Page 23 of When It’s All Said And Done

“Not on the boat, in the container. Isn’t that right, Juan?” I chimed in.

“I mean how else am I supposed to know that my product made it there safely. Nasir, I need to speak with you alone,” Juan demanded.

“I’m not leavin’ your side,” Chance insisted.

“I’ll be good, I promise,” I assured him. “Plus, I need you to go get a count of the product.”

Chance was still reluctant to leave at first, but eventually he grabbed the bag at his feet and followed one of Juan’s men over to the container. The last thing I expected to be doing was taking a boat ride back to Miami. We’d been all gas no breaks the last five days getting everything together for Juan’s pop up. That’s why we had Nessa keeping Chanel, so that we could really focus.

“A million,” Juan announced.

“A million what?” I suspected.

“A million dollars is what I expect to have back from you in say six weeks’ time.”

“You fronted me a million dollars’ worth of product for my first reup?”

“I mean with all the praises Nina gave you I expected that to be light work. Was she wrong for believin’ in you?”

“I can move it.”

“Good. Now are you really sure about yo’ partner?”

“Yeah, he’s family. He got my back at all times.”

“Family, huh? Family will cross you quicker than enemies. Trust me, I know. Just be careful around him. One of my men is a worker on the boat, so the night before it docks at the port he’ll come get y’all to offload everything onto another boat where y’all will arrive unnoticed.”

“How long is the trip?”

“It’s a four-day trip. There is a walkie talkie in your bag that my worker will communicate with you if need be. Best of luck because if I don’t have my money in six weeks, I’ll be snatching up that little daughter of yours.”

My jaw clenched instantly at the threat he made against Nyla. Instead of giving any push back, I grabbed my duffle bag and walked away. That was his third strike today and how I was feeling he would’ve had a bullet hole between his eyebrows fucking with me. When I made it to the container, I turned and looked at Juan, but he was already gone.

“Cous, it’s so much fuckin’ work in here,” Chance announced as he stood next to the bags. “This one bag alone got ten bricks in it. You think that’s gonna be the case for every bag?”

“Yep, ‘cause he wants us to bring him back a million dollars,” I informed him.

“A million dollars?! Fuck, how we gonna do that?”

“Just like how we been plannin’. The amount of work doesn’t change how we operate. We have some meetups coming and we’ll be able to gauge it more from there. Until then how about we get a comfortable as we can because we’re goin’ to be on this boat for a few days.”

“That explains the food, water, flashlights, blankets and pillows in my bag.”

“This is bullshit, but I know it’s him throwin’ around his weight but I’m goin’ to show his ass before it’s all said and done with.”

Being on that boat for days was not for the weak. I was throwing up every time I drunk or ate anything. We’d been still for a few hours and from the date on my phone we were on the third night. There hadn’t been any communication on the walkie talkie in my bag, and my phone showed that it was a quarter after eleven. As I munched on some crackers to put something on my stomach while Chance slept, there was a knock on the container.

“What’s going on?!” Chance questioned as he jumped out of his sleep as the loud noise of the door opening.

“It’s time for us to make this money,” I expressed before standing on my feet. “I hope you got enough sleep because that’s now a thing of the past. Let’s go flood the streets.”

By the time we arrived on land it was damn near four in the morning. To my surprise, Fernando was waiting on us when we touched down. We unloaded all the bags at the office before calling it a night. Soon as I made it to my house, I took a shower immediately. After my shower, I fed myself and went to sleep.

I slept until noon the next day and if it wasn’t for the ringing of my phone, it would’ve been longer. After I rescheduled the appointment at the bank for the document signing, I made my way back to the shower. Being on a boat for three days while throwing up had a nigga feeling dirty. Once I was dressed, I made my way out the door to go check on Nessa before meeting up with Chance later.

When I arrived at her spot, I noticed her red car was missing. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dialed her number but didn’t get an answer. I pulled out of driveway and headed right towards her job. As I drove to her job, I became annoyed at the fact that she didn’t listen and probably took her ass back to work. Before I even pulled into her job all the way, I spotted her red car from the road.

Since she didn’t want to listen to me or answer my calls, I decided to do something that would make her reach out. I parked in the parking lot of the business next to her job before getting out. I grabbed a crowbar from my trunk before making my way towards her car. Luckily it was towards the back and out of the view for what I was about to do. I used the crowbar to gain access to her car before getting in. Once I had it hotwired, I pulled out of the parking lot before calling Fernando.