Chapter 1
Tone sat in the passenger seat of the new Audi staring blankly out the window, stuck in his own thoughts, while his main man Maine drove. Tonight was no different from any other night. Tone had just got word on some guy named Sam that owed him some money, and he was going to make sure the man paid up. Tone was the leader of the empire that he was building from the ground up, and everybody knew he and his crew didn't play, so for Sam to be trying to duck him didn't sit well with him not one bit.
Maine pulled up in the empty parking lot and saw Sam surrounded by twelve of Tone's goons. “That's him right there?” he asked.
“Yeah, that's that nigga,” Tone said in a cool tone as he stepped out the Audi, a bottle of Grey Goose in his hand. He was angry that Sam was trying to duck him, but even more so that he had to leave the comfort of his home to come out here right now. He passed the bottle of Grey Goose over to Maine as he walked up to Sam.
“Yo, fam, where's the rest of my money at?” Tone asked in a cool tone.
Sam looked at Tone and the twelve goons he had standing behind him and took a deep breath. “I got robbed,” he replied, a look of shame on his face.
“Got robbed?” Tone echoed. “Fuck you mean, you got robbed? Who robbed you?”
“Gruff and that bitch Maxine,” Sam answered.
Tone let out a deep breath as he turned and smacked the shit outta Sam. “Nigga, you let a nigga and a bitch rob you?”
“Nah, son, that nigga Gruffâ”
“Nigga, shut the fuck up!” Tone said, quickly cutting Sam off. “Empty ya mu'fuckin' pockets right now!” he demanded.
Everybody watched Sam lower his head, take out everything he had in his pockets, and hand it to Tone.
“Yo, Maine, wash this nigga up,” Tone told his best friend, whom he'd known since childhood. Immediately Maine covered his eyes as he busted the bottle of Grey Goose over Sam's head, dropping him instantly. Once the goons saw Sam's body hit the floor, they were all over him like vultures, kicking and stomping his face into the concrete.
“Mu'fucka must've thought shit was a game,” Tone said out loud, stuffing the three hundred dollars that he just took from Sam into his pocket.
“How much that nigga was short?” Maine asked as him and Tone stood over on the side, and the goons continued to destroy what was left of Sam.
“Seven thousand.”
Just then Tone noticed an unmarked car pull up to the scene, and seconds later out hopped a dark-skinned man with salt-and-pepper hair. From his muscular frame, you could tell that he still worked out often. Around his neck hung a shiny gold badge, and behind him was two uniformed cops.
When the goons spotted him, they immediately stopped the beating they was putting on Sam.
“Please don't stop 'cause I'm here.” Detective Abraham smirked. “Fuck is going on out here?” He looked over at Tone.
“Mu'fucka owe, so he had to pay,” Tone said nonchalantly.
Detective Abraham smoothly walked over to Maine, reaching inside his waistband and removing a .380 with a silencer on the muzzle. “Mu'fucka had to pay, huh?” As he stood over Sam's body, he fired three shots into his face. “What I told you about playing with mu'fuckas?” Detective Abraham growled. He slapped Tone in the back of his head. “I fuckin' taught you better than that.”
“My bad, Pops,” Tone said as he took the gun from his father's hand and passed it back to Maine.
“It's always your bad,” Detective Abraham huffed as he walked back to his unmarked car followed by the two uniformed officers. “Be at my house first thing in the morning,” he yelled over his shoulder as he slid back in his car and pulled off.
“Man, ya pops don't play,” Maine said as he slid in the driver's seat of his all-black Audi.
“You know he just wants us to be the best we can be,” Tone replied as he slid in the passenger seat. “He been telling me all week about this big plan he got for us. Finally, he suppose to spill the beans tomorrow.”
“Well, whatever it is, you know it's a lot of paper involved,” Maine said, knowing how much Detective Abraham loved money.
Â
Â
Maine pulled up in front of Tone's crib and threw his car in park. “Want me to come scoop you up tomorrow?”
“Nah. Just meet me at my pop's crib at like ten.” Tone gave Maine a pound and slid out the passenger seat.
As soon as Tone stepped foot in the house, he saw his high-school sweetheart Mya in front of the TV doing her daily exercise with her Nintendo Wii. As soon as she spotted Tone, she quickly paused her game and headed over toward her man. Tone smiled as he watched his sexy-ass woman strut toward him wearing nothing but green boy shorts and matching bra. Mya favored the actress Vivica Fox but had a little more ass.
“Hey, baby,” she said with a smile as she slid in Tone's arms.
Tone kissed Mya on the lips and playfully pushed her off of him. “Get outta here. You all sweaty and shit.”
“Shut up. You know you love my sweat.” She smiled as she walked over to the TV and continued her workout.
After Tone helped himself to three shots of Grey Goose, he said,“How was your day?”
“It was okay. Had to stop these two bitches from fighting in the salon today. Other than that, it was a regular boring day,” Mya told him as she jogged in place in front of the TV.
“I remember when you was begging me to get you your own salon, and now it's like you can't stand it.” Tone laughed. “Women don't never know what they want.”
“I love my salon. I just don't like all the people that come up there sometimes.” Mya cut the TV off and headed to the bathroom so she could hop in the shower.
Tone headed over to the entertainment system and blasted Jay-Z's song, “Empire State of Mind.” He sang along with Hov as he removed his .40-caliber from his waistband and sat it on the counter.
