Page 17 of Dom 4
His words filled the room and something inside me shifted because I remembered this voice from when I was a little girl kneeling beside my uncle in church while trying to hold the prayer book with my small hands, but still, I didn’t cry. When the slab of marble slid into place, sealing him away for good, everyone bowed their heads. The last king of our bloodline had been placed in stone, and the room started to focus on me causing me to swallow a lump in my throat. There was no whispering or any of that. It was simply them waiting for an explanation. Marisol touched my lower back gently pushing me forward as if I had no other choice.
I finally spoke and allowed the words to flow. “My uncle was not a gentle man,” I said as my voice echoed just enough for everyone to hear. “He did not build his empire with kindness. He built it with fear, precision, and devotion to blood.” I continued to speak. A few soldiers nodded their heads because this was truth, and truth is respected here at all times no matter what. “He taught me that love without strength is a weakness and that power without discipline is chaos. He also taught me family is not something you are given. Instead, it is something you earn.” I raised my chin. “And I earned my place even when he pretended I didn’t.” I told them. The generals shifted where they stood and I could tell some of them were uncomfortable, and some of them were impressed.Good.I thought to myself.Let them feel both.“I did not return for pity, and I did not return to mourn. I returned because empires do not lead themselves and the Blanca name does not die today.”
The oldest general, the one they calledViejo Leónbecause he had survived every war my uncle ever started stepped forward. His voice was rough but demanding. “La sangre manda,” he said which meant blood commands in English saying blood is thicker than water and family ties are the most powerful force. He held the signet ring, with the black eagle crest carved into gold. Ididn’t move when he approached me and neither did I when he slid the ring on my finger. It fit perfectly… of course it did.
“Reina Blanca,” he pronounced with his voice booming loud in the stone chamber. “Queen Blanca.” The room bowed and wasn’t all dramatic and theatrical either. It was just enough to show the throne had been filled and accepted. My breathing started to change as if someone was squeezing my lungs. I understood that power wasn’t loud. Marisol didn’t cry for this either. She just stood next to me smiling proudly.
Outside, the drums began again, and it wasn’t regular drums, it was the big ones that seemed as though they made everything vibrate. Women started singing santería hymns while the men fired two shots into the air as a tradition. Havana felt me as I stepped out of the mausoleum with the generals behind my back. They no longer stood behind me as the niece and not as the runaway although technically, I didn’t run away in the first place. I was used as a pawn. They didn’t even look at me as the girl trying to build a new life far from violence. I stepped out as the heir…. the Black Eagle reborn and the one who was coming home to claim everything.
I knew what they expected out of me. They wanted to avenge his death, although they would give me time, I just didn’t know how much time they were expecting. I could be just as dangerous as anyone else, but the soft life was what I wanted. I didn’t want the life of crime, and I didn’t choose it, it chose me. I stood here taking the throne while upset with a man who didn’t want me, at least not in the way I wanted him. I hadn’t even had a real relationship with Dom, but I’d grown infatuated with what I thought it could be. He was the only man who helped me in any kind of way. He made me feel what it felt like to have some kind of freedom and not feel as if I were suffocating and even if it was short-lived, I could never forget that. I was aware enough with myself to know that I was envious and envy was dangerous, justas well as leading with emotion. I wouldn’t go after Dom for now, in fact, now that I’d had some time to think, I wasn’t sure I’d go after him ever, but I knew Cuba would be watching me to see if I strike. Right now, I wanted to think and accept this new role.
Three Months Later
Star Island wasn’t that quiet because the ocean always made a sound, even when it looked still it had a vibe of its own and was like calmness to my ears. I stood out front of the mansion with the key in my hand watching the water hit the dock behind the gate of the big white house with wide windows and palm trees lined up so neat you could tell this was money.
I didn’t buy it for it to be perfect. I bought it because nobody could get past the gate without being seen before they got within fifty feet of my family and that mattered more than ever. I ran my hand down my face and took a deep breath grounding myself. Five months ago, I was still half in war mode every minute of the fucking day still ready to shoot first behind anything that moved wrong. I was still the man, and I always would be but now I had something to lose that wasn’t made of bricks or money, or cartel shit, or Royal Enterprises. I had myson, or my daughter… it didn’t matter which one it was because either way I was locked in.
