Page 8 of Adonis Gates
“You straight?”
“Shoot no,” he frowned, descending back into his sleep. “I’m losing money in the southern region, Don.”
All I could do was shake my head. I’d warned him years ago about Brock being a liability, but he wanted to give him a fair chance as he’d done for me. I understood it at the time because Brock and I made him a lot of money, but he didn’t know that I was the one doing most of the work when we were a team. Reality hit quick and he’d been complaining since, begging me to take over, but I wasn’t going to. I knew if I did, it was going to start a bunch of conflict that I didn’t need because of my brother. I only had a few screws, and they all were loose, so I avoided conflict when I could.
“I told you I’d compensate you well if you’d reconsider the merger.”
“I know what you said, Vado, and the answer’s still no.” I chuckled. “That nigga a snake, and I’ll be don’ killed his ass, so it’s best we leave things the way they are.”
“If things remain the way they are, I’ll bankrupt myself,” he sighed. “You makeoveryour projected goal monthly, but Brock is always short. It’s killing me.”
“Then kill his ass.” I shrugged. “You don’ did that for less.”
Vado was a ruthless ass nigga whose reputation preceded him. I’d heard plenty of horror stories about how he bodied niggas with no regard. The issue was that meeting and working with Brock introduced him to Mrs. Ida, Brock’s mom.
He was there for them when Brock’s pops passed from colon cancer. They started dating a little after then eventually married. I figured the shit was too quick because a year had barely passed, but she appeared to be happy and so did Vado, so I rocked with it. Besides, she wasn’t my mother, so it didn’t mean shit to me for real.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Vado.” I shrugged. “Brock don’t have a hustling bone in his body. It took me working withhim to see that, but it’s the truth. I’m just glad I got the nigga from ‘round me before he fucked my money up.”
“Yeah, well, we’re going to have to make some changes,” he sighed heavily. “As I’ve told you before, I’m ready to step down and turn all of this over to you because you deserve it and I can’t see anyone else running the business better. That can’t happen if you aren’t willing to squash this petty beef you have going on with Brock. The people you’ll be working with…”
“Vado, when the time comes, I got my people that I’m going to put in place to make sure business is still running smoothly,” I respectfully cut in. “You fuck with Brock because the nigga’s your stepson, but I don’t and that shit ain’t changin’. I suggest you talk to the nigga and let ‘em down easy because once all this shit is mine, he won’t have a seat at the table.”
I could tell by the look on his face that the shit bothered him, but it was what it was, and I wasn’t budging. I was never gon’ be able to trust the nigga therefore I wasn’t doing business with him on any level. That was stamped.
“You need me to count that?” I nodded toward the bread.
I’d gotten the habit of counting my money by hand from him, so I had no issue counting the shit in front of him to make sure everything was everything. AP still had a couple of fours left at school, so I had time.
“No, it’s fine.” He pulled the bag toward him. “Hell, it’s probably more in there than it should be,” he chuckled.
“Naw, but it’s dead on the money.” I smirked. “Hit me if it’s any issues.”
“I will.” He stood to shake hands with me again. “And Don, just think about it,” he pleaded. “For me.”
Even though I had no intentions of thinking about the shit, I nodded and bounced, stopping at the front desk to grab a line from Gino. He was the only one with the number, so he’d text with pick up details when the time came.
Once I was in my ride I had no real destination, so I went to the one place that I always visited when I had free time. I grabbed some flowers from a shop on the outside of town and took them to my mother’s gravesite.
I tossed the ones that were there, replacing them with the new ones before having a seat right in front of her headstone. It was still hard as fuck for me to believe that she was gone even with all the time that had passed. She didn’t have much, and with a nigga as controlling as hers, she couldn’t do shit for us with the little she had, but she was good to us. She loved us. I kicked myself daily for not being there for her when that nigga took her life, and it infuriated me even more that the police had gotten to him before I could, but I made sure to make it up to her by caring for our baby.
She knew that AP was my baby just as much as he was hers, even though she birthed him. She made a nigga promise to look out for him no matter what, so I was honoring that. Shit went without saying. I hadn’t given up on avenging her either. I was gon’ find a way to make that nigga pay for what he did to her.
For years I was too weak to defend her. I could fight my ass off and hang with the best of them, but for some reason I could never stand up to him. The fear and intimidation that I felt when I looked into his deranged ass eyes was enough to shake me up every time I even thought about stepping to him.
The day she was murdered I’d been able to secure a gun and had planned to grab the shit after school, go home then put one in his head. It was too late though. By the time I’d walked from The District, or the Southside, it was too fucking late. He’d already killed her. My whole world shattered when I got there and saw the coroner wheeling her out of the crib.
I spent about an hour at her gravesite just chilling and reminiscing before Tina started to blow my line up again. She was apologetic as fuck begging me to slide through so that shecould make it up to me. I was going to decline and take my ass to the crib, but I ain’t feel like wallowing any more than I already had, so I texted her back to let her know I was on the way before hopping in my ride and heading in that direction.
Chapter Four
Jruelle.
“I’m surprised that nigga let you ride with me,” my sister said and rolled her eyes.
It was her birthday, so we were on the way to Heat. Brock had been okay with me riding with her to the club only because we were going to the same place where he was going to be.
“He knows how pissed I am with him right now, so he’s going to do whatever he can to appease me.”