Page 18 of DOM: The Miami King

"We picked up an unmarked SUV’s circlin' and a possible drone feed watchin'. It ain’t no breach yet, but it’s hot though."

The silence let me know it was somethin’ else he was holdin’ out from. I felt the shit in the depths of my gut. "And?"

"El Blanca’s been meetin’ with El Dorado leadership. Word is… he makin’ side moves boss. I don’t think ole girl is here by mistake. He needs a reason for you to slip and she’s the reason whether she knows it or not."

I felt like Kro was goin’ in the right direction with his theory, but I didn’t feel that was quite the reason, and I was damn sho’ goin’ to find out the truth. I squeezed the phone so tight it creaked in my fuckin’ hand as my heart started poundin’ and my vision became blurred. Everything ‘round me smelled like death now. I ended the call, tossin’ the phone onto the dashboard. My hands flexed on the wheel and my chest felt like it was being wrapped in steel.

“El Blanca…” I mumbled, low with a growl. "You lyin’ muhfucka you…."

If it was true and El Blanca flipped sides, it wasn’t just Victoria in danger. It was all of us. The Royals, our bloodlines, and our empire. I’d be damned if I let a snake take what we built. Fuck all that shit, it was time to play chess… the Dom way, the Miami King way… fuck them taco eatin’ muhfuckas.

The food on the passenger seat was still warm covered in foil, and tucked tight, with oxtail juice damn near smellin’ like I was still home in my parent’s house. I told Ma I was bringin’ it to ‘somebody important’ and she ain’t ask no questions, she just packed the plate full and kissed me on the cheek like she used to when I was a shorty with scraped knees and shit. She was like that though, ‘cause back in the day she was busy on that pole, but Pop, being that he was in the streets, he’s the one who called us out on everything. It was hard tryin’ to get past him.

The streets were quiet as I pulled up to the safe house, and a little too quiet if you asked me. Whenever it was too quiet it made me feel like shit was about to pop off. Like the city knew somethin' was about to crack. I stepped out the truck, with my Glock tucked in the small of my back and one on my waist as I swaggered toward the entrance with the plate in my hand. Two of my people, Roman and Dre stood on alert all heavily tattooed just like me. My entire army came from the trenches, except for the geeks that watched the accounts, and everybody played a major role.

One of my hittas, Roman, was one I met in the slums years ago. Hell, at least forty five percent of my camp were made up of real hittas who I’d crossed paths with committing’ some type of crime while on the come up. “Sup Boss,” Roman nodded my way covered with facial tattoos and gold teeth. Roman looked like a straight up demon, but the ladies went crazy for dude.

“Sup, what’s the status?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Shit been quiet, ain’t really been no movement since you left. We rotated the camera feed loop ‘bout an hour ago and scrubbed the signal interference on the roof and shit.”

Dre added, “We been seein’ a lotta foreign whips cruisin’ real slow two blocks over. It could just be nosy ass neighbors.”

“Hell, it might not,” I replied. “Keep watchin’, don’t get too comfortable.”

After I finished with them, I walked inside and as soon as the second that door closed behind me, I felt the energy shift once again. Shit felt like pressure I couldn’t see but could feel settlin' on my damn chest. Victoria was on the couch in the living room, barefoot, with a hoodie on and her legs curled up beneath her. She looked up soon as I entered like she wasn’t expecting me.

“I brought food,” I said, placin’ the plate on the small side table.

Her face lit up, but it wasn’t really a smile, instead she had a soft look in her eyes for me. I shook my head,tried to tell this fuckin’ girl this ain’t what she want,I thought to myself.

“You cooked?” she asked in a surprised tone.

“I’ma monster, but that don’t mean I’ma let you starve. It don’t matter who cooked, just eat.”

She stood and walked over, liftin’ the foil. The steam rose up and she slowly inhaled as her eyes fluttered for a second like the smell took her to a different place… maybe anywhere she wanted to be but here. “Thank you,” she said.

I watched the way her ass jiggled when she got up to grab a fork and dig in, and for the first time, she almost looked human to me instead of just a fuckin’ mission and not a favor. She was just a female caught in shit she ain’t sign up for and ain’t know shit about.

She chewed slow while glancin’ at me between bites. “You don’t sit down much, do you?”

“Too many people tryin’ to put me down,” I said. “Gotta stay ready.”

She smirked. “My uncle says the same fucking thing.”

That’s when it hit me, and the shit hit me hard. My mind started piecin’ together everything in seconds from the drone that circled the safe house. The way he was too fuckin’ urgent ‘bout keepin’ Victoria near me. The way El Blanca insisted I be the one to ‘protect’ her, to take hereverywhere.

Victoria was never the muhfuckin’ target, I was, and this whole time, El Blanca had used her like a fuckin’ pawn. She was the bait, and I was the lion they were tryin’ to lure into the pen. I turned away with my breath slightly caught in my throat, as my jaws tightened while I walked onto the balcony to get my thoughts together. I squeezed the bridge of my nose and held my head back tryin’ to control my anger. It made sense now… all of it.

I pulled out the burner and told Tone to meet me on the balcony on the east side of the house. It only took him a few seconds to appear with his usual joint in his hand lookin’ at me all crazy. “Man, you want me on the roof scopin’ shit out or on the balcony bondin’ with you and shit?” He joked until he saw the look on my face. He went from playful to ready to armor up immediately if he needed to. “Talk to me… who need to die today?”

“I figured this shit out Tone. El Blanca ain’t just callin' shots, he’s testin' my reach, seein' how far I’d bend. Muhfucka seein' if I’d crumble under the weight of protectin’ his blood… but it’s deeper than that. He knows the Royal Cartel is growin' too strong and too powerful. We’re too connected now, and we aren’t just movin’ cars and product, we buildin’ legit real estate. We got politicians in our pocket, routes locked in overseas, and we don’t really need him like we used to.” I explained.

Tone took a pull from the blunt with a perplexed look on his face before passin’ me the joint. “You got my attention…”

I continued, “So, what does a man like El Blanca do? He makes the problem disappear, but he don’t get his own hands dirty, he lets the world believe the El Dorado Cartel wants Victoria. He sends her to me knowin’ them muhfuckas won’t touch her, because they know, she’s off-limits. So, what happens when she’s with me, and a hit goes down? Exactly what he wants….collateral damage.”

Tone nodded his head finally gettin’ it. “Muhfucka gets to say,‘Dom died protectin’ my niece’.”

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