The Conglomerate: A Luxorious Tale

by Santiago, Danielle

  Just then the DJ dropped Jay-Z’s I Just Wanna Love You. The club went crazy. Evan stood up and began dancing as if she were having the time of her life. And just to make the girls even madder she went over and did a seductive dance in front of Reza.

  When she sat down Reza said, “You do enjoy making people jealous with your fine ass. Aye how come I’ve never seen you around here before? You go to Norfolk State or Hampton?”

  “No. I came up from Florida with my mom to visit my auntie in the hospital.”

  “How long will you be here?”

  “A week, my mom had to go home to take care of some things. I will be here until she gets back.”

  “A week,” he downed his shot of Remy. “That gives us plenty of time.”

  “Plenty of time for what?”

  “To get to know one another.”

  “You’re pretty confident that I want to get to know you,” Evan remarked.

  “Everybody wants to get to know me.”

  After having a few more Cosmos, Evan decided it was time for her leave.

  “I’m out,” she notified Reza as she stood to leave.

  “But I don’t want you to leave yet.”

  “I have to leave now. Those Cosmos are starting to come down on me hard and the highways here are really confusing.”

  “Where are you staying?”

  “The Marriott, in Downtown Norfolk.”

  “I can drop you off after we have breakfast.”

  “Breakfast,” she exclaimed with a screw face. “What are we are supposed to do until breakfast? I don’t know you.”

  Reza chuckled shaking his head. “I’m talking about going to breakfast now. It is one o’ clock in the morning.”

  “Oh, my bad,” she smiled feeling a bit silly. “I’ll go to breakfast with you.”

  Reza took a hold of her hand and led the way out. As they passed the two guys that came with him, he pointed towards the exit. The pair promptly walked away from the women that they were conversing with and followed Reza. Outside Reza made a very informal introduction.

  “These two lame ass niggas are Reggie and Stef.” he pulled Evan close to him by the waist, “This is Mika.” she greeted them with a quick tight lip smile. Evan recognized Stef as the guy that grabbed her earlier for Reza. Stef stared at her with a wide grin, displaying a mouth full of yellow gold.

  “Damn nigga,” Reza said to Stef. “Stop staring at her like that before you scare her.

  “My bad A,” Stef guffawed. “I was just admiring her beauty.”

  “I don’t give a fuck why you were doing it! I told you stop eyeballing her.”

  Stef lowered his eyes and looked the ground. Reza looked at Evan, “What you driving Mika?”

  “The silver Diamante over there,” she pointed.

  “Let me get the keys.”

  Evan retrieved the keys from her purse, and then placed them in Reza’s hand. He tossed them over to Reggie, “Y’all go by the spot. Get the Explorer, and then drop her whip off at that Marriott in Downtown Norfolk.”

  Straight do boys, Evan thought, watching them as they marched away with their orders.

  Reza guided her to his burgundy Range Rover 4.6. Sitting on custom chrome twenty-two inch rims, it was the prettiest car in the lot. Smiling inwardly, Evan thought, yes! I got the right one. Out of nowhere, Evan heard a loud commotion. She turned around and saw the slim girl from inside the club charging towards her yelling.

  “Reza who is this bitch?”

  Evan dropped her purse and rapidly got into a fighters stance. Reza stepped in front of Evan blocking the girl’s access.

  “What the fuck is up Reza?” the girl screamed. Her face was drenched with tears.

  Calmly Reza told her.

  “Tam, you’re drunk. You need to go home before you play yourself out here.”

  “I’ve already played myself by allowing you to play me in front of my friends with this bitch!” She swung her fist at him.

  Reza caught her by the arm while it was in the air. Squeezing it tightly he told her. “Hoe don’t you ever raise your hand to me. I didn’t play you! You played yourself, out frontin’ like you my girl when you not even my number two bitch.” He flung her violently to the ground. Reza picked up Evan’s purse and handed it to her. “Let’s go.”

  “Are all your nights always this eventful?” Evan asked Reza sitting across from him at IHOP.

  “That was nothing.”

  “Oh really? I’ve never had to fight over a nigga that I just met,” she laughed. “So where are you from?”

