“And if it’s a success? Then what?”
“Pay whoever your security detail is in pennies, because I’m telling you, ain’t no money in what you’re trying to do, G. Shit, people already have KOD and Magic City. Fuck they need a Bliss Lounge for?”
“I’m sure I don’t need to remind you who you’re speaking to, so it will be wise for you to correct your tone.”
“Yeah, okay.” Percy laughed again. “This business meeting is over. My answer isn’t just no. It’s a hell no, and I’m going to forgive you for wasting my time. I just came to see if what the streets were saying was true.”
“And what’s that?”
“That you’re losing your grip on the streets. And now I know for myself that you’re giving up all your power for some pussy. What a fuckin’ joke,” Percy said and spat on Gene’s desk. “Let’s go, y’all.”
He stood up to leave, but Gene’s voice stopped him. “I’m afraid to inform you that you are wrong.”
“What?”
“You’re wrong.”
“I just call it like I see it.”
“You see only with your eyes, and that’s the problem,” Gene chuckled. “See, I gave up the game a long time ago. My hands haven’t touched a brick in years because I have young, dumb niggas like you willing to do all of the dirty work for me. I’ve always been smart enough to know that the life of a kingpin ends only in one of two ways, and we both know what those are. Eventually, everyone gets caught up in the life. I decided to bow out gracefully while I’m still hitting high. I’ve decided to go mostly legit, and I’ve just offered you the job of a lifetime. You just spit that back in my face, and while I will let you walk out of here with breath still in your body, I will never forget this day. Understand? And one more thing: there ain’t no power in this world greater than pussy.”
“Yeah, whatever, nigga. Just know that when you fall, Perseus will be here to take your place.”
“Dexter, please show Percy the door,” Gene instructed one of the men standing beside him.
Percy turned his back on Gene and walked toward the double doors. It happened so quick that Kidd didn’t have time to make a break for the stairs. When Percy pulled open the cracked door all the way, he caught Kidd standing there like a deer in headlights.
“Nosy ass,” he said to Kidd and bumped past him.
Kidd tried to step to the side, but it was too late. His uncle had already seen him there. Kidd couldn’t describe the expression that crossed Gene’s face, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. Dexter followed closely behind Perseus and his entourage. Kidd didn’t know whether he should go back upstairs too. After a few moments of just standing there, he turned his back and tried to quickly go up to his room.
“No, you stay,” Gene said from his desk. “You two go.”
He gave the men beside them their leave, and they didn’t wait for a second instruction. When they were gone, Gene waved for Kidd to come into the office and sit down. Once seated, Kidd waited for his uncle to give him a stern talking-to. Imagine his surprise when those words never came and, in fact, it was quite the contrary.
“I imagine you were standing out there the entire time.”
“Not the entire time, sir. Just part of it. Maybe most of it. You mad at me?”
“I don’t know yet. What made you come down here when I specifically told you that the basement is off-limits to you?”
“I guess I ain’t never been good at following rules. And I guess I wasn’t really thinking. Or maybe I was thinking. About what you were doing down here and why some random people got to see what was here and I couldn’t.”
“And what are you thinking now?”
“That Percy is an asshole.”
Gene surprised Kidd with a hearty laugh. When he had gotten it all out, he nodded in agreement with his nephew. “You’re right about that.”
“I can’t believe you asked him to be security. He’s a little too lippy for all that. He’s the type of nigga . . . I mean, man I wouldn’t even want too close to my business,” Kidd said, looking into his uncle’s eyes.
“I’m starting to realize that. There is nothing more worrisome than a man afraid of change. That kind of man doesn’t make good for the rise of business and is your worst enemy once you reach the top. Still, I’m at a loss when it comes to a security detail, and I’m trying to get the ball rolling by next month.”
“I heard Percy say that you were opening a gentlemen’s club?”
“Something like that.”
“Oh,” was all Kidd said.
Gene raised his eyebrow at him. “You sneak down here and eavesdrop on a conversation that you have no business listening to in the first place, but now you choose to bite your tongue. Speak, boy.”
“I’m just saying, from what I pieced together, now I have a good idea of what you do to live like this. I mean, I think I knew already. You’re some kind of kingpin, huh?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, let’s just say that you are. You mean to tell me you’re going to give up your throne to open up a titty bar? That just doesn’t make sense, Unc.”
“You’re starting to sound a lot like Percy.”
“Nah, he was telling you. I’m asking. Why give up everything for that?”
“Maybe my eyes are open just a little wider than of those around me. What are people addicted to the most besides money? Women and drugs. Combine the two and you rule the world. Why settle for being a king when you can be a god?”
“You’re going to push weight through the club?”
“Even better,” Gene said with a smile. “And when you’re older, I may decide to go into more detail, but for now I’ll settle for teaching you how to shoot a gun. Come on, let me show how to hold a pistol.”
“I know how to hold a pistol,” Kidd said.
“I mean how to hold it so that you never miss,” Gene said, standing up from his chair.
