Carl Weber's Kingpins (9 page)

Mac looked David Jr. directly in the eyes. “Nobody knows. He was going to tell you, but I guess he never got the chance.”

David shook his head and took a deep breath. Day stood to her feet, not able to listen to anymore. “Looks like all those years of pushing Daddy away finally paid off. Now we’re all dead.”

“Day!” David Jr. called her and stood up when she stormed off to her room. “Day!” It was at that moment that he needed her the most. He had never felt so lost in his life. Just a week ago he had everything mapped out. It was crazy to him how fast things could come crashing down right in front of his face.

“Let her go,” Mac said. “We have some things to discuss. The meeting on Saturday.”

“Wh . . . what?”

“You have to go in your father’s place. That’s what he would have wanted.”

“Mac, my dad just was murdered. I don’t want to talk about that right now.” Everything was happening too fast. He just wanted to take a timeout and think.

“I understand that, kid, and I’m sorry you’re this old and still don’t get it. In this life there are only two ways out: a sticky end or a good one. Either way life goes on around us and business does too. This is the biggest meeting for the Mason name and it is imperative that someone with the Mason name is there. I know that you and your father were not close and I am sorry that it’s me telling you this and not him. But before tonight your father was working on a very important deal. And my job now is to keep you alive until then.”

“What kind of deal?”

Mac took a deep breath and told David Jr. something that King David had told only him. “He was planning to go legit.”

The home-going service for King David had to be the biggest in St. Louis history. Even though it was a closed casket, the service was a beautiful one. The songs that played there actually brought tears to Day’s eyes, and she never cried in public. Every street within a five-mile radius of the church had been closed. And the ride to the grave site was the saddest one of her life. She never expected to have to say her final good-byes to her father so soon.

She and David Jr. rode in the same limo but sat on opposite ends and stared out their own windows. Angela rode in her own separate car because she had to go to the house and prepare it for people to come and pay their respects to the family. They had barely said a word to each other since that night. At the site they waited for everyone to say their good-byes before they got out to say theirs.

David Jr. walked ahead of Day so that he could say his first. His placed a hand on the casket. “There was a lot I didn’t know about you. I guess that’s my fault, huh? I’m sorry. I’ll make this right. I promise.”

He couldn’t say anything else because of the lump in his throat. He blinked his tears away and motioned for Day to come forward. She replaced him and, too, put her hand on the white casket.

“Even in death you’re a king, Daddy,” Day whispered and let the warm tears stream down her face. A small sob escaped her lips. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. You supposed to still be here. I don’t know how to do this without you. I love you, Daddy. Rest in peace.”

She stepped back and nodded to the man in a black suit that it was okay to lower him into the grave. David Jr. stepped forward once again and the twins watched the casket drop six feet slowly. Once it reached the bottom, together they both dropped their white roses.

“I am so sorry for your loss.”

“He is in a much better place.”

“God has him in His arms now.”

Angela, David Jr., and Day stood in the hallway of their family home receiving condolences and cheek kisses until Mac told them that the lawyer was there to read them King David’s will. They excused themselves and allowed Mac to keep everybody busy while they were gone.

Although Angela was genuinely upset about her husband’s death she knew it would happen sooner or later. She was just upset that when it happened her children’s lives were threatened in the process. If David Jr. was murdered there would be no hope. She knew that King David had finally taken her advice and given David Jr. more of his assets, and she could finally coerce him into doing what she wanted to do with her husband’s businesses. She wanted to sell them. All of them.

“Good afternoon, everyone, my name is Mr. Thomas Blake. I am here to read you David Anthony Mason’s will,” the lawyer started once everyone was seated in the family room. “I am very sorry to hear about your loss, and hopefully this will make it hurt a little less.”

“Thank you,” Angela said a little too eagerly and Day glanced quickly her way.

