Page 4 of Lucci

It was one of the best things I’d ever done. We were two years strong. I started out with six members, and there were currently twenty-two. Every time someone reached out to me about wanting to be a part of the organization, I was honored. We did more than just link up at gatherings to show off our cars and race. Last Thanksgiving, we got together and fed the homeless. We did a toy and coat drive for Christmas, and we were holding one for back to school for the kids. There was a monthly fee of $100 but that didn’t scratch the surface of what we did for the community. Some of the money that we used for charity work came from our own pockets, and we also had small fundraisers here and there to raise money. As a real estate agent, I made pretty good money and never minded contributing to a good cause.

We had a brunch event coming up. We were having the event catered and had thirty tickets available for sale. People could come chill with us and eat, drink bottomless Mimosas, and just have a good time. All of the profit was going toward the back-to-school drive. Even with no man and no kids, I lived a very fulfilled life. Still there were times that I wanted more. I couldn’t make those things appear out of thin air, so I had to either wait or just give up on the idea all together.

Lauren and I stuffed our faces with tacos and got some nice buzzes off the tequila. I listened to music while cleaning the kitchen and took a long, hot shower afterward. Once I had crawled into bed, I glanced over at the book that was on my nightstand. The only irritating thing about being a real estatebroker was all the continuing education courses we had to take. I had a year to take three classes, and I was only on the first one.

Deciding not to even waste my time, I laid down and grabbed the remote control to find something that I could watch until I fell asleep.

The sounds of my Yves Saint Laurent heels tapping marble floors echoed through the home that I was showing my client. Waving my hand toward the fireplace in the living room, I gave him a big smile. “This three story home has seven bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, a theatre room, finished basement, and six fireplaces. There are cathedral ceilings and a balcony on the third floor. There’s a heated saltwater pool, a pool house, basketball court, private entrance, helicopter landing pad, and enough garage space to park eleven vehicles.”

My client was entering his third season in the NBA, and he was looking to purchase a home in the area. Our first stop was an exquisite home that would run him $7,500,000. I had a total of five houses to show him and the cheapest one was $6,200,000. I could stand to make more than $200,000 in the least, so I prayed he purchased one of the homes. Real estate wasn’t an easy field to dominate, and luxury real estate was even harder to get into especially being a black woman. Thankfully, there was a whole lot of money in Diamond Cove and people buying $100,000,000 homes wasn’t uncommon at all. The more expensive the house the better the commission meaning I could go months without selling a house and not panic.

The house was spacious, and I made sure to point out all the intricate details, so the viewing took a while. Each time I turned to face Chad and caught him ogling my body, I resistedthe urge to frown. Chad was married, but his wife wasn’t with him because she was at home on bedrest, eight months pregnant with twins. We spoke a few times over the phone, and she told me all the features she wanted in a home. Chad took videos of each home we viewed, and she was going to assist him in making a decision. He was a man and not just any man. He was a man in the NBA. I wasn’t sure if he cheated on his wife or not, but if he did, he damn sure wouldn’t do it with me.

“What do you think?” I forced a smile once we’d toured every inch of the home.

“I like it. I like it a lot. The fact that it already has a barber room is what really did it for me, but of course, I have to at least look at the others.”

“That makes absolute sense. Luckily, the second house is literally only five miles from here, and the home sits on a lake. That view is amazing. After you.” I waved him ahead, so I could close and lock the door behind me. It was pathetic that each time I turned my back to him I knew he was gawking at my behind. Some men had no tact, and that was sad as hell. Imagine me being at home big as hell and miserable from carrying not one but two babies inside my body while the father drooled over his real estate agent. Men like Chad made me never want to risk my life pushing out any man’s kids.

Chad got in his Jaguar, and I got in my Hellcat. I loved my car, but I was seriously thinking of getting a second vehicle. Maybe a BMW or a Benz truck. Despite the fact that I was a real estate agent, I was still renting. I had a plan in place to buy my dream home and while I stacked my money to do that, I could live a little and get another car. My current rent was $2,400 a month. I estimated the mortgage on my dream home to run at least $3,500 a month. Once I saved around $175,000, I was going to buy my home. The plan was to put $100,000 down, of course, I needed money for the closing costs, and I wantedto have six months’ worth of mortgage saved. If I kept grinding hard and selling at least three to four houses a month, I knew I could reach my goal in less than a year. I had already been saving for a year and a half.

