“You’remyangel,” she kissed my cheek and shot an evil glare in Xy’s direction.
She was always doing shit to get under his skin. Ken knew how jealous and possessive the nigga was, so I knew she was only trying to get a rise out of him. I squeezed his hand to keep him calm, and he squeezed mine back to silently tell me that he wasn’t on that with her. At least not for tonight because unlike Ken, Xy wouldn’t ruin Jah’s birthday like that.
“Let’s go sing happy birthday and cut your cake, baby,” Ken grabbed Jah’s hand and started pulling him away.
“She better be lucky that I know you’d want her in our wedding, otherwise, I’d hurt Makenna’s feelings,” Xy whispered to me as we followed behind them.
Shaking my head, I kept quiet. There was clearly nothing I could say to him or her to make them like each other again. Thankfully, I didn’t need them to likeeach other, I just needed them to bothlove me.
Chapter Eleven
Xyleek
“Bring the lights down some,” I said, squinting at the tray of stones laid out across the black velvet backdrop.
The overhead lights dimmed a little more as I slid my hands into my custom gloves withTDCstitched on the inner wrist. Everything about my business was custom because I was a one of one type of nigga. I didn’t believe in re-creating someone else’s work nor did I believe in creating the same thing twice. Once we created a design, we archived it so that it could never be used again. When people said The Diamond Chambers, they knew that there was a certain air of exclusivity that came with that, just how I intended it to be.
Every quarter, I released a collection at every location and once it was sold out, then there was never a chance to get it again. Unless they bought the jewelry from the original owner, and the odds of the original owner letting one of my pieces go were slim to none. Money always talked but diamonds appreciated over time, especially rare ones, so people weren’t trying to let those go that easy.
Stony, my lead designer, stood to the left of me and I could almost hear her heart beating wildly in her chest. The newcollection we were working on, Darling Angel, had me on edge because I wanted to make sure every single piece of it was perfect. It was the last quarter, which meant the last drop of the year, and I needed everything to be on point.
Of course, it was dedicated to Dreka, so I felt like the pressure was really on to get every cut and setting right. Feeling the pressure meant I wasn’t the friendliest at work, but my employees understood that I expected perfection and nothing less. They got paid a damn good salary for me to see and hold perfection in my hands.
“The cut on this is too shallow,” I told her after inspecting the first pair of earrings on the backdrop.
“We can re-cut it and—”
“No,” I shook my head and glared at her. “Re-cut sounds too much likerecreate, which we don’t do. Send it back to Mumbai.”
“Yes sir,” using her stylus, she scribbled on her iPad.
Resuming my inspection of the pieces in front of me. The choker was beautiful with its alternating heart shaped and round cut diamonds. They were arranged in an intricate design that Stony had created where angel wings formed where the clasp met.
“The cut on this is fuckin’ perfect,” I beamed, ready to call Dreka to show her. “What’s the color grade?”
“Fancy vivid pink. It’s five carats that we got from the Argyle mine prior to its closure,” she informed me, still holding her breath.
Staring at it through my loupes, my jaw muscles tensed at how brilliant it was. Pink diamonds were rare, which made the choker even more rare, especially with my brand stamped on it.
“Mmhmm,” I nodded in approval, turning to face her. “This collection isn’t for everyone, Sto. This collection is for muthafuckas who understand what it means to be truly devoted to something. They don’t buy diamonds for the glitz and glam ofit, they buy them for how theyfeel,” I pointed at the tray. “Every single piece needs to carry emotion, and I think we’re almost there. Send that bullshit diamond on the first set of earrings back and update the insurance policy on that choker. Value it at twenty.”
“It appraised for fifteen, Xy.”
“And I said value it at twenty. For one, that appraiser be on bullshit because I’m a young, black nigga having my way. I already feel like he be fuckin’ up, even if he is the so-calledbest in the business. The piece is worth twenty, and muthafuckas would be willing to pay twenty-five, if I’m being honest,” I removed my gloves. “Run the certification through GIA tonight, and I wantFor My Darling Angelengraved on every piece.”
“Yes sir,” she scribbled some more while nodding.
The best part about having Stony was that I knew she got shit done. When I gave her instructions, she followed them to a T. Truthfully, I was molding her into a mini me. I needed someone around who had a love for diamonds as I did and knew exactly what they were looking at and for.
Stepping out of the room, I took my phone out of my pocket after feeling it vibrate.“What’s the word, Big Blow?”
“All twenty carats hit the dock,”he responded, letting me know that the order of two hundred kilos of coke had made it through the water. “We’re all good.”
“Beautiful. Make sure they’re handled delicately. I only want you and Jah’s hands on them, that’s it, Blow.”
“I gotchu.”
The call disconnected and before I could even make it upstairs to my office, my phone was ringing again. This time, it was a number that I didn’t have saved, and if I’d learned anything about unsaved numbers, it was that there was some bullshit on the other end. I answered anyway though.
