Page 75 of Don Caselli

I looked over at him. “She played me, Core.”

He nodded his head, understanding where I was coming from. Kennedy knew where my feelings were, and what I wanted when it came to her. She had so many times to tell me she was fucking with her client, and shit was serious between them.

Even at her birthday dinner, she could have pulled me to the side and told me something. Each time she could have told me the truth, she avoided it until the shit was slapped in my face. Kennedy knew what she was doing and that was some shit I couldn’t pretend to turn the other cheek for.

“Your brother warned you about her.”

“Mens be chatting though… always wanting to be in control of some shit,” I replied, watching a kid point to the truck, trying to take a picture of us speeding past them.

“It always seems that way, but your brother only wants the best for each of you.” There was a time when that was hard to believe.

I never believed Menace wanted the best for us because of the way he moved. Always taking shit into his own hands and never giving us a say in anything. He killed one of my best friends and never told me the reason.

Just handed Beans to me like he was some fucking object that I should have been grateful for. It wasn’t until years later that I figured out the reason and motives for why he moved the way he did. It was hard trying to get to know a man who never let anyone in, even his family. As I became more familiar with the family business, I could see why he was guarded.

It was to keep us protected.

A life of always lurking in the shadows because you couldn’t come into the light. The same applied with Kora. She wasn’t allowed to celebrate her family in the public because she wasn’tsupposed to be connected to us. I didn’t take anything for granted that my older siblings had sacrificed for this family.

“Yeah, he got what he wanted ‘cause I ain’t fucking with Kennedy. She wanna play victim and both sides. I ain’t fucking with that.”

“Ken is worried about herself. I get you was all in love and shit, but she was looking out for her. She doesn’t come from much, so in her head she has to protect her. I’m not gonna say whatever you both shared wasn’t real, because if she hid it from you, it’s because she cared and didn’t know how to break the truth to you.”

“If she fucking cared she would have told me the truth. I always kept it a buck with her,” I replied, not wanting to talk about Kennedy anymore.

The reason Corleon and Menace had a friendship for as long as they did was because he could listen. He knew when to push and when to let things be, and that was what he did. He allowed me to sit in silence like I had allowed him moments before.

We went through the usual security check before we were given clearance to enter the gates. I yawned, as I got ready to exit the truck and see what the fuck my brother wanted. His ass couldn’t wait for another day to have this meeting.

The sanitizing mist sprinkled us as we walked through. Duke was at the kitchen counter reading something on his phone. “Welcome back, Don.”

“What’s up, Duke?” I dapped him.

“Looking just like your brother after one of those trips.” He snickered and nodded down the hall toward his office.

Stevie came down the steps holding bottles and some pump thing in her hand. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the silkiness of her hair slapping against her back.

Once she got to the bottom step, she realized me and Corleon were standing there. “Am I interrupting something?” she questioned.

“Nah. They here to see Menace, Steve-o,” Duke answered.

She came around the counter, placing everything into the sink. “You hate my baby, Landon?”

“Stevie, what?”

Duke snickered, clearly tickled by Menace rubbing off on his wife. “What other reason would you have for not coming to see the baby? Zoya has come and Kora has come. Jeffie and Skyler both have come. You are the only one that hasn’t come to meet your nephew.”

“I was busy, Stevie. I’m here now though. How are you, sis’?” I held my arms out and she smiled, coming to give me a hug.

“Other than my boobs leaking and the baby screaming all night, I am perfect… oh and the fact that I have to wear diapers with the baby.”

“Steve-o… too much.”

She smiled. “The baby is with Mavie. I needed a minute to pump and clear my head.”

Corleon had sat down at the counter. “Still no nanny?”

“And have someone come and steal my child and fuck my husband?” Stevie replied, staring at us with a straight face.

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