Manhattan, page 11
“Barry’s death was what ignited the war.”
Namir’s head was starting to hurt. He’d been gone a single year, and so much had drastically changed. If Matteo weren’t telling the story with a straight face, he wouldn’t have believed him.
“Okay, continue telling me about this Boogie character.”
“When he went to war with the other families, he needed a bigger army. So with Bosco dead—”
“He came to Staten Island to set up shop.”
“More than that. He completely took over everything. And he had the manpower to do it.”
“You let him?”
“You don’t know Boogie. He didn’t give Stefano much choice.”
“And what did he do to earn your loyalty that quickly? They killed your brother.”
“And now I have other family to think about. Boogie did what nobody dared to do. He went to war with every family at the same time, and I think he would have won. That motherfucka isn’t somebody you want to cross. He’s a monster in human form. I thought he was gonna kill everybody, but then the fighting just seemed to stop.”
“So they aren’t feuding anymore?”
“No, but like I said, the Chinese pulled away from the table. And with the fifth seat open, I’m sure it’s not hard for you to guess what happened next.”
“He converted the Romano family.”
“Yes, he did. Which means all our money goes that way.”
“And what if I just kill you right now for your disloyalty?”
“You could, but that wouldn’t change the fact that you won’t be making another dime from us.” Matteo shrugged. “My advice to you is that maybe you should be more hands-on in business. And a second piece of advice would be to go to the head honcho himself.”
Namir wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in the middle of Matteo’s eyes, but he didn’t. If what Matteo said was true, it wouldn’t solve anything. But there was more to it than that. From the moment Namir stepped inside the office, he’d noticed a carelessness about the Italian man. Even while Matteo was explaining, there was no regret in his voice, no fear of consequence. It was almost like he was untouchable. No . . . protected. He couldn’t help but think that Matteo even explaining anything was more out of respect than duty.
Namir glared at him and stood. He didn’t say a word when he left the office. The moment he stepped out, his men knew to assume the same formation to lead him back to his vehicle. Once he was safely in the back seat of the Wraith, Namir pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
“Son! Did you get that handled on Staten Island?” Nasir Lucas’s voice sounded on the other end.
“Dad,” Namir sighed, knowing that what he had to say his father wouldn’t want to hear. “I’ma tell you what was just told to me. And it’s bad.”
There’s no order in chaos.
Chapter 20
“Ma’am, let me get your bag!”
The voice belonged to a man on Louisa’s payroll, Nolan. She’d just stepped off her private jet in Miami, Florida. The air was hot and humid, and she welcomed the beating sun on her tanned skin. She tossed her monogrammed Louis Vuitton Keepall to Nolan and walked on the runway to an awaiting white Range Rover. Once she was in the passenger seat, she touched up her makeup and waited for her luggage to be loaded into the back. One thing Louisa loved was being a beautiful woman, and she would do anything to keep her youth. As she looked in the mirror of the sun visor, she noticed a line underneath her right eye.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she said and covered it with concealer.
She made a mental note to get it touched up with some Botox while she was in town. After applying another coat of red lipstick, she flipped the visor back up and let out an impatient sigh. She was growing bored with the scenery around her and wanted to leave.
“You aren’t finished yet?”
“Almost, Louisa. We just didn’t expect you to come back with so many things,” Nolan said as he and another stacked the last of her bags in the back. “We would have readied a different vehicle if we knew.”
“Shopping always helps me when I have a lot on my mind.”
“I see.” Nolan got into the car and looked back at the jet as if he were waiting for someone else to step off. “No Daniella?”
It was the first time since she had died that someone had spoken her name in Louisa’s presence. It would have been nice to say that she felt some sort of remorse from killing her only niece, but she didn’t. There was no regret. When Louisa heard the heartfelt way that Zo was talking to Daniella, she realized that he probably wouldn’t stop at anything to get her back. He wanted Daniella to see his love for her and their family, and eventually Louisa knew Daniella would see it. Not only did that make her a liability, but it also meant she would choose someone else over her, just like Marco had. The only reasonable thing to do at that point was to kill Daniella. If Louisa couldn’t have her, no one could. She thought about killing Christina too so Zo would understand what it felt like to be all alone, but what Louisa had up her sleeve was much sweeter.
“She won’t be coming, now or ever.”
“Oh,” Nolan said and then understood what the words meant. “Oh.”
“Never speak her name to me again.”
“She’s already forgotten.” Nolan gestured as if he were throwing something out the window before driving off.
“Good. How is my money looking?”
“Up ten percent from last week.”
“Good. What about weapons and drugs distro?”
“All orders went out three days ago. There is one little problem.”
“And that is?”
“G Baby in Little Haiti. He’s claiming we shorted him again. He just got his order today.”
“Again? Hmm, that seems to insinuate that there was a first time.”
“Never. The little fuck is just trying to get more for nothing. I don’t even know why we do business with that hood trash. I say we clear them out completely and take the territory.”
“As appealing as that sounds, I’ve already ignited one war. I don’t have the time to entertain another.”
“So what do you want to do? They’re talking about retaliation.”
“Take me to him.”
“Now?”
“Right now.”
