2. Welcome to Endless Prosperity COGIC
Two
Welcome to Endless Prosperity COGIC
DESTINY
“You should definitely come out with me tomorrow,” my younger sister, Eden, said. After a few weeks of her being out of town, we finally had the chance to catch up over lunch. I frowned at her then rolled my eyes before taking a bite of my pizza.
“Girl, you know I don’t even go out like that.
” In fact, I could only think of one time when I did.
She took me out to the club to celebrate my twenty-first birthday, even though she was the youngest. All I could remember was how loud it was, and how I was tugging at my too short skirt the entire night.
“I know, but you need to!” she fussed as she stuffed almost a whole slice of pizza in her mouth. “You need to get out and let your hair down… literally and physically, sis. I don’t think I’ve seen you without a damn bun in at least five years!”
“Girl, please. I am good on that.” I found myself fighting the urge to smooth down the middle part on my low curly bun.
I had a lot of hair, and keeping it tied down was the most convenient option.
I didn’t have time to spend hours in the salon like she did, getting her locs retwisted and colored in a different hue every week.
This week she had a honey brown and blonde hue that really suited her.
I wanted her to keep it, but knowing my sister, it would be pink next week.
“No, for real, Des,” she started. “I worry about you. I thought that you would grow out of this, but all you ever do is work and go to church. And you work at the church, so I don’t even think we can differentiate those two. When was the last time you had fun?”
I squinted my eyes, searching for an answer. I was the bookkeeper at our father’s church, so yes, I spent a lot of time there. That wasn’t a crime—I enjoyed what I did. It may not have been as exciting as her career as an art curator, but it worked for me.
“I led Vacation Bible school last month! It was so much fun!”
“Really?” she asked, giving me a deadpan look.
“I mean…” I paused, remembering that lying was a sin. “No, but the kids were cute.” One of the “cute” kids threw up on me, and another popped me in my face. I definitely wasn’t volunteering that information. “What do you have in mind? Since apparently you’re the Fun Formulator!”
“Something that will loosen you up. Girl, last Saturday I met this man at the after hours, went back to his place, and he ate my coochie so good that I almost paid him.” I looked at her with my mouth wide open, not knowing if I was more shocked at the fact that she let a random stranger in her house, the fact that she let him do that to her, or the fact that she sat there so unashamed, telling me this in the middle of a restaurant.
Aside from the few years that my parents sent her away for boarding school and the weird period after she came back, my sister and I were thick as thieves and spoke at least once a day.
“Eden, please,” I groaned, feeling my face heat up instantly. “If that’s what you’re wanting for me, then count me out.”
“Damn, Des… You don’t ever want your coochie ate?” she asked with a stank look on her face like I was in the wrong. She got a notification on her phone and stared at it for a moment in annoyance before hurriedly typing out a response and returning her attention to me.
“Maybe one day, by my husband… and I doubt that any man out there doing that on the first night could be considered husband material.”
“You still on that? Destiny, we are in our thirties!” she said with a disgusted look on her face. “Waiting until marriage sounds like the craziest shit I ever heard. What if you marry some man and find out that he has weak sex? Then what?”
“How would I know it’s weak if I have nothing to compare it to?” I asked with a shrug. Yes, I had urges like everyone else, but that just meant that when I finally did experience it, it would be even more amazing.
“Trust me,” she said with an eye roll. “When you’re celebrating your twenty-year anniversary and realize that nigga never got you off, you’ll know.”
“Well, if I really love him—which I will—that stuff won’t even matter.” I smiled, just knowing that the man that God picked especially for me would find me one day… hopefully soon because the nights seemed to be getting longer.
“Girl, spare me! Don’t come crying to me when you end up stuck with a minute man with minimal equipment because you were too silly to get a sample before you locked in.
Meanwhile, I’ll be out here riding enough dick for the both of us until I find one that makes me wanna settle down!
” she sang, waving her hand in the air like a cowgirl and grinding on her seat like the aforementioned body part was already underneath her.
“Please!” I groaned, feeling like everyone was staring at us, even though no one had even looked up.
