PROLOGUE
M E S S I A H
‘Examine what is said, not who is speaking’ these words danced slowly in my mind to hypnotize, and capture the attention of my reality as I continued to drive to my intended destination.
These words were held by the hands of deeply given wisdom and I was lucky enough to not only know them, but understand them. I knew they were the reason I stood where I stood in life, my ability to capture knowledge from all no matter the source which it came from.
I learned from my friends, my enemies, life and even death himself. I wasn’t bound to my ego and maybe that was the reason I remained alive for this long while being on top, or maybe it was my vigilant approach to everything, even love.
My father would always tell me “Prevention betta than cure” and I lived by that statement. It was the reason I was here. My care and observation when it came to the small things, my calming silence in the middle of chaos—my attention’s ability to divide itself in several different ways and still be whole.
I knew all because I knew, I knew nothing at all.
That fact was humbling and powerful in the same breath, then again isn’t the most powerful man always the most humble?
It’s not a mistake that this is a recurring reality, it is—it’s just once you have it all you realize that money isn’t happiness, it simply gives you the freedom to explore happiness. In other words, when you stop surviving you can finally live.
Money damn sure ain’t the key to happiness but it is a fucking map to the key.
My gaze scanned the sidewalks in search of D; sidewalks that held bodies moving, sitting, talking, gathering, etc, but when I realized he wasn’t in his usual spot my attention then took a hold of the first familiar face I could find.
My hands worked together to direct my car to the side of the road while a sigh left me, and I quickly sent down the front passenger window to my car with a blow of my horn. The sound seemed to fly past the man who was busy talking to a woman whose entire demeanor screamed trouble, and I could tell that with ease.
I mean after years of witnessing women being used to take lives you can tell. I could tell the ones who could transform into the hands of death, and the ones who could lead you to the hands of death, it was a gift I was grateful for. It keeps me away from harm, and keeps me thinking with my brain instead of my pussy, because the devil is still an angel, the motherfucker just got different intentions and a different name, but the appearance is the same.
My palm pressed into the steering wheel twice more to release a shout, and this time it had him turning back to look for the source with a frown of what seemed to be annoyance.
But the annoyance quickly died as his eyes caught the sight of me, and with a motion of my head to perform a silent guide for him to approach me, he began to jog over. The woman who he was with eyes met me, and with a fold of her arms and a frustrated lick of her lips that was performed with an eye-roll, I saw the split in her tongue.
Serpent...the devil in disguise.
That wasn’t my concern though, not until it started fucking up my money and I hoped it wouldn’t. I mean I had no problem killing a snake, especially when I wasn’t afraid to handle anything that looked like a lizard, but dirty hands leave trails behind.
“Yow what’s up?” He asked the second he settled before my vehicle, which had my eyes refocusing on him.
“Where’s D?” I asked as he bent his body so we could be eye to eye.
Respect.
I respect a soul, who knew themself enough to meet my eyes, it spoke volumes while being a silent act.
“Oh, he up on Rinitt Avenue,”
“Aitte, thanks,” I voiced and he nodded before pulling away and turning to return to the girl, who I offered another glance before rolling up my window while simultaneously pulling off.
I pushed my torso back against my leather seat, which had my right arm being extended a bit more as I drove, while my left fell to plant itself on my thigh.
Ten years of being in charge, and at the age of thirty-four I have come to realize that the game never changed, people did. My rules though—my rules remained the same, and if you played the game with me, you had to play by those rules, or not play at all.
One: No killing on Sunday.
I mean I wasn’t no Christian or nothing but I had family members who were, and elders who were as well, so outta respect for them every beef, and business paused on Sunday. No killing, no selling, no nothing—at least with our people. Plus the last thing I wanted was for someone to shoot up a church tryna kill an opp, or even worse, for someone’s grandmother not to return home because they caught a stray.
Two: No killing of women or kids.
That shit ain’t gotta be explained.
Three: OGs get their respect.
Also ain’t gotta be motherfucking explained.
Four: We don’t sell hard shit to our people.
Another rule that don’t need motherfucking explaining.
Five: No recruiting of anybody under twenty.
There were a lot more rules to this game I led, but those were the ones that could not be forgiven.
The image of D had me moving my hand in quick motions as I slowed down to pull over, and he immediately caught the sight of my vehicle and began to approach it, but the reality of what I had to discuss with him had me winding down my window.
“Nah we gotta talk,” I announced, stopping his incoming movement of opening my car door as I placed the vehicle in park and he nodded without a word.
I quickly removed myself with a grab of my key after turning the car off with a push of its button. My feet planted themself against the asphalt and I pushed the door closed behind me while directing my gaze to D, after cautiously scanning our surroundings.
“You hungry?” I asked him as I began moving around the car since I knew it was better we kept it moving, just for safety reasons.
Overly careful but alive.
“Where you thinking?” He asked without hesitation since he already knew what I was on. After all this time our conversations became silent, and our codes were the same, silence and glances that displayed a lot.
“Gloria’s,” I expressed as I stood before him while looking around for a familiar face to watch my car just in case, and lucky enough I found a few.
“Buggy,” I called out to the boy, who stood by the light post a few steps away with his group of his friends since I knew the calling of his name was the prompt for his friends as well.
