by Erica Dyer
“Kei’, don’t do that. Put your head up, ma, don’t ever feel ashamed about what happened to you. I’m here, your nigga isn’t going nowhere, and neither is this dick.”
“Bish, I’m sorry, it’s just I know you have needs and are still young. What if I never want to have sex again?”
“Then I guess you better buy some more of those fruity-smelling lotions so I can make me a fefe.”
“Really, man, you are crazy.”
“Crazy bout mine now; kiss me and go to sleep. I’m holding Bri a little longer.”
“You know you can send her to the nursey and get some sleep.”
“Hell no, I’m not sending my child down there so some lonely overweight miserable nurse can steal my child, yeah ard.”
“No more Lifetime for you, sir,” I said, turning over to get some rest.
Bishop
I can’t believe I’m a father. My daughter is beautiful, and her mother is amazing. I couldn’t wait to have more kids. I wanted at least ten more. We were in a good spot right now. My wife was home and getting better every day, my baby girl was born and healthy, and my business was booming. It’s been about three months since Bri’annna was born, and it was time to get back to work.
“You ready for this meeting?” Sin asked as we sat in the rental truck. We were in Mexicali, Mexico, a small city next to Tijuana, Mexico. This meeting was supposed to introduce me to the other families at the table. I was also meeting my grandfather for the first time that I can remember. Mr. Williams, Mr. Knight, and Gisella would be here with me to make sure everything goes smoothly. Gisella was back in hiding, so we had to fly into San Diego, CA, then took a cab to Tijuana’s airport to meet up with Mr. Williams. He flew straight into Tijuana then we rented a truck to drive 2hrs and 30 minutes to Mexicali, Mexico.
“Them niggas bleed just like I do, fuck I need to get ready for? I tell you one more thing; I’m tired of fucking taking flights and driving to these off-the-grid places.”
“Man, me and you both feel like I’m Dora the exploring or some shit. Let’s get this shit over with,” Sin said, getting out of the car.
Walking into this business meeting Bishop went to sleep, and ruthless Bankz woke up. We walked into this big ass warehouse to sit down with the other five families in this cartel. Although I was with family, I don’t know all these niggas, and I had to keep my head on a swivel.
“Welcome, gentleman. As you know, this is Kendrick Williams, Gisella Blanca, and I am Mablevi Knight, Bishop; it’s nice meeting you. I’ve been brought up to date on everything that has been going on. I just want to say welcome to the family, and I’m sorry for what happened to Kei’sha.”
“Appreciate it,” I said, keeping it light. We were here to discuss business, not talk about my family.
“Bishop, the purpose of this meeting is to introduce you to all the families and their Lt’s. I’m assuming Sin will be your Lt. Over the next few weeks, you will also sit with our legal business partners and have the businesses transferred to your name.” Gisella was explaining to me while taking us on a tour of the warehouse.
“Now, this warehouse is for the guns and weapons of our operation. We transport from this warehouse by boat, never in vehicles. Once the shipment gets to the individual drop-off points, it is up to the LT. of each region to get to the pickup point within 30 minutes. We keep a tight timeslot with all drops offs, pickups, and money collections. The warehouse back in Baltimore near the Port is the only warehouse that product comes through for the DMV region. We have two drop-off days per month. You and Sin will be the only ones to know those dates, and they switch every month. Besides those two days, no one is allowed in this warehouse as far as workers.
Workers are given an hour's notice when to report, and if they can’t make it, they have to wait until the next month to work. Each worker gets paid in cash after their shift. There are three shifts, and the first shift is for the chemist. They come in to mix, cook, and cut the product. An hour later, the next shift comes in. These are your packers. They bag up everything and separate each order by state, city/county, block. Your last shift is your driver's. Now it’s more of them than your regular works. Your drivers work like a track meet. One driver picks it up, drives about three or four blocks from here, switch cars and driver. The next driver drives to the block it’s going to or to the next drop-off point. That all depends on where the product is going.
