Chapter 1 #2
“Pops and his shit man,” Sage said as she turned the steering wheel, pulling up to the front gate of the Denzel Estate. “He really got us out here babysitting.”
“Yeah,” Salem laughed in amusement. “Did you really think he’d have us out there shootin’ niggas? You know how he is about us doing the groundwork.”
Sage rolled her eyes as she pushed the voice box outside of the front gate.
“And you know how he is with you. His baaaaby,” Salem said, mocking their father. Although they were twins, Sage was the youngest child and the only girl, and Kannon stood ten toes down in protecting her.
“Women don’t have no business in the cartel,” they both said in deep voices, mimicking their father.
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’ma do this shit, anyway. Hoping to gain his trust and eventually move my way up.” Sage sighed in despair. She didn’t know if this was even worth it, but it was worth seeing the proud smile on her father’s face and the possibility of more responsibility in the future.
“Denzel residence. Who sent you?” a loud male voice said over the voice box.
Sage pressed the button to respond, “We’re here for Phoenix Denzel. Here on business by way of Kannon Washington.”
A buzz sounded, and the black iron gate rolled open, letting Sage and Salem through the entrance.
As they followed the road ahead, they were greeted by acres and acres of land filled with rows and rows of vines.
The Denzel’s owned a massive vineyard that was well known in Eastbourne Hills and secretly sourced the most exquisite wines in town.
At the end of the vineyard sat a three-story brown brick mansion that housed six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a movie theater, pool room, and more. The estate was massive.
Salem shut the car door to Sage’s black on black G-Wagon and scanned the estate. “Oh, they bringing in cash forreal forreal. We gotta be on our best behavior.” They shared a laugh to wrestle their nerves.
If Sage and Salem knew anything about their father when it came to business, it was that he didn’t play about his top tier partners. The more money brought in, the better the dealings. They knew there was no playing on this mission, whether they wanted to be there or not.
They walked up the cobblestone steps leading to the front door and rang the bell.
When the door opened, they were greeted with a smile by a tall caramel skin man with gray locs who looked to be in his mid-fifties.
“I’ve been expecting you two,” he said as he opened his arm, prompting them to come in.
Upon walking through the front door, Sage and Salem were met by a server offering them glasses of wine.
“Wine?” the server asked as she held 3 glasses of red Cabernet Sauvignon on the tray.
“No thank you,” Sage said while holding up her hand. Sage wanted to remain sober during this meeting. No matter how much she wanted to guzzle down the glass of wine, she knew she needed to stay focused. She didn’t want to ruin the opportunity to fulfill this role for her father.
Salem, on the other hand, had a different idea.
He brushed past Sage, reaching for not one glass, but two.
“Don’t mind if I do,” he sang as his face lit up, prepared to double fist both glasses.
Salem is the life of any party and always ready to drink, no matter the occasion.
“I’ll take hers,” he said to the server, nodding in Sage’s direction.
Sage nudged Salem as she glared at him. “Whaaaattt?” he whined. “You know I can’t be sober for this,” he leaned in and whispered.
“Not here,” Sage said under her breath, loud enough for him to hear. “We can go for drinks afterwards.”
“Fine.” Salem placed one glass back on the serving tray. “I’ll just take this one for the road.” He danced his way behind Phoenix, who grabbed a glass of wine for himself and headed towards the living area.
Sage rolled her eyes and followed behind.
If there is any role she plays out of both of them, it’s being the grounded one.
Salem is always turnt up and down for anything.
Whether it’s streaking through the middle of their college campus or throwing a lit ass party when their parents are on vacation, he gives no fucks.
Sage is always there to reel him in, or at least attempt to, but most of the time she’s left to pick up the pieces.
She couldn’t blame her pops for not trusting them with doing the groundwork, so she knew they had to be on their best behavior.
And Sage was going to make sure of that.
Phoenix took a seat in a brown leather chair and sipped his glass of wine. Sage stood next to the sofa that sat across from him where Salem sat, downing his wine.
