Ares
“This Used To Feel Easy”
Los Angeles felt different when you owned pieces of it.
Private hangar. Black truck waiting. City waking up under morning haze while I slid on my shades and stepped back into my lane.
France was politics.
LA was mine.
I had to come home and act like my life wasn’t upside down. Yuna was in France, detoxing, probably giving the staff a hard time, yelling at the top of her lungs, but she couldn’t run away. So I needed to use this time to get out of the house before my crew was telling me I had to fly back.
By the time I walked into my label office, the energy had already shifted. Phones ringing. Beats leaking through studio walls. Staff moving like the building had a pulse.
My assistant, Darius, looked up first.
“Welcome back, Mr. Jackson. Busy day.”
“Always,” I muttered, handing him my duffel.
He started listing meetings, but my attention shifted down the hall where voices bounced off the glass.
My sisters. Big Ghost’s only other kids I promised to look after.
“Oh, yeah. They definitely are on your list of meetings. You might as well get them out of the way first,” Darius suggested.
I walked off and stepped into the conference room.
Raina and Nia Jackson.
Raina was the lyricist.
Nia was the digital artist.
Both worth millions. Both in their late twenties now, shining.
Raina was arguing with her producer through headphones, loud and animated like always. Across from her, Nia sat locked into her laptop, sketching cover concepts, color palettes scattered all over the screen.
They looked up at the same time.
“Ares!” Raina jumped up and hugged me hard. “You been gone forever.”
“Relax,” I said, smirking. “You know y'all got deadlines, right?”
Nia rolled her eyes. “Mr. Forbes walks in and immediately starts bossing.”
“That’s why the lights stay on,” I replied.
“Okay, so what’s our next move?” Nia asked, all business. I taught them everything they knew about being businesswomen. I went over the rollout plans. Budgets. Graphics. Marketing pushes. Tweaked a few things. Approved a campaign without blinking. Paid them what they were owed.
I made sure these girls wanted for nothing, and it wasn’t just because Big Ghost asked me to in his will. I wasn’t cruel. Never had been. I took care of what was mine and who I loved. These two had my whole heart.
“Stay out the blogs,” I told Raina. “Let the music talk.”
She saluted dramatically.
I tapped Nia’s screen. “Tighten that font. Send it to me when it’s cleaned up.”