Mr. Blake was an older white man in his late forties with a white mustache and beard. He put his circular glasses on his face and removed a couple of pieces of paper from his briefcase. Day smiled because the light from the window allowed her to see the writing through the paper. She wasn’t able to make out what the words said but she would recognize her father’s scribble anywhere. Before he started reading, Mr. Blake cleared his throat.

“‘To my dear daughter, Davita Arial Mason, I leave my hair salon Blessings. She has always loved that place like a second home. I want her to expand it and to open up many more Blessings here and out of the state. I also leave her Club Low in hopes that she will keep it fun and classy as I have done all these years. I release all the money in my offshore accounts to her. She will see that they hold a little more than five million dollars. And, lastly to my dear daughter, I leave the house that she grew up in.’”

When the lawyer read the address Angela’s mouth dropped open. “Bu . . . but that’s this house. Why would he leave you this house?”

Mr. Blake ignored her and continued reading. “‘To my son, I leave you . . . everything else.’”

The lawyer went on to list everything else that King David had owned, on top of the amount of money he was leaving him, and David Jr.’s eyes opened wide. He had no clue that his father owned so much, and the fact that he was now the owner of it all completely took him by surprise.

“What am I supposed to do with all that stuff?”

“Figure it out,” Mr. Blake told him. “Because it is all yours now.”

“Okay. Okay.” Angela waved a hand to get Mr. Blake’s attention. “What about me?”

“Oh, yes! You! How could I forget this? This is the most important part of the letter.”

Angela smiled and leaned back in her seat, knowing that her husband must have gotten her a new house if he’d given this one to Day. She thought about how good she and Aman would look in a new bed together. She was tired of sneaking around with him after all those years.

“‘To my wife, my cheating wife, I leave absolutely nothing.’ Okay, well that concludes that! Any questions?”

Day almost choked on her tongue when she saw her mother’s face. David Jr., on the other hand, was more interested in the content and what was actually said in the letter.

“Cheating? You were cheating, Ma?”

Angela paid him no mind. Instead she snatched the letter from Mr. Blake’s hands and reread the words there. “It can’t be,” she whispered, and flipped the papers from front to back as if looking for more words. “When did he remove me?”

“Maybe this will explain some things,” Mr. Blake said and handed her an envelope with her name on it. “Mr. Mason was always a sharp gentleman. That’s not to say that he predicted his own death, but he knew the likeliness of it was very high. In whatever case he told me it was extremely important that I give you this letter to read.”

Angela snatched it from his hands and ripped it open. What she read made her drop to her knees and begin to cry.

“What does it say, Ma?” David Jr. asked, standing to his feet to read over her shoulder.

“Nothing,” she said, walking to the door. “It says nothing.”

“I’m sorry, Ma,” David Jr. said. “I was going to try to talk him into putting you back in the will.”

Angela whipped back around. “You mean you knew I wasn’t in the will and you let me sit here like a damn fool?”

“I didn’t think about it, Ma. I’m sorry.”

She looked at her son like she didn’t recognize him and he did the same to her. She threw her hands in the air and continued her path to the glass door that separated the family room from the rest of the house.

“I threw my whole entire life away for what? For nothing!” She opened the doors and shouted at all of the guests. “Get out! All of you! Just get the fuck out of my house!”

“My house,” Day said and cleared her throat.

“Not now.” David glared at her. “And you aren’t kicking her out.” He could already read her mind and that was something that he wasn’t having. Whatever had gone down between his parents had been between them. At the end of the day she was still the woman who gave birth to them.

“I’m not,” Day huffed and crossed her arms. “I’m not that fucked up. Go calm her down. The damn shit just started. Somebody needs to eat all the food.”

David Jr. sighed and gave his thanks to Mr. Blake before he went off to find his mother. He was telling everybody that she was just going through it, and he got many sympathetic responses back. They told her that she had gone upstairs, and he was about to go follow him but something caught his eye. Somebody, to be exact. Indigo stood in the foyer of the home wearing a long black dress with a hat on her head. The hat had a veil on it that covered half of her face, but David Jr. would recognize her lips anywhere.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said when he walked up to her. Her hand found its way to his chest and rested on the cotton of the jacket to his suit. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make it to the funeral.”

