by J. L Rose
“So, how is it that this Edward Randolph guy knows this information, Roosevelt?” Dante asked the drug lord, staring him directly in his eyes.
“That you’ll have to ask Dominic himself, Blackwell,” Roosevelt replied, maintaining eye contact with the young killer.
FOUR
CHECKING THE TIME FOR the fourth time since breakfast, and wondering where in God’s name her son-in-law was, Carmen made the decision to just call Dante on her way to the hospital to see Dominic. She grabbed her purse and the thick, brown legal folder with the papers that Dante had requested.
Carmen left her bedroom and walked down the stairs that led to the front door. She saw one of the head servants standing at the door speaking with someone with the door half open.
“Who’s at the door, Jennifer?” Carmen called out, drawing the servant’s attention.
“It’s Mr. Atlas, ma’am,” Jennifer replied while opening the door all the way to show her that it was Samuel.
“Samuel, what are you doing here?” Carmen asked as she stepped off the steps in surprise. “Why didn’t you call first? I could have already been gone.”
“I was already in the neighborhood and decided to stop by,” he answered as he entered the house uninvited. “I wanted to speak with you about something.”
“I’m on my way out, Samuel!” Carmen told him while gripping tighter the folder she held in her hands.
“This will only take a few minutes,” Samuel said, stepping toward her as the front door opened, which drew the attention of both of them.
“Am I interrupting?” Dante asked as he, James, and a third man walked inside the mansion.
“Mr. Black—!”
“Is everything all right, Carmen?” Dante asked, cutting off and ignoring what Samuel Atlas was trying to say to him.
Carmen noticed that both James and the other gentleman, who she knew very well, stood on either side of Atlas.
Carmen then looked back toward Dante and said, “Everything’s fine, Dante! Mr. Atlas wanted to speak with me about something.”
“Oh really?” Dante replied, turning his head to look at the man. “Well, Mr. Atlas, continue what you were just going to say.”
Staring into Dante’s eyes but addressing Carmen, Atlas said, “Carmen, we can speak at another time. Call me when you’re free.”
Dante watched as James and their close friend escorted Atlas out the front door.
Dante then looked back toward Carmen and asked, “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, Dante!” Carmen answered. “I’m just surprised that Samuel would show up. He’s never come here, ever!”
Looking back at the face that she hadn’t seen in a while as he walked back inside with James, Carmen smiled and said, “How are you, Carlos?”
“I am fine, Mrs. Saldana,” Carlos replied, smiling at his ex-employer.
“Dante, where did you find Carlos?” Carmen asked, still with a smile as she looked at him.
“Dominic still had his number programmed into his phone,” Dante answered as he handed Carmen Dominic’s phone. “I’ve also hired back Carlos as head of security, and the first thing I want him to do is get rid of the stupid muthafucka at the front gate who let in Atlas!”
“Not a problem, boss,” Carlos replied with a smile as he started toward the front door.
However, he abruptly stopped at the sound of Dante’s voice calling his name.
“Yes, sir?”
“The name’s Dante!” he told Carlos, who nodded with an understanding smile. “Also, Carmen’s going to see Dominic, so she’s going to need her limo.”
“Not a problem, Dante,” Carlos replied as he nodded to a smiling Carmen before leaving out the front door.
Turning back to Carmen and seeing her joyous smile, Dante said, “I take it you’re happy with my decision to bring Carlos back?”
“Thank you, Dante,” she told him. “I assume Carlos explained why he was let go?”
Nodding his head affirmatively, Dante said nothing else about the subject.
He then nodded toward the file in Carmen’s hands and asked, “Are those the papers we spoke about?”
“Yes!” Carmen answered as she handed the folder to Dante. “How did everything go last night with Roosevelt?”
“It went how I expected it would,” Dante replied. “Let me ask you something, Carmen. Do you know who Kevin Kim is?”
