Ill be the one, p.1
I'll Be The One, page 1
i’ll be the one
t’lyn
Copyright © 2023 by T’LYN (KMP Publishing)
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mykyng masters.
. . .
“Kyng, everybody’s ready for you nephew,” Baron, my uncle and Consigliere, said after tapping my car window.
My fiancée Bianca and I had pulled up to The Spot. Against my better judgment this was where they’d decided to have my baby brother’s party. Rock was our cousin, so it was nothing against him, but I didn’t like the idea of my mother and grandmother being in the middle of the hood.
Nodding, I pressed the button to kill the engine to my McLaren before climbing out then rounding the back to the passenger’s side to let Bianca out. True to her fashion, she wrapped her arms around my body when she was vertical, making it look like we were much more than we actually were.
Looking a few feet away I waved one of my Soldiers, Gino, over before looking into her beautiful face. “Gino is going to walk you in to meet your sisters.”
She pouted. “I thought you said no work tonight, Papi.”
“I won’t be long, B,” I let her know as I sent a text to my little brother. “I just need to handle this quickly then I’ll be inside.”
I could tell that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but it was what it was. When her family was around, she pushed the façade of us a lot more than when they weren’t.
Gino came over to grab and walk her inside of the building. When I was sure they were gone, I took off in the opposite direction toward the back. There was an entrance that led directly to a private office where I had my people gathered so we could have a quick meeting.
“You know, to the naked eye it looks like you actually give a fuck about that bitch,” my younger brother Prynceton said when I neared him. Both him and our cousin Marques, who was my underboss, were waiting on me.
I kept my stride, so he fell into step beside me. Cutting my eyes in his direction, I said, “She’s my fiancée, P, so watch your fucking mouth.”
He scoffed. “Fiancée, my ass. Bitch is a transaction, a fucking business deal.”
“Be that as it may, nigga, she’s mine so watch your mouth like I said.”
A Soldier at the door pulled it open when we were close enough then followed us inside. When we got into the office all of the talking ceased. The only people in attendance were my three cousins—Royal, Count, and Knight—Baron’s kids who were Capos, Prynce, Marques, and Baron.
“Boss man,” Knight said, dapping me up when I passed him.
“Be mindful of that, cuz,” I warned, regarding him referring to me as boss. “You could absentmindedly call me that shit in public and I won’t be so kind about it.”
He nodded. “Got you, fam.”
Taking a seat at the head of the table, I got right down to why everyone was here. “Now that the feds are gone, we can reconvene business as usual. With that being said, I expect earnings to get back to where they were before they came in fucking shit up.”
“Things are fine on my end, cousin,” Royal, my favorite female cousin, chimed in. She was older than all of us but she didn’t look it. One wouldn’t be able to tell she was in her forties by looking at her.
“Yeah?” I smiled. “You talked Giselle into going into business?” I asked and she gave me a knowing look.
“You know the answer to that. Bestie isn’t trying to hear it.”
“Then you make her hear it,” Prynce added. “There ain’t no negotiations in this shit.”
Rolling her eyes, she said, “There is when Kyng told me to try to negotiate with her. Emphasis on the try, big head.”
“Yeah, aight, move.” He knocked her hand away when she tugged at his ear.
“What your shit looking like?”
His lips pursed as he looked at me. “You got to ask? You know what The Lords doing.”
I shrugged. “I have to ask.”
My eyes then fell on my cousin Count. “What about you?”
“Everything is everything, Kyng,” he let me know. “I actually have the top two earners this month and we’re scouting the new breakfast spot and bakery.”
“Word.” I nodded. “I need those businesses ASAP.”
It was imperative that we obtained as many businesses as we could to clean up as much money as possible. We were able to maintain a low profile simply because we made sure to stay off the police and the IRS’s radar.
“I got you, fam.”
“Aight.” I looked around the room. “That was all I wanted for real. I promised Bianca I wouldn’t be long.”
“In that case, please keep talking,” Prynce suggested, causing everyone to laugh.
He couldn’t stand my fiancée and I was sure our baby brother shared the same sentiment. From the very beginning, neither of them fucked with Bianca. Our relationship wasn’t the most conventional and we weren’t in love, but it was our reality.
When my pops was the head of the Family, he and her father had negotiated a business deal. She was the daughter of the head of the Hernandez Crime Family from the Dominican Republic. They had some of the purest cocaine available and back then my pops held the job I do now, CEO of Port Authority. We controlled everything coming in and out of Crescent Falls’ ports and the Hernandez family wanted a piece of the pie. They would supply us with coke and we would get it in undetected, promising them a percentage of the profit. To seal their deal, they wanted the eldest of both families to marry. That was how Bianca and I came about. Plus my father always preached it didn’t look good to have a single man as head of The Family.
“Anyway, let’s go before we miss Sy’s performance.”
