A timid heiress and a billionaire

sat in the back of my 2022 Maybach and looked out the window as we passed the Chicago streets. I hated this fucking city. It made me but it also took a lot from me. I had money in this city; so much money that my presence was required from time to time. Today, I was going to my old hood to look around. It used to be a public housing community but just recently, the city was trying to sell it. Unlike many of the other investors interested, I didn’t want to buy it, renovate it, and put pale skins in, I was going to buy it, fix it, and give it back to my people.

Like I had done with my other properties that were doing well. I believed strongly that when communities were tended to and opportunities were given to the people in them, that they could and would thrive. Those who didn’t want to thrive I was with the fuck shit also and would have the purest forms of my product flowing through the development. I left no money on the floor. After sending the city a few figures they were ready to strike a deal. I smiled thinking about how far my life had come. I went from facing federal nightmares to billionaire dreams. I was just touching 40, unmarried with one child. On paper I should have been happy but inside, I was lonely. There was a missing piece to me and one day I prayed that I would find it so that I could finally live life. If not, fuck it. “I hate this fucking place. This city lame as hell.” MROTS I I nodded in agreement with my nephew’s outer thought. “I know you do and as soon as business is finished, we can get the fuck up out of here.” He waved his hand in agreement. Khozen was a man with few words; he rarely spoke but because of the education that I had paid for and the life he had that taught him shit the books couldn’t, he was a better version of me and his dad. I took Khozen in and knew that my brother would be proud of the man that he had become, against all odds, he still prevailed. At 27, my nephew was a billionaire. Not just off illegal shit but legit shit as well. While clowns were buying clubs and car washes to clean their money my little nigga was buying whole fucking towns and shit. He was everything that my big brother had envisioned him to be, and I was glad that I made that shit happen after he died. It wasn’t easy because the same night they killed my brother and his wife, the feds came and did a sweep and had me knocked for a bogus ass charge. Do you know the pain I felt when I couldn’t even give my brother a funeral? Because not only was I locked up, but the feds froze all the money and seized our properties and to top it off, the prince that he was raising was thrown in fucking foster care. I didn’t have anyone to call on the outside because they were either dead or in jail like me. It took me 3 years to get out that cage but when I did, the first thing I did was hunt down Khozen, who was still in Chicago, living in this nasty bitch’s house. She was one of those bitches that saw being a foster parent as a way to get a check. When I arrived at her apartment to get him, I discovered that this bitch was nasty in a whole lot other ways. Deciding that the world would be better without her, I sent two to her dome and took Khozen out of Chicago and made New York our home. You were not a boss if you didn’t lose it and got the shit right back. It took me no time to get back what I lost and more. I did my best with raising Khozen but those three years that he was gone changed my little nigga into one of the coldest gangsters I ever had in my presence. With his street knowledge and his ivy league education, he was a beast. What I loved most and hated the most was he had no weakness. Which was good because if we ever had to go to war, the enemy wouldn’t have anything to attack; however, I hated it because I didn’t want him to be alone in this world if something happened to me or my daughter. At 27, I would have liked to see him in a relationship or something have a few kids but from the looks of it, Khozen didn’t give a fuck about none of that shit. If it wasn’t money he didn’t care for it. I had been in love maybe twice and the first time, the love was forbidden because she was after the heart of my friend and the other love was the mother of my child. She had passed away from cancer right after I went to jail, leaving me a single dad. I thanked God that her family was better than mine and treated my princess like the royalty she was. They raised her till I was released and had no problem giving her back to me. For that, I set her Grandmother and Aunt up nice. “Stop the fucking car.” I yelled to my driver. Something caught my sight that snatched me out my reminiscing thoughts. I shook my head at the person before me. I believed in the supernatural, but this wasn’t possible. I had heard stories but to see it in person was crazy. “Yo blood, what you doing?’’ I heard Khozen questioning me, but I had to ignore his ass. I was on a mission. The person before me must have noticed me as well and she picked up her walking pace. Trying to out walk a crackhead was dam near impossible. Especially if they owed you money, they could out run a cheetah. “Shay!” I yelled out to her, from the way that her body seemed to slow its pace, it had to be her. Slowly, she turned around and looked at me. With the same eyes that used to put my soul at ease. Life had been cruel to her but those eyes were still the same like I remembered, soft but strong. “Storm?” she asked as she searched my face. “How? They said?” As the thoughts came swirling through my mind before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed Shay by her arm and dragged her to the car. Her arm was so frail that I knew if I squeezed it too hard, it would break. But I gave no fucks. I slammed her against the passenger side door and yoked her up with her street-stained shirt. Taking her scent in, she smelled of her addiction and desperation. I took in her face-- the face that once had a natural glow was now faded by life’s troubles. Her glow was gone and was replaced with an ashy gray. Her lips were black from the years of smoking on glass. My heart hurt. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Shay was one of the most beautiful woman I ever met. Before I could question her further, her head crashed into my chest as she cried hard. “What are you doing out here like this? What happened to you? Where have you been?” “Storm, look at me... you know what I’m doing out here.” “Are you homeless?” She shook her head no at my question. I let out a sigh of relief that was one less thing that would pain my heart. She still didn’t answer all my questions, but I gave no fucks. She would answer me sooner rather than later. I already had a plan forming in my head. I opened the car door and gestured for her to get in. She paused and then looked at the shopping cart that I guess had some shit that was important to her in it. “If you don’t get yo funky ass in this car, Shay!” “But I..” I saw how she wanted this shit to go. Opening my jacket, I flashed my gun that was on my waist. I wasn’t going to pull it out because I was a firm believer that once you pulled out your gun, you had to use it. I just needed her to get with the program and get her ass in the car. Once she was in I told her to tell the driver her address. The words she uttered caused my soul to rock. How the fuck was she hidden in plain sight? I sat in the passenger seat the whole time and kept making glances at Shay. I couldn’t tell if she was going through withdrawal or if being next to Khozen had her off her square. He had that power over people, his presence alone would make the toughest person put their head down and keep it moving. “You look just like your daddy.” Shay spoke through a shaky voice. Khozen didn’t say anything, he just looked at her with a screwed-up glare. I knew I would be hearing his mouth later about this. After a few moments he replied, “thank you” to her comment. After rearranging my affairs, I put my phone away just in time to pull up to our destination. I sighed at the sight before me of the house that used to be my refuge when I was younger. I don’t know why I didn’t think to look for her here at her mother’s house. Maybe because I had always thought that they would have abandoned this place just like we all had abandoned our humble beginnings. I hated myself by the seconds. The house that used to be a bright yellow was now a dirty tan. The yard was littered with trash where her mother used to plant the most beautiful flowers and vegetables. What was once a family home had been turned into a trap house. I got out of the car just as Shay was about to make a run for it. I grabbed her arm and walked to the front door. “Yo, you coming in?” I turned around and asked Khozen. “Nah I’m good, blood. I’m going to stay behind and keep look out.” His jaw was tight as he spoke to me while he stayed seated in the back seat. I was relieved that he didn’t want to come in the house because the conversation that I was about to have with Shay would for sure have him telling me that I was tweaking but once again, I didn’t give a fuck. Shay was dam near my blood and I couldn’t just leave her out here like how she was. