The Conglomerate: A Luxorious Tale (14 page)

             
Getting up to rake his plate, Jason asked his brother, “Zay did you give any thought to what we rapped about the other day?”

             
“About you taking over the operation?”

             
“Yes.”

             
Zay smiled at his younger brother, he loved Jason with all his heart. Although they were just a year and a half apart, watching Jason through the years was like watching a son grow and use the skills that he’d engrained into him. Like Zay, Jason had the ambition, intelligence, and hustle to thrive in the treacherous game of drug distribution— although Jason did possess a few flaws that could be detrimental in his line of work. At times he could be hot tempered, cowboy, and obsessed with money.

             
Zay wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin.

             
“I don’t understand why you can’t be happy with the money that you’ve made. You’re sitting on millions stacked on millions. Why are you pressed to take over this operation when you can get out of this game with your life and your freedom?”

             
“I hear you bruh, but you are about to stop the operation when there is still hundreds of millions to be made. Like Asaad said, it’s going to be an open market out here and he’ll have no one to send the work together. And if he does find someone that knows the lay of the land, it will take years for them to build what he has built with you.”

             
“No, it will take years for whoever he finds to be able to pay cash for the work like us, instead of getting it on consignment. Asaad is only concerned with the money that he’ll be missing. We are only one of the regions that he sends work to and we’ve made millions, so you know that he’s easily made billions. His greed for more money is going to be his downfall,” Zay took a deep breath then continued, “Our brothers are coming home and mama will have all of us here for the first time in eighteen years.”

             
Jason threw his hands in the air, “Come on man, you know I could get on that plane today and die in a crash. Ain’t no guarantees in this life that says if we leave the game behind something else won’t kill us. Besides, if I take over you’ll still get a cut of the profit.”

             
“I don’t want a cut,” seeing that he was getting nowhere with his line of reasoning Zay conceded. “If this is what you really want...you have my blessing. I really respect that you didn’t cut my throat and partner up with Asaad on your own.”

             
“Never that big bruh,” Jason grinned. “You know I live by the motto; Family is everything...Loyalty is priceless.”

Chapter Five

             
Evan chartered a luxury jet to fly her to three cities in forty-eight hours. Out of the crop of drug dealers that she’d robbed, that were still alive, she chose three of the most likely candidates to go visit. The three former kingpins had been the richest, powerful and vengeful out of the living and free that she had to choose from. For her security she had Rhamel tag along.

             
The first stop on Evan’s three city tour was Detroit, MI, the home of Timmy Lloyd. In the nineties Lloyd was one of the biggest cocaine dealers in the state. Back then he was known for his long bob, expensive gators and his fleet of foreign cars. Through the investigator Evan learned that Lloyd now worked at a youth center earning him a meager income and he lived with his sister and elderly mother. The investigator did not consider him a credible threat. From what Evan remembered of him he was vicious and ran his organization with an iron fist. If anyone in his organization stepped out of line or was suspected of being a snitch, their death certificate was guaranteed to be signed.

             
Therefore, no working with kids for pennies story could make him a non-threatening figure in her mind. Evan needed to see him with her own eyes. What she saw completely changed her disposition. Encountering Lloyd from a distance at the youth rec center that he ran, Evan found him to be a sullen, downtrodden, and paralyzed from the waist down, shell of his former self. After observing him for an hour or so she was certain that he was not the person after her.

             
The next stop on her itinerary was Baltimore, MD to see Vontrez Mitchell, once a major player in Baltimore’s infamous heroin trade. With his elite hustling skills, strong leadership, and charismatic charm he was one of the best get money hustlers that the city had ever seen. The investigator had labeled him at best a minor threat, since Mitchell was now a pastor and gospel singer. Mitchell’s change of life didn’t deter Evan’s thoughts of him. She’d seen her fair share of criminals that used the cloth as a shield.

After sitting in on Mitchell’s evening service at his mega church
on the outskirts of Baltimore, Evan deemed him to be sincere in his new life. Now bordering on obesity Mitchell was still charismatic, but he now used his charms to spread the God’s word to his massive flock. Not only was he a serious pastor, he was also a renowned Stellar Award winning Gospel recording artist.

             
The following day she landed in Hartford, CT to visit with a very credible threat, Reza Townson. His current residence, a federal half way house. He’d been released from prison three months earlier right around the time that the stalking had begun. Evan went to the construction site where he was working just as his shift ended. She followed him to a nearby small family diner.

