Manhattan

It didn’t dawn on Caesar how risky what he was attempting was. Not until he, Niles, and a handful of Caesar’s men were filing out of their vehicles. Damián Alverez, Domino Reyes, Wang Lei Chen, and Benjamin Tolliver had all agreed to meet Caesar that afternoon. The designated meeting place was The Museum of Fine Black Arts. It was one of Caesar’s favorite places to go with his mother when he was a boy. But that wasn’t why he chose it. He chose it because the museum was located in Central Park, which was always busy. Caesar figured he would run less chance of something bad happening that way. Still, they were all still so unpredictable.

“I don’t know how I always let you talk me into doin’ this crazy shit,” Niles said, making sure his gun was concealed under his pea coat.

“You’re here because somewhere in that heart of yours you love little ol’ me,” Caesar replied with a grin.

“So what does that say about you, huh? You can’t love me if you’re always puttin’ me in situations where I could die!”

Caesar laughed. He knew Niles was just talking mess, because one thing about his cousin was that he would follow him into the depths of hell if he had to. That was just how loyal he was. He and Caesar walked side by side toward the museum’s back entrance. The others with them followed closely behind. The museum had a strict no-gun policy, but Caesar would be damned if he went inside without it. They were spotted as soon as they entered the museum and were waved over to the far right by an older gentleman. In his hand was a metal detector, which he began waving up and down over all their bodies. Caesar knew that although they all were packing, the detector wouldn’t make a sound.

“How’s the family, Paul?” he asked when the last of his men was checked.

“Everyone is good. Michelle, though, she’s been worried about you since your old man died. How you been, son?”

See, Caesar had known Paul since he was just a boy. He had been good friends with Caesar’s parents and was someone who could be trusted. He had taken a liking to Caesar and had shown him all the secrets in the museum, including a crawl space that led to the back of the building, which Caesar used a few times to scare his mother silly.

The concern in Paul’s eyes was sincere, and Caesar wondered if Paul saw the man he had become or the bright-eyed kid he once had been.

“Just taking things a day at a time.”

“I heard that. Well, let me be the one to say you’ve grown into quite the young man,” Paul told him. “When you called and said you needed the conference room today, I cleared out every other reservation. I set it up real nice for you. Just go straight and then . . . I don’t even know why I’m giving you directions. You know the way!”

“I do. Thanks again.” He walked past him, and his entourage followed.

Caesar led them down a long hall in the back of the old building toward a set of tall double doors. Standing along the walls were four small groups of men staring each other down. Each group was a different ethnicity, and Caesar didn’t have to guess why they were there.

“Niles, you come in with me, and the rest of you stay out here and make sure nobody causes any trouble,” Caesar instructed his men as he and Niles stepped inside the conference room.

If it weren’t for their men in the hall, Caesar would have been shocked to see Damián, Wang Lei, Domino, and Benjamin already seated at the table. It seemed as though Caesar was late to his own party. The seat at the head of the rectangular table was vacant, so Caesar sat in it. Niles took a seat on the wall away from the table. The room was so quiet a pin could be heard if it dropped. Everyone beside Damián stared at Caesar with impatient eyes, waiting for him to speak.

“What was so important that we had to meet so urgently?” Wang Lei asked with annoyance seeping from his thick accent.

“What the Chinaman said,” Benjamin threw in. “I don’t like being anywhere when I feel like I’m surrounded by enemies.”

“Your only enemy is your sticky-ass fingers,” Wang Lei spat at him. “I have not forgotten what you have done.”

“I figured you wouldn’t. You motherfuckas live to be a hundred years old and never forget a thing. But this best be something you put behind you.”

“Never. What your camp took from me is irreplaceable. You are nothing but a bunch of low-life thieves!”

“Well, I guess that makes you a low-life killer. No real knack for anything, so you just kill people for money. Ha! It doesn’t get any lower than that.”

