Chapter 21

I stood at the balcony overlooking the lounge as I surveyed the space.

For a Thursday night, the place had a pretty good turnout. I was in a good ass mood. Salima topping me off, then me sliding up in her had a nigga feeling good. The blunt I smoked before I left the office was just the thing to put me on cloud nine. I caught a glimpse of her with a group of women who were already lit as hell, and we’d only been open for a little over an hour.

One girl was twerking on her while Salima twerked on another. I smirked to myself. LeAnn had made me privy to the incident that took place earlier with her and CiCi after CiCi complained she threatened her. Only a hating ass bitch could hate Salima. She was down to earth and she minded her own damn business in here.

The customers loved her, especially the women. Every time I saw her, she was laughing and cutting up with somebody as she served them. That’s why she made bank in tips. She was pretty and personable. The other girls couldn’t get mad because they lacked personality.

As though she felt my eyes on her, she glanced up at me and blew me a kiss. I’d never like that cutesy shit, but this woman made my overgrown ass blush. I watched as she disappeared into the crowd. I spotted my brother in the VIP section with, Leo, Mone, and Tank, a few of the guys that ran with us.

I decided to make my way down to them. As I walked through the crowd, I was met with lustful glances and a few touches to my arm. A few women tried to get my attention, but I paid them no mind. Don’t get me wrong, they were bad. Once upon a time, I might have fucked on one or let her suck me off, but now that I had Salima, I had tunnel vision.

No bitch in here could touch my lady.

“What up, big trick,” Maceo said, slapping my hand with a grin.

I shoved him as I sat down next to him. “Fuck you.”

“Jaeda told me what you did.”

“Y’all love discussing my business, damn!”

He laughed. “I mean, yours is the most interesting right now.”

“Whatever.”

I dapped the other guys in attendance before waving one of the girls over to bring me a drink.

“Let me get Jack Daniels on the rocks.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Dillinger.”

She gave as all a lustful stare as she walked away, damn near breaking her hip from trying to switch so hard.

Mace shook his head. “Thirsty ass.”

“It’s a bunch of them in here.”

“Shit, I’m trying to slide with one tonight,” Leo said, looking around.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” Mone asked him.

“That shit was dead the moment that bitch stole from me and I had to lay her down.”

I shook my head. Some of these niggas were reckless on their own time. As long as they didn’t bring that shit on these missions, it was on them if they got caught up with twelve for doing stupid shit. It was different if they got caught on our time. Of course, we’d look out for them and their families, but protection came with limits.

My drink arrived, and I took a long sip of it. While it was shaping up to be a smooth night, I was almost ready to get out of here. Mace and I had business to handle tomorrow night that required us to go out of town, and I still needed to get my shit together. My next two targets had fled the city after the take down at Aura, so we had to catch up with them. One was lying low in Puerto Rico and the other was in Brazil.

I looked over at my brother who was unusually quiet. He looked like he had some shit on his mind.

“You straight?” I asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re seem like you’re in deep thought.”

“Aye, y’all give us some privacy,” Mace said to the group.

Without protest, the three of them stood and made themselves scarce.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I wanted to holla at you about something.”

I sighed. “What now? Y’all are gonna drive me crazy. First Mia with that nigga. Then Jaeda’s ass is looking for love online and shit. What do you have going on?”

“I’m uh… I’m thinking about?—”

“Spit it the fuck out.”

Just as he went to open his mouth, my phone rang. I swore if it wasn’t one thing it was another. Pulling it from my pocket, I saw that it was, Martin, the head of security at Deuce, one of my other lounges. The fuck was he calling me for.

“Hold on,” I told Mace. “Hello?”

“Boss. You should get over here. Some shit is going down.”

“The fuck you mean some shit is going down?”

I stood and Maceo stood beside me.

“The Feds are raiding the place, Boss.”

“Feds? The fuck for? My shit is legit.”

“They claimed they got a tip that illegal activity was taking place. They made everybody leave and they are tearing the place apart.”

The frown on my face deepened. “I’m on my way.”

I hung up and made my way through the crowd with Mace on my heels. As soon as we made it to my office where my keys were, he was asking questions.

“What the hell are the Feds doing at your spot?”

“Martin said they got a tip about illegal activity going on. You know that shit ain’t for real.”

“Sounds like a setup. You beefin’ with somebody?”