After he helped himself to another shot, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. He opened it and examined the diamond closely. He had been waiting for the perfect time to pop the question and thought tonight was the night.
“Hey,” Mya said, appearing outta nowhere. “What you over there doing?” She was strolling through the house butt naked like she always did after her night shower.
“Minding my business.” Tone smiled as he held the box behind his back.
Mya walked over to the entertainment system and turned the music down. “Why you always gotta have your music so damn loud?” When she turned around, her mouth hung wide open in shock.
Tone was on his knees and holding open the box with the ring. “Baby, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” Mya said loudly as she snatched the ring and put it on her finger.
Tone just smiled. He loved seeing Mya happy, but he had never seen her this happy. “Well ... do you like it?”
Mya didn't answer. Instead, she walked over to Tone, unbuckled his belt, removed his dick, and slid down to her knees.
“Awww shit!” Tone moaned as he watched his fiancée work her magic.
Mya sucked and jerked on Tone's dick until he finally released in her mouth.
“Damn, baby,” he said, breathing heavily. “Thanks.”
“What you thanking me for? I'm just now getting started.” Mya grabbed Tone's wrist and led him into the bedroom.
Â
Â
The next morning Tone woke up to his cell phone ringing. “Hello,” he answered in a drowsy voice.
“Get ya ass over here,” his father growled into the receiver.
Tone peeked over at the digital clock on the nightstand. “It's seven o'clock. You said to be there at ten.”
“Be here in twenty minutes,” Detective Abraham said, ending the conversation.
“Who was that, baby?” Mya asked, her eyes still closed.
“My father.” Tone sat up to start getting dressed.
“Damn!” Mya whined. “You gotta go meet him right now?”
“Yeah. But I won't be gone too long, I promise.”
After brushing his teeth, Tone stuck his .40-cal in his waistband and headed out the door.
Â
Â
Tone walked up to his father's front door and banged on it with an attitude. He hated getting up early. His father answered the door with a smile on his face.
“What the fuck is so important that I had to get outta my warm bed so early in the morning?” Tone asked, clearly upset.
Detective Abraham kept his smile up. “The early bird always gets the worm.”
“Ain't no birds up this early.” Tone headed inside and sat at the kitchen table.
“You wanna make some money or not?” Detective Abraham asked as he poured himself a drink.
“What you got up your sleeve now?” Tone asked, knowing his pops was always up to something.
“This what I got up my sleeve.” Detective Abraham slid a folder toward his son.
Tone opened up the folder and saw a picture of an old Spanish-looking man. “Fuck is this?”
“His name is Santiago.” Detective Abraham paused before adding, “He lives in L.A. now, but he's from Mexico. He's one of the biggest cocaine distributors in the world.”
“So what you need me to do? Kill him?”
“Impossible,” Detective Abraham said quickly. “We want to do business with him.”
“So what's the big deal?” Tone asked, confused.
“The big deal is, he don't fuck with black people,” Detective Abraham said with an angry look on his face. He hated racists, even though he was a racist himself.
“So where do I come in at in all of this?”
“Here's where you come in at.” Detective Abraham slid his son another folder.
Tone opened the folder and saw a picture of a beautiful woman inside. “Who this?”
“That's Santiago's daughter, Serena.”
“What does she have to do with anything?” Tone didn't like whatever his father was up to.
“She's in town for two weeks on vacation. She's staying at the New Yorker Hotel on Thirty-Fourth Street.”
“And?”
“And you got two weeks to get in her head and convince her that you love her. Then once you get in good enough, you can get her to convince her father to do business with us.” Detective Abraham smiled like he had everything all figured out.
“I don't know about this one, Pops,” Tone said in deep thought.
“What's not to know? You wanna make some big money, right?”
“Yeah, butâ”
“But nothing. It's a perfect plan.”
“I ain't gon' be able to stay out the house for two weeks. Mya would kill me. Plus, we just got engaged last night.”
“Fuck Mya! With the type of money you gonna be making, you can buy two more Myas.” Detective Abraham chuckled, but he was dead serious.
But Tone didn't appreciate his father's remark about Mya. “Must you talk foolish all the time?”
“You know I was joking with you,” Detective Abraham said, trying to downplay his comment. “All I'm saying is, you know Mya is a ride-or-die chick, so just explain to her what it is you gonna be doing, and you'll be fine.”
“It ain't that easy, Pops. Mya is super jealous. I can't just say, âHey, baby, I'ma be fucking another bitch for two weeks,' and think she gonna be cool with that.”
“Stop bitching and man up.” Detective Abraham downed his drink in one gulp, only to refill his glass back up to the top. “You wanna make this money or what?”
“How much paper you think we can make if I can make this chick think I'm in love with her?”
“Millions!” Detective Abraham's eyes lit up just thinking about that amount of money. He didn't know how, but he had to make his son see what he saw, and he wasn't going to stop until he accomplished that mission.
“Damn! Two weeks is a short amount of time to make a bitch fall in love,” Tone said out loud as he helped himself to a drink.
“I thought you was a pimp,” Detective Abraham joked. “My name is John Abraham, and your name is Anthony Abraham. You know what that means?”
Tone smiled. “What?”
“That means you can do anything you put your mind to ... trust me.”
Detective Abraham heard somebody knocking at his front door. “Who is it?” he yelled, walking over to the door. He smiled when he saw Maine standing on the other side of the door. “Come on in.”