"𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗂𝗀 𝖽𝗈𝗀 𝗈𝖿 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗄 𝗁𝗂𝗅𝗅."
𝗃𝖺𝗇𝗎𝖺𝗋𝗒 𝟣𝗌𝗍, 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧 : 𝗊𝗎𝖾𝖾𝗇𝗌, 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗒𝗈𝗋𝗄. 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋'𝗌 𝖽𝖺𝗒.
𝖽𝗆𝗂𝗍𝗋𝗂'𝗌 𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖾𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗌𝖾.
𝟫:𝟥𝟦 𝖯𝖬
Dmitri was sitting on the edge of his pool table, Nina and Nya were on a screen as flat as paper in front of him. It was lengthy and big in size, and it was mounted on the wall. The high definition, or to be specific, the 4K picture was extremely defined that anyone could spot the ballerina figurine standing tall on the dresser in the living room. Nya had her arms wrapped around her daughter as she sat in her lap. "I made you a painting: it's of me, you, and mommy."
Nya grabs the artwork from the table and hands it to Nina, she shoves it into the camera and Dmitri laughs. "Apparently this is me, you, and Nina." Nya points to the three different stick figures, she smiles and lays the painting on the table once again.
"I love it, you did amazing. Nya, we might have the next Picasso over here."
"Boy, shut up! We love it, you can hang it up at daddy's place when you go over in a couple days: that sound good?" Nina quickly nods her head, Nya kisses her temple and gazes back over at Dmitri. He could hear the faint sound of Spongebob playing in the background. "It's time for bed, you've been up too long babe. Let's go get those jammies on."
"But I want to talk to daddy."
"I know... but daddy has work to do, say goodnight and go ahead and head upstairs." Nina's high spirits were crushed, she frowns and looks into the camera.
"Goodnight, daddy, I love you."
"I love you too: hey, fix that face. Let me get a smile." Nina shoots him one of her stunning grins, Dmitri's whole being overflowed with jubilance. She runs away and Nya makes sure she gets up the stairs safely. "She still taking them classes?" Nya puts her braids up in a ponytail, she nods her head slowly and blows out an exhausted breath. "Damn Nya, she's not tired of ballet by now?"
"Nope, she loves it and you're going to have to keep paying for it. By the way, I need you to pick her up at class tomorrow," Nya stands up and paces to the kitchen, she opens the refrigerator: her voice bouncing off the high ceiling. Dmitri had seen to it that Nya, Nina, and her brother would stay in a modernized house other than that neglected apartment with the lousy service, "she'll be so excited to see you."
"As long as it makes her happy, I'm good with that. I got you, tomorrow at four."
The door behind Dmitri opens, 7 walks in with Zo right beside him. Nya sighs and waves, they return the action cordially. "Go handle that shit, D." The screen goes blank and Dmitri turns around: he arches his eyebrows, waiting for them to tell him why they interrupted.
"He's here."
❍❍❍
"Welcome to warehouse 3: before we go in, the man on my left will collect your devices and you'll be searched at the door." Zo walks up to Bakari and his accomplices, their faces screw up into confusion and they look at them as if they were just insulted. "Is there a problem?" 7 spoke calmly, he held his hands in front of him and his head tilted towards the ground a little.
"Yeah, is there a reason why you have to search me and my men?"
"Damn, a nigga only been here for two minutes and we getting searched." One of Bakari's members, Bryson Marks, speaks out among the wave of tension. 7's eyes scan over the men, watching them voice their unwanted concerns. "Come on, man, what's the problem? Just let us in, we don't have time for this shit."
"It's protocol, whether you with it or not, it's gonna happen. We take this very seriously, of course, if you have any other objections..." A circle of men appear around them, some holding guns others empty-handed. Bakari could see the black clothing in his peripheral vision. Michael scoffs and shakes his head, he clenches his jaw and hands his phone to Zo. "Good choice."
His friends follow in his footsteps hesitatingly, they sigh and 7 cues for the men by the door to check them. "We'll be searching for weapons, if you have guns they'll be given back to you at the end along with your phones. If any of these men find wires on you... Blaze, what do we do to motherfuckers who spy on us?"
