by Glenn, Roy
Jada remembered that Black had recently offered her an opportunity that, at the time, she wasn’t at all interested in. But in light of the investigation into her business, Jada now viewed his offer in a whole new light. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Jada asked the night Black showed up to talk to her with television reporter Carmen Taylor.
“There is something I want you to consider doing for me,” Black said and leaned forward. “I’ve got an operation in Nassau.”
“What type of operation?”
“Gambling. It’s attracting an international tourist clientele.”
“Sounds lucrative.”
“It is, very. But what’s missing is women. That clientele isn’t interested in paying for the caliber of women that currently work the trade in Nassau.”
“I see. What did you have in mind?”
“You have a talent for recruiting and training women to be high-priced escorts. The caliber of women that my international clientele would be willing to pay top dollar for.”
“What would be my end?”
“You could name your price. Call all the shots, or put somebody in place to run it for you. Unless of course you want to move to Nassau.”
“I just might. I hear you spend a lot of time in Nassau,” Jada said. She wasn’t in love with him, or anything close to it, at least she didn’t think so. But she was definitely willing to go with him any time or place and do anything he wanted her to do.
“I have a house there.” Black finished his drink. “I don’t want you to give me an answer now. Give it some thought and we’ll talk some more about it.”
“Tell me something.”
“What’s that?”
“Is this what I owe you for taking Oleg Mushnikov off my neck?”
“Only if you want it to be,” Black told her that night.
With her decision made, Jada got dressed for a meeting with twelve of her top earners. She wore a Armani Collezioni herringbone jacket, Prada peep-toe suede platform ankle boots, Gurhan white diamond & 24k yellow gold droplet earrings and a Marco Bicego 18K yellow gold multi-strand ring. At that meeting she explained that the police were investigating her and how it would affect business. “That’s the situation, ladies,” Jada said.
“What are you going to do?” Jenna, one of her top earners asked. “’Cause I’m not at all interested in going to jail,” she said and all of the other ladies agreed.
“Well, Jenna, I’m glad that you asked. If things go the way I want them to,” Jada began.
“And they usually do,” Yanjali, another moneymaker giggled.
“I’m going to relocate to Nassau.”
“Nassau?” LaChelle questioned. She wasn’t as good an earner for Jada as either Jenna or Yanjali, but she held her own. “What’s in Nassau?”
“Mike Black,” Yanjali said quietly.
Jada give Yanjali a look. “Yes, Yanjali, Mr. Black is in Nassau and he has access to an underserved international clientele. Any of you ladies who are interested are welcome to join me. All expenses paid of course,” Jada promised.
“I think I’m gonna stay here in the city,” Simone, Jada’s top earner said.
“I wish you nothing but the best,” Jada said graciously. “Anybody else?” Before the night was done, eight of the ladies accepted her offer to travel to Nassau.
With her team on board, Jada called her travel agent that arranged their flight and accommodations on the island. Then she made a few phone calls and was able to leave a message for Black to call her. When he got the message, Black called her back right away. Since the first time he saw her dance that night at Ecstasy, he could feel the energy between them. She was beautiful, but it was more than that. Black liked her style. Jada West had class and he found that very appealing. But at the time, he decided that he would keep their relationship on a business level.
“Jada West, please.”
“This is Jada. Mr. Black; is that you?”
“Yes. How are you Ms. West?”
“I’m fine now that I’m talking to you,” Jada said sweetly.
“I got a message to call you.”
“I wanted to tell you that I was going to be in Nassau for a couple of days, and I wanted to know if we could get together to discuss business while I’m there?”
“I’m sure that can be arranged,” Black replied.
“Excellent. I’m looking forward to speaking to you,” Jada flirted.
“When will you be here?”
“Tomorrow afternoon.”
“If you like, I can arrange to have you picked up from the airport.”
“That won’t be necessary, but thank you for offering. You are such a gentleman. I’m staying at a place called the Suites at Sandyport on New Providence Island. You are familiar with it?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Will you be available to meet for dinner there tomorrow evening, say seven o’clock?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow at seven,” Black said.
“Until tomorrow then,” Jada said and ended the call.
Black hung up the phone and looked at Jamaica. He was overseeing their expansion of their operation on the island. “Who was that?” he asked.
“Jada West. You don’t know her. But if that’s what I think it is, she’s the solution we been looking for to one of our problems.”
“I like her already,” Jamaica said and they both laughed.
CHAPTER FOUR
New York City
Five Months Later
Wanda Moore sat in the back seat of her Cadillac CTS as her driver, James drove her to Cynt’s. It wasn’t a limo, but Wanda hated driving in traffic, so she hired James to drive her where ever she needed to go.
She looked out the window and thought about what she was about to do and how she had let things get to this point. Wanda wasn’t speaking to Nick Simmons at all because of his relationship with Rain Robinson. She hated Rain. The low life bitch had snuck behind her back and stole her man. And if that wasn’t enough, the memory of Rain slapping her in the face was still fresh in her mind.
