So people in this room knowing me, a room I’d never been in before, wasn’t something I was expecting.
But then I thought about something.How did Sincere know who I was?
My eyes landed on Sincere, who was talking to an older man. He smirked at me and waved me over.
When I approached him, he shook my hand and introduced me to the man next to him.
“This is Lennox, my personal bodyguard who has been with me from the beginning,” Sincere explained.
The man bowed his head to me.
“Nice to meet you,” I said and shook his hand. Lennox then excused himself and walked away from us.
“Good to see you,” Sincere greeted Shakur and Trini. “Y’all can take a seat right there,” Sincere pointed to where Lennox was now seated.
Trini and Shakur looked me in the eyes, silently checking with me, and I nodded.
I felt proud as fuck. Even though I hadn’t been around Shakur for long, he’d already fallen into line, picking up on my movements. It was crazy to know how similar we really were.
I watched them walk away.
Sincere patted my shoulder, making me look his way again.
“I’m glad you didn’t turn up with an entourage looking like a fucking rapper and shit,” Sincere said. I chuckled and immediately thought about Hell because that was how Orlando had him looking out in these streets.
“You know I don’t keep a lot of people around me like that,” I explained. Sincere nodded.
“And you will go further in life if you remember that. Lennox was the only person, besides my wife, who was around me like that. The rest were nothing more than associates—only around to make money with.”
I took in his words.
“Havoc, you know one side of The Society that your father deals with, but this is another side,” Sincere said, pointing around. “Welcome to the black market.”
My eyes stretched wide at the realization of where I was standing, but it made sense why we’d meet in such an upscale warehouse.
Sincere then looked down at his watch and said, “It’s time to start. Follow me.”
He led me to a table right at the front of the warehouse. As he stepped up to his seat, the whole room fell silent. He nodded for me to approach, and I did.
“Before we get to work, a lot of you already know that this is Havoc.”
When he said that, I couldn’t help looking over at Shakur, who had a smile on his face. I guess these people did know me!
“I’m gonna say this and say it only once. He is like a son to me—if you see him, then you see me, and to fuck with him is to fuck with me, understand?”
My head snapped back to look at Sincere because I wasn’t expecting him to say something like that. I knew the nigga took a liking to me, but to refer to me as like a son wasn’t something I was expecting.
We locked eyes, and he gave me a crooked smile.
“Now, let’s get to work.”
Yesterday, Sincere exposed me to some shit I never knew, and I wanted more. It was like he lit some type of fire under me because I just couldn’t get enough. I’d only been exposed, and already, I was feeling limitless. To know people knew who I was in a room I didn’t even know existed. Orlando spent so much time hiding me, but can someone really block destiny?
Sincere had been telling me for the longest time that he was only offering me a place that was made for me. I thought the old nigga was just talking mad shit, which was why I refused to answer his calls, but after what I experienced yesterday, people dying to work with me before I even knew who they were, yeah, I was now a believer.
I was surprised to see that Sincere dabbled a little in the black market, but it made sense. People were willing to pay top dollar to get their hands on just about anything. I was happy to see that he didn’t fuck with women or children like that becausethat wouldn’t have worked for me, but everything else I was good with. You name it, and they could find it. Weapons, drugs I had never even heard of, and even exotic animals. The black market was an endless pool, and I was itching to dip my fingers into it.
Most of yesterday was just me watching Sincere do his thing.
