18. Deuce
DEUCE
Being in jail had a way of making every day feel like the same damn day.
Same walls, same noise, same nasty ass food.
Same niggas walking around pretending they weren’t counting every hour until they could get the fuck out.
I had stopped asking what day it was unless I had court or somebody coming to see me.
That afternoon, one of the COs came to my door and told me I had a visitor.
I figured it was Rell or maybe Grandma. Shante had already came down there and gave me a whole speech about how much she hated my ass, so I knew she wasn’t rushing back.
Or it could’ve been my attorney Mark too.
I hadn’t heard much from him since the last court date, and that was starting to piss me off.
Every time we talked, he gave me the same lawyer shit.
Be patient, the government hasn’t turned everything over.
We’re exploring options meanwhile I was the one sleeping on a county issued mattress while he went home every night.
When I walked into visitation and saw who was sitting on the other side of the glass, I stopped.
Well, damn Mr Victor Scambino himself. He didn’t send one of his people with a message, he came him damn self.
I’d only been around the old man a handful of times, because that was how he operated.
Scambino wasn’t the type you saw standing around at clubs or posting pictures next to expensive cars.
Most people making money for him had probably never even been in the same room with him.
That’s how far removed he kept himself. So for him to personally come see me in the county? Something was up.
I sat down and picked up the phone, Scambino was already holding his.
He looked exactly like he always did clean and calm with Gray mixed through his hair.
He wore a tailored suit with a nice watch.
I ain’t gone lie the nigga looked like money.
That was probably why people fucked up dealing with him, they expected the monster to look like one.
“You look like shit.”
I looked down at my county clothes. “Five-star accommodations.”
Nothing changed in his face. I guess he was the wrong person for jokes, I leaned back. “What are you doing down here?”
“Fixing a problem.” He replied.
I gave him a look. “I’m the problem?”
“At the moment.” He said it like we were discussing a flat tire. That was Scambino never a lot of extra shit, he got straight to it. “I fired your lawyers.”
For a second, I thought I heard him wrong. “You did what?”
“Ellis is done.”
I sat forward. Mark and his partner. Marcus ain’t even my main attorney.”
“I don’t care.” The way he said it let me know that part of the conversation was already over in his mind but not mine. “How the fuck you fire my lawyers?”
“Apparently, you don’t understand how this works.”
I stared through the glass at him, Scambino didn’t blink. “You’re sitting in here because people who should’ve been ahead of this weren’t. Now the government has time to build while your attorneys file motions and tell you to be patient.”
“Mark knows my case.” I replied.
“Mark knows the part of your case they gave him.” Scambino leaned slightly toward the glass. “The attorney coming tomorrow knows what matters.”
“Who?” I asked.
“You’ll meet him tomorrow.”
I didn’t like that answer. “Are you just making decisions about my case now without talking to me first?”
“Your case?” His eyebrow lifted. “Your trucks aren’t moving the way they’re supposed to and people are nervous. Money is being held up and everybody connected to you is looking over their shoulder because they don’t know what you said, what they have, or who’s next.”
“I ain’t said shit.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t talk to me like I’m cooperating.”
“If I thought you were cooperating, Deuce, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
I knew exactly what the fuck he meant, my ass would be dead. But one thing I prided myself on was being a solid nigga out here in these streets. I didn’t have to prove shit because my actions spoke for me. He continued before I could respond. “You being in here is costing me money.”
“How much?” I asked.
“Enough for me to come down here myself.” That told me everything I needed to know. Scambino didn’t move unless there was money attached.
“If you sit for another month, it gets worse. If they add charges, it gets worse. If somebody around you gets scared and starts talking, it gets expensive.”
“Ain’t nobody around me talking.” I spat.
“You don’t know that.” He said calmly.
“I know my people.”
He gave me a look. “Everybody knows their people until their people are looking at twenty years.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I’d seen solid niggas turn into storytellers over less.
“Tomorrow, you listen to my attorney. You tell him exactly what happened from beginning to end. No street version or protecting your pride. He can’t work with information you keep from him.”
“I know how to talk to a lawyer.”
“Apparently not, you're still here.”