That was my sister, bold and unapologetic in everything she did, even if it was riding a fake ding-a-ling in the middle of lunch rush at a restaurant.
Luckily for me, we were able to switch topics as we finished up our lunch.
Once we were done, I hopped back in my car and headed back to work.
I had some housework to catch up on, so I was hoping that I could leave a little early to get a jumpstart on it.
I rushed back to work, driving so fast that I almost hit the huge sign out front that read, “Welcome to Endless Prosperity Church of God in Christ!” I took a beat to bask in the moment, pride spreading through my chest at what my family had accomplished.
My father inherited the church from his grandfather before I was born.
In the span of my lifetime, he took it from a tiny building that could only fit fifty people, to one of the biggest mega-churches in the city.
I knew that I only played a small part in the church’s success, but I still played a part.
“Shoot!” I fussed to myself, noticing that the clock said 12:59. I was due back at one, and tried my best to hustle across the large parking lot to the side door. I made it inside the building and was mid-dash towards my office when a voice calling my name nearly scared me out of my flats.
“Yes, Daddy?” I spun on my heels with a sweet smile.
“You’re late,” my daddy, The Honorable Reverend Isaac William Cooper II scolded, looking at me in disappointment. I looked at my watch, it was 1:03.
“Only by a few minutes, and I—” He cut me off before I could tell him that I came in an hour early.
“And you still expect to get paid for that, right? You tryin’ to cheat The Lord, Destiny?” he asked with a raised brow.
“No sir,” I said softly, all the joy in my mood leaking out of my body. Arguing with him would get me nowhere, and I knew then and there that I would not be going home early that day.
“I would hope not.” The way he glared at me made me shiver in shame. He was an expert on bringing shame out of you that you didn’t even know was there.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized again, trying to keep the peace.
“I was having lunch with Eden, and I must have underestimated the lunch traffic getting back.” I thought the mention of his last born child would have at least warranted a small smile, but all it did was make the frown lines on his face deepen.
“Hmph. No wonder. Of course you’ll pick up bad habits when you’re congregating with the devil herself.
” He spoke without a hint of lightheartedness, as if he really believed my sister was Satan reincarnated.
He continued to fuss about how honesty and integrity were the most important attributes in a good wife, and I needed to tighten up if I ever wanted to get out of his pockets and find a husband of my own.
I just stood there, nodding, with a solemn look on my face before he had enough and finally dismissed me after aggressively suggesting that I stay late to make up for the whole one-hundred eighty seconds that I had missed from lunch.
I closed the door to my office and silently got back to work, filing and sorting receipts and documents to make sure that the church’s funds stayed organized and in check.
Once I was done with my projects for the day, I pulled up the files for the church treasury to make sure that I had all the receipts and expenses submitted for the month end.
Usually, I finished them and sent them to Daddy for approval, but that day something tugged at me to give them another look.
“What the—” My voice trailed off as I eyed the document in front of me.
I knew for a fact that the duplicate charges added on were not entered by me.
They weren’t small charges either—two seven-thousand dollar charges for AC repairs and two fifteen-thousand dollar charges for security installation.
I knew that the heat and air system was installed and fully paid for months ago, and as far as I knew, we had the same security system for the last few years.
After calculating over one-hundred thousand dollars in random double charges, I went back to the previous month’s file, noticing double that amount in charges that I knew I didn’t submit.
I pulled up folder after folder, going back at least a year, and calculating close to three million dollars in reported charges that didn’t add up to anything I had in my records.
I jumped to my feet and bolted from the office.
“Da—”
My words got caught in my throat and my eyes ballooned at the sight of my daddy, back straight against the wall.
The huge man in front of him had him pinned against it with a hand around his neck.
His other hand held a gun that he had pointed in his face.
A pretty woman with long straight hair and a gorgeous cream suit sat in his chair with a pleased expression on her face as she watched.
My first thought was that we were being robbed.
Sleighton was one of the most crime-ridden cities in the nation, so that wouldn’t be too far-fetched.