castello, and that is why those bitches were able to get at us?”
“Correct.”
“Sigel is involved how?”
“Zoya was used to get close to Menace… his reasons don’t make sense. Nigga wanna be a crip, undercover, and now he trying to get money with Castello. Money is his game, and whoever giving him more is where he’s going to go.”
“Ollie’s reason for turning against the Casellis?”
Core shrugged his shoulders. “Freaky nigga must like death.”
“Nigga was supposed to protect her. Been with her since she started law school. Instead of looking out for her, he beating off to her and conspiring with a nigga that didn’t mean her good.”
“Menace, I ain’t trying to hear shit. I’m handling my business when it comes to that fat nigga… as far as Sigel?”
“Food is cold. Handle your business.”
“Bet.”
The camera footage of Inez walking into the kitchen popped up on the computer screen. “Forty ain’t no fucking serial killer,” Corleon said, while watching her.
“She witnessed something.”
“For sure… she was still trembling when I helped her into the car.”
I looked at my cousin aimlessly walking around the kitchen, unsure on what to touch or do.
“Liability, G,” Menace said.
“Don’t I fucking know it. She family, though.”
I continued to watch my cousin, trying to pinpoint the exact moment when I lost her.
* Reminder: Breaking News Email – Mentioned within Capri 3.5 (The judge that Capri and Skyler shared a helicopter with.)