Page 95 of Dope Boys: Most Wanted
“Thank you for having me,” Reign spoke as if she had years of etiquette training. In a sense, she did. Javier would parade her around, make the men he wanted to do business with dote on her beauty, but there was always a class she held, even when put in public situations that were set to control her. Funny how she held the power this entire time and never knew it.
“I’m happy you could join us. Both of you work so much,” Aunt G said before taking a seat. “This is Roslyn Harper, our candidate for Mayor.”
Reign couldn’t ignore how Aunt G emphasized our. Reign was quickly learning that these women she was surrounded by weren’t just playing their roles, they were the role, the table, thehouse, the motion, and motive behind the men in the forefront. Aunt G’s husband may have been the chief of police, but she was his chief. The controller.
Nia smiled politely, knowing where this lunch was going. Most lunches with her aunt were about the business. While the men handled the streets and the undertow of the current, Aunt G was going to teach them how to keep things flowing.
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about your work,” Nia shared.
Roslyn smiled. “I did a lot of it with your aunt’s help. Decreasing homelessness, placing battered women and their children in safe houses.”
Reign’s ears turned up. “Excuse me if I’m overstepping, but what’s the punishment for their abusers?”
“If I’m mayor, I plan on prosecuting them to the full extent of the law,” Roslyn shared with an amused chuckle.
Reign was starting to like that, being underestimated.
Aunt G smirked into her glass of water. “Roslyn, this is Markus’ lady. She’s going to be a force.”
Nia chimed, “already is if we’re being honest. And her question is valid. The full extent is only five to ten years, while the homes of men and women are being raided for simple possession. Under Mayor Norman’s agenda, crime was actually higher than it was before.”
“Considering that he died by the gun he was trying to eliminate, I’d say his agenda wasn’t strong enough,” Roslyn spoke, making Reign chime in.
“I’d say it was outright weak. While I’m not Majestic Heights born and raised, I’m a victim of his loosely thought-through agenda. He didn’t pull the rats from the sewers. They buried themselves in deeper, more crime to make up for the drought on the streets. More violence for the sake of survival. If you disrupt one part of the ecosystem, you have to be able to stabilize it somewhere else. It’s science,” Reign shared. “The streetsare merely a formula. The business done in the dark funds businesses, dreams, and economies of families who would be homeless without it. Considering you’ve worked so hard to get it to an all-time low, I’m sure you don’t want to start from scratch with a group who would be desperate to escape that reality.”
Roslyn looked at Reign for a long time before asking, “What do you suggest I do to create balance?”
“First sell the dream. More jobs, more opportunities to propel them and their families from surviving to thriving,” Reign spoke. “What you’ve done before is great, but it’s more of a neighborhood activist than the mayor of a city with over nine million souls. How are you going to convert forty-six percent? That’s four hundred thousand people who need to believe in what you’re selling. People don’t care about women as much as they claim they do. Especially black women. You’re a black woman and you need the men in this city to believe what you’re saying and believe that they’re still going to be on top.”
“What’s second?”
“You’ll need an endorsement from a man they trust, someone who's created jobs for them. Your only opponent is the lieutenant governor, and word in the shop is that no one believes he’s capable of running this city. Do you know who runs this city? Outside of Chief Garrett?”
“Luciano is dead,” Roslyn spoke arrogantly, expecting that to be the answer.
“It’s my understanding that all of Luciano’s territories belong to someone else whose been leading from the trenches longer than Luciano has been in the spotlight. There’s about to be a surge in business. You want the mayor’s seat, you let it come in and you support it,” Reign shared before the waiter arrived with items from the preselected menu.
“So I turn a blind eye to crime for the sake of…”
“You let the people on the streets who know the streets regulate the streets. Everyone else, you make them believe that they are safer than they have ever been. New jobs, fresh businesses, tourism increases, more women-owned businesses, less homelessness while stroking the ego of these fragile ass men who can’t see past their dicks. Make them feel seen, heard, and safe, and that seat is as good as yours.” Reign could sell water to a whale. It was the years of learning to survive and listening to fast-talking men get their way.
“How do I start?” Roslyn asked, prompting Aunt G and Nia to answer in tandem.
“Accept our endorsement.”
Aunt G added, “And the monthly donations to your campaign. You and I are old enough to remember how Majestic Heights was when our fathers were living and when Slim had everything under control. Money is on the path to do the same. We just need to ensure he can do that without any issue from you.”
Roslyn studied the women as if they’d given her an option. It may have been sold like a suggestion, but it wasn’t. If it wasn’t Roslyn, it would be someone else, and they would discard her. She realized that although she would be in the forefront, she wouldn’t be in control. The power wasn’t Aunt G or Nia. It was the unassuming woman who was actively coming into her own light. While Reign held a spark, that fire Markus was fanning would be controlled, and that was the danger.
“Okay,” Roslyn agreed. “Would the seat be guaranteed?”
Aunt G smiled. “I don’t offer empty promises.”
“Then I’ll do it, but all the bodies dropping around you needs to be done silently. We can’t run a clean campaign with dead bodies,” Roslyn shared, prompting Aunt G to counter.
“We can’t run a clean campaign with a hell bent ADA and detective sniffing around. Now, you can use your influence toshut them down, or we can add them to our list of bodies. It’s completely up to you.”
“Yeah, didn’t you and this ADA step together or something?” Nia asked.
