Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
“There she is,” he gushed as he emerged from the back of the boutique. “My favorite lady. Where have you been? You’re cheating on me with Hermes?”
With a slight chuckle, Me’Yoni removed her black Gucci shades. “Of course not. I don’t even like Birkins. They look like granny bags to me,” she frowned.
Had that statement left anyone else’s mouth, Craig would have more than likely just assumed that they couldn’t afford a Birkin bag, but he knew firsthand that was far from the case with Me’Yoni. She was the plug’s wife, and she could buy the Hermes store, if her heart desired to do so.
“What can I show you today?” Craig smiled first at Me’Yoni then at her sister, Charmaine.
“The usual shoes and purses.”
“Right this way,” Craig sang. “Can I offer you ladies a glass of champagne?”
“Sure,” Me’Yoni’s voice was chipper while her sister simply nodded.
Me’Yoni had been married to Saint Stone for one year, and Charmaine still wasn’t used to the way her sister spent money.
Their father wasn’t broke and when they were growing up, he always made sure they had what they needed, but Saint was on an entirely different level.
The first time Charmaine stepped foot inside his massive home, she couldn’t stop her mouth from gaping open.
The type of wealth that Saint possessed, and the luxury that he had access to was nothing short of amazing to a person whose most expensive purse was $85.
While Craig went to retrieve the champagne, Me’Yoni stopped in front of a display that housed various styles of Chanel bags. “You see anything you like?” she glanced over her shoulder at Charmaine.
The question caused Charmaine’s brow to hike.
She was in her senior year of college and lived two hours away from Me’Yoni and their parents.
She hadn’t been shopping with her sister since Me’Yoni got with Saint, but her sister never had a problem letting Charmaine borrow her purses, clothes, and shoes anytime she came home.
Her sister also sent her money when she needed it and never wanted to be paid back.
While Me’Yoni wasn’t selfish, she’d never expected her sister to buy her anything out of the Chanel store,
“I see a lot of things I like,” Charmaine answered with a chuckle.
“Get something then.” Me’Yoni’s shoulders hiked passively as if the cheapest thing in the store didn’t cost a couple hundred dollars and was probably something super small like a keychain or purse charm.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Charmaine simpered as she began browsing.
Soon Charmaine would be graduating from college with a degree in journalism.
After Me’Yoni started dating Saint, and Charmaine saw up close and personal just how wealthy people lived, she began to wish she’d gone to school for something a little more glamorous.
She didn’t want to just carry her sister’s purses and rock her clothes.
She wanted to be able to live how she wanted.
Charmaine wanted to travel, eat good, and never have to rob Peter to pay Paul.
Saint was ten years older than Me’Yoni; that put him at forty-two.
His friends were all too old for Charmaine, but his son, Ja’Sean wasn’t.
At first, she thought it was weird that Me’Yoni was thirty-two with a twenty-four-year-old stepson, but her sister was grown and very much an adult. If she wanted to be with a rich ass man that was ten years her senior, Charmaine didn’t see anything wrong with it.
A yellow purse caught Me’Yoni’s eye. It was the perfect color for summer. A baby blue one caught her eye next, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to choose. Craig came back with the flutes of champagne, and Me’Yoni wasted no time taking a sip. She shopped better when she was buzzed.
“See anything you like?”
“Ummmm,” Me’Yoni’s lips pursed. “The yellow and the baby blue are both speaking to me.”
Craig’s brows wiggled as a mischievous grin lifted his cheeks. “You know what Cardi B said. You can get them both you don’t have to choose.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Me’Yoni raised her champagne flute and took another sip while Craig carefully removed the bags from the shelf, so she could get a closer look.
Me’Yoni once again glanced over her shoulder at her sister. “See anything you want?”
Charmaine sighed. “I’m still looking. I really like this one, but it’s five racks,” she stated in a hushed tone making Me’Yoni laugh.
“Sister, I come in Chanel at least once a month. I know the prices. If I didn’t want to spend some racks, I wouldn’t have told you to get something.”
