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CHAPTER 1

I was standing near the window of my office that looked out at the Atlyn City skyline when I heard the door open and a thud. I glanced back over my shoulders to see that security brought the man that I was set to go see later to me. I chuckled lowly before journeying a short distance from where I was and refilling my glass with some Louis XIII.

“Sin—”

“The audacity it takes to walk into my casino, knowing you owe me money, is almost impressive.” I cut him off as I took the small walk to my desk to have a seat, pointing to the chair in front of it encouraging Gerald to do the same. “It takes a certain kind of man to show up the way that you did, and it makes you bolder to place a bet as if you’re playing with house money.”

“I—I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful?—”

“No I think you were.” I cut in, smirking, drumming my fingers on my desk. “Directly? No. That would take guts,” I continued. “But the moment you sat your ass down at that table knowing that you owed me money? You decided that I was a joke. That I was harmless. That offends me, Gerald.”

“I wasn’t?—”

“It’s like you forgot the game you were playing, or worse, the kind of nigga you were playing with.” I placed my other hand on my desk and leaned forward. “You know what bothers me the most, Gerald?’

He shook his head. “No. What?”

“That you thought of me and decided that I would let you live with the disrespect,” I answered. “That’s not a mistake that most people really survive twice.”

His eyes stretched wide at the realization of what I was saying to him.

“S-Sin, p-please,” he stammered. “I-I can make it right.” He began to go through the worn bag that he had with him. “Here.” He slid a folder across the table to me.

I eyed him for a beat before grabbing the folder and checking the contents of it. My brows lifted some when I noticed what it was.

“I don’t have the money, but I have that,” he pointed. “A deed. To a building I own. It’s clean. No liens, no mess. It’s worth more than I owe.”

I looked over the other paperwork that was in there and frowned.

“This place is leased out?”

He nodded. “To a woman who runs a lounge or something like that.”

“She know you’re handing her roof off to pay a gambling debt.”

“She doesn’t know anything because she doesn’t own anything. I do. She has a lease. What does it matter who owns the building?” He shrugged.

“It matters because you leased it to her for a lounge.” I glared at him. “I didn’t. If it’s my real estate, I do what I want to do there.”

“We’re set to meet Monday about her lease anyway, so if you don’t renew then you don’t renew. She’ll have to respect that.” He stated as if it were just that easy or as if the shit was okay. I had no idea who the woman was, but I was sure she wasn’t going to be okay with having to get the fuck out because her slumlord sold the spot she was leasing. “Are we good?”

I continued to grill him before closing the folder, keeping it on my side of the table. I was going to accept the building because it was for sure worth more than what he owed, even with interest, but I was severing ties with him because next time there wouldn’t be a next time.

“Sin, are we good, man?” he asked again.

“For now.” I grabbed my glass then waved to my security guards. “You’ll feel it when I change my mind.”

“S-Sin! Wait!” He pleaded when Gronk lifted him from the chair. “Sin, please man.” He cried as he was carried out. “Come on! I gave you the…”

His words trailed off once my door was closed. I didn’t want to hear what he was saying anyway. I was done talking. A nigga wasn’t going to disrespect me by showing up to my place of business like he didn’t owe me money and live to talk about it. I dealt in outcomes and unfortunately for him, his was death. Gronk would handle it because I had to go back down to the floor.

My brother and my homeboy were sliding through with some of the people from my boy’s firm to have some fun so I made some accommodations for them. My brother had just gotten drafted to the Titans, so he wanted to come out and celebrate his accomplishment by blowing some money. My money .

Speaking of…

“Yo?” I answered.

“Where you at nigga? Me and Money just got here.”

“My office. Both of y’all come up.”

“Aight.”

I grabbed the folder and started to look over the contents. He’d already signed the deed and the lease over to me as if he knew I’d accept his offer.

Avani Jade.

I racked my brain trying to see if the name rang any bells but came up empty. I’d never heard of her. The name itself was sexy as hell making me wonder just who this woman was.

“Ky-Sin!” My rambunctious little brother’s voice cut through the silence when he aggressively entered my office, using a name he’d been teasingly calling me since we were kids. “You looking at the future rookie of the year, dawg.”

He was grinning as he walked toward me and I couldn’t stop myself from returning the smile as I stood and pulled him into a brotherly hug.

“From your mouth to God’s ears.”

“You know I’m God’s favorite.” He smirked.

Tyriq was eight years younger than me and had been playing football since he was five. I’d been supporting him since. I never missed any of his games, even the ones that I had to travel to, and I planned to continue that in his professional career. We were all each other had since losing our grandfather who raised us a few years ago.

“Yeah, I know, kid.”

“Why you holed up in here?” He asked, scanning my desk to see what I was doing. “We celebrating tonight. Not working.”

“I’m always working.” I replied as I approached Dinero, my childhood best friend who was more like a brother, to dap him up. “What’s up, bro?”

“I can’t call it, bro. Ready to unwind from this hectic ass week I had.”

“Another dub under your belt.” I smirked, referring to the case that he had won.

“Per usual.” Tyriq added as he kicked his feet up on my desk.

I shook my head and knocked them down before making my way to the bar to pour Dinero a drink since my brother didn’t indulge. He took it and I lifted mine to propose a toast. “To success.”

“To success,” he reiterated.

“What’s this?” My nosy ass brother asked. When I looked in his direction he was reading over the deed.

“My business.” I snatched the paper from him.

“Who is Gerald Baines?”

“Tyriq.” I glared at him causing him to lift his hands in mock surrender.

“My bad.”

Turning my attention to Dinero, I handed him the deed and asked, “this legit?”

He sat his glass down and began to scan the document.

“Seems like it. How’d you get it?” I gave him a knowing look. “Are there any encroachments?”

I shook my head. “Naw, but he’s renting the building.”

“You’ll have to get the lease agreement then.”

I turned to my desk and fished it from the folder then handed it to him.

“He gave it to me. Already signed and everything.”

He nodded. “Aight bet, I’ll take this with me and handle everything for you.”

“Appreciate you.” I dapped him up then motioned for my brother to get up. “Come on, let me get you straight.”

He did what I asked and started for the door then asked, “you ain’t staying?”

“Naw, I have something I need to handle.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he was disappointed but all would be well after he saw that I had him set up nice. Plus I’d make it up to him later. Tonight I needed to go see about the new business that I’d inherited.