3. Something Old
Chapter Three
SOMETHING OLD
Zodiac “Yak” Valor
“I really ain’t got much shit to say to you niggas. Y’all done made it this fucking far in recruitment, so that means you got more heart and endurance than I give you niggas credit for.”
Don stood at the head of the conference table.
Running his hand down the lapel of his black suit, his eyes drifted around the room.
I’d been relieved that we hadn’t been woken up at the crack of dawn and dragged off to some crazy training we went through in the last nearly two years.
When I was approached by the Rinaldi mafia to join their organization, I had half a mind to tell these niggas no.
Growing up, it was just me and my uncle, who was more like a brother than anything else.
I was raised by my grandmother after both my parents died in a car accident.
My grandma had been just as wild as her only son because she was pregnant at the same time as my mother, which is why Hunter Valor was born a month after me.
We had been close all our lives and were comfortable just having each other.
Hunter and I cracked hoes together, robbed together, rose up in the streets together, and had even caught charges together.
It had always been the Zodiac and Hunter show, but when the mob approached us with the opportunity of a lifetime, we ultimately took the deal despite having our reservations.
We knew being a made man wasn’t no small feat and would come with its trials and tribulations, but here we were, two years later, still in training.
Don was one crazy muthafucka. He knew this white man who owned all these exotic animals along with virtual stimulations that controlled climates and shit for the animals to survive.
We’d wrestled with gorillas, swam with sharks, and been dumped in a damn lake just to prove ourselves.
It had been a minute since our last training, so I knew one was coming soon.
When we were called up today and told to put on a suit, relief flooded my chest. I wasn’t in the mood to be Crocodile Dundee today.
“Everybody can dip except the Cuppacios and Yak. Ezio, you can dip too.”
The men in my recruitment class stood up and quickly pushed through the doors that sealed the room from the Dungeon.
The Dungeon was an underground casino owned by Don, a place where people could get rich, and I’m not talking about the crap tables.
It was constantly filled with the elite of Jagoda Bay.
From politicians to athletes to kingpins, everyone hung out there.
It was a competitive space for hungry niggas, and Hunter and I were the hungriest. We knew the mob could make us a lot of money with our skills and had capitalized on that.
We had always supported each other during recruitment, and I knew that if things went wrong, Hunter would have my back.
When Hunter stood up from his seat and adjusted his suit jacket, my face fell, which made Renello Cuppacio laugh.
His twin was sitting beside him, sharing the same face.
The niggas were even dressed nearly identically.
I hadn't seen many twins before, so whenever they were around, I was both creeped out and fascinated. Hunter and I had the same hair color and build because it was hereditary, but we had different faces. I couldn’t imagine walking around with someone who looked just like me unless he was my son.
When Ezio stood, causing Renello’s smile to drop, I cracked a grin.
“Nigga what the fuck? You just gone dip on us like that? After all the shit we done did for you, fav?”
Renello and Metavello Cuppacio were twins, Ezio Cuppacio was their cousin, and so was Shio Cuppacio, who sat there with a blank face. Every time I saw that nigga, he was quiet, but I noticed his observance.
“Nel, I’m tired as fuck. The baby kept a nigga up all night. Plus, Jisei tryna to get her nails done, so I gotta get the baby. Ion feel like hearing her mouth for being a minute late.”
You could see the sleep in Ezio’s funny colored ass eyes as he ran his hand down his face. Nel didn’t give a fuck, though, as he tossed up the middle finger.
“Yeah, take yo ass home to my sister before I have to get in yo shit, nigga.” Don taunted, causing Ezio to shoot his ass the bird next.
Mafias were kind of like an urban legend where I come from.
Diamond Cove, North Carolina, was states away from Jagoda Bay.
I had done plenty of my dirty work in Jagoda Bay because it was the second black mecca and the bigger city, but I didn’t know much about mobs.
In the past few years, I’d learned so much that it sounded fictional, even though it was very real.
Once upon a time, the Cuppacios were rivals to the Rinaldis.
Rumor had it that Demise Rinaldi – our Don – had killed all the Cuppacio mafia when he was a young nigga himself.
He must have had a change of heart, as he joined forces with the now grown-up children, and the only way for two mafias to merge was for the families to intermarry.