Sy was our baby brother who was into music heavy, hence the performance. He wanted to be made, inducted into the crime family like my brother and me, but I denied him at every turn. Part of that was because I didn’t want him in this shit and the other was because I didn’t want it to turn him out like it had Prynceton. Prynce was wild as fuck before he was made, but now the shit intensified. I didn’t want to taint my baby brother and have him out catching bodies, fucking up his ability to sleep at night or live a normal life as a teenager by bringing him into this shit. He was pure and going places with his music. I wanted to keep shit that way.
They all nodded and we headed out of the office. Baron walked beside me and Marques trailed me, along with my brother. The party was in full effect when we entered. My parents and grandma were seated in the far back of the club in the private section designated for our family so I made my way up there.
“Hey, honey.” My mother stood when I got close. I pulled her small body into mine and kissed the top of her head.
“What’s up, Ma,” I said, then moved toward my grandma. “Nan, what’s good?”
“Hey, baby. You look good.” She pushed away from me so she could get a better look.
“You do too.” I smiled then tapped the chain she wore. “What you doing with this?”
It looked just like Prynce’s, but smaller.
She looked down and lifted it, then smiled. “Your brother blessed me in.”
I frowned. Prynceton was an idiot.
“Nan, you don’t—”
“There goes my favorite ladies,” Prynce’s voice sounded, cutting me off.
He stepped around me, pulling our grandmother and mother into a hug at the same time. He knew I hated him involving our grandmother in his bullshit. For whatever reason she thought she was still our fucking age and Prynce ate that shit up, Sy too.
They both visited her home in the hood all the time, smoking and drinking with her like it was cool. I didn’t condone that shit. I’d bought her a crib in the suburbs to make her move, but she wouldn’t budge. Eventually I let it go because it was pointless.
“Pops.” I pulled my father into a tight hug before releasing him so Prynce could do the same.
“Everything looks amazing, son.” He complimented the room we were in and I nodded to agree.
“Thanks to Bianca. She’s the one that put all of this together.”
“She should do pretty good with the wedding too then, yeah?”
Looking at him, I chuckled and said, “Yeah, Pop. She’s doing good playing her part in the arrangement.”
My father was well versed on how I felt about Bianca as well as how I felt about Keiala. Keiala was what they all referred to as my goomah or side chick. They both served their purposes in my life, but I didn’t love either of them. Bianca was just on a different level from Keiala because she was about to be my wife.
Keiala and I had known each other and been fucking around since we were in college. I’d met her when I was a junior and we hit it off really well. The problem was I didn’t really have time for what she wanted then. I had just been named Soldier by my pops and I was putting in major work. Relationships were the furthest thing from my mind.
Although I couldn’t exactly tell her what I was into back then, I’d asked her to be patient with me and she’d promised she would wait. I guess shit had gotten to be too much for her because she fucked around with another nigga and made a kid with him. That immediately killed any hope for us. I didn’t want kids, for personal reasons, but I definitely didn’t
want another nigga’s baby mama either.
While I was lost in my thoughts, I felt a set of arms circle my waist. I looked over my shoulder and realized it was Bianca. Smiling, I grabbed one of her hands and pulled her in front of me. Her sisters were probably watching us like a hawk, so that was what the PDA was for. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t put on a show for anybody, but because there were people here unaware of the arrangement, I conceded.
“Babe,” she whined. “My lipstick.”
“You look good tonight,” I complimented again because I was sure I’d told her at least three times already.
My fiancée was beautiful, that went without saying. Her bronze complexion glistened due the lights directly above us and the body glitter she insisted on wearing, claiming it complemented the dress she wore.
“Thank you, Papi.” She grinned. “You look nice as well.”
I was dressed in light blue Amiri jeans, a matching blue TGCW hoodie, and hyper blue Jordan Ones. It was something simple as fuck since we were in the hood.
“Yo, K.” Marques approached and pointed toward the entrance, causing not only me but Bianca to look that way.
I felt her body tense against mine. “What is she doing here?”
Given the circumstances, Bianca and Keiala hated each other. One was always trying to prove she was more important than the other. Keiala often threw that I actually loved her in Bianca’s face. If it had been ten years ago that would have been true, but now it wasn’t. Bianca always countered with her being the one with the ring.
“Relax, mama,” I suggested, then nodded for Marques to get Kei situated.
She knew Bianca was here so I wouldn’t be in her face like usual. I still wanted to make sure she was good.
“Don’t tell me to relax, Kyng. She shouldn’t be here,” Bianca hissed, shoving me a little.
I frowned because she knew I didn’t like the whole temper tantrum shit or public altercations. Reaching for her waist, I pulled her in so only she could hear me. “It’s a club, Bianca. I couldn’t stop her from coming plus she’s known Sy since he was a baby.”
“Right, I’m just the convenient fiancée for the sake of business, I forgot,” she fired back and stormed away.
I tried to catch her, but she was out of reach so I let her be. She wasn’t going anywhere but back to the section with her sisters to talk shit. I didn’t have time for the dramatics. She would talk shit, drink, then all would be well again soon.
“Here her crybaby ass go,” Prynce griped as he walked over, passing her.
