Monroe walked behind Harper and put his hands on his shoulders as he looked out at the rest of the board members. “That won’t be necessary, Harper, although it was a gracious offer. The way we do things are about to change, indeed.” Monroe patted the back of Harper’s chair, signaling him to arise from his seat. He then tightened Harper’s necktie and looked him sternly in the eye. “I’m the boss,” he stressed. “The way that we do business will revolutionize so that I am familiar and comfortable with the daily operations and you all are the ones in training. You all will be the ones adjusting, because you have to learn the way that I conduct business.”
Monroe pulled out a chair in the middle of the conference table. “Have a seat, Harper.” He gave the man time to sit down before he continued. “Now I can assure you that it is very similar to the way that my father did things, but I will not allow myself to be at a disadvantage in my own company. New leadership brings about new policy. If any of you think that it is time for you to move on to new ventures, I completely understand. I will accommodate you with severance pay, but I can guarantee that if you stay on board we will all see a substantial rise in profits. The way that I am going to expand Diamond Realty is going to be nothing short of remarkable, and I would love to have each of you on my team. What do you say?”
Silence filled the room. Monroe wasn’t naïve and was sure that there were members who doubted him and even some that wanted to get up and leave, but they were cowards and would never speak up. He took their silence for submission and was satisfied with their fear of him. It was the same type of respect that his father had demanded, and the torch had just been passed down. He nodded his head, hung his suit jacket on the back of his chair, and then took his seat. “Since there are no objections, let’s get down to business.”
“Are you almost done? This is taking all damn day.”
Mecca looked over at the dark-skinned beauty sitting beside him. Her long legs glistened as she positioned them on his dashboard while painting her toe nails.
“Look, Leena, don’t start popping that bullshit. I told you what I was doing today. You the one thought I was going to fuck with a bitch, so you tried to bring your happy ass with me. You know what time of the month it is, so just sit back and chill,” Mecca stated with a smirk as he eyed the woman beside him.
Leena sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes, but remained quiet. She folded her arms across her chest and, out of habit, began to pout.
Mecca shook his head. He reached over to grab her hand. He knew that he was the one who had spoiled her, so he couldn’t be too upset with her. He had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Leena since they were young teenagers. She had witnessed his transformation from boy to man and knew of his involvement in his family’s business.
“I’ll take you shopping after this, a’ight.”
“Yeah, okay,” she replied as she tried to keep the smile from spreading across her face.
In truth he would do anything to keep a smile on her face. Leena was the only woman to capture his heart, and he loved her more than she knew.
Mecca drove up the avenue in his apple red F-150 pickup with chrome rims. He cruised slowly up the block so that his presence could be felt. It was the first of the month, which signified payday for The Cartel, and he was riding around like a landlord, collecting his rent. It was the first pickup since his father had died, and so far two of their many block lieutenants had come short, causing Mecca to have a short fuse.
These mu’fuckas coming short on my money. It’s about to be a problem. Not a dime was missing when Poppa was alive. Now these fuck-ass niggas wanna step outta line. Mecca maneuvered his way to the two-story colonial-style house on the end of the block. He put his truck into park and pulled out his cell phone to call his worker inside the trap house.
“I’m outside. I’m about to send a bitch to the back door. Give my money to her.”
Leena looked at Mecca like he was crazy and shook her head no. “Nigga, you got me fucked up. I ain’t going up in there, and I don’t know who the fuck you calling a bitch,” she whispered more to herself than to him.
Mecca ignored her and continued to speak into the phone. “Is my money right?” he paused again to let his worker respond and then hung up. “It better be,” he stated to himself. He then turned to Leena and said, “What the fuck I tell you about talking shit while I’m on the phone? Go get my shit, and don’t look in the bag either, with your nosy ass.”
“Whatever, Mecca. I’m not new to money. I don’t have to take shit from you.” Leena hopped out of the truck and walked across the lawn.
Mecca knew she wasn’t lying. She had the type of beauty that made niggas want to wife her. She was sophisticated, and her superior attitude made her appealing to most men. If she wasn’t on Mecca’s arm, there would be many men willing to extend theirs, and she knew it. She turned many heads as her voluptuous behind shook with each step she took.
Out of respect for Mecca, the hustlers on the block didn’t try to get at her, but Mecca shook his head and laughed to himself as he watched them drool at the mouth.
Thirsty-ass niggas, he thought as he watched Leena disappear down the long driveway. They’ll never get a taste of that. That’s all me.
“Hey, Mecca,” a random hoodrat called out. She stepped close to his truck, while sucking on a red Blow Pop. In fact all of the groupie broads had come out of hiding as soon as they’d heard the beat from Mecca’s subwoofers turn onto the block. The old saying, out of sight, out of mind, must have been true because as soon as Leena stepped out of sight, the hot girls on the block flocked to him.
Mecca looked up and down at the girl. She was attractive in a ghetto kind of way. Her skintight booty shorts left nothing to the imagination, and her sleeveless tube top hugged her ample breasts. What really got his attention was the way her tongue was pulling on that red sucker. It made his dick jump slightly. He scanned her quickly from top to bottom and was turned off by the re-washed Reebok classics that adorned her feet. Mecca knew his status and would never be caught dead entertaining a chick like the one before him. Every nigga this side of Dade done probably dug this bitch out, he thought in disgust. He even grew irritated that she had thought herself worthy of even stepping to him.
“Come here,” he stated as he prepared to put the girl in her place.
Her lips spread into a seductive smile as she sashayed across the street. She stepped close to his window, but Mecca frowned at the fact that her focus seemed to be behind him. He instantly noticed that her eyes seemed to look past him to his passenger window. He could almost smell the.380 pistol that was creeping up on him.
Instinctively, Mecca’s sixth sense kicked in, and he pulled his twin Desert Eagles from underneath his seats. With one gun in each hand he reached out on both sides of him and fired hollow-points-Boom! Boom!-dropping the girl and the gunman at his passenger window instantly.
Just then, a shotgun shell crashed through Mecca’s rear windshield. Glass flew everywhere as the deafening sound vibrated through the vehicle.
Mecca ducked low as he reached for his door handle and scrambled out of the truck. What the fuck? He sent hollow-points flying across his truck hood in an attempt to keep the shooter on the other side at bay.