by Rose, J. L
“It’s about Dante and business.”
Sucking her teeth, Alinna told Vanessa to hold on.
“Dante, you still there?” Vanessa asked.
“Yeah!” Dante responded.
“Hello! Vanessa, you there?” Alinna asked, coming back on the line.
“Yeah. I’m right here, girl.”
“Well, hurry up and talk. I’m out with Alex and you’re interrupting.”
“Alex? Who’s Alex?”
“Girl, this sexy-ass guy I met earlier today. He asked me out to dinner and we just left the movies,” Alinna explained. “I’ll tell you more tonight. Just hurry up and tell me what’s so important.”
Quiet a moment until Alinna called out her name, Vanessa answered, “Yeah, I’m here.”
“So, you gonna tell me what’s up or what?”
“Look, Alinna. I talked to Dante and he says that he’s found us a connect but the problem is that he gonna have to stay in Arizona for a while. But the deal with the connect is only if Dante stays and becomes his personal bodyguard and takes care of a problem the connect is having.”
“Okay. Why are you telling me this?”
“Alinna, you not serious? This Dante we’re talking about.”
“Fuck Dante! He can stay his ass wherever he at. I don’t give a fuck what he does. But if he’s getting us connected then tell his ass to go right the hell ahead and do it.”
“Thanks for the go-ahead.”
Quiet for a second, Alinna called to Vanessa asking her, “Who the fuck was that Vanessa?”
Shaking her head even though Alinna couldn’t see her, Vanessa said, “It don’t even matter, Alinna.”
“I know you just didn’t set me up like that. That better not be Dante that’s on the phone.”
“Yeah, it was Dante. But he’s hung up now, though.”
“Bitch, what the fuck was . . .”
“Don’t even try it, Alinna!” Vanessa cut her off. “How you gonna sit there acting like you all mad after all that shit you was just talking about Dante. He called to talk to us about this deal he was just offered and to see how we felt about it but you in the street up in some nigga face. Don’t worry about it, though. You just helped Dante make his decision to stay in Arizona. Thank yourself, Alinna.”
Vanessa angrily hung up the phone while Alinna was still running her mouth. She still couldn’t believe what she just heard Alinna saying about Dante. And to make it worse, she was out with some other nigga.
“Fuck her!” Vanessa said out loud to herself, still thinking about how Alinna was talking shit about Dante. “She wanna fuck with some nobody, that’s her business. I just hope my big brother finds something better where he at.”
* * *
Dante stood at his hotel room window staring out over the city of Phoenix. After hanging up on the women and hearing Alinna’s words, Dante couldn’t even understand what was going on inside his head. At the moment, he just wasn’t sure where his emotions were.
Raising his cell phone that was given to him, Dante looked at the screen. He found the number that Carlos told him was the direct contact line to Dominic. He hit “send” to call the number.
“Saldana” Dominic answered after three rings.
“Alright!”
Quiet for a moment, Dominic finally asked, “Am I to take your statement as you accepting my offer, Dante?”
“Yeah! I’m accepting it. But there’s a few things we need to discuss and understand if I’ma be working for you.”
“Very well, Dante,” Dominic replied. “I would like for you to be here at my home by 10 o’clock and on time. We can talk while we ride to the meeting I have tomorrow.”
Dante wrote down the address he was given and then hung up with Dominic. He then called Tony T and Dre, telling both of his boys to come to his room so he could discuss the new plans with them.
Within five minutes, while still standing at the window, he heard a knock on the door. Dante turned from the window and went to answer the door.
“What’s up, bruh?” Tony T asked after Dante opened the door as he and Dre walked into his hotel room.
“We got a change of plans, fellas,” Dante told them as he picked up his box of Black & Mild’s from the dresser next to his Glock.
Seeing the look on Dante’s face, Dre asked, “Fam, this shit got something to do with you talking with this Dominican dude?”
Nodding his head, Dante lifted his eyes up from lighting the Black and looked toward Dre, meeting his boy’s eyes. He pulled on the Black until the tip was fully lit. While blowing thick cigar smoke, he said, “I want you two to head back to Miami.”
