“I don’t like not knowing.” Rut folded his arms on the table. “Them niggas somewhere plottin’ and plannin’. They know our land because they’ve been here snatching up women and children right under our noses without us knowing. How do we get in front of this shit?”
Taking a seat at the table, I shook my head. “I agree, and I’m workin’ on it. The good thing is, them niggas have gone underground so the snatching folks up has stopped. But it also means them muthafuckas are still alive, and if I don’t find them before they start movin’ on whatever plans they makin’, a lot of people will be vulnerable.
“I want to bring them niggas down, immediately, but I also want to try and locate as many of the women and children as I can before people start dying. And then that border shit is tricky, especially with that orange balloon in office now.”
“So basically, we ain’t got no fuckin’ plan. And not only is Ines in our debt, he ain’t no fuckin’ help.” Matteo pointed out.
I clicked the screen again, powering it off. “Basically. And on top of all that, Shio is growing impatient. He want them dead for his own reasons.”
“Maybe I can head out there and put my ears to the streets.”
I shook my head. “Nah, Rut. It was a blessing that Teo got out with them Cuppacio niggas. I ain’t trying to send you over there, especially since they are probably expecting us. They may be hiding, but we don’t know what other organization or militia they are working with. Fuck ’round and walk into an ambush.
“Nah… We gone have to wait this shit out, just like I told choir boy, we need to monitor then adjust. Plus, Daylani going into her busy season, and I know you be holding down the home front.”
Rut sat back in his seat. “Nigga, fuck you think this money for? The nannies can hold the home front down, and if not them, my mama and sister are more than happy to step in. Let me help where I can, Don.”
Shit still felt funny when my best nigga called me Don. Rut and I had done hard-ass time together. I was “Ize” to him, and although he still used my nickname sometimes, in business settings, I was Don.
“So, we wait it out…” Matteo tapped the table.
“Yeah. And if Unc get wind of this shit, he gone have a fuckin’ field day.” I chuckled.
Uncle Reuchie was still on ice, orders of his firstborn. Matteo wasn’t playing with his ass about stepping down and being a fucking father and grandfather. He called it “retirement,” and I supported it, but in times like this, I could use Reuchie. He was the one to help mold me for this Don shit. I didn’t learn shit from my daddy but what not to do before I killed his ass. Uncle Reuchie set up moving the Rinaldi Mob to Jagoda Bay and helped bridge connections with the Mecanio Mob and the surrounding mobs.
Now, he spends his days chasing behind Pearla and Princess. When they weren’t paying his ass no mind, he was on the golf course, or auntie was dragging his ass across the globe to shop. Unbeknownst to Matteo, his daddy was texting me every fuckingday trying to get back in. But what my cousin said went because, although this was my shit, I respected Matteo and Rut too much not to consider their stances on certain shit. They were some real day ones.
“What about that Cuppacio nigga? He gone stay low until we get what we need to make a move?” Rut asked as he tapped his fingers on the thick wood.
Shio Cuppacio. Choir Boy. With his slick but not-so-slick ass.
Before I decided to merge mobs with the Cuppacios by letting Ezio marry Jisei, I had to think really hard about the possible consequences. Through all the years that I’d considered bringing the Cuppacios on, my hesitation wasn’t because I’d killed their fathers. It was because of one Cuppacio—Shio.
The nigga was calculated, intelligent, efficient, and God-fearing. Niggas that feared God were a different type of crazy. He was the type that knew he was going to Heaven so anything fucking went during his time on Earth. I always had to be extra careful around the nigga because, unlike his duck-duck-goose-ass cousins, he had some type of love for his pops, and vengeance was real. I didn’t know Solana was on that bugger sugar, but knowing that she was had me smiling. It served his one-step-ahead ass right to have some turbulence in that mind of his. Giving him an ultimatum almost felt as good as busting a nut in Dasani.
“Fuck you over there smirkin’ ’bout?”
“Shio… He’d be a good asset. A good replacement for Reuchie, actually. But he gotta pass the assignments I gave him. We know that nigga is just as bull-headed as the rest, but he thinks he’s smarter than a fucking fifth grader, so he might go against the grain just because he feels like he can.”
Matteo grunted. “That’s cuz that black-ass niggaissmarter than a fifth grader.”
“Facts. I fuck with the other Cuppacios, but it’s a damn near a shocker that they share blood with him. The nigga is like a fuckin’ sponge. All he do is sit back and soak up shit… Be playin’ the background like he don’t know we know his ass playin’ the background. How you think the others gone feel about you possibly pulling him higher up in the ranks than them? Cuz, technically, if we're going by rank, Ezio is supposed to get that spot.”
“Would you want Ezio’s pill head ass to take Reuchie’s spot?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Hell nawl!” both men replied in the same tone.
“Exactly. Besides, my sister wouldn’t go for that shit. Reuchie’s position requires more time from the crib. It will have to take a special type of man to be able to juggle all of it. It’s going to take a man of discipline—a go-getter. One that not only knows how to communicate and problem-solve, but the nigga need to know how to handle being stretched thin. If I give Ezio that seat, I won’t hear the end of Jisei complaining.”
“I’m with Dasani… Jisei really the one runnin’ shit.” Matteo smirked, trying to get under my skin.
Rut kissed his teeth and chuckled. “And Pearla’s young ass don’t run shit? She got all y’all niggas goin’ crazy, and while y’all worried ’bout her, she was somewhere worried ’bout Grind.”
I looked at Rut. “Nigga, hush. You just mad you’n got a sister.”
“Nigga, yo’ mind going bad. Yo’ ass done met Reesh. My sister solid as fuck,” Rut replied, but he wasn’t getting a response out of me until I made Matteo eat his words. Besides, Rut may have had a sister but she wasn’t up in the mix.
“I can’t help that i’m the one the ladies call on. They knowBig Dongone come through in the clutch when the rest of you niggas somewhere mean mugging and mad at the world and shit.”