  “Hartford, Connecticut,” he replied.

  “What brought you to Virginia?”

  “A better life for my kids.”

  “So what do you do?”

  “I’m an independent entrepreneur,” he smiled coyly. Evan burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?”

  “Your answer, but I’m going to leave it alone.”

  “So what’s your story Mika?”

  “I’m from Miami. I go to FAMU, but I sat out this semester to help my mom with our family’s manufacturing business. Since my auntie got diagnosed with cancer my mom has been running it by herself.”

  “Your aunt is not from Virginia?”

  “No.”

  “How did she end up in the hospital here?”

  “Sentara is the only hospital on the east coast with a special program for the type of cancer that she has.”

  They continued to talk during and long after their meal. The more Reza learned about the girl that he knew as Mika, the more he liked her.

  “What time will you be back from seeing your aunt?” Reza asked Evan when he pulled in front of the Marriott.

  “I usually drop in on her about twelve-thirty and stay about an hour. So I guess like one-thirty.”

  “How about doing some shopping with me when you’re done? I wanna check out that new McArthur Mall then swing up to the outlets in Williamsburg.”

  “Sure, I’ll be ready at two.” Reza bought whatever Evan wanted. At the end of their shopping date, the back of his Range was filled with bags from the floor to the ceiling. The majority of the bags belonged to Evan. Over the next few days, they were inseparable. Reza even convinced her to check out of the hotel and spend the remainder of her trip at his townhome in the historic Ghent section of Norfolk. His home was beautifully furnished and decorated. However, it paled in comparison to his mini mansion in Chesapeake. Evan caught a quick glimpse of the house by accident. Reza’s mother had locked her keys in the house while she took his kids to the park. He didn’t have time to drop Evan off before going to let them in. It would’ve taken too long.

  “Nice digs,” she told Reza when they pulled away from the house. “That must be where wifey lives.”

  “No that’s where my mother and my kids live.”

  “If you say so,” she replied with full knowledge that his mother was there watching the kids because his children’s mother was out of town. That bit of information came from ear hustling while she pretended to be asleep.

  Evan also knew that the townhouse was actually Reza’s stash house for his drugs and money. One of the bedrooms had a steel door and three deadbolt locks. Reza kept it locked, but one day he slipped up. While rushing out to meet someone that owed him a large sum of money, Reza left the door wide open. During the time he was out Evan went in and looked around. There were two wide black chest height safes against the back of the wall. A large trunk sat in the middle of the room. When Evan looked inside the trunk, she was speechless at the sight of at least thirty kilograms of cocaine. She closed the trunk and ran out of the room. Evan never said a word about what she saw to Reza.

  In the meantime, Reza was falling hard for Evan. He hadn’t even had sex with her and he found himself contemplating leaving his baby mother and giving up his side chicks for Evan. To him she was worldly, classy, book smart, and street smart. Evan could fit in anywhere, unlike his children’s mother, Ladon. She was loud and ghetto. Reza kept Ladon laced
in the best designer labels. He moved her from the projects of Hartford into a six hundred thousand dollar home, and put her behind the wheel of a 600 Benz. None of those things mattered to Ladon. She frequently made trips to Hartford to hang with friends from her old neighborhood against Reza’s approval. He was growing tired of Ladon long before he met Evan, but Evan was just the right motivation Reza needed to throw the towel in on their relationship. On the night before Evan was set to leave, Reza took her out to a five star restaurant on Norfolk’s Waterside Drive

  “Mika, I don’t want you to leave me,” he told her over a candlelit dinner.

  “I don’t want to leave you either. I’ll be back next week, before you even have a chance to miss me.”

  “You’ll be back to visit your aunt. That doesn’t mean you’ll come back to me.” He sat a little red velvet box on the table. “Hopefully these will be a little incentive for you to come back to me.”

  Evan picked up the box. “What are these?”

  “A gift for you, go ahead open it.”

  Evan popped the box open and her eyes lit up. Inside was a beautiful pair of two-karat brilliant cut solitaries set in platinum. Lord I swear this nigga gon’ make me fall in love with him. She quickly reminded herself, ain’t no money in love though.

