Goon #2
“Twelve years they kept a man behind bars. Not an innocent man, but a man.” She walked over toward Castello, lifted her leg and kicked him in the face with her heel.
The stiletto barely missed his eye, as he hollered and fell back onto the bed. Menace had moved to the dresser, as he allowed his sister her moment to get the answers she needed.
Answers she had probably tortured herself over the years trying to figure out. This was important to her, and I could tell she was holding everything in.
“Back then… I wasn’t…we weren’t who we are today.
Money was good, but it wasn’t how it is now.
I was a new lawyer with no pull or strings.
The Kenzotti family on the other hand were very connected.
Plugged in with a lot of pull and reach.
Some of that reach was extended to Menace and Corleon because of their loyalty and dedication to the firm. ”
Castello winced as he turned carefully to look at Menace, then to Corleon like they had both betrayed him. “I…I didn’t know you were connected to the Kenzotti family.”
Menace held his eye contact, and Castello was the first one to look away. “The most powerful people are the ones who say nothing but do everything. I don’t flex my connections to the Kenzotti family. Like I don’t flex my connection to the Davis and Vanducci-Cromwell.”
“I…I can fix this. You want me to have his case reopened… I’ll…I’ll do it,” he tried to get up, but his injuries prevented him from doing so.
Recommendation: Listen to “Say Hello” by Jay-Z
She scoffed, disgusted. “You think I need or want your help, Casino? It’s already being handled and has for a while. Zoo will emerge from those gates.” The crooked smirk that came across her face let me know she couldn’t wait for the day.
“Then maybe you can sit down and get married… have some kids. Stop with the White men,” Corleon mumbled, and Kora looked at him, letting him know her personal life wasn’t up for discussion.
I kind of wished it was because her ass was still a mystery and we had shared a whole moment in Aspen.
Even then, I still didn’t understand her.
Castello looked between both Corleon and Kora, and figured he had a way in.
A way to get to her because she was a woman.
Men like Castello felt like women were too emotional and thought with their hearts.
I could tell he was the type that felt like a woman’s place was in the home, not in a courtroom.
I was the kind of nigga that liked for my woman to be barefoot and pregnant, still, it always made my dick hard watching Zoya follow her dreams. Walking in that courtroom, shutting shit down because men like Castello felt like she didn’t deserve to be there.
If she had to walk into court with my baby in her belly, then that’s what it was.
Castello roped all women into one group, and he needed to realize that not every woman made decisions with her heart, or emotion. Some lacked emotion while others locked that shit up.
Zoya and Kora Caselli were those women.
“Out of curiosity, how much was Heffa House paying you?” I asked. All this talk had me curious. It had to be good money for his ass to go against Menace.
“Haven’s List,” he corrected.
Castello had a thing for correcting people when his ass needed to be worried about his life.
“A hundred grand a month… broke niggas,” Corleon looked up from his phone. “See how easy it was for me to get into your offshore account and look into the deposits being made.”
Castello knew he was fucked up and took a deep sigh. “The divorce has been expensive and I needed the money. I had nothing to do with what happened with you guys.”
“What happened to us, Castello?” Menace questioned.
Even down to this moment, we never mentioned that anything happened to us. The only thing mentioned was him playing for both sides.
“I don’t…I don’t know why you guys are here… the city is big enough for you both to have stake in the game.”
“The city is big… but we know I don’t play small. Case House is worldwide. I’m not reduced to some fucking city. I have too many important people in my back pocket. I let you slide, then the senator will call and think he can demand shit… feel me?”
Castello nodded his head, anxious to know how this would end. “I understand. We keep this mistake under the rug, and it never happens again. I’ll remain loyal to Case House.”
“Not how loyalty works, Castello,” Corleon spoke this time.
“Loyalty is about staying down and never switching up. You don’t even have to see the end game, but you down no matter what.
I’ve been loyal to Menace for years. I was there when he had nothing but three mouths to feed.
He never has to question shit with me… never have to second guess if I would snake him while his eyes are closed. ”
Menace nodded his head, as he looked at his best friend. They were beyond best friends, Corleon was his brother. The person he did life with and never switched up on. It didn’t matter that he had billions, Corleon still moved the same way around him.
