“Ok, good, we’ll go with that. Now, I need you two to sit here and get to know more about each other,” my mother was slowly getting on my damn nerves.
“Jesus, mamma,” I scrubbed the palms of my hands across my face.
“Phillipe, these men sense things. The Chinese and the Russians are very smart mothafuckas. If they get a hint that this union is fake, all our future deals are off. Ivan Petrov and his wife, Yelena, will be here tomorrow. Petrov has connections that could help him get his hands on the rarest form of diamond in the world. Do you know how expensive black diamonds are? Your father wants to retire, Phillipe. He’s counting on you,” my mother said, leaning in so she could grab my hand and gently squeeze.
“I hear you. Can I go now? I need to go over something with Snow,” I was about to get to my feet when my mother made a face at me.
“No, you cannot go. I just said you and Dior need to know more personal stuff about each other. Dior, you start. Turn to Phillipe and tell him some things about yourself,” I grabbed my chin and turned to face Dior. She finished off her spaghetti before she looked at me.
“Well, I lived with Lewis, who’s my stepfather, as you know. My biological father died when I was young in an accident on his job. My mother won a settlement, and she became obsessed with money. She met Lewis and wasn’t satisfied financially with her life. So he did everything in his power to make her happy. Which led to us being in debt. My mother got sick with ALS and passed away after a short battle with the disease. She left behind a huge medical bill, which clearly overwhelmed Lewis, forcing him to steal from y’all, I guess.”
“Oh, my best friend’s name is Mia. I have an autistic younger sister named Chanel, and I’m somewhat of a model, who does small jobs because my mother believed being pretty made more money than being smart.”
I hated that after listening to her speak, I began to feel a little bad for what she had been dragged into. I wasn’t about toshow that shit, though. One thing Dior said piqued my interest, and I stopped rubbing my chin.
“What do you think?”
“About what?” she frowned.
“Do you think that being pretty is better than being smart because it can get you rich?” I asked, waiting for her response.
“Two things can be true at once. However, I think using your brain has a lot more advantages than being pretty. For one, it can earn you more respect. Having a pretty face and a banging body can open many doors for you, yes. Then once you get past those doors, how many mothafuckas behind those doors are about to respect you? Most of corporate America is run by men with very big egos,” Dior lifted her eyebrows when she said that and gave me a telling look. I knew she meant me and my little performance a while ago. I smirked at her before I got to my feet.
“I think we're good now, mamma. I have to go over to Snow’s house and discuss something,” I walked over to my mother and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Aren’t you going to tell Dior anything about yourself?” She said, grabbing my upper arm so I couldn’t leave. I turned to the woman I was about to marry and eyed her thoughtfully.
“I think Dior knows exactly who I am. Be a good girl, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I removed my mother’s hand from my arm and walked off. I felt both women’s eyes follow me as I disappeared from the kitchen
“Can you not do that right now. You need to check yourself into rehab,” I looked at Snow as he snorted a line, sitting across from me at his house.
“You in my shit nigga,” he sniffed hard as fuck, tipping his head back while squeezing his nose. I shook my head as I looked around his living room. I wondered where the fuck Cruella was.
“Where’s Ciara?” I asked for my nemesis.
“Upstairs, thinking of more ways to make my life fucking miserable. Are you ready to get married tomorrow?” Snow asked, closing his eyes as his high began to slowly kick in. Lying his head on the back of the sofa, he waited for my response.
“Fuck no. The last thing I wanted was a wife; this some bull-shit,” I shook my head, thinking about what I was about to do for the sake of the family.
“I bet you wish you were on drugs like me, then daddy wouldn’t have expected all of this from you,” Snow said, tapping his temple with his index finger as if he said something that made sense. I made a face at his dumb ass.
“Nigga, how about if you were more responsible, I wouldn’t be doing this shit. Have you ever thought about that? I've been telling your ass you need to stop all this drug shit. You're gonna fuck around and OD one day. Ciara will come home one day, see you sprawled out right on this very ground, and leave your ass to die,” I warned my brother as I always did. Snow and Ciara’s relationship was complicated, toxic, and very fucking messy. Their wedding was only attended by me, and that’s because I acted as a witness. My mother and father tolerated this nonsense of a marriage because they knew they had no choice. Snow was their son, regardless of his fucked up taste in females, and they loved him.
“Every time I try to kick this habit, Ciara pulls me back in. I swear I’m gonna divorce her one day soon, just watch,” He looked over at me, as he reached for my upper arm and squeezed it hard as hell.
“Get the fuck off me, Snow,” I fussed, shrugging out of his grip. He started chuckling as he closed his eyes again. “Did you do what we spoke about?” I lowered my voice as I got to the real reason why I came here. I looked around just to be sure Ciara wasn’t somewhere eavesdropping.
“What’s that?” Snow’s voice was low and barely audible. It sounded as if he was about to go to sleep.
“Aye, wake your goofy ass up!” I shouted, shaking him until he opened his eyes.
“Man, what the fuck? What do you want from me, Buddha?” He turned to me with an annoyed face.
“Nigga, I want to hear you say, you did what the fuck I told you,” I leaned in closer, angry lines creased my forehead.
“I mean I tried, she said she’s keeping it,” Snow shrugged his shoulders as if what he said was good enough.
“Na, nigga you gotta talk some sense into her. If daddy finds this shit out, it’s about to be a blood bath. Not to mention her father will shit a brick, talk to her again, and explain why she needs to get rid of it,” I pointed in his chest. I hated that I had to get into the middle of this shit. My brother kept doing stupid shit.