  “They are so pretty,” she got up and hugged him. “Thank you, but you didn’t have to give me these.”

  “I wanted to. Consider them a token of my appreciation for keeping me company. What time does your plane leave tomorrow?”

  “At four forty-five in the afternoon.”

  “I didn’t know you were leaving that late. That means we can hang out and hit a few spots tonight.”

  “I want to stay in tonight,” she purred, rubbing his leg with her foot beneath the table.

  “And do what?”

  “I was thinking you could make some of that Texas Tea you turned me on to and I could model some of the lingerie you bought me from Vickie’s.”

  “I’m with that! Aye,” he called out their waiter. “Let me get that check right now.”

  Carl Thomas’ Emotional pumped out the surround speakers spread throughout Reza’s town-home. Wearing only a pair of basketball shorts, Reza held Evan firmly in his arm as they slow-dragged in living room. She was scantily clad in a purple sheer one-piece thong bodysuit. They both were feeling good and tipsy from the glasses of Texas Tea they’d consumed. Reza was all over Evan kissing and licking her mouth, ears, neck, and chest while rubbing her body.

  Reza spoke softly in her ear, “Enough of this dancing, let’s go upstairs and lay down.”

  “Okay,” she replied.

  Holding Evan’s hand, Reza led her up to the bedroom.

  “Damn it,” Evan hissed. “I left my glass downstairs.”

  “I’ll go get it,” Reza said.

  “No baby,” Evan placed her hands on his chest. “I can get it. You lie down and relax.”

  Evan returned moments later and laid down next to Reza. He didn’t waste any time getting back to business. Reza massaged her breast while glazing her lips with his tongue. He slipped his hand between her legs feeling her wet warm middle through the thin sheer material.

  All of a sudden, Reza felt a painful whack on the back of his head, then the cold muzzle of a gun against his temple.

  “Do not move. If you move one inch,” a gruff voice said. “I will put a bullet in your head.”

  Gripping the back of his head in pain, Reza followed the gunman’s directions. Evan leapt out the bed. She yanked open the nightstand drawer and grabbed Reza’s nine millimeter pistol. Whew, thought Reza, baby girl is on point. Then he realized that Evan had the gun aimed at him.

  “Put the gun on him,” Reza barked.

  Evan stared at him blankly with a stoic face. Between the Texas Tea and the blow to the head it took a few extra seconds for him to process the situation.

  “What’s up with you Mika?”

  “You know what it is,” she said coldly.”

  “Damn, bitch you sure had me falling for your grimy ass.”

  The gunman struck Reza in the hand once more. “Shut the fuck up!” He tossed a pair flexi cuffs to Evan. “Restrain your pretty ass boyfriend then put some fucking clothes on.”

  “He is not my boyfriend,” Evan snapped at the gunman, who was actually her boyfriend, Gage. Lately he was becoming difficult to deal with.

  “Shit, you act like you feeling him. If I would’ve waited another minute his dick would have been inside of you.”

  “Whatever,” she got the cuffs onto Reza and pulled them tight. Reza was scared, nervous, mad, and humiliated at the same time.

  Evan threw on a black Juicy velour suit. She picked up a set of keys from Reza's dresser, and told Gage. “Bring him down the hall. We’re going to need him for the safe combination.”

  “Okay, pretty boy,” Gage said. “Get up and don’t do nothing to make me blow your head off.”

  Reza looked on helplessly as Evan unlocked the deadbolts on the door to his stash room. She went straight to the trunk that held the cocaine. By now, there were only ten kilos of cocaine in the trunk. Evan tossed them into a black leather duffle bag then moved over to the first safe.

  “What’s the combination?” she asked Reza.

  “Fuck you bitch.” he spat.

  Gage hit Reza in the jaw with the gun. Blood gushed from his mouth as he crumpled to the floor.

  “Tell her the fucking combination!” Gage ordered.

  Reza spit out the thick blood that was filling his mouth. “Y’all better take those bricks and be happy ’cause I’m not telling you shit. I don’t care what you do to me.”