Nolan called back to the SUV following them and told them that they were switching destinations and to follow them. He also told them to make sure they were on high alert due to the territory they were traveling in. G Baby was young, about 25, and rough around the edges. He wasn’t one to be fooled with, and on Louisa’s rise to power, she made it her job to know who Miami’s heavy hitters were. She wanted them on her side or on no side. G Baby was just one of those people nobody could tame no matter how hard a person tried, so instead, she just kept him in check. Everyone knew that Louisa was the biggest weapons and drugs connect in all of Florida. Being on her bad side was like standing in front of a train as it passed. You just didn’t want to do it, and she was going to remind him.
G Baby and his crew were at one of the main stash houses they did business at. It was a peach-colored one-story house, and Louisa spotted G Baby’s green Camaro parked in front of it. Every house surrounding was either abandoned or owned by G Baby’s crew. It was almost the perfect setup. Nolan parked the SUV and got out to open Louisa’s door. Her Bottega Veneta wire-stretch heels graced the concrete, and she smoothed out her formfitting skirt suit when she stood up.
As she began walking to the front door, the men from the SUV following hers got out and rushed to her. There were eight in total, and they filed behind and to the sides of her. When she got to the porch, she saw someone peek out quickly from the blinds of the window, and Louisa waved at the camera on the porch ceiling. Suddenly, two black men appeared on the flanks of the house. They were identical twins. Both had long braids and chocolate skin. The intimidating tattoos on their faces were probably the only indicator of who was who. They pointed automatic weapons toward Louisa and her entourage, giving them an evil stare. Louisa’s men drew their own weapons and prepared for a gunfight if need be. Louisa told her men to hold it by putting her hand up.
“Maybe you two were on a lunch break, but the whole purpose of having you outside is to make sure people don’t make it up here.” Louisa pointed at where she stood on the porch. “But since I’ve made it this far, be dolls and have G Baby open the fucking door.”
The twins didn’t say a word. In fact, they didn’t even look at each other. One of them pulled a walkie-talkie from his pocket and radioed inside. Louisa couldn’t hear what he said into it, but moments later, the front door opened, and there stood a shirtless G Baby holding an AR pistol. He was a young man, but the wrinkles on his face aged him about ten years. He wore his locs in thick wicks and had a mouth full of gold teeth. From the pissed-off expression he wore without trying to hide it, Louisa could tell that he wasn’t thrilled about having her on his doorstep.
“G Baby, just the man I wanted to see,” Louisa said, smiling.
She ignored his guns and gently pushed him out of the way with her fingers so she could step inside. Nolan and four of her men stepped in with her and cased the place like a Section 8 inspection. G Baby hadn’t been in the house alone. There were two others seated at a table against the wall, placing money in a money counter. In the center of the table was a pile of kilos of cocaine.
“Louisa, you can’t be just showin’ up at my shit like this,” G Baby said in a deep baritone voice.
“I can when you’re accusing me of shorting you.” Louisa smiled pleasantly, and G Baby glanced quickly at the table with the drugs.
“Yeah.” G Baby balled his fists. “I paid for fifteen kilos, and your mans here dropped off ten.”
“And why didn’t you address it in the moment?” Louisa asked.
“’Cause. We been doin’ business for so long, I thought I could trust you.”
“You should know to never trust anyone in this line of business. Well, I’m here now. Let’s get it corrected. Let me count the kilos in the order you just got today. I’m sure you haven’t cut it yet.”
Louisa stood patiently and watched an uncomfortable expression come over G Baby’s face. She knew by the wrapping of the kilos on the table that they were hers, so she made a step toward them. G Baby sidestepped in front of her, and to her surprise, there was a sneer there.
“You don’t have to count anything. I told you it was short, and that’s all you need to know.”
She wished that she could say she was surprised by his bravado, but she wasn’t. In fact, she expected it, especially since her eyes had already counted the fifteen kilos on the table. One thing about Louisa was that she didn’t like to lose money or just give it away. Behind G Baby, she saw the men snatch shotguns from the bottom of the table.
“You made a mistake by comin’ here, chica. You might think you run Miami, but right now this is my kingdom. And you just walked into a bear’s den.”
“Funny. That’s my favorite animal.” Louisa smirked right before she made her move.
She snatched G Baby’s weapon from his hands and put the muzzle under his chin. It wasn’t hard to do. One thing she noticed about a lot of men was that they couldn’t multitask. While G Baby was busy trying to intimidate her, she saw the grip on his gun loosen, making him vulnerable, and Louisa loved a vulnerable man. They were the easiest to conquer. Louisa’s men had their pistols pointed at the other two men who had jumped to their feet. When they saw what the odds were, they reluctantly lowered their shotguns.
“Bitch!” G Baby grumbled.
“I get that a lot.” Louisa flashed her pearly whites. “You just ruined a good thing for yourself, G Baby. Your operation isn’t even big enough for me to give you so many kilos, but I do because I know you can sell it. But you see where my niceness got me? I am trying to feed you a feast, but you are gluttonous. You should have repaid my generosity with loyalty, but instead you pay me in deceit. And now here we are.”