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be the man I was today. Back in the day she was the first lady of the crew, she took packs out of town and all that. Before her daddy got killed, she helped us front work from him and when he died, she introduced us to his plug. “Okay I don’t have long so I’m going to need you to get to the good part of the story and fast.” Once we were in the house I took a quick glance and truthfully, it didn’t look like what I thought that it would. The furniture was old, the sofa had looked way better years before, but the house wasn’t dirty. It didn’t smell bad, I could see a few roaches, but they ]were always present in the hood. The paint needed to be renewed. I looked over at Shay to take her all in. She used to be a full-figured woman; however, after all the years of her using, she was painfully thin. Even though she was thin I could still outline the places that her curves used to be. Her chinky eyes were now replaced by sunken in sockets. What pained me the most was her bald head. Shay used to have the most beautiful hair. Now it was shaved clean off. What the fuck happened? And why was crackheads always shaving their heads? Did they think it was going to give them super powers? “It’s no fucking good part, Storm. I’m a feen. Won’t be the first and won’t be the last feen. It wasn’t my choice, but it happened, and I been dealing with it.” She put her thin hands on her hips as if I was getting her nerves. Even through her addiction she was still the feisty Shay I knew and loved. “Well why didn’t I hear from you after all that shit happened with the team? What happened to Samuel? I heard he died.” “I wish the fuck I could tell you what happened. The night everything happened, I was coming from the store when some men grabbed me, threw me in a car, and took me away. At first, I thought they wanted ransom. However, they didn’t and anytime I mentioned Samuel, they would tell me, “don’t ask about him.” I thought they were going to kill me, but they told me that their boss said death was too easy for me and that their boss also wanted me to suffer. I was given drugs day in and day out... once they figured I was addicted, they finally let me go. My first thought was to go to rehab but when I was dropped off, that’s when I discovered that everything was gone. My husband was dead and everything we had worked for was gone. I needed something to numb the pain. I tried to stay clean but shit what Pookie said was true, ‘the drugs kept calling my name’.” Shay’s shoulders heaved up and down as she did a soul cry. I felt so bad that I didn’t look for her harder, but I had so much on my plate. When the search results turned up empty, I just gave up. I heard little rumors about her being out on the street, but I knew Shay. She was a clean girl back in the day; we couldn’t even get her to smoke weed. So I just took it as urban legend but a nigga was wrong because here she was in front of me, a full blown feen. I knew getting her out this situation wouldn’t be easy, but I knew the right amount of bait to dangle. “Dam Shay, I’m sorry about everything that happened to you. I tried to look for you when I got out because I wanted to give you the money that Samuel had hidden for you.” Just like I knew it, the mention of money sobered her tears right up. I hated what people did for money but who was I to talk? I pumped billions of dollars’ worth of drugs into the economy daily. No matter how much good I did I still had a little dirt on my hands. “What money? They said everything was gone?” “Everything in the banks and the property was gone but we had money hidden and by right, it’s yours... however, I’m going to only give it to you under one condition.” The look of eagerness on her face let me know that I had her just like the drugs in her system hooked. “Samuel had half a mill stashed. The Feds couldn’t find it because it was offshore. By right it’s all yours. With conditions of course. To sweeten the deal, I’ll match it and I’ll give you stake into some of my businesses. Legitimate businesses.” Shay’s face started to light up with coke dreams at the mention of money. “What’s the conditions? What I got to do?” she said as she looked me up and down and licked her lips hungerly. I knew her thoughts and this was far from that. It pained my heart at the thoughts of what she probably did on the regular to get money to feed her addiction. “You must complete a drug program... inpatient for 90 days at least and upon completeness and you staying clean, I will give you the money in installments. I know your predicament and I’ll be the dumbest nigga alive to give it to you how you are and watch you blow it.” “That’s not fair. You can’t just come in here judging me and making demands on how I should live. I can’t just up and leave...” “Why can’t you leave?” I challenged her. “Because....” “Ma, who car is that in the front?” My head whipped into the direction of where the voice was coming from. In her living room stood a younger version of Shay; she was just thicker than Shay was in her younger days and had the color of Samuel’s gray eyes and his curly bushy clay colored hair. In all the bullshit I had forgotten that she had a kid. This made me want to help her even more than ever. A daughter needed her mother no matter