             
Sitting alone in a booth, Reza was reading the sport’s page of the local paper when Evan approached. Staring at him up close briefly she noticed that he looked as if he hadn’t aged a day and he was still very handsome, even with the Philly style Muslim beard that he was donning. “Do you mind if I sit?” she asked.

             
Looking up from the paper, Reza eyeballed the exquisitely dressed, beautiful woman standing before him. There was a familiarity about her that he couldn’t immediately place. He could tell that she had money. She reeked of it in Karl Lagerfeld dress, Zanotti Pumps, flawless diamond accessories, YSL shades, and a Balenciaga bag; just a handful of the designers that he’d lace quite a few women in during his heyday. Never one to turn down the company of pretty woman, Reza told her, “I don’t mind if you sit at all.”

             
“Thank you,” Evan replied sliding into the booth.

             
“You’re welcome, but I have to ask why do you want to sit with me? Do we know each other?”

             
“I thought that my face was one that’d you’d never forget.” She pushed her designer shades from over eyes to the top of her head.

             
One glance of her eyes was all that it took and he knew exactly who she was.               “Mika.”

             
“That’s who you knew me as, but I’m quite sure you know that my name is Evan.”

             
“No, I only know you as Mika. Why would I know any different?”

             
Evan sat her bag on the seat next to her. “I’m not going to tap around the issue. We both know what I did to you.”

             
“Hmph, how could I forget?”

             
“Look I was a different person back then. I was young and easily manipulated by my older, street wise, and abusive boyfriend. I’m so–so sorry for robbing you.”

              “How did you find me?”

             
“An expensive private investigator tracked you down for me.”

             
“So...you paid good money just to apologize to me?”

             
“No.”

             
“I thought not,” he laid his paper to the side to make room for the plate and coffee that the waitress was placing before him.

             
The waitress turned to Evan. “Would you like anything?
”



            
 
“No, I’m good...on second thought I’ll take a ginger ale.”



            
 
“I’ll be right back,” the waitress replied walking away
.

Digging into his plate, Reza asked, “What actually brings you here?”

             
“Someone has been stalking and I thought that someone could be you,” she sighed, “If it is you I want to know what I have to do, well I mean pay to make it stop.”

             
Reza chuckled. “Listen sis, the same way that you’ve changed, so have I. I got out of prison three months ago and I’m still not really home. I’m in a half-way house and once I’m done there in a few weeks I still have five years of federal probation over my head. I’m keeping my nose clean just so I don’t go back.” He put his fork down and took a drink of his tea. “Most importantly while I was on the inside I found Islam.”

             
Cocking her head to the side Evan twisted her lips to the side. “You know how many niggas I know come home claiming to have found religion in prison then be on some other shit after they’ve been home for a while?”

             
“Hold up baby girl, I don’t owe you an explanation. You wronged me! I’m just trying to let you know that I’m at peace with my past. You didn’t even need to apologize to me. I’d already forgiven you a long time ago.”

             
Stunned by his admission, Evan looked at him weirdly. “Yes I said that I’d already forgiven you,” he flashed his pretty teeth. “I’ve forgiven anyone that I felt wronged me or that I was holding grudges towards. You and your man robbing me was one of the crazy things that happened to me around the same time that eventually led to my downfall. Right before the feds picked me up my son took a bullet that was meant for me.”

             
“Oh, God I’m so sorry to hear that.”

             
“Don’t be, I’ve made peace with that too. It was part of my path just as prison was. That’s why I’m not bitter about any of my past, because I now have a peace that I would have never been able to attain in if I remained on the streets.” he picked his fork up, “with that said, sweetheart I have no interest in stalking you, attacking you, or disrupting your life in any way.”

             
There was an authenticity and sincerity in his eyes and words that made her believe him.
If not him then who,
she silently questioned herself as she slid out the booth and stood up. “I’m happy that you’ve changed your life for the better and again I’m truly sorry for what I did to you.” Going in her bag she pulled out $20,000 in neatly stacked ones that were covered in smooth black wrapping paper. Placing it on the table she slid it over to him. “It’s not much or what I took from you, but I think that it will help you get situated. She wrote her cell number down on a napkin. “If you ever need anything, give me a call.”