She bumped her shoulder gently against mine. “Don’t look all downtrodden, bruh. I meant what I said earlier—I like her. She seems like she keeps you on your toes, and you need that. Just make sure she’s pouring into you as much as you do her.”
That pulled a small laugh out of me. “You tryna give someone a sermon.”
“That’s why I’m here,” she said with a wink.
Nairobi slipped her hand into mine as we walked into Cash’s office. I’d called a meeting with him, Jelani, and Slim because this wasn’t something either of us could handle alone anymore. The Order was too big for Nairobi to take on herself and I couldn’t be her Superman. Not in that way at least. It was time to put everything on the table and figure out our next move.
Cash’s office was every bit that of a CEO—dark gray walls, big windows, and sleek leather furniture. He was posted behind his wide oak desk, a glass of brown in one hand and a pre-rolled blunt resting in the ashtray beside him. Jelani sat across from him with his feet kicked up on the table, while Slim lounged in one of the leather armchairs.
Slim looked up and whistled as we walked in. “Oh, we holding hands in front of company now?”
Nairobi wrinkled her nose at him and flipped him off before sliding onto the couch next to me. Slim chuckled and blew her a kiss.
I set my laptop on the coffee table and pulled up the files Bruno sent. Nairobi should’ve been the first to know, but after what went down at the baby shower, we were past handling this behind closed doors. It was time to rip the Band-Aid off.
“Alright,” I started, glancing around the room. “I wanted us all here ‘cause this shit is touching all of us now. Nai might not be part of the crew, but she’s family. Everybody needs to be on the same page.”
Cash sparked the blunt and took a long drag. “Them niggas really need to pay for that mess at my mama’s house.”
I opened the first set of files. “So Sterling was real busy with The Order. Not just gambling, he was in business with them too.”
Nairobi didn’t say anything, but I felt her body tense next to mine.
“You ever come across anything that said your father had overseas accounts or property? I asked her.
“No,” she said, shaking her head slowly. “I dug through everything and nothing stood out. Very cut and dry — savings, his pension, 401k, and his investments were stateside.”
I showed her my laptop screen which was filled with scanned documents—property records written in Japanese with English translation underneath.
“He owned real estate in Kyoto,” I said. “One being an entire apartment building in Kyoto that he co-owned with someone else.”
Jelani dropped his feet to the floor. “Co-owned with who?”
“Hana Furukawa,” I said and clicked to the next file.
Her headshot popped up on the screen. She had long, jet-black hair, tanned skin, and dark brown eyes.
Slim leaned in, squinting. “Yo…why she look like Nai a lil bit? But like… mixed.”
Jelani stood and came over to get a closer look. “Y’all definitely look like kin.”
“Bear…” she started as she looked at me. “What the fuck is this?”
I met her gaze. “Sterling’s daughter. Thirty-two, born and raised in Japan. Her mother was a diplomat.”
“What?”
“You have a half-sister.”
She looked from the screen to me and back again. “That—no. That’s not right. He couldn’t…” She shook her head. “I mean he traveled a lot for work when I was a kid. But a whole ass daughter?”
I placed a hand on her leg. “There’s more.”
Cash held the blunt out to her. “You need this?”
“Give it here,” she muttered, gesturing for it.
Jelani passed her the ashtray. She lit it and took a long drag.