the age. “Ma, who is this and why is he here? Please don’t tell me that you owe him money also.” Before either of us could answer she turned to me. “Sir, if you give me a week, I can start paying you what she owes. I just gave the other guy my whole check from work and I don’t have nothing left, but I have some clients this week so I can even pay you as soon as I get it,” the eagerness in her voiced pulled at my heart. No child should have to pay for the sins of their parents. “Nah little miss, this ain’t that. I’m an old friend of your mother and father and I’m here to help her and you. Me and your mom are about to go get her some help.” She gave me the side eye and I could tell that she didn’t believe me, so I stuck my hand into my pocket and brought out a wad of cash and placed it on the coffee table. I watched as her eyes widened with shock and a little bit of confusion. “Who is this other nigga that you say she owes and how much is it that she owes?” “His name is Riah, he from 63rd... she owes him $400.” She rambled without taking her eyes off the cash. My guess was that she had never seen that much in cash before and if Samuel was alive, she would look at the money like it was chump change. “Storm, I thank you for everything but I just can’t up and leave right now... I have some stuff to get in order. Plus I have to find someone to look out for my baby. I just can’t leave her here by herself without me. You know how the hood is.” I clicked my tongue because she was just making excuses. From what I could recall the girl was probably about my daughter’s age. She was very well grown. “Shay, shut the fuck up! This girl just told me how she been paying your debts.” Pow Pow Pow! The sound of gun shots erupted from the other side of the door. Taking my gun out I threw the door opened and stepped on the porch because the shots sounded like they were just feet away. “What the fuck happen?” I asked Khozen who stood in the yard with his gun still smoking and a cold glare in his eyes. “I saw this little nigga creeping on the house, so I sent him on up out of here.” “Shay! You know this little nigga?” I yelled behind me as her and her daughter stood huddled up in the entrance of the doorway. “That... that’s... Riah.” She called out. “Well in that case, let’s look at it like this being the first problem I solved.” Taking out my cell phone I called a crew to come get the body out her yard. The neighborhood wasn’t new to crime, so nobody came out to see what the fuck was going on. I told Khozen to come with us in the house and that’s when I saw the way he looked at Shay’s daughter. It was a look that I had never seen on him before but I knew it very well. I had that look before and that’s when a light went off in my head, helping me to come up with the perfect plan. “Shay, get any of your important paper work and what you don’t have, I’ll just get it for you.” “Storm, I just told you I cannot leave my baby.” “What is going on?” Shay’s daughter asked as she continued to rock her mother like a baby as she cried. The sight before me was pitiful. I could tell that her daughter had been the parent in their relationship for a long time. I knew that feeling all too well because me and my brother had to take care of our mother, but it wasn’t due to drugs but mental illness. “Your father has money that he stashed away and I’m willing to give it to your mother but the only way she can have it is if she completes a 90 day treatment. After she’s done with treatment and I investigate, she will be free to go.” Shay’s daughter looked at me like she was skeptical, but she didn’t dare contest my statement. I looked at Khozen and he stared at her intensely with the gun still in his hand. Then there I was dam near holding them at gun point. The room had no more space for hostility so I decided to change my approach. “I’m sorry... my name is Storm and this is my nephew Khozen. What’s your name, sweetheart?” “Adora.” She stated. “Well Adora, I’m a busy man and I’ve been here before you a little too long for my liking so listen close and listen real good. I’m about to take your mother for 90 days not only to get her help but to also figure out what she knows or if she knows what happened to my brother and some of my real good friends. In the meantime, you will stay with my nephew as collateral. If everything checks out fine, you will have a clean mother and a fat bank account... if everything doesn’t then let’s say you and your mom will be eternal roommates in the ground. I hate that I was pushed to do this but it is what it is.” Without waiting for a response from anyone in the room, I bent down and snatched a shaken Shay out of her daughter’s arms. The young lady went to protest and before I knew it, Khozen had a gun to her head, telling her to sit her ass down.

This was going to be a long 90 days.