Ezio married Don’s sister, Jisei.Don’s cousin Matteo also married the Cuppacio’s cousin Scarlett.
A man from each family had to marry a girl from the opposing family.
Don acted like he hated these niggas, but they let the shit roll off their backs.
Still, too many of the words being said were too much like fighting words to me, and a nigga had a short fuse. I fucked with the clan, though.
Once Ezio was gone, Don turned his attention to the four of us remaining.
His right and left hand – Matteo and Rut – had even left.
I already knew what this conversation would be about and why we were the only men summoned to stay.
The mob had its perks: fame, access to muthafuckas that you normally couldn’t touch, along with more money, power, and respect a nigga could use in one lifetime were among the few.
But, joining came with the ultimate sacrifice.
“Y’all know why y’all here. So, I need fucking dates. When is you niggas getting married?”
Metavello stood, causing Don to size him up.
“I’m proposing to Discover. I’m just getting shit in line.”
Metavello, or Vello as everyone called him, reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring, flashing that bad motherfucker to us.
Every wife in the mob had a rock on her hand that pushed the next nigga to step up his game when it came to crowning his own Queen.
It was almost like a secret competition – the battle of the baddest bitch with the baddest ring.
Since I had a thing for dark sins, Lorenzo had been winning so far, but with Renello bagging his woman, Pia, and now Metavello with Discover, the three of them were all tied.
All of their women were some fine chocolate shit.
But, make no mistake, all the niggas on the team had beautiful women; it was as if that was a requirement too, even though it had never been said out loud.
That was a given though – rich niggas had to have bad bitches, and a woman’s size, shape, or color didn’t make her bad to me; it was her fucking demeanor, and the made men all had bagged one.
“Nel, since you already proposed to Pia and yo double mint about to do the same, Cuppacios’ y’all can rise the fuck up outta here.”
Nel shot up, height matching his brother’s, “Gladly nigga.”
Shio slowly got up too, not moving right away when Don ordered.
I’d seen the strain on his face many times when Don said some off-the-wall shit because I’d felt those same strains.
Don was a muthafucka, but he was solid. I fucks with him because he kept it real and put a nigga in a better position to win when he didn’t have to— but his mouth sometimes made me want to kill his ass.
“Hold up,” Nel slapped Shio’s chest with the back of his hand.
“What the fuck this introverted ass nigga leaving for? He ain’t got down on one knee nor have we seen him parading a bitch around.”
Shio slapped Nel’s hand away with a frown.
“I thought you niggas were one band, one fucking sound? And worry about yo fucking self. I ain’t fucking with you Cuppacio niggas today.
Every time I’m around y’all, I go home annoyed as fuck.
That shit been rubbing off on my baby. Gone have my lil girl around this hoe, aggravated with life.
Nah, she’s too fucking rich for that so I gotta limit my time in you niggas presence.
Y’all bring out the ugly in me.” Don jutted his chin at the door.
“Fuck you think you bring out in us?” Shio’s frown deepened.
“Beast. I bring the fucking beast and the boss out in you niggas. Y’all never even owned a cufflink before me, and now look, you niggas Dapper like Dan. Fuck out.”
Shio rubbed his chin with a grin that looked more threatening than anything, but he left along with his cousins. I would never question the next man, but Nel was right: Shio hadn’t bagged a woman I knew of, let alone proposed, so I was confused about why I was here and he wasn’t.
“This shit gone end with me murking all them niggas,” Don shook his head.
“You love them niggas Don,” I chuckled.
“I loved my daddy, and I still murked his ass. Love doesn’t mean much to a nigga like me unless it’s from the woman who sits on my face every night—any nigga can go.”
Sitting back in my seat, I knew Don was capping, but I didn’t call him out on it.
He’d indeed killed his father, and that’s how he became Don in the first place, but he cared too much about his family and his left hand to kill them off.
Still, I let him talk. Talking was his favorite damn thing to do.
The nigga was definitely about that action, but he loved to aggravate the hell out of a motherfucker and hear himself ramble.
“Yak, how the fuck you let them niggas beat you? What? Out of all these hoes in the city you can’t find not one?”