  “Aight tough guy,” Gage laughed. “Will you care what I do when I drive over to 11457 Prescott Lane? You know that real nice mansion where your mama and your kids at.”

  Reza cut his eyes at Evan. “You conniving bitch. You told him where my kids lived?” Gage kicked Reza in the side.

  “Kids or the combination.”

  Reluctantly, Reza said, “12 19 80 09.”

  Evan punched the numbers on the electronic keypad. She raked the stacks of money into the duffle bag and moved over to the second safe. She simply looked at Reza with a raised brow. He didn’t say a word. Gage kicked him harder than the first time. Reza spit out the combination. Moving fast Evan cleared out safe number two, and then drug the heavy duffle bags out to the hallway. Gage bound Reza’s wrist to his ankles with another pair of flex cuffs.

  When Evan walked back into the room, Reza glared at her hatefully. He could not believe that a chick that he really liked had played him so badly.

  “When I catch you,” he said to Evan. “I’m going to kill you.”

  Gage pulled his gun and aimed it at Reza’s head. Reza’s eyes widen as fear gripped his body. Evan pushed Gage’s arm down.

  “Why the hell did you do that?”

  “Because you feeling this nigga just like I said.”

  “No, because of the rule, no killing unless it’s necessary.”

  Gage shoved his gun back into the small of his back, snatched up the two duffle bags, and stormed out. “Hurry the fuck up so we can get out of here,” he barked over his shoulder. Evan reached for the knob to close the door.

  “I will kill you.” Reza said.

  “You should show some gratitude. I just saved your life.

  “Fuck you. On my kids I’m going to kill you.”

  “You have to catch me first.” Evan cut the light off, slammed the door, and locked the three dead bolts.

  “Did you kiss your boyfriend goodbye?” Gage questioned Evan from the passenger seat as she drove down I-85 in North Carolina. He had been silent for the first two hours of the ride. Evan wished that he stayed quiet for the remainder of the ride.

  “That’s not the first time you’ve seen a nigga all over me when we’re working. Why are you trippin so badly about this one?”

  “I saw how you were all into it. Like it felt really good to you.”

&n
bsp; “I was acting like I always do. If you think I’m starting to like these niggas out here. I can stop doing these stick ups. Quite frankly I’m getting tired of this shit anyway.”

  “Maybe I am tripping,” Gage said changing his tune. He couldn’t afford to lose Evan’s help. She was critical to his operation. “I’m sorry baby.”

  Whatever, Evan thought, as soon as I graduate, I’m done with him and these robberies.

  At twenty-one Evan was living a double life. She was in her senior year at Clark Atlanta University. Evan was set to graduate with honors in the spring of 2001. Never in a million years did she imagine that she would be one-half of a stick up team. However, life had thrown her a few curve balls that had rendered her indigent. Growing up, Evan an only child, she was the classic daddy’s girl. Her father Richard Teague started out in mid-level management of a fortune five hundred company the year that Evan was born. Seven years later, he worked his way up the ranks to CEO and seven-hundred thousand dollar base salary plus bonuses. When it came to Evan and her mother, Sherlynn, he spared no expenses to make them happy.

  Sherlynn had every major credit card, charge card, and department store card. Sherlynn loved to shop and she did it without a conscious. When the credit card bills came in from his wife’s insane shopping sprees he paid the bill and never once discouraged her reckless spending habits. The good pay wasn’t the only thing that came with Richard’s CEO job. It also came with an enormous amount of stress. That only worsened with each passing year.

  During Evan’s sixth grade year, Richard suffered a massive heart attack and died at the young age of thirty-eight. His death devastated his wife and daughter. Sherlynn dealt with her grief by exercising retail therapy. She also splurged even more on Evan, hoping that would take her mind off her father’s death.

  Sherlynn had not worked since she gave birth to Evan and had no means of income. Therefore, there were large amounts of money going out and nothing coming in. It only took a little under three years for Sherlynn to burn through the insurance money, their life savings, and Evan’s trust fund. The only money that Sherlynn was unable to get her hands on was Evan’s college fund. Sherlynn hid her money problems from Evan and just as the money ran out, she married a prominent pediatrician. He had three successful practices in the Charlotte area.