If the product is going out of Maryland, there are six drop-off points before reaching the final destination. Once all drivers make it to their endpoint, they make a call, and their payment will be placed in their family's mailboxes. All drivers have to have a permanent place of residency and at least one family member they love. Just in case they decide to steal or snitch, we will kill their family. Chemist gets paid $10k each shift, your packers get paid $5k each shift, your Maryland drivers get paid $7k a shift, VA drivers get $5k, and DC drivers get $8500. We do a pay increase once a year. Once a worker has been here for five years, we give them a retirement package and let them go.” Mr. Williams laid down the breakdown of how the drug and gun operation worked, and the shit was mind-blowing. My operation back in Baltimore was child’s play compared to this shit.
“You have full range to change things as you see fit. This is your operation now, Bishop,” Mr. Knight said, walking up behind me. “I want to introduce you to my son.”
“I know this not the nigga that got lil sis going up in a frenzy.” I turned around, and it was my nigga Moshi.
“Get the fuck out of here, this black ass nigga your son? No wonder y’all need me,” we both laughed.
“How do y’all know each other?” Mr. Knight asked.
“Pops, that’s my nigga from K-section. He’s the one that helped me out in that little situation I was in back in the day.”
“You mean when that big ass nigga was about to stick a dick in you in the shower, and your ass was screaming like a bitch losing her virginity,” I said, laughing even harder.
“Oh, nigga you got jokes, you know damn well that’s not how that shit went down.”
“Nah, I’m fucking with you. What’s up, my guy?”
“I can’t call it, so you’re my boss now,” he said, chuckling.
“Something like that.”
“Well, if you going be the leader of anything, we gotta get you out of these Kiddie disco clothes.”
“Nigga fuck you; I’m cooling. I’m leaving all that pretty boy shit to your black ass.”
“Come, Bishop, you need to meet the rest of the operation. You and Moshi can talk later.”
“Ard bet, I’ll get up with you later,” I stated, giving Moshi dap.
“Bet, we’re hitting this little club tonight; come through,” Moshi said before leaving.
Walking towards the back of the warehouse, I saw a big ass table with about ten niggas sitting down and at least 50 more standing up.
“Why are we even giving him a seat at this table? The Blanca family is doing just fine with the leadership it has. We already have the Williams and Knights sharing in with the Blanca’s. I don’t see why anything needs to change.” One of the dudes sitting down was talking mad disrespectful.
“Steve, are you questioning me?” My grandfather Alejandro Blanca asked as he sat at the head of the table.
“Of course not. I’m just making sure you aren’t making a big mistake and turning your empire over to some new half breed,” the prink responded, turning beet red.
“Well, to be honest, I don’t want the damn empire, could care less about it. But since my grandfather asked me to take it over, and I plan on putting hella babies up in his daughter,” I said, pointing to Mr. Williams. “Not to mention my Auntie over there wants me to take this empire to another level I figure why not,” I said, sitting next to my grandfather. “Now, Steve, you can either shut the fuck up and keep your position at this table, or you can die right now your choice,” I stated, putting my feet up on the table. Steve got up to walk out.
“I will not be disrespected by this half breed,” he responded with his crew following him. They never made it out of the warehouse. Like my father-in-law said, this family don’t do disrespect. Fuck him and his crew.
“Kei’sha, you not putting no holes in my daughter’s ear. You can chill with that shit,” I said, getting dressed to go meet up with Moshi at the club he told me about earlier.
“Bishop, it’s nothing wrong with getting her ears pierced. All little girls get it done as a baby.”
“Not my child, then you want to take her to a mall and get some cheap ass earrings, nope not happening. I’ll be home tomorrow; we can take her to the jewelers and get them done. Fuck I look like having my daughter wearing some $69.99 earrings.” We fussed through facetime every night I was away, which seemed to be often nowadays.
“What club you’re going to, and when you start dressing like Jay-Z in the ’90s,” Kei’sha joked with her face all in the camera. “Moshi brought me this damn shirt. He said it’s Versace or some shit, you know me, I’m a polo type nigga.”