Charmaine’s jaw slacked as Me’Yoni focused her attention back on the bags that Craig had placed in front of her.
She eyed them carefully while finishing off her champagne.
Fifteen minutes later, Craig was ringing up three purses and a scarf.
When he told Me’Yoni that the total was $31,000, Charmaine almost choked on her own saliva.
However, Me’Yoni didn’t blink as she pulled out her Amex card and tapped it against the card reader.
“I’ll bring you more champagne to sip while I go wrap these.” A grin a mile wide stretched across Craig’s face.
“I really need to link with Ja’Sean now. He’s probably my only chance at dating someone rich.”
Her words made Me’Yoni snort while simultaneously rolling her eyes. “Baby, you’d be better off making your own money and getting rich that way. Being with a wealthy man isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Plus, Saint wants Ja’Sean to marry the daughter of some king pin out in Diamond Cove.”
Saint had the coke game pretty much on lock in Golden Waters, North Carolina, but he wanted in on the turf in Diamond Cove, North Carolina.
That was only going to happen if he linked with Augustine Louissaint.
He was a member of one of the most prominent organized crime families in North Carolina.
Saint had money, and he had power but obviously, Agustine’s reach went a little further than Saint’s if he was planning to damn near beg the man to let his daughter marry Ja’Sean.
With the crime families blending, there was more money to be made and more territory to cover.
“Well, there goes that dream,” Charmaine grumbled.
Me’Yoni hadn’t lied to her sister, but there was also another reason she didn’t want her to date Ja’Sean.
If that happened, it would be awkward once she left Saint.
Saint was a very well-connected and powerful man.
His ego was the size of an elephant, and he hated not getting what he wanted.
If Me’Yoni simply tried to pack her things and leave, he would have a fit.
She already knew she couldn’t take any of his cars because he’d be able to track her location, but she’d be damned if she was leaving purses, clothes, and shoes behind.
It would be hard getting those things out of the house because he had cameras installed everywhere except the bathrooms. The only way she’d be able to pack a decent amount of things would be to lie and say she was going out of town with her sister or her friends.
Me’Yoni and Saint had been together for a total of three years but only married for one.
She met him when she was twenty-nine, and there wasn’t a person alive that could make her believe that she didn’t hit the jackpot.
Saint was fine as fuck, filthy rich, and had a dick the size of a baby leg.
But the bastard was also controlling. He knew he was the prize, and that made him cocky, arrogant and at times, straight up disrespectful.
All the Chanel bags in the world wouldn’t make her stick around too much longer.
Rich or not, there were only so many times that she was going to let Saint play in her face.
She had been tucking away money, and her stash was up to $250,000.
Another few hundred thousand, and she was going to be out.
When Me’Yoni met Saint, she was working at a hospital as a registration clerk.
She was far from rich, but her bills were paid on time and when she wanted extra money, she’d pick up a side hustle for a few months.
Anything from being a waitress to driving for rideshares.
When Me’Yoni had a goal, and she was determined, she’d work seven days a week until she reached her goal if she had to.
That was the reason that when Saint came along and started spoiling her, she didn’t protest at all.
In fact, she planned to get everything out of him so by the time he did some fuck shit to get cut off, she’d have everything she wanted.
A funny thing happened, though. He never did anything to get cut off.
He stuck around and even proposed. They had been together for six months when he told her she could stop working, and she hadn’t punched a clock since.
It was true that Saint had her accustomed to living a certain way, but as long as she took enough of his money to stay afloat for a minute and she found a decent job, Me’Yoni could make it work.
Wherever she moved to, she could pay the rent up for a year and still have plenty of money left.
She also wanted to buy a car cash, so she wouldn’t have a car payment but knew she couldn’t spend over a certain amount without the IRS being notified.
Telling Charmaine that she was leaving Saint was on the tip of her tongue, but she decided against saying anything.
She swallowed down the words with the champagne Craig gave her and kept her plans to herself.
No one knew that she planned to leave Saint, and that was how it was going to stay until she was out of his clutches.