“What?”
“Fuck is you talking about?”
Tony T and Dre responded at the same time, with Dre adding, “Dante, what’s up? We not hitting this nigga Victor no more?”
“Check it, fellas!” Dante told them. He went on explaining the offer from Dominic and his decision to accept it. However, he wanted them both to head back home and look after the family until he was finished in Arizona.
“You joking, right?” Dre asked, staring hard at Dante. “What type of shit is you on, nigga? I ain’t going nowhere without you, fam!”
“I wasn’t asking!” Dante replied, staring straight back at Dre. “This my decision, and we not about to discuss it.”
“Bruh, come on!” Tony T spoke up. “You asking us to just leave you up here with no back up, and you don’t know shit about these muthafuckers. Yeah! You do ya thing when it comes to putting in work, but even you can be bodied.”
“If that day comes, then it’ll be a whole lot of muthafuckers walking that dark road with me,” Dante replied, but then said, “I’m meeting up with Dominic tomorrow and letting him know both of y’all handling getting the work back to Miami.”
“You dead serious, ain’t you?” Dre asked, heated as he stood staring at Dante.
Shifting his eyes from staring at Tony T and looking into Dre’s angry eyes, Dante added, “When have I ever played about business, family? This what it is. Period!”
* * *
“Vanessa!”
Rolling over onto her back and looking up to her bedroom door as Alinna burst inside yelling her name, Vanessa looked down at her nephew to see D.J. was still asleep. She looked back at Alinna while holding her cell phone up to her ear and asked, “What do you want, Alinna?”
“Bitch, don’t play with me!” Alinna yelled, only to get Vanessa to respond angrily. “Alinna, I promise you, if you wake up my nephew, we are going to have a real problem.”
“We already have a real problem!” Alinna told her, staring hard at Vanessa. “How the fuck you gonna set me up like that? Why the fuck would you call me with Dante on the phone and not warn me he was on the phone?”
“Hold on!” Vanessa told her, rolling her eyes as she focused back on the phone. “Andre, baby, let me call you back. Tell Dante I got his message and call me later tomorrow after he handles his business.”
Hanging up the phone with Dre, Vanessa focused back on Alinna but she never got the chance to say anything. Alinna beat her to the point saying, “What the hell you mean, Dante’s message? And what business is he handling, Vanessa?”
“If you would have been paying attention and not all up in some new nigga face, you would know what’s going on.”
“Vanessa, don’t fucking play with me. What’s going on with Dante?”
Shaking her head as she sat staring at Alinna, Vanessa climbed out of bed and headed for the door, dragging Alinna out into the hallway and shutting the door behind them.
Facing Alinna, Vanessa angrily said, “Dante set it for both Dre and Tony T to bring back 50 bricks and 50 pounds. Dre says that that’s just until Dante gets right up there in Arizona.”
“So he’s really not coming back then?”
“Isn’t that what the fuck you wanted?”
“Vanessa, don’t play with me!” Alinna screamed. “You know I don’t really want Dante up there. He needs to be here with h
is family.”
“Family, huh?” Vanessa repeated, staring at Alinna like she was crazy. “I’m surprised you remembered you had a family with Dante. That man has done everything he knew how and even now when you showing him your ass, he’s still doing more all because he gives a fuck about you and the rest of us, even if you don’t care about him. I’m happy he’s staying where he is. Truthfully, Alinna, I hope he finds someone that realizes what type of dude he is because Dante is really one of a kind and you too stupid to realize what he was.”
Unable to believe how Vanessa just talked to her and the shit she just told her, Alinna stood in the hallway staring at Vanessa’s closed bedroom door into which her supposed best friend just walked.
Sucking her teeth, Alinna turned and marched to her own bedroom.
Chapter 6
Waiting outside the hotel parking lot, Dante leaned against the front passenger door of the rented Explorer and smoked one of his Blacks from a new pack he bought earlier. Dante stood waiting for both Dre and Tony T to pick him up and drop him off out at Dominic’s spot.
