Page 2 of His to Have
“But I don’t want them to be.”
“Why not?”
“Because I want to be normal. Go on dates, have fun... you know, regular teenage stuff.”
I leaned against the banister. “You ain’t regular though.”
“Yes I am!” She giggled, finally making her way closer to me, her manicured hands playfully landing on my chest. “I paint my nails, gossip with my friends, cry at those sappy movies… all super normal. The only thing not normal, is my dating life.”
I smiled slightly, even if the thought of her dating annoyed me.
“Don’t worry. The right nigga will come along and scoop you up. Then you can do all that regular people shit.” The eye roll she hit me with said it all. She wasn’t trying to hear any of that. “Until then, how about you let Big Tony and Carlos do their jobs.”
“Whatever Teo.”
“It’s for the best. They keep you safe.” I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “Go on and spoil yourself. It’s on me. I have to go.”
I looked down the hallway her father just disappeared into.
“Call me later,” I pushed from the banister. “Happy birthday, Amore.”
Family Room – The Faction Gathering- Six Years Ago
Power clung to the air as I stepped into the family room. Taking my seat at the long oak table, I surveyed the faces around it, listening to the light chatter that floated between the men and women in the room.
Every face at the table represented Black power. Some politicians, a few street niggas, and a handful of cops. Not all mafia, but all influential.
A nudge to my elbow snapped my attention to the person seated next to me. “Think your pops is gonna let you run the meeting today?” Bash asked, his eyes doing a slow perusal of the guests, many of them already gazing our way.
“We’ll see.” I kept my voice low before switching gears. “How did your search go? You find anything new on Orlando’s crew?”
“Hell,nah. Not anything my pops didn’t already know. You?”
Before I could respond, the atmosphere froze. Conversations that were once loud and lively died mid-sentence as my father Don Marco, Crime Boss Samuel, and Don Gianni entered together. While no single one of them governed the faction solely, they did lead it collectively, with me and Bash as their successors.
“Gentlemen,” Gianni’s voice cut through the silence as everyone settled into their seats. “And, ladies.” He smiled at the two women in the sea of men before taking his seat at the long oak table. My father sat to his left and Samuel to his right, prompting Bash to abandon his seat beside me and take his rightful place beside his father.
“Y’all know why we’re here. Orlando Moccasin. He’s been busy. The people in this room have controlled the East Coast for the past twenty-five years, and he is threatening all of it.”
An eruption of voices filled the room as everyone began talking at once. It wasn’t the first time Orlando had been discussed, but today felt different.
“We gotta get a handle on him.” Samuel cut through the chatter. “He’s been making moves in territories that were once untouchable.”
The governor of their great state, rubbed his forehead in frustration but asked Samuel straight on. “Like the protected neighborhoods we agreed you would keep guns and drugs out of?”
“Yes, Nathan,” Samuel’s voice was tight. “He’s not just hitting Georgia—he’s expanding across three states.”
“He’s right,” the Jersey senator cut in. “Orlando’s pushing product through my districts. If this escalates, it could cost me my seat.”
“If he’s in Jersey, that’s Marco and Gianni’s territory. How’s he getting past your people?” A federal agent who’d been on our payroll for decades asked and my father’s jaw tightened.
We’d been dealing with Orlando’s little crews for the past month. Running them off the blocks we deemed neutral, or making them pay a premium tax to do business in our city. Of course some slipped through the cracks because Orlando’s been careful about where he sends his men. Especially up North where New York and New Jersey were both controlled by the Five Families, with theDonatellisandVitalesbeing among them. It was much harder to fill gaps there.
“He’s not hitting our main operations. He’s flooding small towns, with limited law enforcement presence, and recruiting locals who have no ties to any of the families,” my father replied tersely. “We’ve taken over six towns just this month.”
“See?” Samuel gestured around the table. “This isn’t about me keeping my house in order. This is a faction problem that will only get worse.”
“So what’s Orlando’s endgame here?” The agent asked. “He can’t think he can take on all of us. Our network is way too large.”