Seeing the surprised look flash across Carmen’s face as she took a step back, Dante said, “I take it you know who that is and that Dominic told you, correct?”
“Yes!” Carmen answered, just as the front door opened and Carlos stepped back inside the house with a team of security crowding the front door.
“Your limo is ready, Mrs. Saldana,” Carlos announced.
Nodding to Carlos, but then looking back at Dante, she asked, “Is this what all of this is about, Dante?”
“I believe so. But there’s still more to this story that I’m trying to figure out. I’m also trying to figure out how this Edward Randolph guy found out about this new connect that both Dominic and Roosevelt managed to come upon. I’ma figure it out, though!”
“I know you will!” she told Dante as she stepped closer and kissed him on the cheek. “Call me if you need me for anything.”
Nodding his head in response, Dante looked at James and nodded for his boy to follow as he walked behind both Carmen and Carlos out the front door.
* * *
Back inside the Benz and following Carmen’s limo and her security detail out the front gate of the mansion, Dante sat in the passenger seat while James drove. He pulled out his cell phone and pulled up Monica’s number.
“Hold on, Dante!” Monica told him as she answered the phone.
Staring out his window while waiting for Monica to come back on the line, Dante looked at James and said, “Food, bruh?”
“Dante!” Monica returned as James nodded his head in understanding.
“You busy?” Dante asked her.
“Not really,” Monica replied. “I did as you told me and went into work earlier than was planned. I’m just meeting a few people and getting a look around. What’s up, though?”
“Can you get some information for me?”
“Dante, this is my first—! Wait! I just remembered something. I may just be able to get that information you want. What’s up?”
“I need you to find whatever you can on some guy named Edward Randolph and also on a Samuel Atlas.”
“You say Edward Randolph and Samuel Atlas?”
“Yeah!”
“Anything else?”
“Not right now!”
“All right. I’ma call you back when I got something.”
Dante then called Alinna after hanging up with Monica.
“Yeah, Dante!” Alinna replied.
“Where you at?”
“Handling something. Why, what’s up?”
“I need you to get Kerri and get in contact with Goldmen and Sutter. Tell ’em both that I want them here in Phoenix in two days.”
“What’s going on, Dante?” Alinna asked.
“I’ll explain later. Let me make some more calls.”
After hanging up with Alinna, Dante then punched in his brother’s phone number back in Miami.
“We was just about to call you, fam,” Dre said as he answered the phone. “You not going to believe what the fuck Vanessa done come up with, bruh!”
“Dre, later for that!” Dante told him. “I think shit about to get real out here in Phoenix, bruh! I may have to turn up out here, and I’ma need some backup for me, Tony T, and James. You down to play?”
“You already know the answer to that shit, nigga! When you need us?”
“I’m sending the jet out there to pick y’all up. Get word to Rafael, and let the Dread know I said I want him to maintain shit until we return. Let ’im know I’ll contact him in a few days about a new shipment and to get the orders from the other families on what they want.”
“I’m sending it out tonight. I’ll have Alinna’s assistant, Kerri, call with the information on where to meet the jet.”
“We’ll see you in a minute!”
Dante hung up on Dre and then looked at James.
“So, you really think things are about to get that out of hand to call Dre and Wesley out here?” James asked.
“I think whoever’s behind what’s going on out here in Phoenix thinks shit’s sweet, so I’ma show the city how we get down on some Miami shit!” Dante told James while pulling out a brand-new box of Black & Milds.
FIVE
DANTE STOOD ALONGSIDE HIS Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 S with James and Tony T, who tore himself away from Harmony’s side after finding out the rest of the family was coming to Phoenix. Dante watched the G4 jet as it landed and rolled to a stop in front of them. The hatch lifted, and a moment later the steps were lowered. Dre was the first to appear in the doorway.
“There go my muthafuckin’ brothers!” Dre yelled as he rushed down the steps.
Smiling at the sight of his brother, Dante started toward Dre, with both Tony T and James smiling and following beside him.
