The male officer chuckled, “Young and dumb. Let me guess, you think you’re going to be charged as a minor so you’re taking the wrap.”
“It’s mine,” Diamond shot back with no emotion.
“Diamond, no!” Rich said.
“Noooo, it’s too late. Let’s go, Little Miss Griselda Blanco.”
The cuffs were tight and cold around her wrists. Diamond looked back at her father before they put her in the back of the car. No prom, no senior year, no graduation, just the county jail.
Diamond wasn’t scared as they walked her inside the station, it smelled like bleach and distress. A steel door slammed after they processed her. She curled up in the corner, trying to keep warm; thoughts heavy, eyes dry as she watched everything that moved. It wasn’t petrifying, it wasn’t a lesson, it was her new reality if they kept her.
23
Word didn’t creep, it ran. By the time the sun came up, everybody knew, thanks to Kayla getting word first. Diamond was locked up in the county on a drug charge, not a small one, but a big one. Duke heard it from a mouth he didn’t trust, or maybe he was in denial because she didn’t belong there.
He stood in his kitchen for a long time after hearing that shit, phone in his hand with no one to call to check the facts. Finally, he grabbed his keys and headed to the streets, pride didn’t matter, she did. He pulled right up to her house like he resided there. He walked up to the porch where Kayla sat laughing with her friends like her sister wasn’t behind bars, she really hated Diamond, and the shit was sad.
“Hey, Duke, your lil boo ain’t here, she in jail.”
He screwed his face up in disgust, “Damn, you happy? Goofass.”
She rolled her eyes as her friends giggled at his remark. He continued up the stairs and rang the doorbell, he didn’t havetime for Kayla’s dizzy ass. He was there to talk to Rich face to face, even though he knew the man hated him.
Rich opened the door; stress and worry covered his face.
“I don’t mean no disrespect showing up to your house, but I’m here to check on Diamond.”
That alone made Rich pause, he slightly nodded and invited Duke inside. They sat at the table, the silence in the room was thick.
“She protected me,” Rich finally spoke, “she took the whole charge.”
Duke nodded, “Sounds like her.”
Rich studied him, no judgment that time around. Not the reputation, not the street name, just the concerned young man sitting across from him.
“You care about my daughter?” Rich asked.
Duke didn’t hesitate, think, or let a second past, “With everything I got. If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”
Rich leaned back, staring at the ceiling like he was bargaining with God himself, then he looked back at Duke. Rich knew his father and if he was anything like Big Duke, Rich could definitely use him.
“Help me, help her. I need you to work for me so I can get a good lawyer.”
Duke straightened in his seat.
“I’ll do whatever you need done, but with all due respect, I don’t workforanyone, but I’ll work with you.”
Rich exhaled and nodded his head before extending his hand, “I respect that. You have your father’s qualities.”
Duke tilted his head to the side.
“Hold up, my mom knows Ms. Sherry and now you saying you knew my Pop, what’s really up?”
“We were all good friends, me, him, Stone, your mom, and Sherry. We made a lot of money together. We were all good untilwe weren’t. Just know your father was a real nigga until the day he died.”
“Who killed him?”
Duke asked a question that he asked God plenty nights and got nothing.