During what she preferred to call a brief indiscretion with Marcus Douglas, an old friend from law school, she ran into Nick and Rain one afternoon as they walked out of Cuisine. Marcus had just put his arm around Wanda and pulled her close to him. Without really stopping to think about what she was doing or where she was, Wanda threw her arms around Marcus’s neck and kissed him.
“Hello, Wanda.” She recognized the voice immediately and let go of Marcus. She was shocked to see Nick and Rain standing in the doorway.
“Hello, Nick,” Wanda said and then she looked over at Marcus. “Marcus Douglas, I’d like you to met Nick Simmons.”
Being a gentleman and not having any idea about their prior relationship, Marcus stepped forward to shake Nick’s hand. “Good to meet you Nick.”
Nick shook his hand, but he never took his eyes off Wanda. “Can I speak with you for a minute, Wanda,” Nick said and grabbed Wanda by the hand.
Rain looked on, barely able to contain her laughter. Marcus looked at Rain and smiled. “Hi, I’m Marcus Douglas.”
“Lorraine Robinson,” Rain said in her most lady-like manner.
Nick had always thought that there was something more going on between them other than just the law. Funny how he just happened to show up right after they broke up. They hadn’t gotten far away from Rain and Marcus before Nick asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m having lunch. What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for Black.”
“I talked to Mike this morning. He should be in Nassau by now,” Wanda said to Nick with an attitude, but her eyes were on Rain.
“What’s really goin’ on, Wanda? You fuckin’ this nigga now?” Nick asked quietly.
“You still fuckin’ that low-life bitch?” Wanda said and pointed at Rain. Only she said it loud enough for Rain to hear.
“Excuse me a minute, Marcus,” Rain said politely and stepped q
uickly to Wanda. “Who the fuck you callin’ a bitch,” Rain said and slapped the shit outta Wanda.
Wanda grabbed her cheek and Marcus rushed to her side.
Nick picked up Rain.
“You fuckin’ lucky my man is here, bitch or I’d be kickin’ your bitch ass right now,” Rain shouted as Nick carried her out of Cuisine.
She was barely speaking to Black because when she told him about it, he had the nerve to take Rain’s side, or at least that’s how Wanda saw it. “You’re right, Wanda. Rain had no business puttin’ her hands on you, but maybe you shouldn’t have called her a low life bitch loud enough for her to hear it.”
“Good night, Mike,” Wanda said.
“Good night, Wanda,”
“And maybe if she wasn’t such as low life bitch, I wouldn’t have to call her one,” Wanda said and slammed down the phone. She hadn’t had much to say to him since.
Now she was on her way to Cynt’s to meet with Cynt, Doc and Grant. They each run gambling houses for Black and had the organization and the influence to help Wanda in what she planned to do. Her plan was simple. Destroy Nick Simmons and take control of the organization away from him.
Although she originally supported Black’s decision to put Nick in charge after Freeze was murdered, she didn’t agree with it. And had Black consulted with her first, she would have told him so. At that point she knew her power was slipping away from her. When Black left the country and eventually married Cassandra, she was the boss, Freeze and everybody else answered to her and she liked it that way.
When Black came back to the city, he let Cassandra play like she was in charge, but everybody knew that she was just a puppet mouthing the words Black was putting in her mouth. When Cassandra was brutally murdered, Black was distraught and put Freeze in charge. But Freeze always turned to her for advice and counsel, so she still had power. Then Freeze was murdered.
Wanda always thought it was too soon to put Nick in that position. He wasn’t ready for it. But she went along with it because at the time, she was in love with Nick and knew that she would still have influence.
If she chose to be honest with herself, and at the moment, she didn’t, she would have to admit that she still was in love with Nick and that’s what all this was really about.
But none of that changed the fact that Nick wasn’t ready to lead the organization. “But Black is so fuckin’ loyal to Nick that he can’t see that. Men can be so blind.”
Nick had only just returned from a ten-year absence and was just getting back into things. He ran off and joined the army when Bobby Ray threatened to kill him over Camille Augustus. And then he stood by and let Freeze get killed. Wanda knew that there were more than enough people in the organization that blamed Nick for Freeze’s death, and just as many who were dissatisfied with the way Nick ran things. She was going to meet with three of them now.
James parked the car in front of Cynt’s and got out to open the door for Wanda. “Thank you, James. I’ll be about an hour.”
“Do you want me to wait?”
“No. I’ll call when I’m ready to go,” Wanda said and went inside.
Since she didn’t like walking through the crowd of horny men and naked women, Wanda used her card key to gain access to the steps leading directly to Cynt’s office. When Wanda walked in the office, Cynt, Doc and Grant were all waiting for her.
“Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long,” Wanda said as Cynt got up from behind her desk and let Wanda sit down.
“That’s okay, Wanda. It just gave us a chance to talk among ourselves,” Grant said as he got up and refreshed his drink.
“Not talking about me I hope,” Wanda mused.
“Of course not,” Cynt said and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “You know damn well what we been talkin’ ‘bout.”
And she did. Over the last few months, each of them had come to her individually to express their displeasure at the way Nick ran the show. More to the point, the way Rain treated them.