Dre hugged Dante tightly, throwing his arms around Dante in a brotherly embrace. He then released him and looked him over in his black silk Armani suit with matching black button-down.
“I see you living good, even out here, fam!”
“What was you expecting?” Dante replied with a smile as Dre hugged Tony T and then James.
He then swung his head back toward the jet upon hearing, “Andre! Nigga! You better get yo’ ass on this jet and get these fucking bags, nigga!”
“Shit!” Dre said, causing Dante and the others to start laughing as he headed back to the plane.
“Daddy!” Dante heard, seeing his daughter, Mya, rushing down the steps and running across the airstrip.
He started toward his daughter as she jumped into his arms. Catching and hugging his baby girl, Dante held Mya in a tight embrace a few moments as she hugged his neck tightly. He then realized just how much he missed her. He kissed the top of her head and held her back a little, smiling as she smiled back at him.
“Look at you, baby girl! You just keep getting bigger every time I see you!”
“I miss you, Daddy!” Mya cried happily, hugging her father’s neck again before kissing his cheek.
“I know I better get one of those hugs too,” both Dante and Mya heard from behind them as Vanessa and Amber stepped off the plane with their twins, Keisha and Maxine.
Dante then noticed a brown-skinned female who stared straight at him and smiled.
Dante shifted Mya over to his good arm as Vanessa hugged him tightly around the neck.
He kissed her cheek, only for Vanessa to pull back with a balled-up face and ask, “Oh, I can’t get no hug, Dante?”
“I got shot, Vanessa. I only use my left arm if I really have to, baby sis!”
Sucking her teeth, she replied, “I forgot about you getting shot. Alinna told us you was out here showing out, but I got a surprise for you.”
“What’s that?” Dante asked, shifting his eyes toward the jet.
He watched as Dre and Wesley stepped off the plane, followed by his son, Dante Jr., and Dre’s son, Andre Jr. They were all then followed by a crew of men carrying the family’s suitcases and bags.
“Dante, this is Melody!” Dante heard, shifting his eyes back toward Vanessa, only to see the brown-skinned female he first noticed.
He nodded his head at the smiling woman, but became a little confused by the tears he saw begin to fall from her eyes.
“What’s up with the tears?” Dante asked, looking to Vanessa for answers.
Mya then reached out to the crying woman and asked, “Auntie Melody, why you crying?”
Dante released his daughter to the women as the other members of the family walked up.
He then looked at Vanessa as she said, “Dante, her name is Melody Blackwell. She’s your birth sister!”
“What?” Dante replied, looking back at the female while meeting her eyes that were the same color as his.
He heard his phone begin to ring and unknowingly dug it from his pocket and answered, “Yeah!”
“Dante! Dante! Where the fuck are you?”
Snapping out of his daze after recognizing Alinna’s voice, Dante’s face instantly balled up. “Alinna, what’s up? What’s wrong?”
“Dante, we’re being shot at and chased! Where are you? We need help!”
Dante was already rushing toward the Benz while ignoring Vanessa, who was yelling his name. He then lowered the phone from his ear and yelled to Tony T to give the girls a set of keys to one of the two Denalis. Dante then yelled to Dre and the other guys to grab the other Denali as he climbed inside his Benz.
* * *
Alinna yelled over the engine and the sound of gunfire while telling Dante where she and Kerri were. She was trying her best to lose the two black BMWs that were chasing them. She then swung her S-Class Benz Coupe down another street and floored the engine, pulling away a short while, only to look in the rear-view mirror and see the cars catching up to her again.
“Alinna, talk to me!” Dante yelled into the phone. “Where exactly are you?”
“I just turned down—! Shit!” she yelled, ducking after the back windshield was shot out.
“Dante, you’re not here yet? You gotta get here!”
“Baby, I’m trying, but you gotta tell me where you’re at exactly. Alinna, I can’t help if I can’t find you!”