With the two of them going back and forth, the meeting had already started off on a bad note. Caesar hoped that it wouldn’t foil his plan for them all. His eyes fell on a painting on the wall. It was one of his favorites as a kid. It used to be out on display, but the museum staff had moved it inside the conference room. It was of a black man sitting on stage playing a saxophone. He remembered as a kid making his own name for the painting: The Saxophone Man. He used to wonder how someone had been able to add all the intricate details with a paintbrush. He blinked away from the painting and focused back on the men bickering before him. He interrupted them by clearing his throat and waited until everyone’s eyes were back on him.

“I know you all are wondering why I called you here today. I also know that some of your business dealings with my father were not on the pleasant side. Nevertheless, I want to thank you for meeting me.”

“I am only here because Damián is cashing in on a favor I owe him. And I must warn you, you only have five minutes of my time,” Wang Lei said.

“That works for me because that’s all the time I need to put my proposition on the table. It’s something that I think will benefit each person at this table mutually.”

“Proposition?” Domino asked.

Domino was a slender man with a muscular build. He was what women called easy on the eyes and wore his long hair pulled back into a braided ponytail. He ran his business out of Harlem, and although that was in the Kings’ territory, they never stepped on each other’s toes. Domino dabbled in the business of women, and it was a fact that Cassius’s people were some of his best clients. It also was a fact that Domino was not to be underestimated. His family stood strong and had the numbers to back it up. The arrangement between the Reyes family and the King family had a little part to play in what Caesar was putting on the table.

“I’m going to be straightforward with all of you,” Caesar continued, placing his arms on the table as he leaned forward. “I’m tired of fucking fighting. It’s just a show of ego that costs everybody money. We all are guilty of this bullshit, and if we continue like this, it will just show how stupid we are.”

“You’re just a boy. Who the hell are you to sit at this table and speak to us like that?” Benjamin spoke in a bull-like manner. “We’ve been running things just fine since you were in diapers.”

His voice was deep and his smooth skin as black as a dark chocolate Hershey’s bar. The short Afro graying on the top of his head was the only indicator of his age. The dour look on his face told Caesar that he wasn’t too happy about being called stupid.

“You call this fine? Let me ask all of you this: how many of your loved ones have you lost at the hands of someone at this table? And if not them, someone in their camp.” Just like Caesar figured, nobody said anything. “And the saddest part is I’m sure nobody even remembers who threw the first blow. We’ve been at each other’s throats for so long that the blame has gotten lost somewhere in limbo. I’m calling for a cease-fire.”

“This is the perfect time to say you remind me of somebody I know,” Benjamin told him. “Oh! That’s right. His name was Cassius King. Bloodthirsty for control and always wanting things his way. What the hell is a cease-fire going to do?”

“It’s going to give us time to sort some things out. And, Benjamin, I might look like my father, but I promise you we are two completely different men. I’ve been breathing this business for as long as I can remember. I’m not here in this seat for no reason.”

“Ha! What do you really know? You’re just a boy like I said.”

“He’s a boy who happens to be right,” Damián stepped in. “Listen to what he has to say, all of you. You might learn a thing or two. Continue, Caesar.”

“If I offended any of you with my words, that truly was not my intention. I just need you to see, like I’ve been able to see, how foolish we’ve been. My age has nothing to do with that fact. And, Benjamin, I’m here to stay, so you might as well get used to seeing my young face. We sit here as the five most powerful families in New York, yet we are divided. Why do you think that is?”

“Greed,” Domino said.

“Power,” Wang Lei offered.

“Yes and yes. Everybody wants to do everything. Everyone except Domino here. He knows his place and where things for him are most lucrative. He has never tried to venture out of that and, because of it, has feuded the least.”

“This is true,” Domino agreed.

