Page 34 of The Mob: Shio Cuppacio
Make sure the family good.
Eye them Cuppacio boys, the little and the big ones.
Build a relationship with my brother.
Get my brother rich.
Health and Wellness.
Stay on top of my mob shit.
Keep Hobo alive.
Get through this meeting with Ines.
Find a wife.
At least Ihad one thing scratched off the list.
Chapter 7
Don Demise Rinaldi
“Is everything set for this weekend?” I asked Rut, who was at my side as we approached the building.
As we walked through the double doors that provided a shield from the lingering eyes of the soundproof conference room, I took a seat across from Matteo while Rut sat next to him. Since it was Wednesday, we weren’t on official mob business, so all three of us were dressed down in street clothing. Outside the doors was a large buzz of patrons spending their illegal money in my illegal underground casino, and I loved every bit of the scenario. The Dungeon was proving to be a fucking cash cow. I started the business as another way to wash all the fucking money the mob had been generating since I became Don. Eventually, it turned into the hot spot for all the fucking who’s who of the underworld. You could walk in here with your last hundred G’s—because you had to at least have that amount readily available to be granted access—and come all the way up. We had more than the basic fucking crap tables and slot machines. The Dungeon was full of connections, with the most powerful people in every sector of wealth and status you couldthink of. If you were lucky enough, you could meet the right person who could change your life for the better, or worse.
“Yeah, Lani says it’s all good, ” Rut responded as he swiped at his phone screen.
He and I were homies who’d met doing hard time together. Not only were we now in business together, but the women we married were sisters. I ain’t like the shit, even though it made our close-knit circle tighter. Could you imagine your homie fucking someone who was basically identical to your wife? Dasani and Daylani couldn’t deny their blood relation, even if they were strangers. Off that alone, I wanted to beat his ass sometimes.
“And she got that bread I wired?”
Daylani, being the best event planner the South has ever seen, was in charge of all of our parties. The upcoming celebration was for her sister and my wife. Dasani sold soaps, candles, and shit back when she thought she was going to be a single mama before I snatched her ass up—literally. Now that she had access to more money than she knew what the fuck to do with, she’d invested it in her own perfume line. We were still in the testing stages and had narrowed her favorite fragrances down to three. She was throwing a shindig at the crib and had appointed her sister to decorate, claiming she wanted something small. I’m not sure what her definition of “small” was because she was married to the biggest, and we knew nothing about playing it small. Big pockets, big connections, big talker, big walker, big dick—just big shit all the fucking way around the table.
“Yeah, nigga, she got the bread. She was fussing too. You know how she is about her big sister. She was insulted that you paid her.” Rut chuckled while rubbing his head.
“Shit, I’m insulted that she thought we weren’t paying her. All this fucking bread; it’s only right we fuck with our people andkeep this money circulating in the family. Daylani runs a real business. Matter fact, I’ma let it be known that anybody utilizing her services in the mob needs to pay full strength.”
Rut smirked. “Understood.”
Giving my right hand my attention, I watched as he typed on his phone. Matteo’s expression was neutral, meaning he was in a decent mood today. I’d been dealing with his moody ass since diapers because we were cousins raised together like brothers. If that nigga was frowning, I would have just let him be. I’d learned over the years that while I caused ruckus, Teo was the one to finish it.
After waiting for his eyes to finish rolling up and down his phone, I asked, “Teo. Where that nigga, Zo?”
Usually, Matteo and Lorenzo were tied at the fucking hip. For him to not be here had me wondering if everything was good. Lorenzo was more chill than Matteo, so I knew their partnership was hot and cold, but they were a good example of something that’s not supposed to work, working. If I weren’t so fucking busy, I’d probably be jealous of how close they were. Growing up, Matteo and I were just as close. Now that I’m running all this shit and in charge of all these niggas, I don’t have as much time as I’d like to kick it with my day ones. That nigga had never been one to kick it, though. But when Lorenzo came along, he had a change of fucking heart. Now he “kicked it” like his ass was made of shoestrings.
Matteo lifted his head from his phone, and a scowl covered his face. There was the mean-ass nigga I knew.
“At the downtown restaurant. It was his turn to do inventory.”
I just knew that nigga was about to come at me by saying something smart. A lot of shit has changed in the last two years. Not only was he married and a father, but he was also a big brother now. I still couldn’t believe the shit that was exposed.Reuchie’s bald-headed ass had shocked us all. Auntie still wasn’t talking to his ass, but she had told Matteo she wanted to meet Pearla and Patty. Matteo wasn’t going for shit his daddy had to say about being Pearla’s biological father. He’d fired my uncle, and because I would forever be my cousin’s keeper, I went with the move. It was time for Reuchie to sit his ass down any fucking way. Growing up, the Rinaldis put the mob before fatherhood, and knowing what I know now, I didn’t understand that shit. The Cuppacios were terrorizing the fuck out of our organization under my father’s leadership. And even with the threatening nature between the two mobs, Reuchie’s ass was over there sticking dick in a Cuppacios’ wife. I couldn’t make that shit work in my mind, no matter how many times I scenarized it in my head. Teo was going to have to get answers for both of us sooner or later. As for the new seventeen-year-old family member, she would want for nothing for the rest of her days.
“How my girl Pea?—”
The doors busted open, and it was as if I’d spoken them niggas up. The most tolerable of the rat pack walked in, and he wasn’t alone. It seemed like everywhere I turned, these mob niggas’ secret babies were turning up. My pops had made Jisei, Reuchie had made Pearla, and this Shio nigga, being accompanied by a lighter version of himself, gave away that the Cuppacios were on the same type of time.
“What the fuck you niggas want?” I asked before the doors closed behind them.