As expected they all moved over to D and I with a sense of urgency as I retrieved my wallet from my back pocket with the intention of paying the group of kids, who I knew were no older than thirteen, to watch my car while I was gone.
“Watch my ride for me,” I guided without going into particulars since it wasn’t my first time paying them to do so. They knew the rules, and as young as they were, they knew the game, sadly, and additionally, they weren’t stupid. They knew what to look out for and what was a no-no.
“Aitte,” Buggy agreed as I pulled out three hundred dollars to hand each of them and they took it gladly, leaving D and I to walk off as I returned my wallet to my back pocket before pushing my key in the front.
Our silence continued since we both knew the conversation was supposed to begin after we got our meal, it’s how it always went, and after years it was one of the many rules we held and followed.
It went from this to no talking about business in cars, or in any buildings, especially ones we ain’t own. We had rules when it came to how we operated and we followed them without any shortcuts each and every time.
At least I did, with others it was most times.
D had been with me since I entered this game. He had my back and I had this. I was the biggest don the hood had ever seen, and I was clean. No arrests—no nothing that could create a record.
D, Ky and I were all away from the system, we got dirty but always kept our hands clean. D, and I started off as corner boys and ended up running the shit in a six-month turnaround and have been running it ever since.
D, Ky and I have always been close, well as close as one could get to me. Ky and I were both shared best women at D’s wedding. Real close and maybe that’s the reason we have remained in power for so long because, in a game that usually left you without trust for anyone to hold onto, we had each other.
“Whatchu want?” I asked him as we began to take our final steps to our destination.
“Get me an egg sandwich and an orange juice,” He replied and I offered a nod as I reached for my wallet once more while moving over to the window where I was supposed to order.
The dining area was outside with only a pair of guys seated at one of the five tables, which was located on the opposite side of where I stood.
“Unc,” I spoke aloud in greeting to the random elder, who was busy smoking a cigarette with his hand against the counter, and he offered a simple nod in response as I directed my gaze to the server on the other side of the window. “Morning,”
I ain’t never seen this server before.
He gotta be new to the neighborhood.
“Mornin’ what you needing today?”
“Let me get an egg sandwich, a orange juice, and a cold bottle of water to-go,”
“Aitte,” The man said as he continued to tap away on the calculator before him. “That’s gon be fifteen dollars,”
Fifteen?
A sigh left me as I removed my wallet knowing I didn’t carry anything under a fifty in my pocket, and I could only hope I had one of those...but hope failed me as I looked inside of my brown leather wallet to see only hundreds remaining.
“You got change for a hundred?” I asked him curiously as I pulled out a hundred from my wallet with the silent hope that he did.
“Nah,” He replied, and his answer had me turning my head to look back at D, as I wondered if he did since he usually had a small bill or two when he had been in the pit for the majority of the day. “It’s on the house,”
His words had me turning to face him once more to see him receiving the food I had ordered from someone else inside, and I released a miniature chuckle at his kind gesture or maybe a fearful one as I returned my wallet to my back pocket, but kept my hundred in hand.
“Better yet,” I said as he pushed the food out onto the small counter attached to the window. “I’ll give you the hundred, and you leave the tip for Gloria, tell her it’s from me,”
“O-okay,” The man spoke and the manner in which he responded as I placed the money down to retrieve the food, had me knowing that his earlier gesture was fueled by fear. The unfamiliarity of his face only served to amplify that thought as I came to realize that he probably knew who I was from the whispers of stories.
He still looking fearful.
Fucking Confirmation Bias.
He probably just waiting on something for his assumptions and reality to be aligned.
“Thanks,” I voiced as I turned to walk away after sending a dismissive nod towards the elder beside me. My incoming steps had D dividing his attention between his cautious scans and me.
“You ain’t get nothing heavy for the stomach?”
“No, I already ate,” I revealed as I handed him his sandwich and drink.
“Aitte, thanks,” He replied with a nod as we began to walk back to my car while he simultaneously removed the wrapping from his sandwich.
The gaze from the sun had our beautifully melanated skin shining as we walked along the sidewalk with the sound of cars passing, as well as random chatter sounding around us.
“Whatchu think about Loyal?” I asked him as I turned my head towards him to find him keeping a watchful gaze over a group of kids crossing the street.
“Loyal?” He asked, frowning with a look towards me before taking another bite from his sandwich.
“The muscle in the pit,” I explained but his confusion remained, which only had my mind creating other statements of description. “He the one with the braids that’s usually in charge of the re-up down there when Keem out,”
“Oh, yeah,” D voiced with a knowing nod of his head before he swallowed his food. “I been watching him,”
“And whatchu think?”
“I think he could run,” D stated and the gospel that was his word had me cementing Loyal’s spot.
“Aitte, get him by the club later on,” I guided as we came closer to my car.
“I’ll get on that,” He informed me as we settled by my car and I offered a dismissive tap to his shoulder since both his hands were occupied. “Stay safe out here,”
“Same to you man,” I told him while moving around my car with the intent of entering. “Imma see you right?”
“Yeah you gon see me,” He confirmed and I offered a nod as I pulled my door open before getting inside.
