Dom kept a close eye on his boy. The plan wasn’t murder and they were getting dangerously close to that point. The three of them had taken lives before but that was when they had a lot less to lose. If that was how the night would be ending, they needed to make sure they didn’t get caught.
“Sao, let him talk.” It took a minute for Asao to ease up but only so much grace was given. He removed the gun from Mase’s mouth and centered the steel on his forehead.
“You better hope I believe what the fuck you’re about to say.”
Mase’s eyes darted to the two men standing close by, sending a silent plea. When they didn’t move in his defense, he nodded again and swallowed nervously.
“We were at a party thrown by the label. Shit like that happened all the time. Mari hated them but they were required. She didn’t want to drink, but to make it tolerable, I talked her into doing something else. Ecstasy. She had them in her purse so we took one. Nefatari was there. She saw what we had and asked for one and I talked Mari into agreeing. The night was chill after that. Mari relaxed and we were vibing and shit. I left to go talk to some people, and when I came back, Nefatari was all over Mari, taking her clothes off and shit like that. I thought things were cool because Mari seemed down at first, but she also seemed kinda out of it. I didn’t have sex with Mari that night. I know what it looked like on the video, but that’s not how it went down. Nefatari was with her, and after that, we did our thing but that’s it. The worst thing I did was cheating on my girl with someone on her label. I wasn’t even the one who recorded it. Nefatari did all that and I didn’t find out until Cobra sent that shit to me asking for money.”
“Fuck you mean he asked you for money?”
“He wanted money or he was gonna leak the video and tell people I drugged Mari. I was a rookie, scared that shit was gonna ruin my career. So I told my manager about it and he handled it. All I know is the video never came out and I ended up owning Mari’s masters.”
“That shit doesn’t make any sense.”
“It didn’t to me either but they didn’t want a record of just giving him money because that would have come back to meas a payoff. He offered the solution of selling me her masters. My manager said Cobra needed money and was using me as a payout. I thought it was fucked up that he would do that, so I agreed, because at least if I had them, he couldn’t sell them to anybody else. I didn’t drug her though. I swear on God, that’s not how things went down and I didn’t have sex with her that night.”
“Then why the fuck doesn’t she remember what happened?”
“I saidIdidn’t drug her. We took ecstasy, both of us willingly, but I didn’t find out until later that Nefatari gave Mari something else. I didn’t ask questions because I fucked somebody that night, it just wasn’t Mari. I was messed up behind the decisions I made. Still am. I saw Mari was doing her thing again and I wanted to make shit right so I reached out?—”
Asao’s muscles tensed and the barrel dug deeper into Mase’s forehead. “The fuck you mean you reached out?”
“I was gonna give her back her masters. That’s it. I never did anything with them and it’s not right for me to have them. That’s the only reason I reached out but she never responded and blocked me.”
“So because she blocked you, you were on some bitch shit and leaked the video?”
“No, fuck no. That wasn’t me. I never had it in the first place. If anybody put it out there, it’s Nefatari or Cobra. Do you know what type of fallout I’m dealing with from having that out there? I lost a lot of money because people don’t want their brands attached to shit like that.”
“That sounds mighty fucking convenient,” Asao said, toying with the trigger of the nine in his hand.
Mase tensed when he noticed but his ego kept his mouth moving. “What’s mighty fucking convenient is that Mari is on your label and Nefatari no longer has one. I know who you are, A’so. If you want to check somebody, check the two people you recently fucked over. I didn’t do right by Mari back then. Shitwasn’t right that night and I knew it but I was selfish and allowed my dick to make decisions about how I handled things. I’ll admit to that, but on God, this wasn’t me.”
Mase was a fan. He was in the masses who kept Asao’s tracks on repeat. It messed with his pride to find out Asao was with Mari but not enough to try and ruin her image because he hadn’t been man enough to do right by her years ago.
There were whispers about Cobra Records losing all their artists. Those whispers had the name A’so attached. Nefatari had been all over social media talking cash shit about how she’d gotten dropped and couldn’t find a new home because she was being blackballed. That was Asao’s doing and it was possible Nefatari had found out.
“Make a decision, Sao,” Niles said coolly. He would be okay with whatever but one had to be made.
Whether Asao liked it or not, he believed Mase. So he extended to his full height and stepped back. “You want to make shit right? She gets her masters back and you find a way to do that without any contact with Samari. You want to keep breathing, make sure no one knows this conversation ever happened.” Asao smirked arrogantly before he turned to walk off.
“I’m assuming you mean something to her ,so the conversation never happened because I owe Mari and she’s been dealing with enough already. Sitting in a courtroom while I take everything you own won’t be added to the list of things she has to suffer through.” Mase spoke arrogantly but that ego was checked seconds later.
Asao rushed him again and Mase tensed when the gun touched his temple. “Nah, this conversation never happened because like you said earlier, you know who I am. Let’s keep this shit gutter because if you trulyknowwho I am then you know what I’m capable of. Don’t let your ego cost you, muthafucker.”
Mase wanted to keep breathing and he valued his career. He truly believed Asao’s lyrics were a testimony to the life he’d walked away from. Whether that was true or not, Mase wouldn’t risk it all tempting the devil. No one would ever know how close he’d come to losing his life, not one fucking soul.
It wastwo in the morning when the chartered private jet Dom, Niles, and Asao occupied for their flight to and from Chicago landed in Crescent Falls. Their individual cars were waiting, so after they dapped each other, Dom parted ways, needing to grab a couple hours sleep before an early morning studio session. Niles and Asao hung back to discuss a few things.
“We good on all this?” Asao asked, leaning on the side of his Jeep facing his boy who was posted up against his BMW.
“Yeah, on record, our trip was courtesy of Wrapped. They sent the plane, we landed in Chicago, had a car waiting to take us to the meeting. We left from there, came right back to the airport, and caught a flight home.”
Asao nodded. No matter what story Mase wanted to tell, theirs would be supported by people no one would question. They had far more money and pull for anyone to challenge and owed Asao a favor after he delivered on a private performance for their sixteen year old son. A past that mirrored Asao’s was the reason the brand deal had been made. The favor was covered because the hood protects their own.
“I don’t think you’re gonna have any issue out of him though.” Niles smirked and yanked at his beard. “That muthafucker was singing like the simp ass I expected him to be.”
“He still tried to stick his chest out though.” Asao’s jaw tensed. Because regardless of whether or not he believed Mase never meant to take advantage of Samari, he still played a role in how things had played out.