The mansion was wide and open when I walked inside with marble floors. It had floor to ceiling glass facing the ocean. The master bedroom sat upstairs with a balcony view over the bay. I walked into it and stood there with the sliding doors open just enough to let that breeze in. I owned the land I was breathing in. I purchased both mansions on the left and right side of this one was well which was much smaller than this one, but I did that to keep my people close when needed and so my kids would one day have these mansions inherited down to them.
My security moved through the house without speaking with one checking the sensors. One walked the perimeter. One waited near the front door. They were in their all black everything and that’s all that mattered. They weren’t hired to be seen. They were hired so nobody else would be. My phone vibrated in my hand and Tone’s face popped up on FaceTime.
He didn’t even speak; he just grinned like he already knew something. “So, this the spot?”
I lifted the phone and let him see the view. The ocean, the clean lines, the open room behind me, all of that. He whistled low. “Yeah. Carmen gon’ fall out on the floor when she sees this.”
“That’s the point,” I said.
Tone laughed. “You getting’ soft, my boy.”
“Say that shit again,” I muttered but with a slight smile. I wasn’t ashamed. I loved my wife, and I was tired of running from that shit. We crossed the line, but now that we did wasn’t no way I was goin’ backwards. If this was what real love felt like, I should’ve let it in a long time ago, but like I said, this shit come with a price.
He laughed. “Relax King. I know what it is nigga. You protecting what’s yours, and it’s about damn time too cause she deserve this one.”
I didn’t respond right away, instead I adjusted my Glock, and I just looked at the reflections in the glass that showed the space and all the room for something to grow that didn’t have blood on it.
“She coming?” Tone asked, snapping me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, I sent for her,” I informed.
He nodded because he understood without needing extra explanation. Carmen didn’t know where she was being taken yet. She was just told to be ready. I wanted to see her face the moment she stepped in here. The exact moment her eyes touched her future. She was supposed to be at her office, but I learned her ass was at the gym, like always. I didn’t know why she felt like she had to work out so much, but she claimed that she didn’t want to get all big and out of shape. All I could think about is my baby probably being in there being tossed around like a basketball every time she moved.
Tone leaned back in his own seat. “You moving different, Dom. I like it. I like this peace too. Shit, work is work but at least we ain’t had to tear no blocks up lately, and ain’t nobody trying our patience either. Shona eight months now and I can’t wait for my son to get here.”
“I’m movin’ the same,” I said. “I’m just movin’ for more. I need my family under one roof. She can keep the penthouse just like I’ma keep mine… hell it’s paid for; we own the buildings but as far as an heir on the way? No…” I shook my head. “We gotta be in this mansion on our king and queen shit.”
“I hear ya, you ain’t wrong.”
I looked at Tone and thought about how we had been riding for each other for years. I didn’t keep too many dudes around me that I would have to question, but Tone had always been loyal. “I been thinkin’ about something else too. When Shona have the baby, I want you gone Tone. Don’t worry about none of thisRoyal shit, I got it covered. I just want you to take at least three months.”
He fell out laughing. “Nigga three months? You sending me on maternity leave? Damn, do we get PTO and vacation time now too, where the fuck this come from.”
“I’m serious Tone. We family, but when you start having kids and shit that family comes first.”
His demeaner changed and he got serious again as he adjusted his big medallion on his chain. “Imagine me leavin’ for three months, if some shit pop off, I gotta be there. Nigga, if you ever die on me…” he shook his head like he didn’t want to think about that before he continued. “Nah fuck that, ain’t shit happenin’ to you, but before the empire, all we had was us, that shit don’t even feel right cause I’m used to havin’ yo’ back, but I feel you.”
I knew he was genuine, that’s why I’d give Tone the shirt off my back. It was never about the money, or the clout, or just wanting to be attached to the name or none of that other shit. “I’m gon’ always be okay.” I told him, thinking back on what pops said. “Even King’s die one day, but that ain’t no time soon.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” he said. “But aye, where that nigga Rick Ross at? I heard he got a crib out there too. If you see that nigga, tell ‘em I need a ten-piece lemon pepper, all flats, fried hard, with extra lemon pepper. Fat muhfucka…” he laughed before ending the call.