While my car sat idle at a red light, I opened the email notification that had just come through. I had listed a house for $5,300,000, and someone had completed the contact form to view the property. “Lucciano Culver,” I read the name aloud. “Lucciano,” I repeated.

My first thought was that maybe he was Italian but then Lucci’s face popped into my head. I had assumed that Lucci was maybe just a street name. I’d never encountered a black man named Lucciano. It didn’t really matter who wanted to view the home, but I still chewed on my bottom lip as I contemplated calling Lauren. I was less than a mile away from the second home when I bit the bullet and called. Lauren owned a bakery, and she did accounting on the side. During tax season, my girl made excellent money.

“Hey boo.” Lauren sounded out of breath, and I could tell she was moving around.

“Hey. I won’t hold you long, I just have a quick question. Do you know Tyler’s brother’s real name? Or their last name?”

“I don’t know Lucci’s real name, but Tyler’s last name is Culver. Why what’s up?”

“I just got an email from someone named Lucciano Culver. He wants to view one of the properties that I have listed. That name just kind of stood out to me.”

“That has to be him. Kiandra had to have surgery on her ear, but I think she was released from the hospital yesterday. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s trying to buy her a house as an ‘I’m sorry I got you shot the fuck up’ gift.”

“That is not funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. I’m being dead ass. I doubt that his car was randomly shot into, and I know the shooter’s beef wasn’t with her. She took two bullets for that man, and got hit in the ear with fragments of a bullet. He’d be buying me way more than a house.”

I arrived at house number two, and Chad parked directly behind me. I knew we’d be together for at least another hour and a half, and I was ready to get the viewings over with. Prayerfully, his wife liked one of them, and we could get the ball rolling. If I had to find another set of houses for them, I was going to scream.

“Alright crazy lady. I’m showing Chad the creep houses today, and we just arrived at house number two.”

“Ewww. Have fun.”

“Bye, girl,” I giggled.

Chad wasn’t the most handsome man around, but he was rich. If he was single and a little less arrogant, he might be worthy of flirting back with, but the fact that he had a woman made him even less attractive than he already was. I loved money, but I worked for my own. I would never be so desperate or thirsty for money, love, or kids that I lusted after another woman’s man. So for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why I was nervous about seeing Lucci again.

CHAPTER 3

LUCCI

Never in lifehad I ever given a fuck about what anyone had to say about me or what they thought of me, but the hateful glares I received from Kiandra’s friends and family at the hospital was enough to make me get missing when they came to visit her at the house. And that was mostly because I felt guilty as hell. Shit, maybe I deserved their glowers and disrespectful words. When her father told me he hated the day his daughter ever laid eyes on me, I almost knocked his old ass out, but shit, was he wrong for feeling how he felt? Hell nah.

The person that shot Kiandra was a guy by the name of Rich. He was one of the first hustlers I’d ever robbed. He never had concrete proof that I robbed him, and I had never told a soul that I robbed him. The only person that knew I robbed him was Tyler because he was with me when I did it. That was at the time when I was still wild as hell and on my best bullshit so after I caught him grilling me like he had an issue one too many times, I asked him what the problem was. That led to the fight at Kiandra’s apartment complex, and he ended up missing a few teeth. Right after he got his teeth fixed, he caught a drug charge and had to go do a bid. I didn’t even know the nigga was out. I hadn’t thought about him actually.

I didn’t mind beating ass. I did that shit for fun, but I’d never caught a body. I never had a reason to, but Rich was going to see me. I felt like a fucking coward looking Kiandra in the face and telling her that I didn’t know who that nigga was or why he shot at me. Maybe I should have been honest. Maybe that would have been the nail in the coffin to finally make her listen to her parents and leave me. I had slowed down in the streets. I hadn’t done any dirt in a minute, but things had a way of catching up with you. In the streets, beef and grudges rarely ever died.

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