Dante checked his Mickey Mouse watch. It was already 9 o’clock. He had woken up at 8:00 a.m. to make sure to have enough time to find Dominic’s crib. He looked up towards the front entrance of the hotel and saw his boys exiting the hotel, carrying their bags. He also noticed the expression on their faces.
Once Dre unlocked the SUV doors, Dante climbed up front while Tony T climbed in the back seat. Dre angrily climbed behind the wheel, tossing his bags to the back.
“Everything already ready and waiting for y’all when we get to Dominic’s spot,” Dante explained to both Dre and Tony T while Dre was pulling out of the parking spot.
Receiving no response from either of his boys, Dante read the address to Dre. There was still no response. He understood what was up with the both of them.
There was complete silence the entire 20-minute drive inside the Explorer. Dre finally pulled the truck up in front of a tall, black-painted security gate with an armed guard posted at the front. Dante leaned over towards Dre as the driver’s window slid down and said, “I’m here for Mr. Saldana.”
“And you are, sir?” the guard asked, while looking around inside the truck.
“Dante Blackwell,” he replied, shifting his eyes to the side mirror and seeing a Mercedes limo pulling up behind the Explorer.
“Mr. Saldana is expecting you, Mr. Blackwell,” the guard told Dante, stepping over to the security booth.
“Go ahead, fam!” Dante told Dre, as the gate slowly swung inward.
Dante watched as Dre drove up the wrap-around driveway, pulling up in front of a huge-as-hell house that looked like something straight out of a movie. Dante waited until Dre had parked the Explorer near the front door. As he climbed out, the same limo at the front gate pulled up behind the SUV.
Dante stared back at the limo and watched as a huge, muscular Spanish man climbed out of the back seat and stared straight in his direction. He turned his attention to the front door of the mansion to see a team of suit-wearing security fall out of the house. Dominic stepped outside behind them and smiled at Dante.
“Dante!” Dominic said as he walked out to greet him.
“Mr. Saldana,” Dante replied, shaking the Dominican drug lord’s hand.
“Daddy!”
Both Dominic and Dante turned around and looked back at the limo.
“Natalie!” Dominic happily said. He spit out a few words in rapid Spanish as his daughter walked up and into his open arms.
While looking at both her father and Dante staring at her, Natalie asked her father who the man was in front of her.
Surprising both Dominic and his daughter, Dante spoke in perfect Spanish, “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m your dad’s new bodyguard, Dante Blackwell.”
Smiling as she stared at Mr. Blackwell, Natalie turned back to her father and, in Spanish, asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that you decided to take on a new bodyguard?”
Dominic shifted his eyes to his left to see his Bentley pulling around to the front. He focused back on his daughter and, in English, replied, “We will talk later. Mr. Blackwell and I have business to discuss before my meeting this afternoon. Your mother is inside waiting.”
Nodding her head in acceptance, Natalie kissed her father’s cheek and then turned slowly back to Dante. In English, but with a Spanish accent, she said, “It was good to have met you, Mr. Blackwell. Hopefully we will have the chance to meet again so that you and I may talk.”
“Hopefully,” Dante replied, watching Natalie as she walked away, trailed by the big Spanish dude.
“That is Gomez,” Dominic spoke up, watching Dante as he stood watching both Natalie and his daughter’s personal bodyguard.
“Bodyguard?” Dante asked, looking toward Dominic who slowly nodded yes.
“Have your friends drive around back. Everything is ready for them. Then you can join me inside my car. We need to get going.”
As the Dominican drug lord walked off, heading toward his Bentley where his head of security, Carlos, stood waiting with the back door opened, Dante turned back to the Ford Explorer. He stepped in front of the passenger window, and leaning inside said, “Everything already set up and ready. Drive ‘round back and pick it up, fellas.”
“So, that’s it, nigga?” Tony T asked, as he sat forward to stare at Dante.
“You niggas just make sure y’all hit me up when y’all touch down in the M.I.A., alright?” Dante told both his boys.
