by Jones, Bella
He was determined to find out what Cesar was up to. He tried not to think about the game with his Godson about to be born at any moment, but the fact was, they never truly got away from who they had become.
“What happened when you went to see Sin and Ace, Joe?” Meko asked as they headed to the hospital cafeteria.
“They got on my ass about this Cesar shit,” Samir replied.
“Oh word. What did they say?”
“You know Sincere. He was just like, the shit didn’t look good, especially in front of everybody, and basically, why am I’m pretending like I don’t see what’s happening right under my nose.”
“Did you tell them about the extra work he copping?”
“Hell naw, Joe, that shit would have made things worst. My brothers are already on edge about missing out on showing me the ropes, and plus they feel like they gotta protect me, and they cant.”
“Did they tell you how to move about this situation?”
“Ace said don’t make no sudden moves until I know for sure what’s going on. He said if Ces is on some snake shit or some underhand type shit, then moving to soon would fuck me up in the end. But again, you know Sin was on some snuff him type shit.”
“How you wanna proceed?”
“I’m gon’ take Ace’s route and find out for a fact before we make any sudden moves.”
“And if he is under handing us?”
“I don’t know how I’ll react, Mek, to be real with you. That nigga is like my brother.”
“He’s my brother too, Samir, but this is business, it’s nothing personal, and we can’t have a snake in our ranks, bro, we just can’t,” Meko implored.
Just as Samir was about to respond, Seven chirped them and told them that Kaiyah was about to give birth any second.
Meko and Samir dropped what they were doing and ran back up to the labor and delivery unit. Just as they approached Kaiyah’s room they heard the first cries of the new baby Black Corleone, and the three of them became emotional.
Although Seven was the only one allowed in the room at the time, they made an exception and let his crew in to see his son.
Looking at the little boy Seven named Carson Chase Simmons, they all became emotional. They had been through it all since their middle school days. From fist fights, to their first girlfriends, to joining the game, and now witnessing the birth of one of their children; it solidified the Black Corleones as more than a street crew; they were just as much family as any blood family could be.
Right then they could feel their bond getting stronger as they each promised to always be there for Carson. Carson was lucky because he didn’t gain one father, he gained four. Meko, Chase and Samir made a vow to Seven that no matter what happened in their lives, Carson would always be taken care of.
Seven understood the loyalty his crew had for him, but his joy would be short lived when Valli and Carlos sent each of them an urgent message.
“Man, this shit can wait?” Samir said as got his chance to hold baby Carson for the first time.
“The message is about Cesar, SC.” Seven told him.
“Meko, go find out what the deal is,” Samir ordered.
“I’m on it bro.”
“Damn, I can’t believe you got a kid, Seven,” Chase said.
“Shit, me either.”
“You know that means Sev fuck with me the toughest, cuz’ he got my name as his middle name,” Chase Joked.
“Nigga, fuck you, he only chose Chase as a middle name cuz’ he on some white boy shit. I mean, the little nigga name is Carson for Pete’s sake.”
“Don’t call this baby a nigga, Samir,” Khloe quickly scolded him as she attended to Kaiyah.
“I’m sorry, baby,” Samir joked as he kissed her forehead.
“I know, you’re next, Samir.” Kaiyah said as she held her son for the first time.
“Ummmm… girl, no we’re not having no baby anytime soon. I’m trying to graduate this summer, and I don’t see no ring on this finger,” Khloe jumped in.
“You don’t see a ring yet,” Samir corrected.
In fact, he was thinking of proposing to Khloe for quite some time now. They been together a few years and he walked around with a ring he brought in his pocket every day, just trying to work up the nerve to ask her.
He didn’t want to take away from Seven’s moment, but he felt like this was just as good a moment as any. But just as he was about to get the courage to ask her, Meko walked in informing them that he needed them in the hallway ASAP.
“What’s up Meko? I was just about to do something important,” Samir said.