She mimics a gun out of her fingers and pretends to shoot it at Bakari, 7 and Zo have small smiles on their lips. "All clear, follow me." The rickety sound of a pair of huge doors slide open, a gush of air swooshes past them and the sound of A$AP Ferg floods outside. Walking into warehouse 3 was like walking into a pool of money. A very, large pool of money. A sleek and black jet plane rests in the middle, the blinding lights shine down on it: causing it to glisten beautifully.
A row of posh cars were right beside it: they were also, illuminating, under the lights. Bakari named each and every one of the vehicles in his head as they strolled past. Mercedes, Bugatti, BMW, Tesla, Range Rover, Cadillac SUV, Jeep. "This nigga is a different type of rich." One of his members, Anthony 'Ant' Williams, says this in awe.
Michael turns around and shoots them a stern look: they arch their bushy eyebrows, anticipating his words. "We're on a different turf, in a different world. I don't know how much this nigga is packin' but by the looks of it... it seems like a goddamn militia."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Michael 'Bakari' Jordan." Bakari turns around, a husky laugh slips from his lips: they do a quick handshake and Michael's stare averts to 7 and Zo, they were standing on either side of him. Their hands clasped in front of them, doing the same stance they had done outside.
"D, the big dog of Park Hill. You mind if I ask why you're not on Staten?" You mind? You mind?! This nigga really has me asking for permission to ask a question. What is it about him that I don't like? That I don't trust? Maybe because he's bigger than you, because if you cross him he could come at you a million different ways that you don't even want to think about. Play it safe, you gotta make it home to Lana.
"I decided to stay in New York for a couple months to handle some responsibilities at this base. I still travel back and forth occasionally but, I didn't ask you to be here to talk about this. This way, let's get started." Bakari nods to his men, they follow him up a flight of glass stairs.
They come to Dmitri's office, a room that was neat: it might've been the most organized place Bakari has ever been. It was connected to a sizable living space, the room were Dmitri was in minutes ago. He gazes past the glass walls of the office to see two framed pictures: one of Nya and Nina, another of him and Iris. He was holding her securely in his arms while pressing a kiss on her cheek.
"How's Iris?"
Dmitri inhales a sharp breath, he lets it out and sits down in the chair behind the desk. Everyone in the room had tensed up like a sore muscle, he stares at Bakari: that was another thing about him that Michael didn't seem to like. He couldn't read this man like an open book if his life depended on it, he was a blank slate.
But, he understood that being in a business like this, you didn't have time to show emotions: and he did it well. It must've been frightening to have him hold a gun to your head: and while you sink in a hole of hysteria, tears rushing down your face, he would be calm like an untroubled ocean. Petrifying.
"She's good, although, we split about five years ago."
"Sorry to hear about that, Solana never be telling me anything anymore."
"It's fine... I want to talk about you being on my territory." Dmitri finishes typing something on his laptop, he hands it to Zo and his eyes come to Bakari. He could see the confusion swirling in his face. "I know I haven't exactly... settled territories with you but let's make it clear now. I got news that some of your men were selling on my corners in my towns, and cities."
"Aren't you based in Staten? This is my state, I own this shit. As far as I know you're a visitor." Bakari leans forward, a threatening stare in his eyes: the words he had said earlier had completely flew out of his mind.
"You must got it all wrong, I own that shit. New York doesn't belong to you and it's important that you know that. If anything, you're just another motherfucker that's running around claiming shit that's not his. But since I'm feeling generous today, you will take half of NYC and I'll take the other half plus Staten. I want you to stay off that island and my half: because I can guarantee that if I catch you doing business on my territories, I will send you in a bodybag to Solana. How is she, by the way?"
"How about you keep her out of this?" Ant steps up: he speaks before Bakari can, his eyes glued on Dmitri. "You should fear us."
Dmitri glances up at Zo, they both share a teasing laugh that pushes Ant's buttons. D leans back in his chair comfortably. "You're not feared here, and honestly I think you should be glad that you have other states. 7 will send you a list of places you can sell in, don't let this ruin your day. Whenever you're ready, we can team up and expand into Europe."
Bakari's eyebrows arch, he sits back and thinks over Dmitri's offer. This was big, he worked extremely hard to get New York and his other states but European countries? "Think about it: Paris, London. Is it really worth the problems you're about to start?" Dmitri refers to Ant, he could see his hand reaching for the gun tugged into his waistband. Bakari quickly holds his hand up, Ant sighs and relaxes.
"I'm listening."
"My, nigga."
Look at these posters I made 💞