Manhattan

When the story was finally over, Boogie was shocked to learn that Nasir had been the enemy all along. He also felt like he understood Caesar more than he ever had. They both lost their parents at young ages and had to take over empires before they were ready to. It made sense why Caesar took him under his wing. It was more than him being Caesar’s godson.

“You must see a lot of you in me, huh?” Boogie asked, and Caesar nodded.

“I do. And I’ve tried to spare you a lot of emotions that come with the losses.”

“And I appreciate you for that. I’m sorry about your wife. She seemed like a real ride or die.”

“She was.” Caesar smiled fondly. “But she died peacefully, and that’s the best way I could have hoped to see her go. I can’t wait to be with her again. One day.”

There was a deep longing in his voice, and Boogie noticed it. He understood. He would be ready to go too if Roz were no longer part of the living. He wouldn’t want to continue without the love of his life. He couldn’t. Caesar was a strong man for being able to do so.

“You’re a good man, Caesar. If I grow up to be like you, I wouldn’t be mad,” Boogie told him and then pointed his thumb at his car. “You need a ride to your whip?”

“I’ll manage.”

“A’ight, I offered. I’m about to get out of here. I need to make them calls I—”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because Caesar embraced him tightly in a fatherly hug. At first, Boogie was tense in shock, but then he hugged him back. It didn’t last long, but it was healing. Boogie didn’t even know he needed it.

“I wanted to do that when I first got back into the country,” Caesar told him when he pulled away, “when I saw you on that couch after thinking you were dead. I probably hid it well, but seeing you like that about did it for me. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t gotten so close to you or the others. I’m afraid to lose any of you. It would be the straw that broke this big-ass camel’s back.”

Boogie opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of clapping coming from an alley stopped him. Both he and Caesar turned and looked at the darkness curiously to see who was clapping. The person stepped out of the shadows, revealing that it was a black man around the same age as Caesar. He was bald too, but much skinnier. He had a look in his eyes that instantly made Boogie think of death because of how cold they were.

“Well, isn’t that so sweet,” he said.

“Nasir,” Caesar sneered.

“I truly enjoyed that rendition of the story. I’ve only heard it from my point of view.”

“You aren’t supposed to be here.”

Nasir looked to his left and then to his right before shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t see anyone here who can stop me,” he said. He grinned when both Caesar and Boogie went for the guns on their hips. “Tsk, tsk. Don’t you think I thought of that?”

Two darts shot from the alley directly at Caesar and Boogie. It happened too fast, and they weren’t able to dodge them. Boogie was hit in the neck and instantly got sleepy. The last thing he saw as he was collapsing to the ground was Nasir waving his hand.

* * *

“Mmghh . . .”

The moan that escaped Boogie’s lips signified that he was regaining consciousness. He clenched his eyes shut before opening them. It didn’t help. His sight was still blurry, and not only that, but his head was throbbing like someone had knocked him over the head. He was lying on his side on a marble floor and went to rub his eyes to clear his vision but found that he couldn’t. They were tied together behind his back. He squinted down at his ankles and could make out red zip ties on them. He assumed that was what bound his wrists behind his back. Slowly, as his eyes began to focus, his memory started to come back to him. And then it hit him. He’d been kidnapped. Not only that, but he was alone. What had been done to Caesar?

He looked around at the large building he was in. It wasn’t a warehouse. By the infrastructure, it looked like it used to be a reputable place of business. He was by himself in the middle of a huge floor space. His grunts echoed as he sat himself upright to get a better look at the place. The floor-to-ceiling windows had long drapes over them, and the walls had square light sooty stains on them. The stains let him know that photos had once hung there. At one point it had to have been some sort of art studio. The rats running along the wall told him it hadn’t been occupied in quite a while.

Suddenly, Boogie began to hear footsteps nearing him. The room he was in was shaped like a pentagon, and every side led to a hallway. Because of the echo, he couldn’t pinpoint which way the footsteps were coming from.

“I was starting to think that I would need to pour a bucket of water over you to get you to wake up.”

The smooth voice came from a hallway on his right, and Boogie jerked his head toward it. The person who materialized was the same man Boogie had seen driving the McLaren earlier that day. He stood six feet tall and had a young face but very old-looking eyes, like they’d seen a lot of horror in their time. He wore a peanut butter–colored tailored suit that went well with his dark skin. The hair on top of his head was set in sponge curls, and he had a goatee. Boogie looked behind him and saw that he was alone.

“Namir,” Boogie said.

“They say you know you’ve made something of yourself when people know who you are without you telling them,” Namir told him with the hint of a smile.

“Where’s Caesar?”

Namir didn’t answer at first. Instead, he began to walk around Boogie. His hungry gaze never left Boogie. He was like a hungry tiger circling its prey. Boogie turned his head so that he could see Namir at all times.

“Caesar?” Namir finally spoke. “He’s with my father having a good ol’ time. They’re old friends, I heard.”

“What do you want?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions. I can tell by how you run your business that you’re a smart man. I’ve been following your people, waiting for you to resurface. If we had met on different terms, I’m sure things would have been much different than they are. But as you can see, they aren’t. You owe me a lot of money, Boogie.”

“I don’t owe you shit!”

“Oh, but you do. You see, I had the perfect system going. My father put me in charge, and everything was great. So great that I decided to travel the world while Bosco ran things for me. There’s no point in being the boss if you can’t enjoy the fruits of your own labor, am I right? But then, you and Caesar thought it was okay to just send my whole operation crashing down. See, you started robbing me the moment you set up shop on Staten Island. The second money started going into your pocket, it stopped going into mine. It’s not something I take lightly.”

“You shouldn’t have left your kingdom so wide open. And you trusted Bosco to keep things runnin’ for you? That motherfucka was powerin’ up. He almost got into business with another kingpin, but we killed him, too. I don’t know, Namir. Maybe bein’ a boss ain’t your thing. You kinda suck at it.”

“Augh!” Namir’s angry shout was followed by him kicking Boogie in the face.

Boogie fell to the side and tasted the blood from his busted lip. He laughed through his grimace. He figured that would be Namir’s reaction. Most people hated when mirrors were put to their faces.

“Can’t handle the truth, can you?” he panted and put himself upright again. “You know what I think is really happenin’? Daddy put that pressure on you because you fucked up. And now you’re doin’ whatever to get back in his good graces.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Namir knelt in front of him. “And that could also be the reason I’m going to kill you instead of just making you pay me back the money. Because you know what’s priceless? Your soul.”

He pulled a SIG from his waist and put it to Boogie’s temple. Boogie knew that in his profession he was subject to death at any time. However, after that last near-death experience, he realized how much he wanted to live and how much he had to live for. Amber’s face came to his mind, and his heart filled with a powerful will. She needed him. When Namir put his finger on the trigger, Boogie laughed in his face to taunt him.

“You’re weak. You gon’ kill me like this? Can’t even fight me like a man.”

Namir seemed taken aback by his words. He lowered the gun for a moment, and it seemed as though he was rethinking the manner in which Boogie would die. But then he smirked and put the gun back to Boogie’s temple.

“This isn’t a fucking movie. And I’m not going to chance you whooping my ass. I think I’ll kill you this way. Say your prayers.”

Boogie closed his eyes, not wanting his last sight to be of Namir’s evil gaze. He thought of his family. Of Roz, Amber, and Bentley. Morgan and Diana. Tazz, Zo, and Nicky. He smiled, hoping they all knew what they meant to him. His only regret was not being able to say goodbye.

Boom!

Final Goodbyes