by Mikal Malone
“It’s not loaded, mama!” She said putting the gun behind her back.
Just when she said that Slack walked into the room and aimed a gun in our direction.
“I thought you said we were alone?” He questioned.
“What are you doing?” I sobbed.
“Fuck all of that, you coming with me. And I’m not leaving here without you.” He paused. “The only question is, do you want me to kill just you, or all of you bitches?”
“NO! I’m coming by myself.” I said holding my hands out in front of me. I turned to my daughter. “Persia, I want you to stay here. I’ma be okay.”
“Mama, no! Please don’t leave.”
“COME ON, BITCH! I’M TIRED OF FUCKING AROUND WITH YOU!”
I quickly gathered myself and followed Slack to the door, but right before we were about to leave, a bullet pierced his shoulder and he fell to the floor dropping his gun. I turned around and Persia dropped my gun and stared at him.
“I’m sorry!” She screamed covering her mouth.
“DON’T BE, BABY!” I said rushing toward him to grab his gun. When I made it to him I shot him again in the other arm.”
“Persia, call your Aunt Yvette, and tell her we got business over here I need her help now!”
“I see you toting a little something there baby boy. I’m glad I ain’t have to blow that mothafucka off.”
-Daps
Priest stood in the doorway looking at his ten soldiers get his money in Tyland Towers. His money came quickly and easily because he was able to secure ten of the hardest block soldiers in the area. They were loyal, ruthless and as money hungry as he was. As far as he was concerned nothing needed to change. Now that he didn’t have to worry about the bitches that ran shit after Black Water, he could get his money with no problem. He wasn’t concerned about the rumor that C was taking their place because as long as the youngin’ stood back and out of his way, there would be no problems.
“That’s him?” Daps asked Monie.
“Yeah.”
“He look like he may give us a problem.” Daps laughed.
Monie grabbed her gun and said, “Let’s find out.”
In a sexy swagger, they walked up to him as he stood on the corner talking to his men. The moment he saw their faces he grew irritated.
“What?” He said before they even got within ten feet of him.
“Cameron wanna meet with you tomorrow.”
“Well, tell his little ass I’m busy.”
Monie looked at Daps and said, “Nigga…ain’t nobody asking if you busy or not. I’m telling you Cameron wants to meet with you. Your next question should be where.”
“Where?”
“The meeting is in building 1010 and you best be there or else!” Daps added.
“Or else what? What the fuck ya’ll think you gonna do to…”
Before he could finish his statement he felt pressure against his balls, where his dick rested to the left.
“If you don’t wanna be there fuck it. But if that’s the case, we ain’t got no use for you now do we?” Daps said. Monie smiled having liked Daps follow up flow.
“Aight.” Priest said slowly raising his hands. “Now can you please move that shit?”
“Naw.” Monie said. “Not until you understand how shit is going down in Tyland from now on. Keep that shit right there, Daps.”
“I’m right on ‘em.”
“I don’t like your attitude so I’ma warm you up now before you meet Cameron. He is running shit in Tyland and if you or any of your niggas got a problem with that I can solve it for you right here. Are we clear?”
“Yeah.”
“Now, remember the meeting. You better be there.”
Daps removed her gun and smiled. “I see you toting a little something there baby boy. I’m glad I ain’t have to blow that mothafucka off. It would’ve been such a waste for the ladies.”
With that they walked away.
“I ain't gotta give them shit. I have spoken; now get your men in order.”
- Lil C
C was in the building waiting for the men who would either help him in his plans for Tyland Towers, or get buried for trying to get in his way. C knew he had to be serious about the direction he was taking because he knew if he didn’t no one would take him seriously.
In the room they held their meeting no other furniture outside of a single table and chairs were present. It was large enough to fit everybody invited and members of The Set stood in various parts of the room to provide security for C.
Nimali, Hinni and Dayani stood behind C and they were strapped and ready to go. Daps, was on the door and Monie Blow, Lee Lee and Love were at the far end of the room next to the windows.
Five minutes later, the Tyland Tower members came straggling in one by one. Lee Lee put cups in front of them and poured some Hennessy Black in each cup. C heard they favored the drink and wanted them to be relaxed. Everybody got a cup in front of them with the exception of Nick and Docks. He heard things about them since his meeting with Monie Blow and decided his hospitality to them would not begin.
“You forgot my cup.” Nick said.
“Yeah…mine, too.” Docks added.
“Nigga, shut the fuck up.” Lee Lee said stepping up to them before standing against the wall.
“Look, fuck a cup!” Priest yelled, angry Nick and Docks were acting thirsty…literally. Then he directed his attention to C. “Now what is this about, young blood? ’Cause as long as I’m in here, I ain’t making money out there. And the purpose of business is to get paid.”
“Yeah, so what, you think you run Tyland now because you in charge of the package? Still don’t mean we gonna bow down to you.” Nick said.
“This nigga actually expects a dude from Emerald could get respect from us,” Docks laughed looking at Priest who remained straight faced.
Priest sat back into his chair and shook his head. Nick and Docks were doing the most to embarrass him and Tyland and he wished they would shut the fuck up.