“I found out what’s been going on with Cesar.”
“Come on nigga, stop stalling. This Cesar bullshit interrupted the best day of my life… speak, my nigga,” Seven snapped.
“What’s up Mek, just tell us,” Samir was afraid to hear the answer.
“Turns out Cesar been supplying the Oglesby Boys with our work and keeping the money for himself. The extra work he takes on his re-up hasn’t been going to his sets, it’s been going to them niggas, but he’s not giving Valli the extra bread off top. Valli didn’t say anything at first because it was Cesar, and he thought it was something we were all aware of, but once Valli told him he had to talk to you before he gave him more than normal, Cesar’s reaction put him on alert,” Meko told them.
“Are you sure?” Samir asked.
“Come on SC, damn, we had niggas get on the job and this is what they found out. I know you don’t wanna believe it, but Cesar been real funny lately, my nigga, and you can’t deny that shit,” Meko barked.
“How you want us to handle this shit, Samir?” Seven asked.
“I don’t want us to handle anything. I’ll handle this myself,” Samir replied.
“No disrespect, SC, but we’re a family and Cesar is fucking us as a family, so this ain’t something you gon’ handle on your own,” Chase spoke up.
“Chase, seriously, let me deal with Cesar.”
“Sorry, but we’re putting this to a vote. That’s how we do shit around here. This isn’t about you and Cesar, it's about us. So, all in favor of us handling this shit together, vote now,” Chase commanded.
“I vote yay,” Meko went first.
“Yay,” Seven voted.
“I vote hell yes!” Chase added. “That’s three to one, SC. We’ll be handling this Cesar shit as a unit.”
Samir knew he couldn’t interject because this is the way they’ve always made their decisions. He had to respect the fact that he was out voted, but this was more of a personal issue, rather than a family one. Cesar was his friend the longest, so Samir knew deep down this wasn’t a stab at the crew, this was jab at him. But he knew Meko, Seven, and Chase’s loyalty to him would never allow them to see it that way. They always had his back, and this would be no different.
Reality began to set in that Cesar was really turning against him, and he was more hurt than angry.
“What you want us to do about these Oglesby niggas?” Meko asked.
“Let’s hold off on them niggas, cuz’ right now they think it’s sweet, they getting my work and ain’t paying for it; so what we gon’ do is cut the head off the beast and the rest of the body will fall.”
“You wanna deal with Cesar?” Seven interjected.
“Exactly!”
“How you wanna go about it?” Chase asked.
“We gon’ make Ces think we hit a drought; cut his sets completely off. Let Valli know that nothing is to go out to Cesar or none of the sets he’s running. And when he come around, Valli is to tell him my pops cut us off because the boys are snooping again. It’s a precautionary measure. Eventually the nigga is gonna be in a pressure cooker situation, because them Oglesby Boys are snake niggas, and they gon’ wanna keep the deal they got going with Cesar, and when he can’t deliver, he gon’ have to come to us. Meko, you and Chase head to Atlanta to fuck with them boys and when y’all get back we gotta make a Houston run because they need a re-up and
we’re gonna personally deliver it, but I’m gon’ have Khloe take it. Cesar gon’ be a part of that Houston trip and it’ll be his last trip as a Black Corleone, because when we get back we’re going to dismantle that crew and send Cesar a little message.”
“Not for nothing, Joe, but I knew from day one that nigga Cesar was a snake, and now he just proved that his love ain’t loyal,” Meko added.
Chapter Fourteen
A few months passed and the Corleones set their plan into action to out Cesar. They started by cutting off supply to his sets, but making sure the people affected were taking care of through the rest of their operation. Samir put all Cesar’s workers on alert, and even commissioned Cesar’s top clientele on what he felt he had to do.
A lot changed since the Corleones found out about Cesar’s disloyalty to their family. They began moving major work for Paoulo, but managed to keep their plan going of cutting Cesar out, despite all the work they were moving. They tried to operate as normal as possible without tipping him off to their plan.