Then he went to turn and walk off and stopped only to hear, “Don’t try to have all the fun yourself, fam. Hit us up if you need us.”
Looking back inside the Explorer passenger window over to his best friend, who was like his brother, Dante said simply, “Just make sure when I do call, shit good at the house and you niggas ready. Love!”
Hearing both his boys responses at his showing of affection, Dante tapped the side of the Explorer as he walked off and headed over towards the Bentley.
Dante nodded to Carlos, who opened the back car door for him and returned the nod. Dante returned his cell phone to him, thanked him, and then climbed into the back seat of the Bentley, where Dominic was on the phone speaking Spanish.
Trying to ignore the conversation that Dominic was having, yet catching enough of it to know it was about Victor Fayman, Dante felt the Bentley begin moving. He turned his attention outside the window as the car drove away from the mansion.
“So, Dante,” Dominic started as he hung up his cell phone, “what is it that you mentioned that we needed to discuss?”
Dante turned his head and met the Dominican’s dark brown eyes. He explained to his new employer, “You’re paying me to do the whole bodyguard thing. Cool! I’ma take care of that. But you need to understand that I don’t know how you may have your boys handling business. If I pull my heat, I’m more than likely gonna use them, and I don’t need you questioning what I do. I’m a respect you as my employer, but you need to respect me as the muthafucker that’s gonna keep you alive. Do we agree on that?”
Showing a small smile as he nodded his head in agreement, Dominic then asked, “Are you carrying now?”
“Always!” Dante answered, patting the space at the front of his pants where one of his bangers was.
Leaning forward, Dominic reached and picked up a black plastic bag that sat on the floor at his left foot and handed it to Dante saying, “These are yours now. We will be getting rid of the weapons you’re carrying now.”
Taking the bag from his employer, Dante asked the Dominican what the problem was with what he was carrying.
“Let’s just say that your new weapons are better suited for you,” Dominic replied, as he answered his ringing phone.
Focusing on what he was given, Dante opened the plastic bag and looked inside. He reached in and pulled out what he easily recognized as a shoulder holster.
It was a double holster with two burners already inside. Dante set the plastic bag back down, still fee
ling weight inside, as he focused on the two bangers inside the shoulder holster.
Grabbing one of the burners, Dante smiled at the chrome and pearl-handled .45 automatic.
“I take it from your expression that you approve of the choice of weapons I’ve picked out for you,” Dominic inquired, watching Dante as he checked the new .45s.
Slamming the magazine back inside the banger and then cocking it, Dante smirked as he cut his eyes back over to Dominic and stated, “Yeah! These will definitely work.”
* * *
Leaving her trap spot after dropping off re-up work to her crew and picking up the money they had, Vanessa was headed across town to Liberty City to drop off more work. Her mind was on both Dante and Dre. She was expecting to hear from them this morning and, honestly, she was a little worried.
Once she got to Liberty City, Vanessa made her drop-offs and picked up more money. She heard her crew was having a little trouble with some niggas who were working for some clown named Ghost. Vanessa told her crew to let her know if she needed to handle the problem if it continued and they couldn’t take care of things.
Leaving the Liberty City spot, Vanessa pulled out her ringing cell phone and glanced down to see Harmony calling. “What’s up, girl? Where you at?”
“I’m at the spot,” Harmony answered and then asked, “Nessa, what’s up? You talk to Alinna?”
“No, girl! Her ass was gone when I woke up. Why? What’s up?”
“I just been trying to call her about some business that was brought to me. I wanna see what she think.”
“Harmony, I don’t know what the hell…hold on a second,” Vanessa switched up, hearing her line beep.
Looking at the screen, she smiled and saw that it was Dre calling her. Vanessa told Harmony she’d call her right back and then she switched over to Dre. “Hey, baby! What’s up?”
“What up, Nessa? You busy?”
“Not right now. Why? What’s up? Everything okay?”
“Yeah! Everything good,” Dre answered. “We on our back track to Miami, though.”
“So Dante still staying in Arizona?”
“Yeah, but we got what he promised.”