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“I wanna meet whoever’s pulling your strings,” Mobley said defiantly. “Way I see it, you ain’t nothing but an errand boy here to deliver a message.” He paused. “So, errand boy, here go a message for you to deliver. I wanna sit down. Now get the fuck outta here and run tell that, errand boy.”
When Mobley’s message was delivered to Rona, it surprised her. She had sized up Mobley and determined that he was no different or smarter than Barnes and Hawkins. She simply had to wave money in front of them and they were all in. Apparently, Rona had seriously underestimated Mobley and that gave her pause. She selected her pawns because they were greedy and stupid enough to fight her proxy war. The fact that Mobley wanted to sit down with her put her plan in jeopardy.
But since Rona wanted that market, she agreed to meet with Mobley at a restaurant called Marisco Centro. At that meeting, Rona wasted no time telling him what she wanted of him and how their alliance would be to his benefit. She even took the time to make it personal by telling him that it was about getting revenge for her brother and father. Something that she knew he could relate to and then Rona made a promise.
“If you do the things that I ask of you, you’ll get revenge for your brother, and in the end, you’ll control the entire uptown drug market,” was what Rona promised because she didn’t think he’d survive anyway.
“I’m in,” was Mobley’s simple response to that, because at his core, he was a stupid and greedy fuck just like Barnes and Hawkins.
He just needed a softer touch and a smiling face, Rona thought as Mobley gladly accepted the same offer her associate made him. Since he had demanded a sit down, Rona had expected Mobley to ask for more access and lower prices and push hard for his demands to be met. But he didn’t; he rolled over like a puppy for Rona.
“Just tell me who I gotta kill?”
Rona stood up.
“I’ll leave my associate Mr. Davion to discuss that with you. In future, he will be your contact. You and I will never see each other again,” she said and walked away without saying another word to Mobley.
When Garon escorted Rona out of Marisco Centro, AD sat down at the table with Mobley.
“Your target is Jerry Demet.”
“Who the fuck is that?”
AD looked at Mobley and hoped that Rona knew what she was doing, and more importantly, who she was getting involved with.
“He’s the target.” AD slid an envelope across the table. “Everything you need to know about him is in there. You’re gonna hit him at the bodega.”
“A’ight.”
“Now pay attention, here’s how the job needs to be done,” AD said and laid it all out for Mobley that day and between him Barnes and Hawkins, they had dealt a substantial blow to The Family.
Now, Mobley and Barnes were dead, and Hawkins was in the wind, so he might as well be dead. But Rona wasn’t worried, not in the slightest. If there was one thing that she was sure of, and that was that there will always be somebody willing to step up for a chance at money and street fame. So, until a new pawn stepped forward, there was just one thing to do.
Shoe shopping.
Rona King loved shoes. Her plan for the afternoon was to do a little shopping on 34th street and then have dinner in Tribeca with colleagues at Frenchette, a restaurant that served a very tasty mix of traditional and modern French dishes.
Rona was in Macy’s at Stuart Weitzman, looking at the Rosemarie sandals, when she looked up and saw Rain coming toward her. She was there with her sister-in-law, Lakeda, and her two children. It was Miles Jr.’s birthday and Rain promised to take him shopping. And Rain never broke promises she made to her niece and nephew. So, despite everything that was going on, there she was at Macy's with Alwan and two of his men.
Rona would have been perfectly content for Rain to pass by without seeing her, but that wasn’t to be. The second Rain saw her, she headed in Rona’s direction.
“Do you want me to handle this,” Garon asked.
“No.” Rona stood up.
“What’s up, Rona?”
“Hello, Rain.”
“I didn’t know you were back in the city.”
“I’ve been back since my brother was killed and my father was murdered in jail.”
“I was sorry to hear about your brother and your father,” Rain said, but she wasn’t because she killed her brother personally and organized her father getting shanked on the yard in prison.
“Really Rain. I have a hard time believing that because I heard that you were the one that killed my brother and that you and Mike Black are responsible for my father being in jail to be murdered,” Rona said and walked away with Garon.
As Rain watched Rona walk away, she had a feeling that Rona King was involved in some way. It was nothing that she could put her finger on, and there was nothing that Rain could base it on, but her experience told her that Rona King was her adversary and she was the one pulling the strings.