Seven finally moved Kaiyah into her Salon and Khloe celebrated graduating from high school a year early; Samir couldn’t have been more proud. Even though they were moving their operation into legal endeavors, their trap game flourished as Meko and Chase finally took the trip to Atlanta to see how things could work in expanding into the Georgia turf. After seeing the Atlanta boys in their element, Meko wasn’t confidant that linking with them and his crew wouldn’t be beneficial to their operation.
“But what happened, Mek?” Samir asked as they drove to check on Valli, and to collect the money for the month.
“Niggas is just way too out in the open, living life like it’s a rap video,” Meko replied.
“So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying, I got a good feeling that their shit is about to come to an end, real quick, and I don’t want us to be caught up in that shit when the feds come knocking.”
“You didn’t make him feel that you didn’t wanna fuck with him, did you?”
“Naw, I keep shit sweet. Just let the nigga know how we operate and that I would have to get with the team and get back with him.”
“Okay, good, so how you think we should move forward?”
“We don’t, that’s what I’m saying to you. I don’t feel like it’s a good look for us because that house of cards is about to come crashing down. I feel it in my gut.”
“Cool, then it’s a wrap. Mek, I need to say this to you. I should have trusted in your instinct from the very beginning. You always had my back and never steered me wrong. You should have been my right hand since day one, but its better late than never, right?”
“Don’t even sweat that shit, SC. You’re my brother and I don’t give a fuck about titles. I chose to hold you down because you’ve always held me down. Without you, I wouldn’t even be here; we gon’ rock till the casket drop, my nigga.”
Samir knew he could trust Meko with his life, so making him second in command was a logical choice.
While Samir and Meko’s bond grew stronger, Cesar was stressing. He had been cut off by Samir without his knowledge and the pressure from the Oglesby Boys to keep supplying them was driving him to desperation. He paid Valli a visit almost every day since the decision to fake a drought had been set into action. Cesar knew he was losing his grip on his part of the Black Corleone operation, and he only had himself to blame. Rocko wasn’t letting up because he didn’t believe that a crew who was moving metro tons was all of a sudden in a drought when the rest of the city was doing fine.
“I just don’t trust that shit, Cesar. It’s something fishy going on over there,” Rocko explained.
“My niggas say we hit a drought. What the fuck you want me to do about that?” Cesar said desperately.
“But didn’t you say y’all just linked up with y’all own connect for more than two hundred birds a month, and how confidant are you that those niggas are really your niggas? I heard in the hood that these niggas are living lavishly. My people say Samir’s girl walk around in mink coats every day, and he just copped her a Escalade for her graduation, and a four hundred thousand dollar crib in Dynasty Lakes. How a nigga going through a drought spending money on his girl like water? Them niggas are cutting you out of the shit you built, my G,” Rocko continued to play Cesar like a puppet.
“You’re right, Roc, niggas have been eating mighty good, and this nigga Seven just bought his lady a state of the art salon and shit. I can’t take these niggas playing me. I been knowing the money was equal from the beginning, but Samir conniving ass insisted the books where straight,” Cesar fell right into Rocko’s hand.”
“What you gon’ do about that?”
“We supposed to be taking a trip to Houston soon, and when we get back I’ll let you know what we gon’ do about this little situation.”
On the other side of town Samir was handling business as usual when Valli informed him and Meko that Cesar was getting real antsy about the fake drought.
“Nigga calls me like forty times a day, Joe,” Valli told them.
“Don’t worry about him. Just keep doing what you doing and make sure Lil’ Los keeps a handle on everything in Cesar’s sets.”
“What’s y’all plan though, cuz’ that nigga need to be erased.”
“Don’t concern yourself with family business, Valli. Just do your part in this, Joe. We’ll take care of the rest,” Meko ordered.