“Man, fuck this shit!” Nick said. Then he tapped Docks on the shoulder and said, “This some bullshit. Let’s bounce.”
“We out.” Docks added.
Both of them made moves for the door until Priest said, “Sit down.” When they didn’t obey him he turned to them and said, “I said sit the fuck down. The least we could do is hear the little nigga out.” They both sat down.
“I don’t expect you to like me.” C said in a low but authoritative tone. “Matta fact, I don’t want you to like me, but you will respect me and the way I do business. We gonna be tightening up on the sells around Tyland. No more getting paid directly outta your cut. From here on out, the money is going to be collected at the end of each day, and we gonna pay out based on the sells of the organization as a whole.”
“The way we do it now, we work off of a package and take out our cut before the money is collected.” Nick said.
“Yeah, and because of that shit right there, packages come up missing and money comes up short. That shit ain’t happening under my watch.”
“Nigga, I’m not ‘bout to give you the paper before I get mine.” Nick said. “It don’t make no sense.”
“So you telling me you not gonna get with how I’m running shit?” C asked.
He laughed and said, “Look…back in EC…”
Before he could finish his sentence Lee Lee put one in the back of his head and followed up with another bullet for his partner Docks. Both of their lifeless bodies slumped at the table as reminders that C wasn’t playing games.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS YOU DOIN’, CUZ?!” Priest yelled standing up next to Detroit and Frost.
“Sit down.” They didn’t move.
“I’m tired of begging you niggas. You gonna start hearing less from me and feeling more. I’m starting to realize that the only thing ya’ll can get with is the clap of my gun. So if you don’t sit down, you ‘bout to hear a round of applause.”
Everyone sat down when th
e women raised their weapons in the air.
“Young Blood…”
“Cameron. The name’s Cameron.” He said cutting Priest off.
And then it dawned on him, they didn’t respect the name his father was born with or the name he’d also given him. Because of it, C decided to take things to another level.
“Okay…okay, Cameron…”
“No fuck that! From here on out refer to me as Young King. And Tyland Towers as Camelot.” He said naming it after his father. “I’m tired of niggas thinking because I’m young I’m soft. If anybody addresses me as anything other than Young King or Your Highness, matta fact, if any of your soldiers even look me in my face, I’m burning them down.”
C could feel The Set looking at him crazy but he was done fucking around.
“Young Blood…”
All you heard was the cock of weapons in the air.
“KILL THIS NIGGA!” C ordered.
Monie held the gun to Priest’s head and Frost jumped up and said, “King…please. Don’t do this shit. We feel where you coming from but killing one of your best is not a good move.”
C’s jaw clenched as The Set waited on his final word.
Reluctantly he looked at his crew and said, “Drop ‘em.”
They all lowered their weapons but Monie asked, “Are you sure?”
C nodded. Then he turned his attention to Priest, “I’ma give you that one, but it will be your last.” Priest swallowed hard having gotten away with his life.
“King, I think you going to have a lot of people bucking this new order.” Priest said. “Maybe you should go a different route and give niggas a chance to get with the program before you change it.”
“I ain't gotta give them shit. I have spoken; now get your men in order. We meet back here at the start of every week.” C paused. “But I should tell you, shit is changing around here whether they like it or not.”
The moment he said that his phone vibrated. It was a message from Persia and he started to ignore it. But when he read her words he stood up straight and said to The Set, “Come on ya’ll. We got business to tend to.”
“What about them?” Daps said.
“The meeting is adjourned. Go make my fucking money.”
“We had bigger fish to fry, and he was lying in his own blood on Carissa’s floor.”
- Mercedes
“Where this nigga at?!” Yvette yelled as we walked through the Yacht holding our guns.
“In here!”
We rushed in the direction of Carissa’s voice and when we made it to the room she was in, we couldn’t believe the sight. On the floor lied Slack screaming his heart out begging us to let him go.
“Let’s get him out of Persia’s room.” Yvette said.
We took him to Carissa’s spare room and laid him on a big piece of plastic paper so we wouldn’t ruin her floors before we threw his ass overboard. Yvette having a memory like an elephant, couldn’t wait to flip him over to see if the tattoo she saw on the video was on his back. And sure nuff, NC was tatted on his skin.
“Fuck does NC stand for?” I asked.
“North Carolina.” He said, sweat pouring down his face.
“You from North Carolina?” Carissa asked. “I thought that was for Nations Capital. Like you told me.”
“I lied.” He said, his face expressing the pain he was in.
“Told you I was gonna kill this nigga,” Yvette said reminding me of our conversation in the limo.
“Who sent you? And don’t start lying to…” Before I could finish questioning Slack, C rushed into the Yacht with Daps and Monie and five other girls I didn’t know.
“C, what are you doing here?” I asked walking up to him. “I don’t want you here right now.”
“Persia called me and told me what happened.”
We all looked at her. “I’m sorry. I was scared and wanted him here with me.”
“Stop lying! The only reason you told him was so you could see him.” Carissa said. Persia shrugged neither admitting innocence nor guilt. “You should’ve taken your ass with Sugar!”
“C, we got it taken care of.” I said.
