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“I said I’m buying a bank in Nassau.”
“That’s what you’ve been up to all this time,” Black said and turned to Bobby. “See Bobby, I told you she was working on something and it would be good for us.”
Wanda’s fist hit her hips. “Why does everyone … never mind,” she said and thought about the call she got from Nick the night before.
And knowing my reputation for going behind their backs, you felt you had to call and ask.
Yes, Wanda, I did.
Yes, I told him that he should conduct himself as if he were a captain, and yes, Mike and Bobby know about it. So, now I’m gonna say good night, Nick. And you tell April I said she is marrying an asshole, Wanda said, and she ended the call, but knew it was a valid question.
“Yes, Mike, I think it will be very good for us in so many ways,” Wanda said and went on from there to explain what she had been doing to this point and what still needed to be done. “But I thought that things were firm enough to bring the two of you in and see if this was something that you were interested in.”
“How much is this gonna cost?” Bobby asked.
“The capital investment may vary depending on which way we decide to go, but it could run as much as ten or twenty million, or more.”
“Dollars?” Bobby questioned.
“You put the deal together?” Black asked, and Wanda nodded. “Capitalized it yourself?”
Wanda paused before she answered. “Yes, I could capitalize the whole deal if I had to go that way. But I would rather have my partners in on this with me.”
“I’m in,” Black said.
“So am I,” Bobby said with his mouth full of grilled salmon. “I just need to hear some more about it.”
Wanda smiled and quickly got deep into it, deeper than Bobby actually wanted her to go. Wanda told them that she put together a group of experienced bankers that passed FBI background checks and now she was finally at the phase where she would need to show that she had the necessary capital to get the project underway.
Wanda explained to them that as investors, they would have to maintain at least ten percent of the failed bank’s assets as capital reserves, and that the bank would have to stay at a well-capitalized level. “Which ain’t gonna be a problem for us,” Bobby said, and they laughed. Wanda went on to explain that for their protection, she planned to limit their equity investment to less than twenty-five percent of the voting shares and thirty-three percent of total equity.
“I’ve conducted my due diligence very carefully, Mike.” Wanda paused. “So what do you think?”
“I told you, I’m in. We’re about to own a bank.” Black paused. “And this is legit, right? I mean, we ain’t laundering nobody’s money but ours, right?”
“Of course not. I have no desire for some big bitch named Shaquita to be braiding my hair,” Wanda said, and they all laughed.
“We sure have come a long way since you gave us that RICO talk,” Bobby said.
“Which you pretended not to understand.”
“And I told you that was just Bobby being Bobby.”
“Which means you should have known better,” Bobby said, getting up to get another piece of salmon.
“I used to get all wound up over it,” Wanda laughed.
“Like you were going to lose your mind.” Black paused. “Mike, you need to talk to Bobby … looking all frantic and shit.”
“I’ve come a long way too,” Wanda said.
“We all have. A lot of water has passed. We’ve done a lot of shit, but there’s still more to do.” He looked at Wanda. “Things that we promised to do but haven’t done. I mean, that’s what we’re here for, right? I mean, us buying a bank is great news, but it could have kept until tomorrow. This day holds a different meaning for us.” He pointed at Wanda. “And you know this.”
“I do.”
“Now that we all are clear about why we’re here and breakfast is over, let’s stop fuckin’ around and go get this done,” Bobby said and stood up, and so did Black.
“You taking a gun?” Black asked.