Manhattan, page 12
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I love you, Louisa. What I’m saying is your decisions are selfish, and they are making choices for me.”
Louisa could tell that he was serious. She also could not deny the fact that he was right. It was inevitable that the day a man like him would grow tired of being in the house. No matter how vast and beautiful Louisa’s home was, the world would always be more appealing. She finally had found someone who chose her, and she was pushing him away. She took a deep breath and took his hand in hers.
“I promise you, Alejandro, I choose you. I swear to you. I have some business to wrap up in New York—”
Alejandro sighed loudly.
“I’m in the middle of business there,” she continued, “but once I’m done, I will be all yours. I’ll leave it all behind. But I have to go back. I flew here just to see you, though, because I missed you so much. Does that not count for anything?”
The part about her reason for flying back to Miami was the truth. She’d taken Marco’s private jet to go home because she missed Alejandro terribly. Plus, it was hot in the city for her, but he didn’t need to know the details about that. The part that she lied about was getting out of the game. He was right about one thing—she was addicted to money. It was something she wouldn’t give up, but they could cross that path when they got there. After she did what she planned to do in Queens, she would give Alejandro the best months of his life. It would be a temporary fix, but a fix nonetheless.
“Okay, mi amore. I’ll hold you to that promise.” Alejandro flashed her his perfect smile and pulled her to him. “Right now, I want you to show me exactly how much you missed me.”
Time heals all wounds.
—Menander
Chapter 21
As the days passed, Boogie’s strength came back to him. Everybody around him was telling him to rest, but staying still wasn’t something he was good at. The only thing he wanted to do was get back in the action, not watch it on television. So he stopped taking his pain medication and relied on natural herbs and water to heal his body. He began eating more, even when he didn’t feel like he had an appetite. When he felt strong enough, he started going on walks around the property and building up his endurance. When he felt that he could lift, he hit the weights. It wasn’t what any physical therapist would have suggested, but he didn’t care. It was painful at first, especially without his medication, but he ate the pain like the beast he was. Soon he grew accustomed to the feeling and was able to work through it without wincing. He still had a little ways to go on the road to recovery, but when he was able to get back in the streets, he wouldn’t be a shadow of who he used to be. He would still be Bryshon Tolliver.
Just like other mornings since he’d gotten back active, Boogie found himself in the gym of the Big House finishing his workouts. His determination drowned out his body telling him it was tired. He would rest after breakfast, but he refused to miss out on any time he could be using to strengthen his body. And he realized the best time was when Roz and Amber were sleeping. He really didn’t want to hear Roz’s mouth, so he always tried to be done before she woke up. He chugged the remaining water in his bottle and prepared to head up to shower.
“You sure it’s safe for you to be working that hard?”
He didn’t have to turn around to know Caesar had entered the gym, but he did anyway. “If you tell Roz, I’ll have to hunt you down and kill you, old man,” Boogie said, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
“Your secret is safe with me,” Caesar said and chuckled. “But seriously, you should be taking it easy.”
“I can’t. The world didn’t stop when I got shot, so I gotta catch up to it.”
“Understood. Have you at least talked to Jillian?”
“You mean the nurse you gave my number to? Yes. She’s been callin’ me every day like a stalker.”
“Well, what does she say about all this?” Caesar motioned his hands around the gym.
“She told me it’s safe to work out, just to know my limits.”
“Don’t go too hard. I know you’re ready to jump back into the action, but this is the part where you have to trust the people around you. Do you?”
“Trust my people? Hell yeah. They stood by me during all this bullshit. It’s just hard. I mean, you understand. You were in my position not too long ago.”
“I do understand. But I also let my body heal while somebody else ran the show for a while.” Caesar raised a brow in a knowing way, and Boogie sighed.
“You think I’m rushin’ it?”
“I think God has given you time. Quality time that you can very well be spending with your loved ones. Because when you jump back in the game, who knows when you’ll have this kind of time again?”
Boogie had been so focused on getting back to 100 percent that he hadn’t even taken a moment to think about what Caesar had just said. He was right. They’d just gotten Amber back, and Boogie should have been spending every waking minute bonding with her. He was so busy thinking about getting out there and making sure that what happened to her would never happen again that he hadn’t celebrated her safe return.
On top of that, Adam was still locked away in the wine cellar. Boogie should have been checking on Roz’s mental state whenever he could. Days had gone by, and she hadn’t gone back to the cellar. She wouldn’t let anybody else go either. He thought it was part of her punishment for him, so he did as she wished. Still, he needed to sit her down and see where her head was at. He was sure she’d never killed anyone before. It changed a person.
“Why do you always gotta show up makin’ so much sense, man?” Boogie groaned.
“Because if I don’t, who will? Come on, I’ll make you some breakfast.”
Boogie’s stomach growled loudly on cue. He was happy that his appetite was back for the most part because he hated forcing himself to eat. Caesar patted him on his sweaty back, and the two of them left the gym, headed for the kitchen. He didn’t know if he had ever said it out loud, but Boogie was glad he had someone like Caesar to guide him, especially during so many ups and downs in his life. Learning about Caesar’s past made Boogie look at him in a different light. By age 18, Caesar was an orphan. He had to grow and guide himself. Boogie found himself thinking about the story Caesar had told him. He glanced over at him as they walked and gave him a curious look.