“Why he try to kill Aunt Carissa?” He asked looking into my eyes.
“We don’t know yet.”
“Who the fuck are you really?!” Yvette said kicking him in the stomach.
“Slack.”
“Nigga, I said who are you really? I know you with someone but what I don’t know is who.” Yvette continued.
“I’m just a friend.”
“Monie and Daps, get on this nigga.” C ordered.
All of sudden all of the women aimed their guns at his head. We all looked at C impressed with the women and their use of firepower.
“As you can see you about to have more trouble than you need. So what you wanna do? Yvette said.”
Realizing he wasn’t about to tell us what we needed I figured it would be best to get our kids out of there.
“C, get out of here. I don’t want you around…”
“Ma, I’m not about to leave you in here with this nigga.” C told me.
“C, please! Go now and take Persia with you.” I ordered.
“I don’t fuck with this bitch no more!”
“Lil C! Don’t you call my daughter out of her name!” Carissa yelled.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Carissa, but me and Persia are done.”
“C, I managed to take care of myself for years. Now I’m asking you to leave. We got this under control.” I said.
C looked at me with a frustrated stare and said, “Aight, but I’m leaving my girls here.”
“Cameron, you can’t be by yourself.” Daps yelled.
C turned around and said, “Monie come with me.”
With that he walked out of the door. Persia appeared irritated with his departure and stormed behind him. I didn’t have time to deal with either one of them right now. We had bigger fish to fry, and he was lying in his own blood on Carissa’s floor.
“…I’ma let you go. But I never want to see you again, Persia. Ever.”
-Lil C
C was almost to his car when Persia came barreling out of her mother’s yacht. C and Monie continued to walk to his truck and were trying to avoid an altercation with her but feared it was inevitable.
“Cameron, we need to talk!” Persia screamed running behind them.
“Get in the car, Monie. I’m coming.”
Monie walked two steps closer and said, “You know I’m not leaving you.”
C didn’t feel like arguing with her because he knew it was fruitless. She cared about him more than any human should care about another and after the near death attempts on his life, she would never leave his side again, not if she could help it.
“What do you want, Persia? I’m done with you. I don’t fuck with people who not loyal.”
“I am loyal, Cameron. I could’ve betrayed you but I didn’t.”
“Fuck is you saying? Were you or were you not with the nigga Zulo?!”
“I’m not talking about him.”
“Well, I am.”
“Cameron, I’m so sorry about Zulo. I didn’t know you were going to be there and I don’t like him more than you. I want to be with you, baby. Can you forgive me…please?”
“Fuck you, not knowing I was going to be there. You should not have been with the nigga to begin with. Now it’s over, get the fuck out of my face!”
C turned around to walk to the car and Monie was relieved. She didn’t want him being around her longer than he had to. Unconsciously C opened the door for Monie and she got inside the front passenger seat. The gesture came so smoothly that she didn’t want to draw attention to it because for the first time ever, he treated her like a lady instead of one of his niggas.
“Cameron,” Persia said grabbing his arm. “Don’t walk away from me, plllleeeassse.”
“Get the fuck off of him!” Monie said from the truck.
“Easy, I got this, Monie.” C said calming her
down with a wave of his hand. “Because it’s nothing this bitch can say to make me want her back.”
“But your mother set me up. She arranged for Zulo to take me out just so we wouldn’t be together. Then she told you to be there so you would catch me.”
“My mother wouldn’t do no shit like that.” C said getting into the driver’s seat.
“She did, Cameron. Think about it. How did you know I was going to be there?”
He took his key out of his pocket and put it into the ignition. Monie was in the passenger seat and couldn’t believe the feeling. The way C was treating her, for the first time ever, she felt that maybe there could be something between them after all.
“Bye, Persia.”
He was driving off the Docks until she yelled. “YOUR MOTHER KILLED YOUR FATHER!”
C threw the truck in park causing Monie a medium case of whiplash.
“Don’t listen to her, Cameron. Let’s just go.”
Getting out of the Range, he walked up to her and wrapped his hands around her throat. “Bitch, what did you just say?”
“It’s true,” she said clawing at his hands. “She didn’t want you to know because she knew how much he meant to you.” Her voice was low but her words were powerful. “Ask her, if you don’t believe me.”
C looked into her eyes and saw truth. Lies could be all over the place and often hard to spot but the truth was always visible upon first sight.
He released her and said, “Because of all of the shit that’s going on now, I’ma let you go. But I never want to see you again, Persia. Ever.”
C walked to his truck replaying what she’d said over and over in his mind. If what she said was true, this would change the course of the relationship with his mother forever.
“Baby, why would you ask me something like this?”
Mercedes
We tortured the nigga Slack before we ended his life only to find out that he was with Tamir and they had been trying to kill my son for the longest. And to think, all of this shit started over a girl. Then we learned him and Cheese were the cause of my best friend being taken from us at the orders of Tamir. I don’t know where Tamir was, but he fucked with the wrong family. I had Vida working diligently to find out where he laid his head and before I rested, I had plans to see that his life and the lives of his family members was over. First I had to warn C, so I called him over to talk about it. But when he answered the phone he sounded different, like something was on his mind.