Chapter 4
The silence that fell across the basement was deafening. There were ten men, and each was overly cautious about making a sound, let alone moving. They were all too busy staring at Caesar. He was too busy eyeing his basement and making sure his Scarface posters were still intact on the walls to care too much. They were, and everything else was just like he’d left it. And as he’d requested, on a table along the far left wall were every guest’s guns.
Caesar finished surveying the room and turned back to the men. He assumed his people didn’t speak because they didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t every day that they saw somebody return from the dead. He sat in his normal seat facing his family, and he tried to fight the urge to laugh. It was just that their faces were so priceless he wished he could take a picture. Suddenly it hit him that maybe they were all waiting for him to speak.
“I’m sure you boys have a lot of questions, especially with all the noise in the streets of New York as of late,” he said, breaking the silence.
“I only have one question—how?” His nephew Nathan spoke from where he was leaned against the bar. “I mean, they said they found your body on the news. If it wasn’t you, why’d they say that?”
“Because they had no clue who they found.” Caesar shrugged. “The body was burned. And when I didn’t turn up, it was easy to say it was me. What’s a better story than finding New York’s kingpin dead in such a fashion?”
“We mourned you,” Nathan said, and Caesar noticed the disdain in his voice. “I mean, if you were alive this whole time, where you been at? You abandoned us.”
Of Nathan and Nicky, Nathan was the hotheaded brother. He had never learned to control his emotions, which made him the perfect soldier. However, when it came to placing his sadness, he never could. It always turned to anger. Caesar knew that both Nathan and Nicky loved him like a father, but whereas Nicky was just happy to see Caesar again, Nathan was angered by his absence. Caesar knew he would be, which was why he let Nathan’s comment slide.
“It wasn’t safe for me to reveal my survival to the world,” Caesar said, speaking to him and the entire room of men. “I might not have died, but someone indeed tried to kill me. I’ll spare you all the boring details, but just know it was better this way. And now that I’m back, I’m back. And there are more important things at hand that we need to discuss.”
“Yeah, like how glad we are that you’re back and seated on the throne. While you were gone, this nigga was left in charge,” Jerrod, one of Caesar’s little cousins, spoke up and shot Nicky a distasteful look. “He couldn’t even handle one mission. He got Terrance and Blakey killed tryin’a get at Boogie.”
“We all wanted to get at Boogie,” Nathan said, jumping to his brother’s defense.
“Yeah, well, the shot he called got my niggas killed.” Jerrod puffed out his chest and stood.
That was the wrong thing to do to a roughneck like Nathan, who was always ready for a scuffle. He moved from the bar quickly and took a step toward Jerrod before Nicky jumped up from his seat beside Caesar to intervene. He knew that if Nathan got one punch off, it would be lethal.
“Chill out, bro,” Nicky said, reaching him and putting a hand on his little brother’s chest. “He ain’t worth it. All he’s good for is talking that shit.”
“Well, in this case, I ain’t talkin’ shit. It’s a fact. You got them killed because you went into a situation blind. Ol’ stupid ass.”
“In his defense, we all underestimated Boogie,” Caesar calmly interjected. “Terrance and Blakey were like family even though they weren’t blood. I’ll be sure to send their mothers a check.”
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?” Jerrod asked incredulously. “Those were my friends! And this stupid motherfucka Nicky—”
“Jerrod, need I remind you that you married into this family, and I never liked your mother? Sit down, now!” Caesar cut him off icily, and Jerrod did what he was told with clenched jaws. “Nicky is my blood, and the most fit of any of you to lead. And now that I’m back, he’ll be my right hand.”
“Thanks, Unc,” Nicky said and shook his head. “But what Jerrod says is the truth. I have my own people’s blood on my hands.”
“Jerrod is a dumb fuck who don’t know when to shut up,” Nathan spat out and glared at his cousin. “How was he supposed to know Boogie had that block sewn up with snipers on the rooftops?”
“Boogie had snipers on the rooftops?” Caesar asked, impressed.
“He did. For blocks, too. I barely made it out of there,” Nicky said. “Unc, that nigga is a problem. And we need to deal with it. I heard he has Staten Island on lock now. Ain’t no tellin’ who he’s over there getting in good with. We gotta take him out!”
“Yeah, Unc. And now that you’re back, the streets are gon’ know what’s up. Boogie included!” Nathan said.
Caesar sighed when everybody in the room agreed with him. What he had to say, Nicky wasn’t going to like. And if he wasn’t going to like it, Nathan was going to hate it. Whenever the name Boogie was brought up, Caesar could see the contempt in their eyes for him. He couldn’t blame them for it, either. Boogie had done some things that were unforgivable to most. He had let the evil inside of him run free, and although he had caged it, some might not be able to unsee him in that light. But that was neither here nor there. They all had an even bigger threat.
“Nephews, we need to talk.”
“About what?” Nicky asked and then pointed at the big table with all of their guns. “And why did we have to disarm? You never like us to be naked.”
“We need to talk about Boogie. He’s—”
“Right here,” a voice said from the direction of the stairs. Sure enough, Boogie was standing there with a small entourage of his people. “Sorry I’m late.”