I stared at him and he stared right back. I wasn’t intimidated by this nigga at all never had been. But I also wasn’t stupid there were certain niggas you could argue with and certain men you let finish talking. Scambino was the second kind. Still, there was something I wasn’t letting slide.
“Since we talking about how shit works, tell your people to stay the fuck away from my wife.”
Scambino leaned back. “What?”
“You heard me.” I moved closer to the glass.“Some nigga approached Alisha outside my house and then went to her shop.” Scambino said nothing so I continued. “He's talking about shit belonging to people and telling her I’m running out of time.”
Still no answer, that pissed me off. “That came from you right?”
“I didn’t tell anyone to touch your wife.”
“I ain’t asking if you told them to touch her.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “I asked if you sent them.”
A few seconds passed. “Messages needed to be delivered.”
“Deliver them to Rell.” I spat.
“Rell isn’t the one sitting in here.”
“Then bring them to me obviously you can sit your ass right there.”
His jaw shifted but I didn’t give a fuck.
There were a lot of things I would take responsibility for.
I put myself in this position and I brought street shit too close to home.
I had Alisha dealing with enough bullshit because of me already, but nobody was using her or Brittany to get my attention. “Don’t send nobody else near my wife.”
Scambino studied me. “I’m gonna say this once. Alisha don’t know shit about what we do. She don’t move nothing or she don’t hold nothing. She ain’t part of nothing.”
“I know who your wife is.”
“Then act like it.”
His expression went cold. “Be careful, Deuce.”
“I’m being real clear.”
I lowered my voice. “And my daughter better never hear, see, or feel none of this shit.” Brittany didn’t know what the fuck her daddy had been doing.
She didn’t know why I wasn’t home. She shouldn’t have to look over her shoulder because grown men had money tied up in shit I was responsible for.
“Whatever problem you have with me, keep it with me.”
“Your daughter was never involved.”
“Keep it that way.”
He didn’t answer as fast.
“Scambino.” I said.
“I heard you.”
“Nah I need you to understand me.”
His face hardened. “You’re in no position to make demands.”
“About them two, I am.”
Finally, he nodded once. “No one will approach your wife again.”
“Good.”
“But understand something I didn’t come here because we’re friends.”
“Never thought we were.”
“I came because I have an investment sitting in county jail.” At least he wasn’t being fake. “And investments either make money or become losses.”
There was the warning. “I’ll be out.”
“That’s what my lawyer is going to work on.” Scambino stood. “Tomorrow. Listen more than you talk.”
I smirked. “Everybody keeps telling me that.”
“Maybe because you don’t do it.” Then he was gone. I stayed sitting there thinking, some new lawyer I’d never met was coming tomorrow. And Scambino had officially put his hands into my case. Whatever was happening outside was bigger than Rell had been telling me or more expensive.
Alisha missed my next court date. I noticed the second they brought me into the courtroom.
I always looked for her. I wouldn't admit that shit to nobody, but I did. Even when she wouldn’t look at me, I knew where she sat.
Sometimes Grandma was beside her, sometimes she came alone.
But she came but that day, her seat was empty.
I kept looking toward the doors like she might walk in late, but she never did.
The hearing wasn’t even about much. Scheduling, some shit with discovery, and officially getting Mark removed from the case. I barely heard half of it. Afterward, I tried calling but got no answer. The county recording probably didn’t even finish before she declined that shit.
That pissed me off, but more than that, it bothered me.
Shante hadn’t said anything about Alisha knowing, grandma hadn’t either.
Still, something had changed. Alisha had gone from showing up to court even though she wasn’t fucking with me to not showing up at all.
She wasn’t taking my calls and Rell said he hadn’t seen much of her. Shante said the same.
Even Grandma admitted Alisha hadn’t been around like usual. I knew my wife. When Alisha got loud, you still had a chance. When she got quiet that was different. I called one more time before lockdown but she declined the call. “Fuck.” I yelled before I handed the phone off.
Maybe she was done. The thought had been sitting in my head for weeks, but that was the first time I let myself really think it.
Three days later, I got called for an attorney visit.
This time, I already knew it wasn’t family.
I walked into the room and found a white dude sitting at the table with two thick folders in front of him.