They had gotten this shit out the mud, way before his family’s money came into his hands. To Corleon, Menace wasn’t the billionaire; he was his best friend.
I watched as Menace got to rubbing his hands together, but he wasn’t anxious. It was another emotion that I was certain Castello didn’t want to be on the receiving end of. Core removed himself from the chair, and Kora backed toward the doorway.
Shit.
I saw them moving, so I got my big ass up and stood next to Kora. Menace remained on the dresser, as he continued to rub his hands, while looking at a nervous Castello.
“You know the history of Case House, Castello?” he questioned, his voice low. It was so quiet in the room that you were able to hear him clearly.
Castello cleared his throat, his face now a deep purple color. He looked like that bitch from Willy Wonka.
“Um... I can’t say that I ever learned.”
“I understand. You want to get your dick sucked and fucked. There’s no time for a history lesson when you ready for pussy.
” He shrugged. “Case House was started by my father. The second son that never meant shit to the Eaton name. Not until he proved he could do some shit without using that fuck ass name. You wanna know what they did when they found out about the success of Case House?”
“Invested?”
“Nah… killed him and took it from him.”
Castello looked like he really felt sorry for Menace. “I’m sorry.”
“Wanna know what I did?”
I could tell he didn’t want to ask what he did. “Wh…What?” He fixed his voice, and stared at Menace, hoping that his interest in this history lesson would help him live.
Menace looked up, his gold tooth shining. “I took it back from them, with even more blood this time.”
“Men…Menace, I respect everything you have go—”
“I have a problem, Castello.”
“I…I can fix whatever problem you have. If you want Zoo released, I can sign the papers and have him out by noon tomorrow.”
“I’ve experienced two gut wrenching days in my entire life, Castello… wanna know the first one?”
He nodded slowly.
“My parents being taken away from me… shit hurt like being stabbed to death but not dying.”
Taking a shallow breath, he asked, “The second?”
“When I thought my Wonder was gone.”
“Wonder?”
Menace leaned forward. “It’s a whole story behind the name for her…
one I wish you could live to hear. I’ll tell you the book-marked version.
Whenever that woman, my wife, enters a room, I hear nothing, see nothing, smell her…
she’s the love of my life, the good because I’m everything fucking bad…
the fresh because I’m fucking rotten. Everything about her is perfect, although she debates me on that.
I can sit and watch her pick her fucking belly button and the shit would be art to me.
Wanna know what really sealed the deal for me? ”
“S…Sure.”
“Watching her give birth. She was so selfless… so fucking generous to share her body. Change the way she thought, ate, and felt for nine months because that meant growing our son. I watched her get close to fucking death bringing life into this world. I’ve always known, but that moment was when I knew that I would give my last breath so she and my son could continue to breathe. ”
“Fuck.” I walked down the hall, ‘cause as twisted as this man was about to get, his ass had me all fucking emotional thinking about Boobie.
“You love her, huh?” Kora questioned when I walked back into the room.
I leaned on the wall and nodded. “More than I think she understands.”
“She understands. It’s hard to let those walls come down. It might look like she’s resisting, but even when a bulldozer pushes through, some walls shake and fight before they finally give in.”
“I hear you.”
“Enough about what you tried to take and my feelings for my wife.” Menace was still talking to Castello.
Kora looked at her brother, then back at me.
“I never thought he would ever find love… he loves Stevie, but he’s obsessed with her ass, too.
When we’re in love… we become obsessed. A little crazy, but I promise it’s good…
I think. I sent mine to the hole for not calling me.
You’ll see... good luck,” Kora winked, then pulled her gun out and walked over toward where Castello was.
“Alexa, play ‘Let It Flow’!” Menace hollered, as he leaped from the dresser, onto the bed and attacked Castello.
I watched him attack Castello like he was a fucking lion tearing up an antelope.
The way he clawed at his skin I saw blood oozing from Castello each time he attacked him.
It was then that I realized he had some knife shit on his hands, as he sliced this man up like a mama cutting her baby’s birthday cake, careful not to cut the name on the cake.
The desk with the desktop was occupied by Corleon, as he watched on with a smirk, between doing something on the computer. I was starting to see why those two were best friends. Corleon was just as touched as his friend, he was just more controlled in his chaos.