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My voice cracked because the betrayal was real. This wasn’t some friendship I could toss to the side and pretend not to be hurt. This was my homie, my nigga, and someone that had been family. Even when life got hard and me and Des went our own ways to handle our own problems, Larry was there.

He was always there for me.

I could pick up the phone and tell him to come have a drink with me and vent, and he would be there. Never knowing this whole time, he was over there doing the same with my brother. A man that I told him that I hated and would never forgive.

“Everybody is eating, and you left the Gods to fend for themselves, Pa… the fuck was I supposed to do.”

“Not true. Me and Sonny own the storage company. We asked you to put money in with us years ago when it was just one location. We have fifty around the city, and sixteen out the city being franchised. We do commercial leasing with the properties we purchased together for our kids… you never wanted to put the money in and sit and watch the money grow. Everything had to be fast with you. I was able to raise my sons comfortably and pour into them and now they have businesses and investment properties of their own. Same with Sonny’s kids. ”

“Sonny not even a fucking God anymore!” Larry blurted, pissed that Fawn had called his ass out on the lie and sob story he was conjuring up in his mind.

I watched as Sonny finished his drink. “Once a God, always a God. I may not ride much anymore, and I’m heavily in the street racing scene, but that doesn’t mean I don’t run when Papa calls. That’s what loyalty is… I ain’t never looked for the next man to fund my life.”

“The Cruzari family and the Infernos will always have good blood… don’t try and switch the fucking subject. Sonny didn’t run to my brother and try to murder my fucking sons.”

Sonny had been riding for years. He was raising kids like I was and was always there when I needed him. He was always a God and would always remain one. When I formed Inferno Gods, we were a bunch of young men that wanted a bigger purpose.

More out of life.

We accomplished that, and I never expected the Gods to remain. They had lives of their own, just like I had. The goal was for us to do better for the next generation, and I think we did that shit.

Sonny had accomplished making his name, the Cruzari family, part of street racing royalty. You couldn’t mention street racing without using the Vanducci-Cromwell’s or the Cruzari family. Larry hated that shit and often talked shit about it.

Angry because he wasn’t touching the money that Sonny was touching. Pissed because he was so used to being given fish that he never learned to fish. I listened to his complaints and hating before always telling him that he can’t knock the next man’s hustle.

Fawn and Sonny wanted better and were smart with the money we made in the streets. Fawn was sitting on money because she was smart. Her boys were sitting nice because she taught them the way. Even with two ex-husbands, she was still sitting nice and never had to depend on a man for a damn thing.

“It’s fucked up, Lar.”

He looked over at me. “I didn’t have shit to do with what Red planned… he asked me to do a favor, and I looked out.”

“You know they ran in Blaze’s house with his daughters and wife?”

Larry didn’t look surprised and avoided eye contact with me. From the way he fidgeted, he knew exactly what happened because he told them Blaze’s address. Larry had been to his house plenty of times because he was family .

“What? Don’t even lie like that, Papa… if Red did some shit like that, he’s fucked up,” he continued to bullshit me.

“Shot my grandbaby’s bed up… had her father not been on his toes, she could have been gone.” I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about it.

Mina touched her chest and winced at the possibility of us having to bury another grandchild. My goal was for my kids to put me in the ground before them. I never wanted to live to witness having to put one of my sons into the ground.

It was the reason I hadn’t slept and couldn’t get a moment of peace. The thoughts of losing one of my kids ran through my head each time I tried to close my eyes. I couldn’t lay comfortably next to my wife, which was never a problem.

Not when the person who betrayed me was sucking up all this free air.

“Fuck… Red just needed a friend. All he wanted, and I felt bad for him. Papa, you cut that nigga off and you’re his brother.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t cut his fucking head off!” I barked.

“You right. You right. How can we fix this?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“If you need time… I’ll give you that.” He stood up, thinking this was like all the other times he lied and fucked me over, and I turned the other cheek.

When you loved a person and were loyal, you found yourself going against what you believed for them. Doing shit you would have never done because you loved the person. I found myself doing that when it came to Larry, which is why he was so comfortable with believing he would be walking out of here.

All of that changed when I saw both of my boys laying up in that hospital bed. No laughter, in pain, and seeing my daughters watching their husbands. If you knew anything about me, then you knew I loved my boys.

Shit hadn’t always been the best between us. We fell out more times than a few, because they were so hardheaded. Always wanting to learn on their own, when I already knew how it would end up.

Despite the past problems, I would always ride for them. It was us against the world, protecting their mother.

“Yeah.”

He walked over toward me and held his hand out and I looked up at him. “My loyalty always been with you, Papa… I hope you know and understand that. I don’t know what you heard, but I’ve been real. I was only there as a friend for Red, nothing more.”

“I hear you.”

I continued to look down at my hands, as I slipped one into my pocket. Standing to my feet, I took a deep breath, flipped open the switch blade that I had given to Quasim. It was in the pants he wore when he was shot.

Flipping it open, I turned and looked at Larry’s back as he swaggered toward the door. “Gods burn the faces of their enemies,” I said.

He stopped walking and turned slowly with a smile on his face. “The flames burn slow because the Gods are Infer?—”

His words were cut off as I sent the knife flying into the middle of his forehead, the same time that Des sent a bullet in Buck’s head.

“The flames burn slow because the Gods are fucking Inferno, pussy,” Des said.

Jean looked up at her husband, and he down at her before kissing her on the lips. Both Buck and Larry had been disloyal, and while Buck moved smarter than Larry, he wasn’t as smart. The entire time they sat here with us, they both were texting each other.

Des peeped and gave me a nod, letting me know.

Shit hurt when you found out someone you held down wasn’t down for you. It felt better sending a knife right in the middle of his head.

“Time to go and visit baby bro, Des.” I walked over toward Larry and commenced to stomping his face in with my boots.