“Yo, Caesar. Whatever happened to that Nasir cat from back in your day? I’ve never heard you talk about him until recently. He still around?”
“Nasir?” At first Caesar seemed thwarted by the question. His eyes grew dark but then went normal again. “That’s right, I never told you the rest of the story.”
“Yeah. You left off with your dad’s murder, and after that, the pact was formed.”
“That’s right. The pact was formed shortly after that, but there were a few happenings in between. I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you what happened to the Grim Reaper.”
It’s not in you, it’s on you.
Chapter 22
The Past
“Baby, aren’t you gonna eat?”
Caesar knew that Amira was talking to him, but he was too consumed by his own thoughts to respond. Martina had fixed them smothered chicken for dinner, one of his favorites, but he found himself pushing his food around his plate with a fork. Admittedly, Martina was trying everything to get Caesar to eat, but he just didn’t have an appetite. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that he would never experience his father’s presence again. Outside of the home, he showed no signs of weakness due to that fact, but behind the walls of his family home it wasn’t so easy to pretend. The deaths of Joseph and Ed hadn’t even eased his pain. Not in the slightest bit.
“Caesar?” That time when Amira spoke, Caesar looked up from his plate.
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?” she asked, and then a sheepish look came over her face. “I’m sorry. Of course you aren’t okay. Grieve as long as you want, baby. Just please eat something.”
Caesar’s plan had been to buy Amira her own house, but things changed after Cassius died. She moved into the mansion shortly after the funeral, and whereas Caesar was thankful for the company, sometimes he just needed silence.
“I’m not hungry,” he finally answered her.
“That’s the sadness talking. But your body needs food to keep up your strength. Plus, Martina keeps cooking all this food for you to cheer you up.”
“Nothing can cheer me up,” Caesar said, not meaning to sound as dry as he did, but he also didn’t care to clear it up.
“Maybe if you just try—”
“Dammit, I’m not hungry! How many times do I have to say it to be heard?” Caesar’s fist pounded on the table, and Amira jumped. “I wish everyone would just leave me alone.”
“Okay,” she said softly.
When Caesar looked up at her, he saw that she was genuinely hurt. It wasn’t just her expression that said it, but the tears in her eyes spoke to him. He instantly felt lower than dirt. She was just trying to be there for him. He opened his mouth to apologize, but she put her hand up to stop him and ran from the table.
“Dammit!” he said again and put his face in his hands.
He groaned loudly. Nothing around him was going right. His grief was beginning to consume him the exact same way it did when his mother was buried. Nothing and nobody in life could prepare a person for losing a parent. It was just a big bag of pain you carried wherever you went, never putting it down, no matter how heavy it got. It was a losing battle, especially with the entire King empire falling on his shoulders. He needed the cards in his hand to be reshuffled because he didn’t know what to do with them.
The sound of someone clearing his throat took Caesar’s attention from his own thoughts. Standing in the wide doorway of the kitchen was Donald, the King family butler. He was an elderly black man, older than Cassius had been, who always wore a black suit. His hands were clasped and resting on top of his belly as he waited patiently to be acknowledged.
“What is it, Donald? Don’t you see that I’m eating?” Caesar asked, and Donald raised a curious brow as he glanced at his untouched plate.
“I am sorry to interrupt your, uh, dinner, sir. But there is someone here to see you.”
Caesar groaned. He had half a mind to tell Donald to send away whoever it was. In his mind, he could only guess that the person was another family member coming to check on him. Niles’s mother had been the worst of the bunch. Every time he looked up, she was at his door. He sighed. “Who is it?”
“He gave me the name Nasir Lucas. Should I tell him you are busy?”
“No, it’s okay. Take him to the main sitting area. I’ll be there in a second.”
“Of course, sir.”
Donald left, and Caesar stood up from the table. He was dressed formally, as he always was. His father taught him when he was young that a businessman always dressed ready for business. Except at that moment Caesar didn’t know what kind of business Nasir was there on. He hadn’t heard from him since the funeral. But then again, if he and Cassius were business partners, then Nasir getting in contact should have been expected.
Caesar left the kitchen and went to what his mother used to call the “white room.” The name itself was telling. Everything in it was white except for the crystal decor all around it. She decorated it herself and made it off-limits. But when she died, it was hard for him and his father to stay out of it. It was like the white room was the only place in the whole house to carry on her essence, an essence that Caesar needed right that second. When he got there, Nasir was seated patiently on one of the comfortable couches with his arms spread across the top and his legs crossed.
“Caesar!” Nasir stood up upon his arrival.
“Nasir.” Caesar shook his hand before the two men sat down across from each other. “Can I get you anything? Refreshments, maybe something to drink?”
“No, thank you. But I have to say, you are more hospitable than your father ever was,” Nasir tried to joke but Caesar didn’t smile. “I apologize. It’s too soon.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s going to take me a while to get used to him being gone.”