“Yeah, ard, don’t make me come to Mexico and fuck shit up.”
“Girl, you know this dick belongs to you and only you.” We continued talking until Sin came knocking on the door. “Ard Kei’ I’m out, let me see my baby girl real quick.” She showed me Bri’annna lying next to her in a onesie and some pink socks. “Why you got my daughter in them cheap ass clothes?” “Bishop, get off my phone. What she supposed to sleep in?” She hung up on me.
Me and Kei’ never really argue, but when it comes to my daughter, I’m always going to go overboard. I hate when Kei’ puts her in cheap clothes. I could wear the same sweatpants three days out of the week but my daughter, she going get the best of the best and can’t nobody change my mind. When Kei’ wasn’t around, I threw her dirty clothes away and brought more.
The club Moshi invited us to was some hole-in-the-wall club, 20 minutes away from where we were staying. The vibe was cool, but I’m not a club-type nigga, and Sin looked like a fucking giant in here next to all these damn gwulla gwulla niggas. I wasn’t staying long; I just wanted to show my face and kick it with my homie. Moshi came over to the section we had and brought some thick as Spanish women with him. One girl caught my eye. She was darker than the rest of the women, tall, thick, and had hazel green eyes, kind of reminded me of that model chick, Bernice. She was fine, but my Kei’ looked better. Moving away from the crowd, I sat back in the booth and started looking at pictures in my phone of my girls.
“Why you sitting here by yourself.” The chic that caught my eye came over and sat next to me.
“Why you in my personal space?” I answered nonchalantly, moving further away from her.
“Come on now. I don’t bite,” she said, moving closer to me.
“Unless you want me to.” Oh, she was bold. I’m not going to lie. I was kind of intrigued.
“How bout we take this party back to my hotel room,” she suggested, getting close to me again, this time sitting in my lap.
“No disrespect, but get the fuck off me,” I said, pushing her up off me.
“Well, if you decide to change your mind, here’s my number.”
She handed me a card with her name and phone number, I took it to be nice, but I knew I wasn’t going to use it. As much as I liked her style, I loved my wife and daughter too much to fuck up. I stood up and walked to the bathroom across from my section. On my way to the bathroom, I texted Kei’ to let her know I loved her and couldn’t wait to get back home to her and our daughter. Washing my hands, I heard the door open, looking up it was shorty.
“I’m assuming you are married. That’s why you turned me down. Well, I can keep a secret if you can,” she said, getting closer and closer to me. My brain was telling me to move, but my feet were stuck. What the fuck was going on?
“Nah, I don’t do secrets,” I said, trying to remain cool.
“Well, how bout I keep the secret, and you go home and tell wifey about all the freaky things I did to you.” At this point, she had her breast against my chest and her lips on my ear, licking my damn ear with her hands going down to my pants. I couldn’t stop her for some strange reason, like I knew I needed to move, but my body wasn’t listening.
“I see someone is happy to see me,” she said, squatting down and unbuckling my pants. Her mouth was on the tip of my dick when someone busted through the door.
“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was in here. I can leave,” a man stated, looking at me and shorty.
“Nah, you good, my G.” I put my dick back in my pants and damn near ran out of the bathroom. I can’t believe I even allowed a bitch to get that close to me. Shit! Walking to our section, I told Sin we had to go, left 5-$100 bills on the table, and rolled out. Let me get my ass back to Baltimore before I ended up in divorce court.
“Yo, the shit not funny nigga. What am I supposed to tell Kei’?” I asked Sin as we were on the plane to go back home.
“My G, nothing happened. You said the girl barely had the tip of your shit in her mouth before the nigga walked in. Why would you tell her anything?”
“Sin, I’ve never lied to my wife, and after all Kei’ been through, I’m not trying to fuck our shit up.” I was nervous as fuck after last night.
“Bankz, you think too much, calm down and forget about that shit. You sound like a lil bitch for real,” Sin said, turning his headphones on and leaving me to my thoughts. I was going tell Kei’. I couldn’t keep this shit from her.