“Any nigga that has beef with me, is beefin’ by their damn selves. You know I?—”

I stopped as I picked up my keys. My mind was racing a mile a minute and there was only one muthafucka I knew that would try me like this.

“Mirron.”

“Who?”

“Fuckin, Mirron Hayes. That bitch made ass nigga wants me to sell him some property I own. He’s been riding my ass for months now and I’ve been telling him to fuck off. If I find out he was behind this shit, he’s as good as dead.”

Mace shook his head as we left the office and headed out the back exit. Deuce was only a few streets over, so it didn’t take us long to get there at all. When I pulled up, the place was surrounded by FBI vehicles. People were standing outside taking pictures as shit. I climbed out of the car, and calmed my nerves before I walked up to the building.

I hated when people fucked with me. If I wasn’t on a contract, I minded my business for the most part. My legal businesses were all legit. There were no drugs or gang activity involved. Legal funds ran all up and through that shit.

“You can’t go in there, sir,” an FBI agent by the name of Tubbs.

I took a deep breath before I spazzed on him. “I’m the owner. He’s with me.” I nodded at my brother.

He radioed in to someone inside and they gave him clearance to let me and Maceo in. Brushing past him, we headed inside. Upon entry, I feel my blood begin to boil. They had completely ransacked my shit. Tables and chairs were overturned. Broken glass littered the floor. Drug dogs were everywhere.

“I’m gonna kill that muthafucka,” I mumbled as a man approached us.

Something about that nigga was vaguely familiar. He was around my age, but I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was about him.

“Mr. Dillinger, I’m Detective Ian Pearson.”

He extended his hand and a business card. I looked at it, then back up at him with a scowl on my face. Maceo snatched the card from him. Crossing my hands at my waist, I practiced all the restraint I had.

“You wanna explain what’s going on here?” I asked.

“We got a tip?—”

“I know about the bullshit ass tip you got. I wanna know who sent it.”

“It was anonymous.”

“I bet it was. Tell me… you found anything?”

“Should we find anything?”

“Do you think I’d have my black ass down here if you were gonna find anything, my nigga? No. You are wasting your time and mine. I just wanna know who’s paying to have this shit cleaned up.”

“We need to see a warrant,” Maceo added.

Pearson reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. I snatched it from him. Pulling out the paper, I saw that it was signed by a legit judge. Edgar Willis. I made a mental note to check into them because this wasn’t someone my family had in their back pocket. Looking up, I crossed my hands again.

“What was the probable cause?” I asked calmly. “An anonymous tip isn’t grounds for a search warrant so this is bullshit. Either the judge was paid off or he was blackmailed cause ain’t no way they would sign off on that shit legitimately. Check my personal and financial records. They’re clean. Check the police logs and tell me how many times they’ve been called here since we opened. Not once. I’m gonna need a record of supporting evidence to ensure this shit is justified.”

Pearson looked nervous. The look on his face reminded me of someone.

“Do I know you?” I asked, squinting.

“No.”

“Nah… something about you is way too familiar.”

I looked at Maceo, and he mimicked my expression.

“Hell yeah,” he agreed. “I know a bitch ass nigga when I see one.”

“I assure you, we’ve never met.”

“In any case, my lawyer will be in contact with you. He’s gonna need that information I requested.” I stepped closer to him. “Let me make something very clear to you. You aren’t dealing with a dumb ass nigga. I’m on your ass. Whoever’s been in your ear ain’t told you about me, but you’ll find out.”

I lightly slapped the side of his face.

“Lock up when you leave.”

I motioned for Maceo to follow me back out to the car. It was silent until we got inside.

“You need Jaeda on his ass ASAP,” Mace said

“You already know that. I’m irritated as fuck that I can’t place why the nigga feel so familiar to me.”

“Yeah, I know. I felt that shit, too. What are you gonna do about this judge?”

“I’m gonna sit on that for a second. I need to know what kind of evidence they had to issue this warrant. Enzo should be able to get that,” I said, referring to my lawyer.

Pulling out my phone, I sent him an alert, letting him know that I was about to slide through. I didn’t give a fuck that it was late. I paid him six figures to be available.

“You need me to ride with you?” Mace asked.

“Nah, I’m good. I’ma drop you back off and head on over to Enzo’s. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Bet.”

I cranked up and pulled into traffic. The whole way back to The Elixer Lounge, my brain was working overtime. I knew that shit was a setup. I felt that in my spirit. If he was behind it, Mirron Hayes better count his fucking days.