Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 53428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“And she seems smart. The times that I’ve heard her suggestions to you, they have been on point.”
“She majored in Psychology in college. Then, went on to get her doctorate in business management.”
“Makes sense.” I looked at her. “And my favorite of the three, Merik?”
Kashmere chuckled. “Merik’s resume is that he has been by my side since I was a toddler.”
I quirked my brows. “Cousins. Right?”
“Yep. Our mothers had us a week apart, so we always played together. Merik knows me better than I know myself and has always had my back.”
“Very loyal and intelligent inner crew.” I squeezed her hand and guided her toward them.
We made it to the door.
Kashmere raised her eyebrows. “Where’s Leonardo?”
“I sent him on a separate mission of getting to know our perceived enemies in Paradise City.”
“I could have told you anything you needed to know.”
“And you will, on the ride to this meeting. However, it is always helpful to see what Leonardo can find from navigating the streets as an unsuspecting civilian.”
She nodded. “Cool. Let me know what he finds.”
“Of course.”
Kashmere gazed at her people. “Do we have the Caviar Lime pies?”
“You know it.” Merik gestured behind him. “Three pies are in the cooler and waiting to be given out in the meeting.”
I blinked. “Pies?”
Rue stepped forward. “It is Diamond Syndicate tradition for each leader to bring a gift to a meeting. It is a symbol of love and being a family.”
I crossed my hands in front of me. “Hmmm.”
Rue continued, “The gift giving part can be touchy. A leader never wants to give a gift too expensive because another leader can see it as that leader boasting.”
“But then you don’t want the gift to be too cheap or everyone will take it as disrespect.” Merik snickered. “But as long as my mom has been a teen, she has made these Caviar Lime pies that all in Paradise City agree are the best.”
“Everyone in the Diamond Syndicate love them,” Dane added.
Rue shrugged. “Dima has a sweet tooth. Honestly, I believe some of the meetings he has called in the past, have been just to get one of Merik’s mother’s pies. He actually admitted that one time.”
Chuckling, Dane opened the front door. “Santino, do you have any other questions for us before this meeting?”
“I do.” Guiding Kashmere through the door, I glanced at him. “Which one of these three gangsters annoy my queen the most?”
Kashmere chuckled. “Marcelo definitely.”
I frowned. “Marcelo bothers you?”
Cool wind brushed against my skin as we headed out.
Two black crows squawked over us.
Kashmere stopped laughing and stared into the dark sky, following the path of the two birds as they flew further and further away, until they finally disappeared over Dream Lake, their deathly omen still hanging in the air.
Dane got on my left. “Marcelo annoying Kashmere is more a historical beef than anything else.”
Kashmere cleared her throat and continued forward with me.
Rue went to Kashmere’s side. “Marcelo runs Rowe Street Mob in the South of Paradise City.”
“Killer Crows hate the South because their ancestors were a part of the Week of Blood.” Merik strutted in front of us. “That shit was long ago, and it isn’t fair to blame the great-great grandkids for their ancestors’ atrocities, but life isn’t fair so fuck it.”
I thought back to my research on this area. Being that I lived next to a haunted lake of ghosts that didn’t like white people, I figured it would be smart to understand why those ghosts were so upset.
I read that beneath Dream Lake lay a small village called Crownsville.
Long ago, it had been a thriving town of over 6,000 people and completely Black-owned. The prosperous residents remained in their small town and never ventured out to the surrounding area.
Meanwhile, the Whites in the North and South of Paradise began looking to Crownsville as the problem for why their residents were impoverished.
They were just waiting for a reason to take Crownsville over and punish the Black residents for their success.
And then, a South Paradise White woman claimed that she had been blindfolded, beaten, and raped by a Black man.
South Paradise men went to Crownsville. They burned the villages’ churches, schools, and businesses. They broke into homes, shot husbands, raped wives, and hung children.
Killer Crows called this the Week of Blood.
It was also why they always wore red.
The few survivors of Crownsville fled.
When they returned, they discovered the government had flooded their town and turned it into Dream Lake.
I gritted my teeth.
Then, the South will be the first place that I take for my queen.
Kashmere spoke, “Marcelo’s family was some of the main motherfuckers leading the Week of Blood.”
Rue raised on finger. “However, Marcelo has shown that he is not like his ancestors.”
“Shit.” Merik waved her comment away. “Just cause a motherfucker got Black people in his crew don’t mean shit.”