Alinna looked around and then told Dante where she was and everything that she was passing. She drove while listening to Dante’s instructions, but then she hung up the phone and dropped it into her lap so she could use both her hands to steer the Benz.
“What did Dante say?” Kerri asked from the floor of the passenger seat.
Kerri simply tried to hang on as Alinna surprisingly handled the Benz which she was just recently gifted by Dante.
“We’re supposed to meet him on Arizona Avenue. He said he’ll meet us there,” Alinna answered.
Alinna yanked the Benz down another street and flew past cars alongside her while still staring in the rear-view mirror to see that the two BMWs were still following them.
After a few minutes, Alinna fishtailed the Benz down Arizona Avenue and almost had to slam on the brakes when she saw a crowd standing in the middle of the road. But she quickly recognized Dante standing dead center in the group. She swung the wheel hard to the right, just as all hell opened up.
Alinna hit the brakes, which caused the Benz to slide to a stop before slamming into the side of a building. Alinna then looked back to see Dante and what looked like twenty or thirty other guys open up, shooting at the two BMWs, which both soon lost control. The one car slammed into a light pole, while the second simply slowed to a stop in the middle of the road, with more than one hundred bullet holes.
“Alinna!” Dante yelled, just as he snatched open the driver’s door to see that his wife was okay.
He grabbed her from the car and into his arms.
“Dante! Kerri!” Alinna cried, pulling away from him and rushing around the car to help Kerri from the Benz.
“You okay?”
Kerri nodded her yes as she looked up at Dante, only to see the deadly Category 5 storm that appeared in his eyes.
* * *
Dante returned to the mini mansion and was met by Natalie, Vanessa, and the rest of the family and crew members who didn’t go to help out Alinna and Kerri. He climbed from the Benz and looked over the roof of the car, just as Vanessa led the rest of the women over to the passenger side where Alinna stepped out and was instantly surrounded.
“Dante!”
Dante heard his name being called and looked behind himself. He saw the woman who was introduced as his sister slowly approach him. Dante slowly looked her over and instantly noticed how extremely gorgeous she was.
�
��Are you okay?” Melody asked, stopping in front of her big brother.
Nodding his head in response to the question, Dante then asked, “How do I know you’re really my sister? Where do you come from? How the hell did you even find me?”
Melody cracked a small smile and said, “Can we go inside and talk? I’ll explain everything and answer whatever questions you have that I can answer.”
Dante looked down and saw that Melody had put out her hand toward him. He looked back up to meet
her eyes and slowly took her hand, which earned an even bigger smile.
Alinna watched as the woman led Dante past her and inside the house. Alinna then looked toward Natalie and heard her say, “Relax, Alinna. That’s Dante’s younger sister.”
“His sister?” Alinna shouted as she looked over at Vanessa.
“She’s from Syracuse, New York.”
“And how the hell y’all know this?” Alinna questioned.
“A, relax!” Amber spoke up, cutting her off.
“She’s his sister. She’s proven it to us. We’ve even spoken with his birth mother, and she got this picture of Dante when he was a baby.”
“How was she able to find him way out in Phoenix?” Alinna asked, still not convinced.
“Alinna, come on!” Vanessa spoke up again. “Do you remember who your husband is? I think any and everybody knows who Dante Blackwell is after he turned himself in, only to suddenly walk out of jail scot-free! You better watch the world news! They’re still talking about your husband!”
“I wanna talk to this girl!” Alinna said, shaking her head at what she was hearing, with a tight feeling in her gut.
“Why don’t you let Dante talk to his sister first, and then I’m sure Melody will want to talk to her sister-in-law!” Vanessa told Alinna as they all started inside the house.
* * *
Dante listened to Melody as the two of them walked side by side along the bike trail while Mya, Dante Jr., and Andrew Jr. walked together ahead of them. Dante then shifted his attention over to Melody as she began pulling out pictures of the woman she told him was his mother. He instantly recognized his father in the pictures with the woman.
