Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Not necessarily to leave me a crumbling house and a repair shop he knew I’d have no passion for.
But the ability to never have to worry about money again, to be so wealthy that I could simply live a life of leisure and pleasure.
He’d confessed to some greedy motivations—paying off his house and the mortgage on the shop. But everything beyond that went to reinvesting in more drugs… or piling cash up to let me inherit.
He begged me to not tell the police since ‘all the crimes are done, and if you’re reading this, the guiltiest party is already dead.’
Then he demanded I sell the shop and distance myself from David and the mechanics because he had lost a lot of trust in them over the years.
‘Most of ‘em are just idiots. But David can’t be trusted.’
Boy, did that part prove true.
“We think he was divesting,” Santo told me after I finished reading. I reached up to wipe a tear off my cheek.
I didn’t know my uncle well. I was embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t even given him much thought in the past few years. While he’d been working hard to secure an easier future for me.
“What do you mean?”
“From what we can tell from our records, he got a shipment roughly every four months. But there was no shipment before he died. And there should have been,” Luca explained.
“That’s why most of the units were full of cash instead of drugs,” Santo said. “He was done and just wanted to sell off the rest of the product and move on.”
“But David and the other mechanics…”
“Yeah, I don’t know what his plan was for them when he stopped importing, when there was nothing else to cut them in on. He passed before it came to that.”
“I can’t… I can’t wrap my head around this.”
“It’s a lot to take in,” Santo said, coming up behind me to rub my shoulders.
“The drugs are gone?” I asked. I’d been worried about those since I first found them. I didn’t want to be connected to them. And I didn’t want Santo or his Family to be connected with them either.
“They’re sold. Because we were transferring any potential problems with the suppliers to the new dealer, we took a bit of a hit.”
“A bit of a hit?” My voice choked out of me. Sixty million dollars was a bit of a hit?
“I think you’ll still be able to feed yourself,” Santo teased.
“I don’t… where can you even keep this much money?”
“Well, that’s the part where the shop comes into play.”
“You mean… money laundering.” The words felt funny on my tongue.
“Not for all of it, obviously. This is too much. But you can learn to pay for everyday essentials in cash. But you can fix the books at the garage to have it seem like more is coming in than there is. Which would allow you to take some of that money and put it in banks or investments. We always recommend investments. Other businesses or stocks. Multiple layers of separation between the dirty money and you is always a good idea.”
“My head is spinning.”
“It’s not as complicated as it sounds. But it does give you things to think about.”
“Like what?”
“Like how you want to invest. If there are businesses you’re passionate about that you’d like to open,” Luca said.
“And if there are charities you want to give to,” Santo added. “I won’t lie to you; things are going to be a little complicated and confusing for a while. But I’m right here. I will walk you through it all.”
That was all I needed to feel my anxiety slip away.
Santo would be there.
That was all that mattered.
Everything else would fall into place.
Eventually.
Santo - 1 month
The repair shop was a whole new place.
Not just because the entire staff had been fired and replaced with mechanics that weren’t drug dealers, but also treated Dasha not just with respect, but fondness.
She’d been firm about not wanting to sell the shop. Now or ever. It was her uncle’s pride and joy for his whole life. She wanted his legacy to live on.
But she did want it to be a nicer-looking legacy.
The first stacks of cash she spent went to updating the waiting room, bathroom, and office. And adding a small, well-stocked break room for the employees.
“Oh, Dasha,” the receptionist called in a singsong voice after hitting the intercom into Dasha’s office. “Your gorgeous man is here for you.”
“Oh, yeah? Which one?” Dasha asked, tone playful, knowing she was on speaker. “I’ll be right out.”
A few minutes later, she was. Wearing one of her new sundresses that she hid in a garment bag in the closet so she could ‘surprise’ me with them. This one was covered in brightly colored flowers and showed a generous amount of cleavage.
“Sorry. I was dealing with a… staffing issue.”