“Damián, you know why you and my father got into it all the time, don’t you? You are the only one in the state who can bring in military-grade weapons while the rest of us are left with metal scraps. So why have you tried to sell drugs, too, knowing that the Kings have the best connect on the East Coast? You can’t compete. It’s like a slap in the face when you try.” Caesar turned to Benjamin. “And you. Everyone knows that the Tolliver riches come from all the high-end robberies you commit all over the world. What you do is more than thievery. It’s an art to be envied. But committing the crimes against us is something that shouldn’t be done. You put a target on your entire family’s back that way. Isn’t that why someone hired one of Wang Lei’s hit men to come after you?”

“Yeah,” Benjamin sighed.

“Wang Lei, you have some of the most dangerous assassins working for you, and I also know that you are the man people go to when they need any kind of loan. Why not open your services to the other boroughs, not just the Bronx? Why don’t we all open our territories to each other? Individually we will always be capped, but the money we could make together would be endless!”

“So what are you proposing? Some sort of truce?” Benjamin asked.

“No, what I want to put on the table is something that can’t be broken. I’m proposing a pact. Not just any pact. One signed in blood.”

“And what will this pact decree?”

“One of the conditions will be that we all agree to one form of business, so that way nobody steps on each other’s toes. Another is that we are all protected. No family shall harm another family, and if anyone in your camp disobeys this rule, they will either be exiled or killed by you, the head of the organization. Other specifics can be worked out, because I want all of you to have a say-so in something so big and life-changing. But ultimately this is a change that needs to happen. We’ve fought for so long. Why don’t we try peace for a while?”

When he was done speaking, the room grew quiet again. To the left of Caesar, Damián had a tiny approving smile on his face. However, it was the others Caesar was worried about. If even one of them didn’t agree, it never would work. Without them all coming together, the fighting would continue, and Caesar would have wasted his time and breath.

Finally, Benjamin cleared his throat.

“I might have been wrong to prejudge you, Caesar King. You’ve done what none of us could do, and that’s something as simple as getting us all to sit down together. And I’m even more impressed that the words that came out of your mouth weren’t complete bullshit. In all my time, nobody has even thought of doing something like that. And as crazy as it sounds, it might work.”

“It will work if we make it,” Caesar said confidently. “If we put all our differences behind us, I mean truly put them behind us, we will be unstoppable. Why should there be one throne when there can be five equally powerful ones? It just makes sense. But I also know I can’t force anyone here to see reason.”

When Caesar was done speaking, the room grew quiet again. His eyes darted around the room as he hoped they would see reason. However, the silence was deafening.

“I think we should at least try it out,” Domino’s voice finally sounded to Caesar’s relief. “If everyone else does, I will agree to this pact. But as you said, other kinks will need to be worked out.”

“I will agree to the pact!” Damián was next to approve.

“I’ll agree to this as well, especially if it will get those Chinese motherfuckas off my ass,” Benjamin said and stared crossly at Wang Lei. “I’ll even give back the necklace and bracelet we stole.”

“This is something that I will need to think about,” Wang Lei said. “I have never thought of aligning myself with any of you. It isn’t a decision that I can make lightly.”

“How about I give you two weeks to make your decision?” Caesar asked.

“That is sufficient enough,” Wang Lei said, bowing his head.

He stood up and left the conference room without saying a word to anyone else. When he was gone, Benjamin turned his nose up like he smelled something foul.

“That motherfucka is racist!”

“What did you steal from his family?” Domino asked.

“A Van Cleef set,” Benjamin said sheepishly. “I was about to resell it for a pretty penny.”

“Well, I’d be racist toward your ass too!”

At first, Benjamin looked offended by Domino’s words. He even went to respond, but nothing came out but a laugh. Soon they were all laughing together, even Niles, who was still sitting back. Damián patted Caesar on the shoulder.

“Good work, Caesar. I did not think this day would end so well.”

“The Chinese still haven’t agreed, so how well did it really go?” Caesar said, slightly disappointed.

“Four out of five families together isn’t bad. And if Wang Lei tries to pull any funny shit, you’ll have us to back you now.”

“I just have one question though,” Benjamin said, making another face. “You ain’t really mean that when you said you wanted us to sign in blood . . . did you?”

I’m not a killer but don’t push me.