Rain was queen now, and she conducted herself that way. Nick let Rain make the rounds to collect the money from all of their spots. When Rain showed up, she always traveled with four men. They had become known as The Purple Gang. At first Rain, didn’t like it, then she thought it was funny. But when she saw the type of reputation they had developed, she ran with it. They were feared and they did whatever she told them to do.
“I’m sick of that bitch Rain,” Cynt said.
“You got to do something to get that bitch off my neck, Wanda, before I have to kill her young ass,” Grant added.
“She was in here last night with that gang of hers. Disrupted the whole house,” Cynt said.
“Them niggas ain’t got no respect for shit,” Grant said. “What they did to Pegram was unnecessary.”
Wanda’s eyes narrowed and she looked at Grant. “Pegram was a thief and a liar who deserved to die.”
There was silence in the room. No matter what Rain did, or how she did it, Wanda had no use for thieves.
“You need to talk to Nick and get him to do something about her,” Cynt said.
“There’s no talking to Nick. He doesn’t see anything wrong with what she’s doing,” Wanda said.
“That young bitch got that nigga so pussy whipped that he can’t see things for what they really are,” Grant said, then he realized he was talking to Wanda. “I’m sorry, Wanda.”
“That’s all right. Sad to say that you’re right. He can’t or doesn’t want to control her.”
“So what we gonna do about her?” Grant asked.
Wanda looked at Cynt. “We all know what needs to be done. Wanda you need to take over,” Cynt said just as Wanda told her to. She didn’t want to be the one to suggest it. “Things went a lot smoother when you ran things.”
Wanda knew that Grant would go along. The one she was worried about was Doc. “You’ve been very quiet, Doc. What do you think?”
“I agree that something needs to be done about Rain. But I’m just not sure this is what we need to be doing. Have you talked to Black about this?”
“Yes, I have,” Wanda lied. “And he is busy in Nassau. With Jamaica expanding his operation on the island and CeCe expecting a baby, he doesn’t have time to be bothered with this.”
“I know all that, but what did he say?” Doc asked.
“He said to do what I think is best,” Wanda lied again and looked at Cynt to back her up.
“I’m sure that Black will support what we’re doing here,” she said quickly. “And I know each one of you know enough people who are tired of Nick’s shit that we won’t have any problems making this move.”
“That’s right,” Grant said quickly. “My people are behind me and ready to make a move.”
“What do you say, Doc?” Wanda asked and wondered could she have Doc assassinated if he wouldn’t go along.
“As long as Black don’t have a problem with it, I’m in,” he said somewhat reluctantly. “Me and my people will support whatever we decide here.”
“Then it’s settled,” Wanda said.
“Where do we start?” Grant asked.
“Before we do anything I think it would be a good idea if all of us beefed up our security,” Doc suggested.
“I think that would be a wise move,” Cynt added.
“I don’t have a problem with that,” Wanda said.
“Okay, after we add some new faces, what then?”
“When Rain comes around for the money, don’t pay her,” Wanda ordered. “And tell her that if Nick has a problem with it that needs to take it up with me. I’ll take all the heat.”
“Agreed,” Cynt said quickly.
“Agreed,” Grant said.
“Doc?” Cynt asked.
“Agreed.”
“Thank you all for coming,” Wanda said and everybody stood. They shook hands on their new alliance.
“Come on, Doc,” Grant said and patted a still reluctant Doc on the back. “I’ll buy you a drink.”
After that, Doc and Grant got up and left Cynt’s office. Once they were gone, Cynt turned to Wanda. “What are you gonna do when Black finds out what we’re doin’?”
“If we do what we gotta do and do it right, it will be over with before he finds out.”
“Don’t you think Nick will tell him what’s going on?”
“And admit that he can’t handle his business? I know Nick. He would die before he admits to Black that he can’t handle little old me,” Wanda laughed.
“I hope you’re right. I’m just glad that Bobby is still down south runnin’ behind Pam’s crazy ass,” Cynt offered.
“Me too. If Bobby were here, we couldn’t do this.”
Cynt laughed. “Yeah, I know. Bobby would shoot all of us for being disloyal to Black.”
“We’re not being disloyal, Cynt, not at all. The way I see it, we’re doing what is necessary to protect his interests.” Wanda said.
And if she destroyed Nick in the process of protecting Black interests, that was all the better.
CHAPTER FIVE
Nick Simmons got up from behind his desk and left the office. He realized that he was out of Johnnie Walker Black and thought that it would take too long to call the bar manager, to get a barback to go get him another bottle. It would be quicker to go himself, so he headed for the liquor room to get it.
When he got there, Danielle, the food and beverage manager was in there doing paper work. She was what she liked to call sexy skinny; her skin was the color of honey, with long reddish brown hair. Danielle had an infectious smile and a thing for Nick. “Hey, Nick,” she said when he walked in.
“How’s it goin’, Danielle,” he said barely looking in her direction and headed straight for the Johnnie Black. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but Danielle was scared to death of Rain and what she would do if she knew that she was interested in her man. But it’s okay for a girl to dream, Danielle thought and fantasized about her shutting the door to the liquor room and seducing Nick.