Nasir studied Caesar with what almost seemed to be a concerned look on his face. “How are you holding up, Caesar?”
“Whatever is expected of a man in my position is what I am,” Caesar answered flatly.
“I’m not asking how Caesar the boss is doing, I’m asking about Caesar the person.”
“I never placed you to be the sentimental type.”
“When it comes to the sake of my business, I can be. Because as you know, your father and I were partners. Which means that now you and I are partners. And knowing how you are is important to me.”
It was Caesar’s turn to study him. He was trying to find his angle. But Nasir seemed genuinely interested in seeing where his head was at.
“I guess . . .” Caesar racked his mind trying to find the right words. “Do you know what’s crazy? Pretty much my entire life I knew I would take over the family business one day. I knew that I would be in charge of everything, but I thought I would have more time.”
“With Cassius?”
“Yes. It took his dying for me to realize that I never truly thought the day would come.” Caesar laughed in spite of himself. “A mortal man I knew would die one day, but I was still shocked when it happened.”
“Does that make you feel great sorrow?”
“Only a man without a soul wouldn’t grieve the death of his father,” Caesar said, looking into Nasir’s eyes. “But to succumb to that sadness would be disrespectful to his legacy. He was the king. I was the prince. Now I’m the king and nothing else will fall. I’m sure you heard what happened to the men responsible.”
“I did. I was impressed by how quickly you found out who was behind the deed.”
“I’m a thorough man. I’m not one to let these kind of things fester.”
“It’s a shame they won’t ever get brought to justice. I know the cops were thirsty for some kind of bust.”
“I got my own justice.”
“What I can’t quite understand is how exactly you found out who was behind it.”
“Let’s just say they should have used a revolver.”
“Fascinating. You know, the day your father brought you to meet me, I wondered why he had waited so long to introduce us. At first, I thought it was because he didn’t think you were ready, which could very well be true. But now I understand that he was keeping his best kept secret. He truly bred and brought up the ultimate boss. And you’re so young still.”
Nasir had an intrigued look across his face. It was like he was seeing Caesar for the first time. Caesar couldn’t tell what the thoughts were behind his eyes, but he could see something happening.
“I always find it funny when people are intrigued by my age,” Caesar said. “Maybe it’s because I don’t feel young. I never really got to enjoy my youth the way other boys did. My body is eighteen, but my mind is double that. But still, men only see my body, and they don’t care about my mind. And that’s why everything I do is unexpected by them. That enlists their fear. It makes them see and respect me.”
“Now I didn’t place you to be like your father in that way.”
“Because I’m not. My father purposefully did things to make everyone around him fear him. I simply am myself.”
“Powerful.” Nasir tapped his chin as he took in Caesar’s words. “You impress me every time you speak. I look forward to doing business with you, and I hope you look to me as I did to your father. As a kind of mentor of sorts.”
“I guess that just depends on you.”
“That it does. I’ll be in touch. But before I leave, I have a question for you. Before Cassius was killed, he was attempting what I consider a hostile takeover of the other territories. He had a plan, a crazy one. But it might have worked had he lived. Do you plan on continuing where he left off?”
“No,” Caesar said.
It was a short answer, but the truth. Nasir eyed him curiously, like he knew he was hiding something, but Caesar kept his poker face. He did have something up his sleeve, but it wasn’t to take over anyone’s territory. Cassius’s plan was callous and almost evil. Caesar didn’t see any kind of peaceful resolve in it. All he could see were the other families joining forces to eventually overthrow him. And that thought was what honestly sparked an idea. It might have been crazier than Cassius’s, but in Caesar’s mind it was better. In fact, with the help of Damián, Caesar had successfully set up a meeting with the heads of the other families, something he had decided against telling anyone about. Not even Amira knew, and at that second, he thought better of telling Nasir.
“Good,” Nasir said and stood. “I should be going now. I look forward to doing business with you.”
Caesar walked Nasir to the front door. He watched as he got in his car and drove away. Something about the conversation with him made Caesar remember that, although he had suffered a great loss, he still had much to look forward to. He just had to switch his mindset from thinking that the glass was half empty when it was actually half full.
He thought about Amira upstairs probably pouting, and he smiled, not at her pain, but at how hard she was going to make getting back into her good graces. She would forgive him though, especially when he came upstairs with a bowl of her favorite ice cream.
Sometimes it’s the winner who has to wave the white flag.
Chapter 23
The Past
It didn’t dawn on Caesar how risky what he was attempting was. Not until he, Niles, and a handful of Caesar’s men were filing out of their vehicles. Damián Alverez, Domino Reyes, Wang Lei Chen, and Benjamin Tolliver had all agreed to meet Caesar that afternoon. The designated meeting place was The Museum of Fine Black Arts. It was one of Caesar’s favorite places to go with his mother when he was a boy. But that wasn’t why he chose it. He chose it because the museum was located in Central Park, which was always busy. Caesar figured he would run less chance of something bad happening that way. Still, they were all still so unpredictable.