Samir was feeling uneasy about the situation. It hurt him to his core to handle his very best friend this way, but it hurt him even more to know that it was Cesar who turned.
He couldn’t believe Cesar would bite their hand when all he had to do was come to him and Samir would have given him anything. Cesar’s greed and determination to be top dog was destroying everything Samir wanted to build. It was never about money to him, it was always about family. Samir didn’t realize it at the time, but things were only about to get worse with Cesar, because as much as he tried to shield Khloe from the hardships of the game as he groomed her, she was learning more than he wanted her too.
That night when he returned home, he could sense she wasn’t too happy. The look on her face was one he had only seen one other time since they had been together. For a moment they sat in silence as she made him dinner, but it was starting to drive Samir crazy.
“Khloe, do you love me?” he asked, breaking their silence.
“Do you even have to ask, Samir?”
“I mean, like, do you love me to the point that you would do anything for me, no questions asked?”
“Yes, Samir, I love you. But why are you asking me this?”
“Because I need to take a trip to Houston soon,”
“Okay, but why are you telling me?”
“Because, this ain’t no ordinary trip. I need to make a run and I need you to drive.”
“So, I’ll go with you and drive.”
“Naw, baby, I need you and Shay to make the run. I’m not going to drive with you. I’m going to meet you there.”
“Wait, what do you mean when you say run?”
“I need you to drive the work to Houston, because four niggas in a whip with out of town plates is red flag on the interstate, so I need you to do this, Khloe.”
“When?”
“Thursday,”
“But that’s the day after tomorrow Samir?”
“I know, but I’m on a time crunch.”
“Whatever you say, but before I do this, I have to tell you something.”
“What’s up?”
“Well, today Shay and I was in the city and I saw one of my friends from school and he told me to tell you that you need to watch your back. What’s going on with Cesar, cuz’ he said that Cesar is betraying you.”
“Khloe, stop listening to everything somebody has to say.”
“What do you mean stop listening to people. He said that Cesar is crossing you. I never liked his ass anyway. I always felt like he was jealous of you, and now you tryna tell me not to l
isten to people. People telling me that something could happen to you.”
“Khloe, I said stop fucking listening to what the fuck people have to say. Niggas don’t know what they talking about. You don’t think I know what the fuck I’m doing out here. I been running my shit way before you came along. I don’t need you or nobody else telling me about shit. I can handle my fucking self,” Samir argued.
It was the first time he had ever raised his voice at her, and her reaction immediately made him regret it. It wasn’t his intentions to take his frustrations out on her, but having her bring it up made it feel more close to home. He was finally realizing the severity of the situation.
Khloe didn’t say a word as her eyes filled with tears. She ran off into their bedroom and slammed the door. She couldn’t believe he had talked to her in such a matter. It broke her heart.
She knew he was stressed, but he never let it affect the way he treated her. Samir felt horrible about the way he spoke to her. He never wanted to make her feel pain, he had treated her like a queen all these years. Being Samir Corleone was starting to take a toll on him, but she was his peace in the midst of his chaotic lifestyle. He could hear her crying in the other room and it crushed his heart.
“Khloe, can I come in?” he asked as he knocked on their bedroom door.
“It doesn’t matter, do what you want, this is your house, isn’t it?”
“Listen, baby, I’m really sorry for yelling at you. It’s just that this life is hectic and I hear enough of this bullshit in the streets, so when I come home to you, I don’t wanna think about it. I’m sorry; please don’t be made at me.”
“Samir, you promised that you would never hurt me,” she cried.
“I know baby, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said, as he kneeled down in front of her.
“I feel like shit, Khlo. I need you in my life, you’re my world and I never wanna see you cry. I love you and I’m sorry,” he told her, kissing her. She wanted to stop him, but she knew his words were genuine, so she allowed him to lay her down as he kissed her gently. She closed her eyes as he removed her shorts and began to kiss her pussy as if he was tongue kissing her actual lips.