“Yeah,” Kidd said and followed his uncle to the gun range. “Then maybe I can be your security. That way we can keep the money in the family.”
The younger voice of himself faded in Kidd’s mind as he pulled into the parking garage of his condo back at home. The drive had been a long one, but his memory had kept him company. He hadn’t even known it back then, but he spoke his future into existence. Not only did he grow up to be one of the Bliss Lounge’s best security details, but he was also one of the best shooters in the state. After Kidd graduated, Gene had hired military personnel to train him not only in the art of shooting, but in combat as well. Kidd was literally a walking weapon, and Gene used him to the best of his ability.
When Kidd walked into his home, he noticed that everything was exactly how he left it. He called the place his bachelor pad, and despite the short amount of time he spent there, he enjoyed it. Almost everything inside was white—the walls, the countertops, the couch, and everything in his bedroom—because he liked the purity of it all. There was a cleaner who came once a week, so his place stayed pretty neat and tidy.
Upon entering, he took his shoes off and left them by the door. The first thing he wanted to do was take a shower. The second thing he wanted to do was lie in his bed, but of course, that was just too much like right. The second he turned on the water in the tub of the master bathroom, his phone began to vibrate violently against his leg in his pocket.
“Hello?”
“Aria told me that you’ve come home.”
Kidd recognized his uncle’s voice instantly. He of course knew that Gene would find out he was back in town sooner or later. Kidd was just thinking that it would be later. He was hoping to get at least a few hours to himself.
“Yeah, I just walked through the doors.”
“Everything all right, nephew? Why did you leave the tour?”
“Yeah,” Kidd said, thinking about Belle. “Everything is all right.”
“Is everything going good with the tour? How did the new girl do on her first night?”
“Everything was everythin
g, Unc,” Kidd said, not really wanting to recap the night at all. “Let’s just say there were no complaints.”
“Good, that’s what I like to hear. Still, I would have rather you waited until the tour was over to come back home.”
“I was just gon’ to have one of the others replace me for the rest of the tour, that’s all. I needed a break.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone.
“I guess I’m so used to working you so hard I don’t realize that you don’t get too many breaks,” Gene said finally.
“Life is a constant revolving circle. I just thought I’d hit pause for a second before I come back into the office.”
“Well, since you’re home, you’ll have the opportunity to take a break once you do one little thing for me. That’s why I’m calling, I have a job for you. I need you to meet me at my house in the morning.”
“All right,” Kidd answered because he couldn’t say no if he wanted to. “What’s the job?”
“Remember our old friend Perseus?”
Chapter 7
If you are curious, you’ll find the puzzles around you. If you are determined, you will solve them.
—Erno Rubik
Knock! Knock!
The wooden door was hard underneath Kidd’s knuckles when he knocked, but he was sure somebody heard him with as hard as he’d hit the door. As he stood outside the house his uncle had brought him to so long ago, he enjoyed the feel of the humid air and the warm sun on the back of his neck. The day was still warming up, but sixty degrees still felt better than what the Midwest had to offer, and he had to admit that he was happy to be home.
After waiting a few minutes and getting no response, Kidd raised his hand to knock on the door again. Right before his fist hit the door, he stopped because something dawned on him. He had a key. Shaking his head at himself for being so airheaded, he pulled out his keys and let himself inside.
Nothing was different about the home, but of course it wouldn’t be. Gene was good with change everywhere else, but he liked his home to remain the same. It even smelled the same, like clean linen and laundry. No lights in the home were on, but the natural light from the sun lit the entire home up, and Kidd found himself smiling to himself as he stood in the foyer. He had truly gone from a pauper to a prince. A prince who had to earn his keep, but a prince nonetheless.
“Unc!” Kidd called up the spiral staircase to the left of him. “Unc!”
When nobody answered him, he pulled his phone from his pocket and called Gene’s phone. It rang twice before the line was picked up.
“Good morning, nephew.”
“Good morning? I thought you told me to come by this morning.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Gene asked, and Kidd couldn’t help but notice that something about his tone sounded a little off. “Are you at the house already?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Well, hang out for a while. I’m going to be some hours.”
“Where’s Maria?” Kidd asked, looking around for Gene’s housekeeper. “I was at the door, knocking, and nobody answered.”
“You don’t have your key?”
“I remembered I had it after nobody answered the door.”
“I had to let Maria go. She was getting old and kept staining my laundry. She’s back with her family now.”
“Oh. Well, everything still looks good,” Kidd said, walking around the house and noticing how neat everything was.
“I’m not incompetent, my dear nephew. I know how to keep up my home.”
“Yeah, yeah. Where are you at anyway?”
“Just out handling some last-minute business,” was all Gene said.
“Like what?”
“Nothing that you need to concern your head with. For what I need you to do, I need your mind clear and for you to be at full strength. Don’t worry about me, my dear boy. I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah, all right. I’ll see you later then.”
They hung up the phone without saying goodbye, and Kidd sighed. If he had thought to call Gene before he left his own place, he would be still asleep in his bed. However, instead of wallowing in his own annoyance, Kidd figured he’d better make every hour count. There was nothing worse to him than wasted time, so he headed toward the basement. He decided then that he would get some shots in while he waited for Gene to get back.
