Page 65 of Lau Ahi
“The family is about to welcome a new generation, so leadership will be turned over to him and his future bride.”
“Who is this bitch?”
“O—”
My knife whizzed by my uncle’s head before my grandfather could finish speaking my name in warning. I was grateful for Liam and Bhal’s love of playing with knives because we could all throw them with ease. In a situation like this, where guns were left at the door they were crucial.
The blade hadn’t pierced his flesh but it had taken a chunk out of the fro that he kept picked out. He looked as though someone had tried to scalp him. His nostrils were flared trying to keep himself calm but I didn’t give a fuck what he said or how he acted.
It wasn’t like that was my only knife.
“I can understand you not being interested in business that you no longer control but make no mistake. My wife will never be disrespected by you or anyone else. It is only because I don’t feel like having to get out the acid to dispose of your body that my knife isn’t embedded into your orbital socket piercing your brain right now. Since you have no concern I guess when I take over these meetings are obsolete. So, I’ll remove them from my calendar. I’m not one to bother with people who don’t serve a purpose in my life. My grandfather kept this going as a courtesy. Some guilt he apparently felt about how his son treated your sister. I have no such guilt. And since the Franklin blood in my veins means I’m entitled to everything, that’s what I’m coming for.”
“What does that mean?” The son spoke up then annoying me since I was ready to go.
“Exactly what it says. Y’all have been eating real good for not having to do any work for the last thirty-five years. That low-level scamming and counterfeiting that you’ve been doing hasn’t been able to sustain the lifestyles that y’all are posting about on social media like idiots. You’re putting targets on your backs like you don’t know better. I would ask y’all to explain but I’m sure you dumb fucks would just say a bunch of bullshit that will make me regret not ending your lives. Now, reach behind you and get my knife.”
The man who played with me was my mother’s youngest brother. James had no issue with his big sister being bartered like chattel to the Nakoas when it meant an influx of cash that the family desperately needed. There was no way for them to look toward the other family members for help because although we looked out for one another, it would have meant the Franklins losing their place at the table. If they became workers instead of owners, theConsortiumwould’ve shrunk down oneseat and my mother’s family was too prideful for that. When faced with the reality of their work not being needed as often in the underworld they faced a major problem. Other families had diversified their wealth through marriages or through simply putting in the work over the years. Most had darker beginnings like the Millers who were loan sharks to some and lenders to others. The same was still true but they now had a reputable facade to put over their illegal dealings and to account for the money those shady endeavors made. Liam’s family had multiple streams of income that started from their origins as spies and healers to dealing on the black market and helping Priest in the Order. Priest also had a mega-church that basically printed money but it was the place we could launder what we needed to and still give back. The Franklins had none of that. They’d been spies but turned that into grifting and then forging. They’d worked in households around New Orleans and their ability to blend in and to also see the finery that was available in homes helped during Reconstruction. They’d made freedom papers before then and forged documents that were still in museums today.
With the boom of wealth in the 80s, they’d forged thousands of paintings to people all over the world. Originals were sold on the black market and making money through trading had worked for many years. But a generation of bad investments meant that by the late 80s the family had put all of their eggs in the basket of the stock market and bet on the wrong ones. Instantly, they no longer had the stability they needed. Combined with multiple people in the family straying from the type of lifestyle that we lived, going straight when the money ran out, there were few people they had to call on. Pride kept my maternal grandfather from becoming a worker and having to ask his friends for help. He finally got off his ass and went looking for an additional stream of revenue to invest in but by then hedidn’t have the funds to own shit. The .com boom helped some but again, being an investor wasn’t enough. Lack of ownership meant he had no say unless he was part of the family. That’s where my mother came in handy. She was available and Pappy needed more muscle than he currently had. Other mainland shipping companies were attempting to buy up warehouse space and crowd him out ensuring that the family business would fail. He’d been able to hold them off for a long time but he needed additional resources that theConsortiumcould provide. Much like with Asha, a deal was struck and my parents were married.
What was supposed to be a joint union across the board had problems from the beginning. My two grandfathers couldn’t get along for shit. James Senior tried to work as the middleman between theConsortiumand my grandfather. He didn’t want him getting close to anyone because it would mean he could go around them to ask for what he wanted. The Franklins had the bloodline but the Nakoas had the business and the financial power that was key to theConsortium. Having a shipper as part of their portfolio made it easier to move throughout the world and the expansion that happened based onConsortiumbusiness alone took us from upper middle class to wealthy.
