Page 24 of Reckless Forever
When I walked to the table, the other twenty-one families were there already. We made our way to our seats, nodding our heads in respect. Pierce stood from the table and embraced each of us. We hadn’t seen much of him lately, aside from Zoom calls. He and Pops had been travelling together with moms and Storm’s mom, Yandi. Pops was enjoying retirement, and Pierce seemed like he was next up to retire.
I looked at Mateo and waited for him to give us the nod so that we could take a seat. Once he did, we pulled out the chairs and sat down. We would be here for three weeks, meeting every day to review strategies and brainstorm ways to maintain our power and gain more.
At first, I thought that it would be a hassle to voice our opinion because we were the newest seats, but it was the opposite. They valued our word because our organization was still ranked second nationally. We were the proof that we lived what we talked about.
Errol, from Jamaica, passed me a box of Cigars, and I passed it to Jax. I didn’t smoke this shit; I’d leave that to Trouble. If he didn’t bring any gas from Jamaica, I was cool.
They started the summit every year with short updates. Mateo’s Capo turned to Trouble once he made it around the table to us.
“Trouble, can you tell us how business has been going for your region?”
“The business is thriving; numbers are better than ever. Every operation is overperforming and on track to double last year’s revenue,” he said as he exhaled the smoke from the Cigar and ashed it.
“Very well. Contracts? Jaxon.”
“We have two new negotiations for lower prices on products with Uruguay and Peru. We also have secured immunity for the entire organization,” he said quickly as he sat back in his seat. The table gave him applause, and he nodded his head in acceptance.
“The dream team.” The Capo smiled brightly.
“Lastly, security and defense… Judah.”
“There are no successful breach attempts logged in the last three weeks. The checkpoints that I implemented have also decreased the risk of a raid by sixty percent.”
The Capo nodded and smiled again as his eyes scanned the table. The look he gave said, “This is how you do it.”
The nigga from Moscow scoffed as soon as I finished talking. I had smoke for this nigga; he always had an issue with everything that our organization did. Always trying to throw his half-ass knowledge around like his ship wasn’t the only one that got stopped every other week. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was calling the feds on his damn self.
“Speaking of those brilliant checkpoints, they’re slowing my shipments down by at least a day. We need to go back to the older model; it worked better from a business standpoint.”
He said, as Tokyo’s boot licking ass agreed.
“Yeah, go back to the old model. Those checkpoints and the day delay saved you from explaining why twenty million in product was taken by the Russian FSB. You’re welcome.” I said as I looked him in his eye. His jaw twitched, and he gripped his cigar in his hand.
Today wasn’t going to be his lucky day. Jax always said that my mood was like a light switch, and today, I was agitated. Storm suggested that I was falling in love, and my mind hadn’t been right since. He was going to say the wrong thing, and I was going to wire his shit.
“That’s bleeding time, smart guy. My men are on post for hours; they aren’t soldiers, they’re-”
Trouble and Jax sat up as soon as they saw the expression on my face. They knew that shit was about to get crazy.
“Make that your last time calling me one of them cute ass nicknames. I ain’t no child, don’t son me. And if they ain’t soldiers then train them to be. Or get a new team. I got two nig- men right now that would train your whole unit with no complaints.”
Mateo sat quietly at the head of the table. Neither him, the Capo, nor any of the other elites said anything to diffuse the situation. Mateo had a smirk on his face, like he was watching a dog fight. But he just didn’t know. They got the sensible version of me most of the time, but they shouldn’t forget how they met me.
He cleared his throat, “That’s not necessary,” he adjusted his suit jacket, and I smirked at the sudden change in his tone and his lack of a nickname. I wasn’t in the mood for his shit today, and I guess he could feel it.
“Don, the checkpoints are working. With your permission, I can bring my own team in to train his men to be actual soldiers. No disruption to the business,” I took my attention from Scarface to Mateo.
“Do it,” he said, low and final. Moscow couldn’t say a word in return. Mateo’s decision wasn’t to be debated.
I chuckled. “Checkmate,” I said, fixing my cufflink and sitting back in the chair. His jaw twitched, and he’d better be thankful he could still use it.
“Well, with that being said, let’s officially start The Black Table annual summit.” The Capo said as he stood and began the first point on the agenda for the day.
I laughed to myself but kept my face stone. I don’t know how the fuck I was supposed to tell Zo and Sanchez that I just sent them to Russia to prove a point. Rem was going to kill me.
The meeting lasted for a couple of hours before we were dismissed to return to the hotel.
As soon as we returned to the courtyard, my brothers started.