Kei’sha
While Bishop was away in Mexico, I had a meeting with Lay, Tiff, and my mom. Lay’s dad left her a little over a million dollars, and she wanted to invest it in something. My mom and Tiff did all the books for our family.
“So, Auntie, what can you do with this money before I blow it all?” Lay asked, turning her phone face down on the table. I noticed she’s been real sneaky lately, which means she was fucking with some ain't shit nigga that was going to use her sooner or later. But I’m letting her live for now.
“Well, first, Laylani, we are going to put some of your money in a CD. You’re going to do an 18-month term with a locked-in rate. Then we are going to invest in real estate. I have a few agents you can work with. I suggest you get two or three rental properties. Also, I’m flying out to California at the end of this month to look into the cannabis industry; you should look into investing into that as well,” my mom said, pulling out her iPad to show Lay some information.
“I trust you, auntie, whatever you say, I’ll do it. I made you an authorized user on my account so you can get everything started.”
“Kiwi, have you checked on your investments? I know the house on Biddle St. needs some work done, along with the house on Eden St.”
“I know. I got contractors going over there next week. I’ve been so busy with Bri’ Bri’, and Bishop, and I haven’t had the chance to get over there,” I responded, taking a sip of my water. “I’ll check in on it. Tiffany, were you able to change everything over to Bishop’s name?”
Everything except the restaurant, because of the liquor license, it has to stay in Uncle K’s name until we can get the liquor license transferred as well. And Kei’sha, I put all the Rita’s in your name using your maiden’s name,” Tiffany explained.
While I was away at UMES, Tiff got her MBA from MSU. She opened her financial firm, and the Blanca, Williams, and Knight families were her only customers. She cleaned money, made our investments, kept the books for all the legal businesses, and was everyone’s financial advisor. My mom went back to school and got her CPA license, and worked with Tiff part-time.
“Well, ladies, I have a date with my husband, so I’m going to go ahead and leave, but lunch is on me,” my mom said, getting up and leaving $300 on the table.
“Now that she’s gone, I need to tell y’all something, and I don’t want y’all to start acting crazy,” Lay whispered once my mom was gone.
“What you do, Lay?” I asked, sitting up in my chair.
�
�If you started messing with Si again, I’m going beat your ass myself,” Tiff said, irritated already.
“See, this why I didn’t want to tell y’all anything,” she said, sucking her teeth.
“Fuck that; let me get Eboni on the phone so that she can hear this too.” I picked up my phone and face-timed Eboni.
“What up Kei’?” Eboni said, sounding like she was asleep.
“Your best friend said she has something to tell us, so I wanted you to be on the phone when she told us so you can cuss her out too,” I spoke into the phone.
“Oh, lord! Lay what you do now?” Eboni questioned.
“Y’all hoes make me sick. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was just going to tell y’all GM is out, and he called me, and before y’all say anything, no, I’m not getting back with him. I think he knows I put Lamar on his block, and I wanted to ask Kei’ if she could get me one of Bankz’s guns,” Lay told us all in one breath.
“Lay, what do you mean you gave Lamar his block?” Eboni said, now sitting straight up, more focused on the conversation.
“I mean, I took money from GM along with some drugs from his connect and gave Lamar his corner up by Dutch village. The nigga played with my heart, so I played with his money.”
“I think you have lost your damn mind,” Tiffany, who was quiet the whole time, said.
“Do you even know how to shoot Laylani? Are you ready to catch a body? What about your kids? You need to find out what he knows, and then we will move forward, but none of our husbands are getting in the middle of this shit. Lolo and Renz will help you with this. And the next time you wanna play billy badass, do me a favor and don’t!” I spoke up before, getting up and walking out of the damn restaurant.
“Eboni, can you believe this shit? I swear that girl is missing a few screws.”
I was pissed. Lay, always act of emotion, never logic.
“Just have the twins go meet up with that nigga, don’t even let Lay know, just end that nigga lease and keep it pushing. Did you notice she didn’t mention if he asked about his daughter or not?”