“Stop saying sorry,” David Jr told her. “It’s not your fault.”

She gave him a sad smile. “Was that your mother who just ran out here yelling at everybody to get out?”

“Yeah, that was her. She’s just going through a hard time right now.”

“I bet. I was like, damn, I just got here! I haven’t even gotten to see my boo yet.”

“Your boo?” David Jr. raised his eyebrow at her. “When did I become that?”

“Right now,” she said and stood in her flats on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips. “Hopefully that took away some of your pain.”

David Jr. smiled down at her and put a hand on hers.

“Who’s this?” Day had finally exited the family room and she ran smack dab into David Jr. and a girl wearing an old lady hat. She was confused because she wasn’t sure if she had ever met her before. “David Jr., who is she?”

“This is Indigo,” David Jr. said. “Indigo, this is my twin sister, Davita.”

“Wow,” Indigo said and put her hand out. “That’s crazy. You look just alike.”

“We are twins, like he said. And nobody calls me Davita. You can call me Day,” Day said and shook the girl’s hand. When she got closer to her she remembered where she recognized her from. “Wait, you’re the girl I saw the day . . . the day—”

“Yes,” Indigo quickly jumped in so Day wouldn’t have to say it. “That was me.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Day said with sincerity in her voice. She then turned back to her brother and pointed to the kitchen. “I’m about to go make a plate before all the niggas eat everything. Then I’m going home. My head hurts from all this shit.”

“We aren’t supposed to leave,” David Jr. informed her.

“Whatever.” Davita rolled her eyes and made her way to the kitchen.

“She reminds me of your mom,” Indigo tried to joke. She didn’t like the solemn look he wore on his face.

“Yeah,” David Jr. said. “That’s because you never got to officially meet my dad.”

The two walked through the house until they reached the patio door that lead to the huge backyard of the house. Indigo was instantly blown away. The whole yard was green and neatly trimmed. There was a hot tub, a fire pit, and a tall tree that had a tree house.

“Is that a real tree house?” Indigo asked when David Jr. opened the door.

“Yup.” David Jr. smiled while looking at the big wooden house. “Day and I used to call it our getaway house. Whenever our parents would make us mad that’s where we would go. We made our dad put two entrances on it and split it in half so we would have our own space.”

He helped her step outside and the pair made their way a little ways away to a table in the shade. David Jr. pulled her chair out so she could sit down before taking a seat himself. She looked at him with wonder in her eyes.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s just weird, that’s all.”

“What’s weird?”

“That you guys are twins . . . and I get the vibe that you aren’t very close at all.”

“Because we aren’t close. At all.” David Jr. laughed. “We are twins.”

“So you guys get your own birthdays at least,” Indigo analyzed. “But still that’s your sister, and especially after what has happened you should definitely use this time as bonding time. Can I ask a question, if you don’t mind?”

“Shoot.”

“What did you mean when you told her that you two aren’t supposed to leave the house?”

David Jr. took his time answering. He didn’t want to scare her off, but he figured if she was still there after what she had seen then she knew what was up. “Whoever killed my dad is still out there. And you saw what was on his chest. Three Ds, and one of them was crossed out. That can only mean that Day and I are next. We can’t really move the way we want to until the killer is caught.”

“But what about school? This is your last year.”

“I don’t know,” David Jr. said. He didn’t need to mention that he had just become a millionaire and honestly didn’t even need to go to school anymore. He sighed.

“So how will I see you? I gotta come over here.”

“If you want to see me, I’ll make time for you,” David Jr. said. “If you don’t mind being surrounded with at least twenty niggas.”

She laughed and he was thankful she was there. She was keeping his mind off of the things that were really bothering him.