Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“Does this have something to do with why Grandpa is always callin’ your mother a whore?”
Lennox cracked his knuckles, then rolled his shoulders. “Yeah.” They were quiet for a spell. “The place my mother is buried in was important to her, Kage.”
“Why? She’s dead. Just like my ol’ man. What does it matter now?”
“It’s a cultural thing. She talked about it a lot. How she wanted her family’s forgiveness.” Lennox began to pace back and forth. “She finally got it, and I believe in spite of what happened, she died peacefully because she knew my father would honor her wishes and have her sent back to Lebanon to be buried, as she and her parents requested. She got to lie next to her grandmother and grandfather. Considered an honor. It’s a sacred cemetery for good souls and all of her family is there. She got a beautiful ceremony and the whole nine. My father, sister and I are accepted as family now, too.”
“Silva and you talk to your Lebanese side? I never knew that. I thought y’all were still estranged.”
“Not anymore. Not since I was like ten years old. They acknowledge us often, and my grandparents, uncles and aunts even call a few times a year to check on everyone. My father has forged a solid relationship with his father-in-law that exists outside of my mother. Something to stick to. They actually seem to like one another, oddly enough. Family was so important to my mother, Kage. This was all despite her choices to find out what life was about on her own. She wasn’t one to take orders from other people, even those she cared for, but she never lost the love she had for family, her religion, and the traditions she held dear. Mama was a little complicated, but at the same time, I understand her. Completely.” Dad was right. I’m just like her.
“Grandpa won’t let me close enough to him without ten guys in the room with guns.” Kage chuckled proudly. “I hate him with every fiber of my being. I’m no longer his golden boy, and haven’t been since I tried to off him. But you? He still trusts you. You may be the one to end this nightmare for all of us. Take him out.”
“But I don’t want to take him out. I just wish he’d disappear and leave me the hell alone. I don’t necessarily want him to die, just… go away. If I kill him, it’ll cause too many problems in the family. It’ll be taken out on Silva and Dad, too. Not only that, but I’d also probably have to go into hiding. He could ruin everything, Kage. Everything.” He threw up his hands.
“Well, all of that is hypothetical, but what he’ll do to you sure ain’t. Ask yourself what’s most important to you, man? Him still breathin’, or your mother’s wishes and her family name? He must have somethin’ pretty bad on her. Don’t let him dangle that over your head. Either tell him you don’t give a fuck, or do something about it. You can’t cut off a snake’s tail, cousin. Ya gotta cut off its head. There’s no half steppin’ with Grandpa. You either have to make things so hard for him that he backs off willingly, or make your choice to hurt him so easy that he fears messin’ with you. I chose the latter.”
“…And we all see where that got you.”
Kage laughed, a deep, raspy, rumbling laugh, then violently smashed his cigar in the ashtray. “Lennox, you say you came here to look me in the eye. You say you wanted to talk to me directly, pick my brain, cousin to cousin, man to man, because you know that I was close to Grandpa many full moons ago. You know I understand things about that man that some of y’all don’t. Six of my cousins, including you, are being blackmailed and threatened. He’s not fuckin’ around.” Kage’s eyes narrowed. “Every time I turn around now, I get strange, creepy phone calls, dead animals at my doorstep, or direct threats from the chief himself. He won’t kill me just yet though because he wants me. He had no doubt when he set my other home on fire that I would survive and rebuild. It was a challenge, a punishment and a test. He is aware I’m not stupid, and that I know how to survive.”
“So do I, but I have to be strategic about this! I also have to trust my heart.”
“And what’s your heart saying?”
“To trust the Lord. Always stay packin’. And by any means necessary.”
“Sounds like your heart is smarter than I thought.” Kage leaned forward and glared at him. “I’m tellin’ you that you can’t go halfway with him, Lennox. If ya swing on him, you better knock his fucking block off. If you miss, you’re dead. He told you straight out, in that letter, what he was gonna do. Now, I don’t know exactly what your letter said, the small details and all because I didn’t read it, just like you haven’t read mine, but you’re telling me the gist of it now, and I understand he’s got you over a barrel. Sounds like he knew what buttons to push. Do you wanna tell me what was on those buttons, or keep pussy footin’?”