“We should have taken you out a long time ago.”
“Except you can’t, can you?” Louisa taunted him and kissed his cheek, leaving red lipstick on his dark skin. “Nobody is dumb enough to do what you have done. Take the men behind you for example. They stood down instantly. If it were I in your shoes, my men would have lit this entire house up with no regard for themselves. They would die for me. And if your men won’t die for you, what makes you think they’d go to war for you?”
He was quiet. Yet another way Louisa liked for men to be. There was no doubt about it—she had grown addicted to the power she held. G Baby’s heart was still inside his body, but she felt like she was holding it in the palm of her hand. It was a beautiful and yet terrifying thing, having control over whether someone lived or died. And of course the answer with him was simple. He had to die. She squeezed the trigger of the AR pistol one time. The shot was loud, and she watched the bullet enter through G Baby’s chin and exit out the top of his head. His blood painted the ceiling, and a couple splatters got on her cheek.
Louisa watched as he collapsed to the ground, dead, and on her cue, her men fired on the two men by the table, killing them instantly. Louisa dropped the gun by G Baby’s body and turned around to exit the house.
“The drugs,” Nolan reminded her.
“Leave them,” she said and left the house. Outside, the twins had been disarmed and were standing to the side, visibly shaken. It didn’t take a neuroscientist to realize what had just happened. Louisa stared at them and pointed. “You two. This is your operation now. Show me that two heads are better than one.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they replied in unison.
“Clean that mess up and do damage control on the block. If they saw something, be very convincing when you tell them they didn’t.”
With that, she and her men got back into their vehicles. As Nolan pulled away, Louisa noticed a few blood droplets on her pink skirt. She groaned out loud and envisioned killing G Baby a second time. As irritation crept up on her slowly, she reminded herself that she was finally on the way home. The thought of what was waiting for her cleared away all feelings of disdain.
* * *
A beautiful melodic voice sang through the speakers in her room as Louisa sashayed back inside her room from the connecting balcony. That night, there was a cool breeze that whipped her sheer robe up, revealing that she had on nothing but lingerie. In her hand was a glass of champagne, her third of the night, and it wouldn’t be her last. As she walked back to her canopy bed, she moved her hips to the music, enjoying her buzz.
“Did you enjoy the view, my love?” The voice belonged to a handsome brown man lying in her bed with his head propped up on his hand.
His name was Alejandro Valdez, an immigrant from Mexico whom Louisa had made the foolish mistake of falling in love with. She had no idea how she’d allowed it to happen. One minute she was hiring a driver to get her to and fro, and the next she was in bed with him. Alejandro was twenty years younger than her, but he could keep up with her, and she with him. He made Louisa feel things in places she didn’t know existed. With every other man in her past, it had just been about sex. An orgasm was the only emotion she was willing to allow a man to have of hers. However, Alejandro came through like a construction man and tore down all the walls she’d put in place to protect herself.
It was hard to let him in at first, especially since the only man she’d ever loved was her brother, Marco. She’d never been in love with anybody because everyone close to her had hurt her deeply. Even Marco had when he chose Christina and his kids over her. But Alejandro was different. He was hers. She was in the process of getting him his green card so he would never be taken away from her. Louisa was scared to lose him, which was why she kept him a secret from everyone, even Nolan. Marco also hadn’t been told about him when he was alive. He’d become the closest thing to her heart, and that meant he was her weakness.
“It was beautiful. Did you know the moon was full tonight?” She giggled and got in bed with him.
“I haven’t paid attention to anything except you all evening,” he said, kissing her lips.
Alejandro took the wineglass away from her and placed it on the nightstand on his side of the bed. The two of them spent the next couple of minutes lying down and staring into each other’s eyes. There was a softness and vulnerability that Louisa didn’t know was inside of her. He was so beautiful with his dark brown hair and chiseled face. His lips had a natural pout that made her want to kiss them all the time. He must have been reading her mind, because the next thing she knew, his lips were on hers again. He kissed her deeply. Their tongues intertwined in a dance of passion until she came up for air.
“I missed you,” he said to her with his thick accent, and she smiled.
“I missed you too. I wish I could be here with you all the time.”
“Then why don’t you? You don’t need to be out there all the time. What you do is dangerous.”
“Alejandro, we’ve been over this many times. My business is what affords us this lifestyle.”
“I don’t need a luxury lifestyle to be happy. I just need you.”
“Really?” she asked dreamily.
“I would not lie to you, my love. But . . .” Alejandro sat up in the bed and sighed.
“But what?” Louisa jolted up, noticing the frustrated look on his face.
“I don’t know if I can do this, Louisa. You always have me in the house. I never get out. I can’t live like this.”
“I keep you in the house to keep you safe. I don’t want anything to happen to you because of me.”
“And what do you expect of me? To live like this forever because you are so busy chasing money?”
“We can’t live without money, Alejandro.”
“And when will you have enough money, Louisa? I don’t think you are running the show anymore. I think you are addicted to it. And if you continue to choose that life over the one you can have with me, then . . .”
“Then what?” Louisa asked when his voice trailed off. “What are you trying to say, Alejandro, that you don’t want to be with me?”
