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Priest chuckled with a shake of his head. He maneuvered around her, trekking toward the nightstand where his wallet rested. He retrieved his Amex black card and handed it over to her as he always did whenever she needed something.

"What's my budget? I know you've been penny pinching since you've gone part-time," she jested with a full laugh.

"Get the hell out of my face, clown," he said to her as they both shared some laughter.

Britain decided to let up on her jokes and say her goodbyes to him. "See you later. I love you." She puckered her lips up at him.

"I love you too,Gioia. Be safe," he told her before craning down and peppering her lips with a few light pecks. He madesure to send her off with an encouraging smack on her ass, giving her all the motivation she needed to get out of the house.

Britain left the bedroom, traveling downstairs, where Jazzy was awaiting her. As a kind gesture, she had coffee in hand for Britain. Although Britain didn't need much of an energy boost after her morning with Priest, she was just like her mother and couldn't deny coffee even if she wanted to. Once she grabbed the keys to the Range Rover, the ladies exited the estate and headed to the financial institution to withdraw the funds.

"Thank you for doing this for me," Jazzy expressed her gratitude to Britain once more.

Britain let out a light sigh as she nodded her head. "Jazzy, what I'm doing is really a big deal. I'm lying to P. He and I never lie to each other," Britain advised her. It wasn't hard to believe that to be the case. Priest wasn't a fan of lying; he was actually horrible at it, so Jazzy knew Priest and Britain's relationship was built on nothing but honesty. This made Jazzy even more appreciative of Britain.

"Yeah, I know," Jazzy sighed. "I swear I'll get your money back. I just need some time," she assured Britain.

"Oh, I know I'm getting my money back," Britain stated confidently, followed by a scoff, indicating that Jazzlyn had no choice. This evoked some laughter out of Jazzy. Although Britain was lighthearted about a lot of things, Jazzy heard a sense of seriousness in her tone, letting her know that a return was mandatory when it came to this loan.

While Jazzy grew forty stacks heavier and Britain lighter, Priest was back at the estate getting ready for something he had been putting off longer than he needed to. After strapping his Richard Mille watch around his wrist, he glanced toward the mirror that decorated one of the walls of the bedroom. He peered at his reflection, having no urge to encourage himself with the confidence he usually carried around.

"Get it the fuck together, Priest," he grumbled to himself as he reached up and straightened the chains around his neck.

Taking a deep breath, he smoothed his hands down his shirt before doing his usual routine. "Priest Kanaz Justice," he reminded himself. Any other time, he would have believed what had just left his mouth. That would have assured him that eventually he would have everything figured out. Right now, it felt like the opposite.

Not wanting to dissect his lack of confidence in himself further than he already had, he decided to take whatever version of himself he was getting at the moment and exit the bedroom. The trip down the staircase was swift. He crossed the family room and headed straight to the kitchen to grab something light to hold him over for the day.The sight of J'Ru and Kaymen within the kitchen wasn't what Priest preferred at the moment. He was counting down the hours until the jet was ready for the men and Jazzy to make their departure from Italy and return to The States.

"Morning," he said, keeping his greeting brief as he assessed the fridge for something to eat.

"Morning," a greeting was returned from Kaymen and Kaymen solely, which was typical of J'Ru and unsurprising to Priest.

"You'll be back to see us off, right?" Kaymen raised a brow as he glanced up from his phone momentarily. Whether they were having their differences or not, they were always expected to be there for each other to say goodbyes. It was a respect thing—a family thing—and the three men always stressed it.

Priest retrieved one of the mason jars that contained some overnight oats before turning around to face Kaymen. "I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders. "I'll see."

Although J'Ru didn't utter a word when Priest greeted him, he felt compelled to say something now. "You'll see?" Hechuckled dryly. "You dragging this shit again. We say goodbye to each other in a respectable way, regardless of the situation," he reminded Priest.

"See, there you go, fixing your mouth to let me know what I need to be doing. Nigga, I told you I'll see. That's end of fucking discussion," Priest spat. Over the course of their lengthy friendship, J'Ru knew exactly what to say and do to get on Priest's last nerve, and when he did, he made sure to tap dance all over that motherfucka.