Which meant that theNakaoshad a lot of power within the organization, which pissed off James senior. Add to that my parents’ marriage wasn’t going well. I’d apparently been conceived on their wedding night because that was the only time they were together. Something that had been yelled often enough throughout my childhood.
Ikaika let money go to his head, which only made him more of who he already was.
“You’re doing too much.” My cousin Theo found his balls and spoke up in defense of his father who, like a good little bitch, slid my knife back across the table.
I smirked at his audacity and filed it away for later. “Who are you to tell me how to run my business?”
“You have no loyalty. We’re the only reason you’re even here. You’ve only been able to thrive because of us. And our family isn’t even reaping the type of benefits that we should be! You’re favoring the people who aren’t even supposed to be in this shit. They’re outsiders.” James was glaring at me but I knew that shot was directed toward Pappy.
That signed his death certificate.
“No loyalty? No loyalty? When this shit fell apart, who raised me?” I was pissed but I kept my tone modulated so they wouldn’t be able to understand the anger they’d unleashed.
“Huh?”
“Don’thuhme. Who raised me? Did you,Unc? Or was your ass sitting back happy that you didn’t have to take care of a troubled kid? Y’all had no problem with him taking on some shit that you could’ve easily stepped up for. I get that my sperm donor was the problem, but even my mother left when she couldn’t handle the heat. Her family had ample opportunity to step up but you muthafuckas decided that wasn’t what you wanted. Don’t complain about that shit now because it didn’t work out in your favor. Things will continue on as they have been, besides the most recent changes. From what we can tell, the Franklin Galleries and other businesses haven’t been pulling in nearly enough business for us to worry about the loss of ownership from those interests. Thankfully, the clubs have been doing what they need to, right Hakeem?”
When the money fell short in the 80s and they were scrambling to get by our family turned back to scamming. My mother’s biggest issue was that she didn’t want to be a part of the ring because the work they were doing was becoming too risky. She had better sense than most because some of her extended family got too greedy. Others were smart and walked away fromthe life by assuming other identities and marrying up so that they could fleece whoever they partnered with. My father used to always hold it over her head that she wasn’t any different from them but that he wouldn’t be a victim of hers. His bitterness over the situation stemmed from not being able to control it how he wanted. He wanted to be the one to sit in on meetings instead of Faith and James. Having to be a partner with his wife wasn’t something that he wanted. Them sleeping together was the last seal of the contract but they both thought they’d have more time to get to know one another. When I started growing in her womb he felt like he’d been set up.
“The clubs are doing fine and we make sure that everything is up to the highest standards. Between the regular clubs and the gentlemen’s clubs, we’ve got money coming in hand over fist.”
Clubs were the easiest way to wash money in this world and once the laundry was done you could shut down and open another with ease. The same deal we provided Asha’s father was what we gave to clients around the world. We could expand our business so quickly by moving freight that was untouchable to most. Xerxes’ guns came in on our ships and so did the drugs that Alec’s family imported into the US. It stayed in our secure warehouses around the country until they were ready to pick it up. Our system was sophisticated switching up what came into where daily. Pappy’s father had done so on a smaller scale but almost half of our profits came from smuggling. Despite it being a joint venture, the Franklins weren’t privy to that part of the business. That trust had never and would never be earned as far as I was concerned.
Something else they wanted to bitch about.
“James is there anything you need to report back? Brothels still making enough money for you?”
I hated that side of the family for going into the skin trade. Yeah, there was a need but I wasn’t sure they were doing shit asethically as I would’ve wanted them to. The idea of them making money off a woman’s body just screamed laziness and was a clue why my mother was so disposable to them. Even though I didn’t know her well anymore from what I remembered she had a tender heart. I was thankful that she’d been at least moderately protected. I’m sure that Pappy saved her life because if she hadn’t been useful through marriage they would’ve thrown her into this shit with them.
And not as a boss.
“Everything is fine.” James was tight-lipped and I knew he thought he was being slick. He had extra money come in that had already been put to the elders. It came from the porn they were producing with some of their girls that they thought we didn’t know about.
“Profits up? Down? I didn’t realize it was so damn difficult to sell ass. Especially with the amount of protection you’re afforded.” We kept their names off local and state radars, which was again an expenditure I didn’t want and wished I could shut down.
