“That’s worse.”
I looked away because I didn’t feel like having that conversation. She let the silence linger for a minute before speaking again. “The men inside want blood.”
“I know this Luciana.” I grilled her.
“They want you to retaliate.”
“I know that as well. You don’t have to keep reminding me of that.”
“And are you going to?” She quizzed with her eyebrow slightly raised.
That question had been hanging over my head since the funeral. Was I going to retaliate? Was I going to give everybody what they wanted? The bodies, the blood, the violence. Or simply having to show proof that I was not weak. I thought about it for a second before answering.
“No.” I allowed my mouth to respond before my mind even processed it. I wasn’t sure at all. Luciana looked at me like I was crazy. I continued, “Not right now,” I added. “I’m not making decisions from grief. That’s how people end up dead for no reason.”
“And if they mistake your patience for weakness?”
I shrugged lightly. “Then they’ll learn.”
Because I wasn’t weak, I had a heart and I was grieving and there was a difference. I finished the last of the wine in my glass and looked back out over the property. The sun had dropped even lower now, making everything look softer than it really was and calmer.
“I’m tired,” I said finally.
Luciana nodded. “Then sleep La Reina, because you’re going to need it.”
“I can’t.”
“You will eventually.”
I looked down at the ring on my finger again and at the chain around my neck. Literally looked around at everything around me that El Blanca left me. “I don’t think people understand what it feels like,” I said quietly. “To lose somebody and inherit all their enemies at the same time.”
Luciana’s expression softened up a little bit. “No,” she responded. “Most people will never understand that.”
That was the loneliest part of all because everybody around me kept calling me strong, but none of them understood what strength actually cost. I stood out there for another few minutes before turning back toward the house. Towards the life that belonged to me now whether I wanted it or not and somewhere in the back of my mind, under all the grief and responsibility and anger, Dom still existed there too. Like he always did because he’s the only one that gave me a chance when I could’ve easily been killed.
DOMINIC ROYAL
Carmen was upstairs sleep, getting some rest when I left the mansion and for the first time since that courthouse shit happened, she looked peaceful. That was the only reason I felt comfortable enough to leave for a little while. Before I walked out the room, I stood there for a second just looking at her. She was curled up on her side with one hand tucked under her face and the other resting on her stomach. The blanket was pulled up over her body, and for a minute I let myself stand there and appreciate what the fuck I almost lost.
Then I kissed her forehead, told Deekamo and two of the shadows not to move from outside that room, and left. By the time I got to Royal Enterprises, Tone was already there waiting on me in the conference room upstairs with Dique, Rell, Marco, and Zo. A few of the younger soldiers stood near the back wall, but they wasn’t part of this. This wasn’t no cartel move. This wasn’t something big enough to bring the whole army down on somebody. Nah, this was personal.
Tone had pictures spread across the table, along with printouts, burner numbers, maps, and screenshots from cameras all over the city. He had one of the laptops open in front of him and the room smelled like weed smoke, and the takeoutcontainers Dique had been eating out of while waiting on me. It smelled like it could’ve been some griot and black rice.
“About time,” Dique said around a mouthful of rice. “You know I had to come all the way from Keondra house for this shit?”
I looked at him while I took my jacket off. “You ain’t had to come from nowhere. You wanted to come.”
“Damn right I wanted to come,” he said, swallowing his food and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Them pussy ass niggas tried it in broad daylight. I been waitin’ all damn day.”
Tone slid the laptop around so I could see it better. “We got him.” he said. I looked down at the screen. The nigga name was Jermaine “Maine” Cooper. The leader of Riverside. Nigga was in his Mid-thirties and had done time twice before on some drug charges, a few robberies, and guns…. just some gang shit. He wasn’t the shooter; however, he was the one who put the hit together after Carmen got Kilo off.
“You sure?” I asked.
Tone nodded his head. “Yeah, the shooter dead but this the one who put the money behind it. He thought if Carmen got Kilo off, it would make them look weak in the streets. They wanted to make an example. Now we bout to show’em what one look like.” Tone was my evil twin in this world always down for whatever needed to happen.
I stared at the picture for a little longer and he looked regular. That was the crazy part about people like him. They never looked like what they really was. He was just another hood nigga with tattoos, gold teeth, and dead eyes. Somebody mama probably still called him handsome.
“Where he at?” I asked.
