Ayzo sat up in his seat. “What do you mean?”
“The day that June and Tiny came into my office, I remembered being annoyed because they were both young looking and had ugly attitudes. Now, I didn’t mind helping young men get off the streets and better themselves with a job, but I don’t tolerate the entitled disrespect. I was about to kick them out when they both showed me what they could do. They were able to pull up two of my highest paying customers' information within a blink of an eye. You know how I keep all of my things encrypted and locked away, so to see that they were able to pull that type of information had me intrigued.”
“I don’t blame you for adding them to the team. Hell, I would have done the same thing. That’s a great skill.”
“I thought the same thing, but if I were paying attention, I would have known better.”
Ayzo tilted his head to the side, a puzzled look on his face.
“Those two customers had been in the shop within that same week. It could have been light work for those two to snatch up those elderly men and beat them up for information. I mean, they worked for the city and had never gotten into a physical altercation before.”
“Oh, shit. I didn’t even think about that.”
“Exactly. I had so much on my plate and allowed those two to slip into my territory. The promises of free pussy and more money had all of them running out the door.”
“Well, do you remember what they looked like? Better yet, don’t you still have the files to the security system? We can roll back the tapes about two years ago and pinpoint them out. Then bingo, we got action.”
I shook my head. “Great minds think a like, cuz, but I’ve already tried that. I pinpointed the so-called June and Tiny. They got hired to pose as the real June and Tiny.”
“What!?” Ayzo shouted, standing up from his seat.
“Yup, those two guys were really called Philip and Bliz. Last I checked, Phillip was clean and working as a prison guard up in Jersey while Bliz was locked up in Rykers. They both said someone in all black approached them and offered them five grand a piece to pose as June and Tiny. The only thing they could remember that the person was a woman, but they couldn’t see her face. So, not only did I get fucked over with everyone’s betrayal, but now I have no idea who June and Tiny are for real.”
Ayzo began pacing across the room while rubbing his chin as I sat back in my chair. As long as our enemy was out there breathing, we were all in danger. Nicholas, Ashlynn, and Denice were just as much my family as Ayzo was and I had to keep them protected. They put their lives on the line for my cousin and for that, they had my loyalty. Now was my time to step up and end all of this shit once and for all.
“What’s the next move?”
I huffed out a sigh. “I was thinking about going through all of my old female workers to see if anyone was disgruntled against me to pretend to be June and Tiny. I mean, none of them were on the list of people who betrayed me and most of them are living comfortably, but you never know.”
Ayzo quietly chuckled as he shook his head. I squinted my eyes at him and stared while he paced the floor. His laughter quieted as he made eye contact with me before stopping in his tracks.
“Oh, c’mon man! You treated all your workers with respect, especially the women who worked in the massage parlors and group homes. You actually listened to everyone on your payroll who were going through shit. Anybody that came to work and didn’t give you no bullshit, loved your ass.”
“And yet, they betrayed me.”
“Only the disloyal ones that wanted to fuck and get their greedy hands on more money. Granted, that was damn near all of the men, but like you said, none of your female employees were on that list.”
“I understand that, but right now, this is our best option.”
Ayzo sighed and sat down in the recliner. “Or you could forgive and move on.”
I blankly stared at him until he threw his hands up in defeat. I wasn’t trying to hear none of that shit.
“So,” I said, breaking the silence. “I had a total of 45 women on my roster between the massage parlors and houses. You take the first 20 and start vetting them and I’ll take the other 25. One of them may have overheard or know something.”
“Bet, I’ll start tonight. Are you gonna start tonight, too, or do you have some paperwork to get through for that vacation resort you were planning?”
“Neither. I got something else for tonight planned.”
Ayzo arched his eyebrow and waited for me to continue talking. Knowing my little cousin, I couldn’t be vague right now, especially with everything that has been going on. I chuckled as his face began to scrunch up with annoyance. I didn’t want to tell him, but at the end of the day, he was on the one I trusted to be there if anything went left tonight.
“You remember when I told you I had Ron, Lewis, and those other bodyguards in one of my warehouses a couple months back?”
Ayzo nodded.
“Do you remember that they all said that a man named Z persuaded them into joining the cobras?”
Ayzo nodded again while rotating his hand, motioning for me to get to the point.