Kaymen massaged his temples, gearing himself for yet another feud between Priest and Kaymen. "Yo, can we not do this? It's getting fucking old. At the end of the day, business is handled, and we have weight to move. Y'all are brothers. Have been since before I got into this shit. Let it go. We family that just happen to do business with each other. If our family unit not right, we might as well dead the business too. I don't have time to be mediating dumb-ass arguments because we have money to make, and we won't be making any if y'all steady acting like some hoes," Kaymen chastised both men with a grimace on his face. He was sick of the constant feuding and bickering and he knew if the men parted ways in this state, things wouldn't be good. "Y'all figure this shit out," he ordered as he took the path out of the kitchen, leaving Priest and J'Ru to settle their issues.

As they watched Kaymen storm away, J'Ru let out a heavy breath. "You wrong and you know it," he stated, switching his attention to Priest, who was taken aback.

"Nigga,I'mwrong?" Priest raised his brows, completely perplexed. "You agreed to have my baby sister touching dirty money because you were in a small bind that you could've gotten out of if you just picked up the phone and fucking called me! You and Kaymen dropped the ball when it came to this situation!"

"Aight, so if it was me and Kay, why the fuck am I catching all the heat for it?!" J'Ru asked.

"Because I expect more from you! You was there from the very beginning, son! You know how much I mean it when I say I do this shit so Jazzy don't have to! You thought this would force my hand so I would head back to the city! You did this shit to spite me because I'm not moving how you want me to, and that's fucked up, Ru!"

This had been weighing heavy on Priest's heart for a while and being open and transparent about it now felt liberating. They had been dealing with the stress of not having product, so the majority of the conversations they had just reverted to business. Now that everything had panned out successfully with the product, they could finally get down to the nitty gritty of why they were at odds in the first place.

"Nah, you wanna know what's fucked up?! Hearing that you were sitting on all that paper from Leonard when you know I was going through it with my moms and her health at the time! You wanna know what else is fucked up?! I got popped by Leonard and June ‘cause I'm riding for you even though you kept me in the fucking dark all these years! Then, a few months down the line, you spring it on me that you moving back to Italy, and you expect me to hold shit down for you back in The States, but I can't move how I need to move ‘cause you ain't there off the account of your own decision making! I specifically told you and Kay that offing Leila and putting it on June and Leonard was a bad fucking plan! But of course, Priest is gonna move however the fuck he wants to move and expect everybody else to just follow suit!" J'Ru stood up from his seat, firing off at Priest with the same aggression. The tension was through the roof at this point. It was common for J'Ru and Priest to get into quarrels, but this sounded like it was escalating too quickly.

Now that J'Ru was expressing his truth, it was evident that both men were feeling the same things. Priest felt like all his work and sacrifice was overlooked and undervalued, while J'Rufelt like all his loyalty and devotion to their brotherhood was overlooked and undervalued.

"Everything gotta go your way, Priest! We could have used that paper as a steppingstone a long fucking time ago. We ended up suffering the consequences from it anyway!" J'Ru jeered as he lifted his shirt to showcase the scars that marked his body from the bullets from the guns of Leonard and June. "If you would have just heard me out when I told you that putting Leila down was a bad idea, you wouldn't even have to be out here in Italy living your life in the dark! So, miss me with all that shit about me spiting you ‘cause you ain't move how I wanted you to! You been making permanent and executive decisions, and no matter how crazy it gets, I ride with you no questions asked!"

"I respect and appreciate you for always riding it out with me, and I've always showed love for that. Every decision I make and every plan I execute, I make sure I look out for everybody, including you. So, check this out. I ain't in the business of keeping people where they don't wanna be kept. If you ain't rocking with me no more because of how you feel, we can dead this shit right now," Priest shrugged his broad shoulders. His jaws were clenched in anger as he withstood all the things J'Ru said about him. The distance had built so much friction between the two men that they didn't even realize that this was something they could smooth over if they just compromised with each other. Instead, they both wanted to point the finger and play the blame game, which was costing them not only one hell of a business dynamic, but a lifelong brotherhood as well.