“Have a seat,” Phoenix gestured with his wine glass for her to get comfortable. He could tell she was a little uptight–her arms were folded, shoulders straight back, like she was ready for war. “We don’t bite,” he said while chuckling to lighten the mood. “At least not in these conditions.”
Sage grimaced at his words. Although no vampires were doing any biting anytime soon, she didn’t find his joke humorous at all.
Considering what happened to her father decades ago, she didn’t have a fondness for his kind.
She didn’t know all the details because her father hated reliving every piece of that night, but she knew enough to not give two fucks about them.
Sage kept her arms folded and leaned on the arm of the sofa. “Can we begin?” she said, unamused by his humor.
“We shall.” Phoenix sipped his glass of wine.
“Thank you both for coming today. I know your family is probably busy, so I appreciate your time. While we are in business together, I would like you all to keep an eye on my daughter. She’s been off the rails lately, and I need to make sure she stays on track. ”
Phoenix picked up a picture off the side table next to him. “This is my daughter, Portia.” He handed it toward Sage for both her and Salem to get a good look at.
Sage walked over to take the picture from Phoenix's hand.
She stepped back and leaned on the arm of the sofa to take the photo into full view.
It showed a beautiful golden skin girl who looked around twelve or thirteen with a head full of thick coils.
Her face rested in both of her hands as she sat on the front steps of the Denzel residence grinning from ear to ear.
“How off the rails can she be? She looks so innocent,” Sage smirked as she passed the photo to Salem. Sage knew she had this mission in the bag. The girl couldn’t be that bad. From the look of her sweet smile, the girl looked like she wouldn’t hurt a fly.
Phoenix sat up in his chair and chuckled.
“Try two DUIs and jail time for a misdemeanor from fighting in the club. Does that sound innocent to you?” he said, using air quotes to stress the word innocent, which she was far from.
Portia was a handful. She was no longer that little girl in the photo.
She is now a grown ass woman with grown ass problems and little did Sage know, she and Salem were in for a wild ride.
“Damn,” Sage said, taken aback. “My bad. I guess we wouldn’t be here if that were the case.”
Salem laughed as he took in everything Phoenix was saying. “Looks can be deceiving. But trust sis, we can keep up.” He nudged Sage to give her a bit of encouragement.
Sage knew they had no choice. Yet, she had no idea what they had on their hands with this girl, Portia.
As they spent the next half hour with Phoenix, he filled them in on Portia’s expectations for attending AA every week and what boundaries he set for her safety and well-being.
Though she was struggling with her drinking, his additional concern was her getting caught up in more mess with her ex-girlfriend.
They’d get into numerous fights at the club, and he wanted to avoid his daughter being behind bars again.
Sage was unsure about how they would handle this entire mission, but she had to put on a brave face. “Phoenix, she’s in good hands.” She shook his hand in reassurance as they stood in his foyer. “We’ll keep her on our radar and ensure everything goes smoothly.”
Phoenix could no longer ensure anything when it came to Portia, but he was hoping this would change all of that. “Good to hear. I look forward to hearing only good reports from you two.”
After they said their goodbyes, Sage and Salem headed to the car to depart.
“Bro, what the fuck did we just get ourselves into?” Sage said, looking at her brother in disbelief. “Two DUIs and a misdemeanor?!” It hadn’t settled into her brain until they walked out of the house.
“Sage c’mon,” Salem said, trying to bring her back down. “Pops runs a whole cartel and you’re shook up about some girl in her early twenties that likes to drink and occasionally fights?”
“I mean…” Sage began. “She’s not that far off from you, so you might be right.”
Salem playfully punched Sage in the shoulder. “Ow!” Sage held her shoulder, laughing.
“Whatever.” Salem rolled his eyes. “It’s cool tho. We got this,” he said, motioning his hands downward for Sage to relax. “This’ll be a walk in the park compared to all the shit Pop’s seen. If we can handle this, we can make bigger moves.”
Sage was questioning why she wanted to make bigger moves in the first place. She was starting to think her father was right. If she couldn’t handle this, what could she handle in the family business? Maybe he had a point. Women have no business in the cartel.