The Cartel - Ashley Antoinette Snell [27]
“I got plans.” Mecca stated quickly.
Breeze rolled her eyes at Mecca and hoped that her other brother would come to her rescue. “Money, please?” she begged.
“Sorry B, no can do. Uncle Polo and Young Carter set up a meeting between me and the board of advisors at Diamond Realty. I’m going to be taking that over, and I need to sit down with the board to make sure that they understand that this is still a family business—”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
“Who said you were going to be the one to take over the real estate company?” Mecca inquired.
“Young Carter and I discussed it,” Money replied. “We think it’s best.”
“And I didn’t have a say in this decision?” Mecca asked in irritation.
Young Carter overheard the conversation as he walked into the room. “No, you didn’t, Mecca.” He gave both Breeze and Taryn kisses on the cheek, and then patted Polo on the back. “There is enough responsibility for all of us to get in on some part of the business. The real estate company is where Monroe needs to be. We need to keep one of us clean and legal, now that we are at war with the Haitians. We never know where this might lead, and the less Monroe is involved, the better.” Carter slapped hands with Monroe and then sat down at the table.
Polo smiled at Young Carter’s authoritative approach when dealing with his younger brothers. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the young man assumed a leadership position in The Cartel.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Mecca responded hesitantly as he slapped hands with his older brother. Mecca still didn’t like the fact that Carter had appeared out of the blue claiming to be his father’s son, but the more he got to know Young Carter, the more he respected him. There wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind regarding his bloodline, and he was slowly beginning to warm up to the idea.
“Have you eaten, Carter?” Taryn asked.
“No, I haven’t.”
Taryn stood to fixed him a plate and put it in front of him.
“Thank you.”
Breeze whined as if she were still a child. “Uncle Polo?”
Polo sighed and pointed his fork at Young Carter. “Will you tell your sister that she doesn’t need to leave the house without one of the men?”
Carter asked, “Where you need to go, Breeze? I’ll take you,” “Thank you. At least one of my brothers is willing to do something for me,” she stated in playful exasperation. She grabbed Carter by the hand. “Come on, let’s go. We’ll get something to eat later.”
Carter grabbed one last forkful of eggs and put it in his mouth before Breeze pulled him out of the kitchen.
Taryn laughed out loud at the sight. “Looks like Breeze has found one more man to spoil her. That child is rotten,” she stated with a smile on her face.
Carter maneuvered the Range Rover in and out of the Miami traffic as his sister sat in the passenger side, the huge Ralph Lauren sunglasses covering most of her face.
“I haven’t gotten a chance to kick it with you much, with everything that’s going on.” Carter wanted to know how his presence in Miami affected Breeze.
“I know it seems like the only thing everyone has been worried about is The Cartel. It feels like I’m living out some old gangster movie or something. I just want things to be normal again,” she replied, looking out of the window.
“So what’s your take on everything that’s happened?”
“You really wanna know?” Breeze pulled her glasses from her face and rested them on top of her head.
Carter nodded his head and waited for her to answer the question.
“I feel cheated because I only got to know my father for nineteen years. I loved him, and I wanted him to be there when I got married, and when I had my first child. I wanted him to be here for me. I feel like, now that he’s gone, everything is going downhill. My mom is afraid every single day that the Haitians are going to harm us. Since meeting you, Mecca has become extra hard. It’s almost like he’s trying to prove himself to you. It’s like he wants to make sure that everyone knows he is Carter Diamond’s son. Monroe is the same, Uncle Po is the same