At some point, muhfuckas were gonna have to stop testing my patience.
The nerve of some bitch to threaten my Goddess and our baby. I handled that shit swiftly. It’s amazing what a down-and-out CO will do for an extra ten thousand and a promise of a security job at the new casino when it opens. Quest helped me get at homeboy—an old friend of his from back in the day. I told that nigga to leave some Monopoly money on the bed. Ten thousand dollars worth. Just so everybody knew to stop fuckin’ with what was mine.
Word got back to me this morning. Big Mona was found carved up in her cell, fake money fanned out next to her body like a calling card. Nobody saw nothing. Nobody heard nothing. And nobody was gonna say shit.
Good.
But even with that handled, my chest was still tight. My woman was in a cage. My daughter was in a cage. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to get them out faster.
Camille told me the transport was happening in a couple days. California. Three thousand miles away from me. I was already making arrangements to fly me and Yusef out there. Ineeded to be as close to her and our baby as possible. Even if I couldn’t touch her. Even if I could only see her through glass. I needed to be there.
A part of me felt like this was all my fault. If I had just left her alone. If I had never walked into her apartment. If I had never made her mine. She’d still be free. Still be anonymous. Still be safe.
But I couldn’t think like that. Couldn’t go down that road. What’s done was done. Now I had to fix it.
Someone in my circle snitched. Someone made that call to LAPD. Someone dug up a five-year-old case and handed my woman to the cops on a silver platter.
I was sure it was Vivica. I just needed proof.
And when I finally made my move, she wouldn’t know what hit her. I wasn’t gonna kill Vivica. That would be too easy. Too quick. Nah. I was gonna destroy her. Brick by brick. Take everything she built. Everything she loved. Watch her lose it all piece by piece until she was begging for the mercy I wasn’t gonna give.
That was a promise.
The casino sitewas coming along.
I pulled up to the construction zone on the waterfront and parked next to Quest’s Maybach. The skeleton of the building was already up—steel beams reaching toward the sky, cranes moving materials, workers in hard hats everywhere. This was gonna be the crown jewel of the Banks empire. A hundred-million-dollar resort and casino that would put us on the map in a whole new way.
Quest was waiting for me near the entrance, two hard hats in his hand. He tossed me one as I walked up and pulled me into a hug.
“How you holding up?”
“I’m here.”
“That’s all you can do right now.” He stepped back. “My boy came through?”
“Yeah. Mona’s done. Monopoly money and all.”
Quest nodded, satisfied. “Good. Bitch should’ve known better than to come for a Banks.”
“Yo, I appreciate you for that. For real. That CO connect saved me a lot of trouble.”
“That’s family, bro. You ain’t gotta thank me for protecting my niece.” He put on his hard hat. “Come on. Let me show you what your money been doing.”
We walked through the construction zone, stepping over wires and dodging workers. Quest pointed out different sections—where the gaming floor would be, the hotel tower, the restaurants, the VIP lounges. He was in his element out here. CEO shit. Building empires. This was what he was born to do.
“We’re still on schedule for the soft opening in eight months,” he said. “Maybe sooner if we don’t hit any snags with permits.”
“Yo, what’s good!”
I turned to see Thad walking toward us, hard hat already on, dapping up one of the contractors on his way over.
“There he is,” Quest said, pulling him into a hug. “I heard about the shit at Upstage. You good?”
Thad sucked his teeth. “Man, some YN shit. Niggas don’t know how to act. Now I gotta keep the spot closed for a month while we deal with the investigation and repairs.”
“That’s money lost,” I said, dapping him up.
“Facts. But it is what it is.” He looked at me. “Yo, how’s your girl?”