“Don’t start your shit.”
He waved me off as he looked into the crowd. “Oh, that’s why she’s mad. Kei is here.”
Closing my eyes briefly, I shook my head. Prynceton really got off on that shit.
He hit my chest then pointed. “She waving you over too.”
When I looked her way she was, in fact, asking me to come over. I took a second before looking toward the section Bianca was in with her sisters and seeing it empty. One of the guards standing there gave me a head nod, letting me know they were straight. I returned the gesture then went to see what Keiala wanted.
“Hey, handsome,” she said as I approached. I had to catch her arms when she tried to toss them around my neck. “What’s wrong?”
“Bia’s here.”
She frowned. “And?”
“And I’m not on that tonight, Kei. That’s why I sent Marques to make sure you were good.”
She ignored me and repeated my words. “Not on that?”
I sighed. “Keiala….”
“You don’t even love that bitch for real and you trying to play me right now?”
“Kei, baby, you got a whole ass nigga and you mad because my bitch is in here?” I asked confusedly. “Make it make sense.”
“Wow,” she scoffed and nodded. “Whatever.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I ran my hand down my face and pulled her close since my girl was out of the way. “Baby girl, why are you being like this?”
“Because you’re being an ass.”
“Keiala, you know how this shit goes. I can’t stop you from coming here, but you knew my fiancée would be here before you came.”
“I don’t care,” she whined. “It’s not fair she gets to have you all the time.”
“Just like it isn’t fair you gave that nigga a baby when you were supposed to be waiting on me.”
“That’s not fair, Kyng.”
“Life isn’t, love,” I countered with a shrug. “Everything is on me tonight, so enjoy yourself.”
She looked up at me with those big pretty eyes and tugged at the front of my hoodie. “Will I see you later?”
She knew the answer to that question. I set aside time for her, but never anything outside of that. I didn’t need Bianca all down my back with the bullshit.
“Have a good night, beautiful,” I said before turning to walk away. I had been in her face too long as it was. I needed to get light before I was dead center of a catfight.
destiny harris.
I couldn’t stop the tears slipping from my eyes as I rocked my six-month-old baby girl in my arms and watched her sleep peacefully.
This little girl saved me.
Barely two years ago I was in one of the darkest places I had ever been in. It was then I’d made the conscious decision to have her and was glad I had. She was my savior.
Nigel, my ex-husband, almost broke me down and had me to the point where I wouldn’t have been here to have her, but God spoke to me and gave me strict instructions to follow. Now here me and my baby girl, Solei, were.
“Destiny…”
My mother’s voice trailed off when she entered my bedroom. She and my sister Desiree had been staying with me for the past week, helping me with the baby and packing. I had finally made the decision to move. Me and my baby needed a fresh start, so I’d taken my cousin Kehlani up on her offer.
Kehlani and I had connected about five years ago and had been inseparable since. She was spoiled as hell and reminded me a lot of my sister. Nigel was away “working” so much a few years ago that I got bored and decided to find out if I had relatives out there I didn’t know about. I was mainly looking on my father’s side considering we didn’t know him like that, but I ended up finding the daughter of my mother’s estranged sister, who had passed years ago, living in a small town called Crescent Falls.
I was nervous to reach out at first but finally let Desi talk me into it. Lani ended up being more to all of us than we thought we needed. She was able to fill my mother in on a lot of things she’d missed with her younger sister and give Desi and me someone else to love. I’d visited Kehlani a few times while I was pregnant with Solei and she eventually asked me to move to Crescent Falls. I was against it at first because Charlotte had always been home for me, but now I felt like it was time. Nigel had become a pest and I just wanted to go.
“Is everything okay, baby?” my mother asked as she walked deeper into the room.
I looked her way briefly and nodded as I used the back of my hand to wipe my tears.
“Yeah, Mama, I’m good,” I assured her. “She’s just perfect.”
My mother was now at my side with a hand on my shoulder, the other gently stroking the top of Solei’s head. “She is. I’m glad you didn’t listen to Desi and me. We would be missing this.”
When I’d told my mother and sister I wanted to have a baby, they were completely against it, mainly because of the method. I didn’t conceive Solei the traditional way. I underwent artificial insemination. After all I had been through with my ex-husband, I needed to experience unconditional love and didn’t want to rely on a man for it.
I’d found out that not only was my husband cheating and had a whole family outside of me, but he’d had a vasectomy. The negro had allowed me to sit through a sea of appointments with different fertility doctors trying to figure out what was wrong when it was his ass who could no longer produce.
It didn’t really shock me though. Nigel was selfish like that. If it wasn’t about or benefitting him, he was against it. I could no longer take the shit. When I left him, I didn’t even mention the vasectomy. I just told him I knew everything about his baby mama and three children. In exchange for me not ruining his perfect little image around town and at his job, he paid me heftily and agreed to all of my terms of the divorce. Now, his narcissistic ass was blowing me up about my daughter, claiming she was his.
