Ma’tee let out a small chuckle. “If they do not hold up their end, then me will pay one point five for it.”
“Well, like I said, Ma’tee, I’m trying to see that, so let me know,” she said before hanging up.
“What did he say?” Robyn asked eagerly.
“Bounty’s not good unless The Cartel breaks the truce first. Otherwise, he is going to keep his word. He’s willing to pay a mill five, if they do show shade.”
“Then we have to make sure the Cartel breaks de truce, so we can see that cash and kill de kid Mecca,” Aries replied.
“I don’t know, y’all. Y’all talking about initiating a war between two sides that have agreed to lay low. With everything that happened with Nis, my head is all over the place. Emotions throw my judgment off. Everything I’ve been going through with her death has me all fucked up. I don’t know if I’m ready to get at them again.”
“It’s hard on all of us, Mia. We loved Anisa too, and it’s not just about the money anymore. They made it personal when the nigga Mecca killed her,” Robyn said.
“I haven’t forgotten, Robyn. He’s gon’ get it, believe that,” Miamor said, venom in her voice and tears in her eyes.
“Well, we think we found a way to get at him and bring down the Cartel too.” Robyn pointed her finger at the newspaper on the bed, causing Miamor to pay attention to it.
“Is this Mecca’s obituary?” Miamor picked up the paper and studied the face closely. Confusion swept over her face, and her forehead dropped in a deep frown. “Somebody got to him before we did?”
“Not Mecca, his twin brother Monroe,” Aries stated smugly.
Robyn added, “The funeral’s tomorrow, Mia. You know Mecca and the rest of The Cartel will be there. It’s our chance to catch ‘em while they’re weak,”
Miamor lifted her eyes from the newspaper to meet Robyn’s gaze. “At his brother’s funeral?” she said with doubt. “I don’t know.”
“Bitch, you’s a Murder Mama! Ain’t nothing to think about. We don’t give a fuck where the coroner bag ‘em. The nigga disrespected-” Robyn yelled.
“So he got to get it,” Aries chimed in, finishing her friend’s sentence. “Fuck them, Mia. Let’s get at these niggas.”
Miamor nodded her head in agreement, and in an instant the coldness in her heart settled back in. Fuck The Cartel. Fuck Mecca, his world, and everyone in it. Miamor was about to avenge her sister’s death and make Mecca’s mother feel what she had felt when she buried her sister.
“I’m in.”
Mecca sat in the family room of the Diamond house. His insides were hollow, and he cried to himself, tears falling uncontrollably from his eyes. What did I do? Money, my baby, my blood, what the fuck did I do? he thought silently. His conscience was eating him alive. He had murdered his twin brother. They had come out of the womb together, and now that Money was gone, Mecca didn’t feel whole. He couldn’t believe that his rage had blinded him to this point, and he knew that if he hadn’t been so intoxicated from the drugs and booze that his temper would’ve never taken him so far. I’m so sorry, bro. I love you, baby. I love you, man. His mind was spinning, and his heart ached. “This is all my fault,” he cried.
“Mecca, this is not on you. Those Haitians are to blame for this, not you. Nobody saw this coming,” Polo stated as he paced back and forth.
Mecca knew that the lie he’d told would hold up. It was a convenient story that pointed the blame toward their beef with Ma’tee, but seeing the anguish that he had caused his family was more than he could take.
“Why is this happening to us?” Breeze asked. “First Poppa, now Money. They are tearing our family apart.” Her eyes were red and swollen as if she hadn’t gotten sleep for days. She looked to her mother for answers.
But Taryn was stricken beyond belief and couldn’t open her mouth to answer. She knew that if she spoke then, her tears would leak from their confinement. She couldn’t allow that to happen. Just as she had been the foundation that held her family up during her husband’s funeral, she had to be strong now and perform what was once her husband’s role and be the glue that held her family together.
The sound of the doorbell interrupted them, and Mecca went to answer it. When he opened the door, Carter stood before him. They slapped hands, and when Carter pulled him close, they fell into a hug as Mecca cried. Young Carter was the only brother he had left. The only other male in the Diamond family he could call on. He was family, and all they had was each other. “I’m sorry, fam,” Mecca sobbed.
Holding his brother and hearing him break down caused tears to come to Carter’s eyes. “It’s all right, fam. Let it out, baby, let it out,” Carter whispered as he pulled Mecca’s head into his chest as if he was his lil’ nigga.
Mecca was always so boisterous, so hard; now his spirit was half gone. He was getting ready to bury a part of himself, and he knew that when Money’s casket hit the dirt, his heart would too. His twin brother was gone, and Carter had no idea that Monroe’s death had been at the hands of Mecca himself.
Polo stepped into the foyer, but when he witnessed the two men united as brothers he paused. He didn’t want to interrupt their moment.
“He was my brother, man. My baby,” Mecca sobbed.
Carter and Mecca released one another. They stood there face to face, and for the first time there wasn’t even the slightest bit of animosity between them.
When Polo cleared his throat, they turned around to face him. “We need to talk. In the kitchen,” he said.
They followed Polo to the kitchen and took a seat at the table.
Carter stared at Polo. “How the fuck did this happen?”
“It’s my fault, man. Money took Leena home because of me. We had a fight, and he was doing me a favor. Once I cooled down, I decided to go over there to check on her. When I got there, I saw two dread mu’fuckas running out of her crib. I rushed in to see about Leena, and they both were laid out in there, fam.” Mecca dropped his head, unable to hold his brother’s stare. He couldn’t tell them what he had done. It was something that he would take to his grave.
“We’ve got to get a handle on this,” Polo stated.
“What the fuck happened to the truce? We kept our end up. What triggered this?” Carter asked.
“We don’t know, but we’ve got to retaliate,” Polo replied.
“Right now we just need to make it through today. I don’t think it’s too smart for us to keep fanning the flames. It’s obvious that we’re touchable right now. They’ve killed two of our soldiers, our leaders, and we’ve only knocked out their henchmen. We need to think before we attack,” Carter said.
“I agree,” Polo stated.
Taryn walked into the room. “The limo is here,” she announced, her voice barely audible.
Carter arose from his seat and hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry,” he told her as they embraced.
“You have to fix this, Carter,” Taryn told him. “I need you to save my family… our family. Keep Breeze and Mecca safe. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Carter nodded. “I will, I promise.”
Polo escorted Taryn to the car, and Breeze held onto Carter’s arm for dear life as they followed behind. She cried softly. It was almost time for the funeral to begin.
“Look, when we walk in this mu’fucka, we go straight to the front of the church. Mecca will be sitting on the front pew, so that’s the easiest way to hit him. Act like we’re going to view the body and then start blazing on ‘em. There will be members of their entourage all over the church, so make sure you spray anybody that’s standing in the way. There are three of us going in here, so I want there to be three of us leaving out,” Miamor stated.