Except he never made it to the range. When his foot touched the floor in the basement, he had every intention of going straight to find the gun he wanted to shoot with that day. However, fate had other plans for him. He noticed that one of the doors to Gene’s office was wide open and he was looking directly at Gene’s desk. He was about to just shut the door, but then curiosity got the best of him.
He eased closer and closer to the desk before sitting down in Gene’s chair, a place where his uncle spent most of his idle time. It was a comfortable chair, Kidd had to admit while his eyes traveled the room, seeing it the way that Gene did. He smoothed his hands along the top of the shiny, smooth desktop and found himself admiring the craftmanship. There were three horizontal drawers on the right, and there was one that stood out to him. The second drawer had a turned key in it. Gene must have been in the middle of something, because the drawer wasn’t all the way shut. It had gotten caught on some papers seemingly stuffed inside.
Kidd knew that Gene hated for anyone to go through his things, but his hand was itching to pull open the drawer. Gene had acted strange on the phone, and Kidd couldn’t help but wonder why. Not only that, but Gene never said he was going to be somewhere and then wasn’t there. It just wasn’t like him to not be at the house when he told Kidd to be there. Something had to be up. Something important.
Before he talked himself out of it, the drawer was open, and the papers were in his hands. Only they weren’t papers. They were photographs, and when he saw who they were of, his eyebrow raised. Looking up at him in a frozen frame was the woman he’d just had to force himself to leave. Belle. But why did Gene have her pictures in his drawer? He turned one of them over, and his eyes widened at the words he saw: “Find her.”
Confused wasn’t the word to describe what he was feeling. He rummaged around the desk some more in hopes of finding an answer of some sort, but he found nothing. The only way for Kidd to figure out exactly why Gene was looking for Belle was to ask him or stand close enough to him to figure it out. He put the pictures back in the drawer and shut it exactly how he found it. His phone rang from his pocket, and he quickly pulled it out to see who it was.
“What up, my boy?” he answered.
“So, niggas touch down in the city and just don’t say shit, huh?” Kidd’s childhood best friend Ollie said into the phone.
“Man, it’s not even like that,” Kidd said with a grin. “How’d you even know I was back?”
“You know I always check on your spot when you’re gone, boy. You really need to learn how to make your bed up. You’re too old for all that.”
“You know what? Fuck you,” Kidd said.
“I got a bitch for that,” Ollie retorted. “Where you at anyways?”
“At Gene’s spot. He told me to meet him here, but he ain’t here yet. You tryin’a come shoot around with me until he get here?”
“And what? Embarrass you?”
“Nigga, you ain’t gon’ embarrass shit,” Kidd said, laughing out loud.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m on the way.”
* * *
Bzzzzz!
The loud buzzer was something that Gene would never get used to or like. He couldn’t decide whether that or the hard plastic chair he was sitting in was the most irritating part of the place, the “place” being Lowell Correctional Institution, a women’s prison. The only good thing about the buzzer was that it signified when the guard had finally brought his sister in to sit with him.
He watched as the big, burly guard guided her to the chair across from him at the metal table. She looked good despite the dull prison uniform she was wearing. Th
e top of her jumpsuit was tied around her waist, and the white T-shirt she wore showed off her figure. Her face mirrored Gene’s almost identically, but of course, she was prettier, and her lips were fuller. Her hair was braided back into one long French braid, and the melanin in her soft brown skin made it seem like she hadn’t aged a day.
“Thank you,” Gene said to the guard after he uncuffed her. “You can leave now.”
“I’ll be right outside if you need me, sir.” And with that, the guard exited.
“Gia, you look good,” Gene said and motioned to the chair she was standing next to. “Sit.”
“Why are you here?” Gia asked, looking into her brother’s face. “These little secret meetings with me must cost a pretty penny.”
Her voice was raspier than he remembered, but it still had that sweet undertone that used to get her whatever she wanted. Her soft face had hardened, which was to be expected. Prison had a way of bringing the ugly out in everyone, no matter how beautiful you were.
“When you have the governor on speed dial, you don’t have to spend a dollar,” he answered. “Now sit.”
Gia looked from him to the chair as if contemplating if she should listen. In the end, she pulled the chair back and sat down. The two stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before Gene smirked.
“You’ve been working out,” he said.
“Not much to do in here. Might as well take care of my body so when I get out, I can enjoy the rest of my days.”
“Hmm, good way to look at it,” he said, and she scoffed.
“Let’s cut the small talk. I’ll ask you again. Why are you here?”
“I’m here because I have a question.”
“Of course you do. What’s your question, brother?”
“I need you to tell me everything you know about the man in this photo.”
Gene pulled a small photograph out of the pocket of his suit and slid it across the table to her. Slowly she wrapped her small fingers around the corner of the picture and picked it up to get a closer look at it. A look of surprise crossed her face. It was quick, but Gene saw it.
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