“I guess I could have seen that coming,” Vincent said, shaking his head. “She’s just a teenager who needs some guidance, that’s all. If this deal goes without a hitch, you’ll be able to take a whole year off to dedicate to being a father.”
“Not if she goes to college,” Blake said sadly.
“College?” Vincent scoffed. “What does she need a degree for when she can be a CEO at age eighteen? We’re Rogers. We make our own way. Fuck a degree.”
Blake laughed and shook his finger at his cousin. “You’re a crazy fool, man,” he said. “I want her to have an education. Who knows, she might go into something in the legal field. If that’s the case, I’m going to be firing Bernard. That nigga getting too old for this shit.”
He spoke of his lawyer, and the two men shared a hearty laugh.
“Just don’t stress yourself out too much,” Vincent said. “At times like this, I’m glad my daughter is only five years old.”
Blake smiled at the mention of his beautiful little cousin Mia. Just like Tiara was the spitting image of him, Mia was the spitting image of her father. Suddenly, regret filled his gut as he remembered that Mia’s existence almost never took place. If he had killed Vincent that night, he would have never had the joy of becoming a father.
“Do you truly forgive me for that night?” Blake asked Vincent, looking straight into his eyes.
“You ask me this question at least twice a year.” Vincent leaned forward in his seat across from Blake. “Sí, I do. All of my bones healed, and I am alive and kicking it. If the roles would have been switched, I would have done the exact same thing.” He extended his hand. “By shaking my hand now, you are promising to never bring that shit up again. My knee gets this weird feeling whenever you make me think back to that day. You have a mean swing; always have since we were kids!”
After the two men shook hands, the pilot announced that they had arrived and to put their seat belts back on to prepare for the landing.
“If you close this deal, Blake, you’re going to change the heroin game in both Texas and Florida.”
“If I close the deal?” Blake said, fixing his suit and tie. “I don’t travel anywhere unless it’s a sure thing. The deal has already closed, and I haven’t even shown up or showed my face yet.”
Blake touched his hip to feel the gun there. He pulled it from his waist and checked the clip.
“How many did you send before us?”
“A whole fleet.”
“Good,” Blake said. “Rodriguez isn’t going to know what hit him. I think that the contract will be signed within the hour.”
“You’re a crazy motherfucker, man,” Vincent said, checking his own gun.
“If you’ve noticed, all the greats have been crazy motherfuckers,” Blake said. “After today, I’ll be on that list.”
Chapter 6
The rest of the week Tiara shocked the hell out of Stephanie. Whenever she went in to wake her up in the morning, not only was she already awake, she was dressed too. Tiara didn’t care about hiding the way she really wore her hair from her father and mother anymore. She took her time in the morning with her wand curls and refused to put it in a ponytail. She wanted to be seemingly flawless when she showed her face at school. She and Mario had been spending a lot of time together. They texted each other throughout the school day, and when they both got home from school, they talked on the phone all night. She found out that they had so much in common, and she loved the fact that he was a deep thinker. He had dreams of one day becoming a famous architect.
When they were at school, they met up in-between class periods to talk to each other since Tiara hadn’t yet figured out a way to get out of the house to see him outside of school. She was still working on how she was going to make it to their date on Saturday. The only way she could think of was to lie and tell her parents that she was going to Brandy’s house for the weekend, but knowing her father, he would still send like two men with her for safety. She could try to sneak out Brandy’s window, but she’d get caught faster than a cheater who forgot to delete their text messages.
As Saturday grew nearer, she finally came to terms with the fact that she would just have to flat-out tell her parents that she had a date. There was no getting around it if she wanted to go.
On Friday after she got ready for school, she took a deep breath before she went downstairs to speak to her parents. Stephanie came and kissed her on the cheek. Tiara had already told her about her dilemma, and she said she would be there for moral support.
“Ay probrecita,” Stephanie said and gripped Tiara’s shoulders, “it won’t be so bad. Come on, you have to go now or you’ll be late for school. You’ve been making me so proud, by the way. I should have known there was a boy involved.”
Tiara began the walk of death down the stairs—not really, but that was what it felt like. Whenever she was
