Page 86
“Promise?” he mocked, getting a deep laugh from her.
“I promise. Jackass.”
Aella gave her response just as there was a knock at her door. Seconds later, it opened, and Tristan stuck his head in.
“Hey, Elle. I have—oh shit,” he exclaimed upon seeing her with Cassius. “My bad.”
Cassius’ eyes immediately darkened. “Damn fuckin’ right it’s your bad,” he snarled. “Who—”
“Cass, this is my assistant, Tristan,” Aella immediately began introductions before her office turned into a boxing ring. “Tristan, this is my fiancé, Cassius.”
“Nice to meet you,” Tristan nodded. “Elle, I have that profile ready for you to review. I haven’t been able to catch up with you to give it to you.” He handed it over.
“Thanks, Tris,” she said, climbing out of Cassius’ lap as Tristan disappeared.
“Who the fuck is that?” Cassius demanded. “And why is he walking into your office like he owns it?”
“My assistant, babe. And stop it. You wouldn’t be acting like this if he were a woman.”
“I don’t like that nigga, Elle.”
“You don’t like anyone,” she countered, flipping the folder open. Her heart dropped into her stomach upon reading the contents.
“What’s wrong?” Cassius immediately picked up on her shift in energy.
“I’ve been having trouble landing a graphic designer for this project, so Tristan looked into one for me.”
“So why you look so upset? Does their work suck?”
“Nah, it’s actually impeccable,” she replied shakily, realizing her job had just gotten ten times harder. “The problem is that the graphic designer is my sister, Brax.”
“Damn, it’s empty as fuck in here,” Mars commented, strolling through the doors of Sinsation.
“Because I fired everyone,” Cassius said from behind the bar.
Chuckling, Mars plopped onto one of the barstools and folded his hands. “Damn nigga, with no warning. That’s cold-blooded.”
“Everyone received a nice severance package,” Cassius said. “But if I’ma rebuild this shit, then I need to do it right. I couldn’t trust anyone, so they had to go.”
“I feel it. Where do you want to start?”
“Bruh, from what I’ve seen, this shit needs to be gutted and redone. I need a professional cleaning crew, and an interior designer, someone to look over the books and make sure they’re in order…”
“Basically, everything,” Mars finished for his friend.
“Exactly. But what’s up with you? You said you wanted to talk?”
“Yeah, your boy Elio is out of control. I damn near had to chin-check his ass at the pool hall last night.”
“For what?”
“Talking recklessly about Severo’s other daughter. And I mean crazy reckless. I don’t know why he’s so fixated on her, but y’all need to watch his ass.”
“I already know, but I’ll let Severo know so he can keep an eye on him, too. I don’t trust that nigga further than I can throw him.”
“I’ll keep my ear to the streets to see if I hear anything about him moving weird.”
“Bet. Appreciate you. But speaking of you keeping an ear to the streets, have you heard anything about the bullet?”
