Page 115 of Dope Boys: Most Wanted
“No, you’re supposed to invest it and watch it grow,” Markus stated as she led him into a soul food bistro. He stopped at the door and read the name. “Lucille’s Hot Butter Bistro.”
Reign stood in the threshold with a wide smile on her face. “Come in so I can show you the rest of it.”
“How’d you do this without my help?” Marku questioned not because he needed to be a part of it but because no one had ever considered his legacy before.
“Well, I started spending time with your people. We did more than drink coffee, gossip, and do hair. Aunt G taught me how to build a portfolio, and Aunt Lucille gave me a box of recipes. We know that Nia can’t cook to save her life, but she can design a place with her eyes closed. So this is just one part of it.”
Markus looked around, finding some of Lucille’s handwritten letters as wallpaper. They took snippets of her love letters to Slim while he was incarcerated. The letters she wrote to the two motherless children. The poems she wrote to her city.
“This is amazing,” Markus praised. “Y’all did some fire shit.”
“The first floor holds fifty people, reservation only, the upstairs has two private dining rooms for parties,” Reign said,starting up the stairs. “The food supplier is one of ours, along with the fleet of 18-wheelers.”
“You bought a trucking company?” Markus posed, amazed.
“You asked me to find you some equity. I’m just getting started, baby.”
“Whew, woman,” he groaned. “You feeding me and taking me home, I got plans for you.”
“Slow down. There’s one more thing you need you know about before we get all the way up there,” Reign said, stopping in the middle of the stairs.
Markus pinned his brows for a minute before asking, “What?”
Reign bit a grin. “We might or might not invested into a record label.”
“How you come across that?”
“Well, apparently, now my shop is home to the who’s who. Last week I did Yeraya’s hair, and she has a standing appointment on the books. Her brothers, Sly and Shy, needed an investor for the other label they inquired about. You know Rich Lawson?”
“Yeah, it was on my list of things to do to get a meeting with him. How you get in with that club nigga so fast?”
Reign nodded she smiling. “My bottomless charm.”
“Reign,” he groaned.
“Jokes. Anyway, He’s up there too, along with Nia and Syvn. You’re the boss. The Don, you said you needed stash spots, businesses to funnel your money through. There are four cash businesses on the table that’ll make money hand over fist.”
“I love when you start talking that shit. You did all this from what you made off the salon and the cut from the pipeline?”
Reign bobbed her head proudly. “I told you, business is my thing.”
He met her in the middle and kissed her face. “Make sure you’re keeping something for you.”
Reign joked as she nipped his lip. “Nah, my man runs the north. I’m good.”
“That’s enough,” Nia’s voice pierced through Markus’ nuzzle. “We got money to make, Money.”
“Ohh, she’s back,” Markus grumbled, tapping Reign’s hips. “Let’s go before she starts cussing.”
At the table with dishes of Lucille’s favorite things lined down the middle, Shy and Sly couldn’t stop eating long enough to greet Reign and Markus.
“Money,” Rich stood and outstretched his hand for a shake. “Nice to finally meet you.”
Markus gave him a slacked grin. “Likewise. The nightclub shit wasn’t really my scene.”
Rich chuckled. “It wasn’t mine either until I realized how much money I was leaving on the table.”
Richard Lawson was a weapons dealer. All of the guns and other toys Svyn acquired came from him. He supplied the whole northern section of the country. Prophete produced them and only sold to three vendors in the country – Cree, who represented The Family, Syrenna and Naji, who ran the LeFleur Mafia, and Rich. The smaller gangs under those umbrellas were supplied with drugs, guns, and whatever else through the channels they created. The Marucci’s, New Haiti, and La Spana now had to go through Money for everything. He’d officially had the space landlocked.
