Author's Note: This story is completely fictional and did not happen. All characters and names are fictional and were made up.
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Miami, Florida
A ray of light from above beamed down from below onto the table, illuminating the dark room. Over the table sat a briefcase, opened revealing the content. Steven sat across the table as he counted up the stacks of money, dividing the share of twenty five grand with his cousin, just like he promised. Across the room, Ramón glared out the window into the subtle darkness. Steven had arrived at his apartment just an hour ago as it was around midnight. Yesterday the private jet had returned to Miami and after some rest, Steven went back to work. He divided the share of money into twelve thousand and five hundred dollars. One half for Ramón, the other half for himself. Once it appeared he was finished, he let out of a sigh of relief and rose from his chair.
"I'm finished, you've got your half and I got mine."
Ramón turned around from the window and walked over to the table. Everything had been done over the kitchen table inside his apartment. He looked at the stacks of money sitting on the table while Steven shut the briefcase and re-locked it. Ramón spoke.
"So, that's it? Twelve thousand, five hundred dollars yeah?"
Steven looked t him and nodded. He didn't have to say a word to confirm it. Ramón just smiled as he looked down at the money. Steven always kept his word with business, and here they split the share of the coke deal just nicely. With a big grin on his face, Ramón spoke once again.
"I might use this money and buy some new clothes. What are you going to use your money on?"
"Nothing. It's going right into a savings account where it belongs."
The little bit of cash was already burning a hole in Ramón's pocket. Steven knew his cousin all too well. Ramón could be easily persuaded by his brother Carlos at times when it came to blowing money left and right. Steven thought about it while he moved to the refrigerator. He opened it up to grab a soda can. After shutting the frige, he looked over at Ramón and spoke while opening the top of the can.
"Did Carlos ever crack and tell you where he bought that coke from? It was fine yeyo, must be from a good source cause it tested high."
The sound of the can's cap snapping echoed loudly in the room. Ramón just looked back at his cousin and nodded before replying.
"Yeah, he said it came from some guy named Sylvio Legba."
Steven held the can up to his lips while drinking but came to a stop when he heard the name. Lowering the drink from his lips, he replied.
"Legba?"
Ramón simply nodded. He watched Steven's face as he turned around. It was clear from the expression, he could read that Steven was familiar with the name. What he was not telling Ramón was that he had history with Legba. If Carlos was messing around with this dealer, he was playing with fire. He turned away from Ramón to look back at the table while grabbing his black jacket off the chair.
"Did he tell you how long he's been buying from Sylvio?"
"Yeah, Carlos is in with him so far. That was the first deal and I gotta tell you, Carlos has been really fucking pissed that you snatched that brick from him. I've heard about it all the time, non-fucking-stop how you cost him a lot money just to lose that yeyo."
While slipping the dark jacket over his green neon shirt, Steven stopped and thought to himself. If Carlos was dealing with Sylvio it was one thing, but now Ramón had alerted him to the fact that Carlos was probably searching for payback. It didn't seem like he retaliated in any shape of form while he was away in London, but you could never lower your guard. Steven turned around and looked back at his cousin before speaking.
"Has Carlos been waiting on me to come back in town?"
Ramón shook his head.
"I don't think so. He left a few days ago for a trip to Fort Lauderdale to meet with a friend. He told me he would be back sometime next week."
Steven rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"He's probably up north trying to find another deal and something cheaper."
Reaching his hand down, Steven picked up the suitcase loaded with his money and now, it was time to go back home. He turned to look back at Ramón one last time before he was to leave.
"Your brother is a fucking moron. Dealing with guys like Sylvio, he needs to watch himself."
"You know this guy?"
"I know him well enough to the point that he's not someone I'd want to fuck around with."
Without giving too many details, Steven left it at that. With the briefcase in his hand, he walked out of the kitchen and began heading to the door to leave. Ramón could tell from the words that Steven clearly knew about this man to some degree. He would have to sit down with him some other time and have a discussion of the matter. Ramón was curious now who his brother was dealing with. He called out to Steven.
"Hey, good looking out for me! I appreciate it!"
"Don't worry about it, I'll catch you at the club tomorrow night."
Ramón heard the front door open and then Steven left. A lot went through Steven mind while he left his cousin's apartment, just thinking about what he had told him. He had a history with Sylvio Legba, one that went back to when the two of them were young over 20 years ago, back in the 90's. The memories ran through his mind while he drove through the empty streets back to his home in Coconut Grove. Just yesterday he had returned from the London trip and had some hours of sleep, but none of that mattered at this point. Steven was sure to get some rest even if he was thinking about too many things.
Sylvio Legba was a Haitain drug baron, a member of the Zobops gang. They had a reputation for using religious symbols traced back to voodoo myths in their home of Haiti. It had been some years since Steven had last dealt with Sylvio. The old business relationship had ended on uneven terms involving a deal gone wrong. The one thing that worried Steven the most with Carlos shaking hands with underworld figures was the exposure of the Diaz name associated with the club. After all these years, all Steven wanted was to run a club legitimately without any old connections from the past coming back to haunt him. Carlos was already known as a fuck up after he was busted by undercover cops and served time the last year.
The purity of the cocaine seized from Carlos raised even more questions. If he made the purchase from Legba and it was this pure, then he had to have a source to an elite drug lord in town. Legba and the Zobops gang must have moved up and were now taking supply from someone more powerful. So many thoughts and speculations ran through Steven's mind when he laid down to sleep in his bed alone. He could've laughed while replaying the time where this had all began. Just a week ago, it all started with the car accident in the rain. One coincidence of a pot hole in the road led to a crash in the ditch and another stroke of luck with two kilos in the back seat; one busted creating a mess and the other had just been sold over the pond in Britain. All Steven could say to himself when falling asleep was that he did not ask for these problems. It simply followed him.
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1 WEEK LATER
Sunny skies had moved past the week with no bad weather in sight. The typical winter time of southern Florida was always hot during the day time. Anyone that had the money to afford vacations in Miami, were always best to do them during the prime of winter to escape the tourism that was always big during summer time. Today was Tuesday, like any other day of the working week. Everything seemed to be back to normal for Steven after he had come back home. He spent his time with Emily, completely forgetting that he had cheated on her with Holly Willoughby during the short London trip. When he wasn't working at the club at night, he spent his time alone with Emily. Over the weekend, they visited a golf course for a game. Refusing to take nights off the club, he simply invited her to have some fun with him while he was at work.
Nothing had really happened back at Disco Fever for the two nights that Steven was absent. True to his original thought, Antonio handled the place just fine. He spent a day with his nephew who told him about his father coming to spend a night with him at the club for a bonding time as father and son. Steven had been impressed with how dedicated Antonio was with stepping up and handling his fair plate of work with the club. In times, Steven felt bad as a father that he related more to his nephew than he did his own jock son. College football season was over and Jacob had all the time to himself now to party and indulge in the campus lifestyle he had at Miami University. The Hurricanes played in a bowl game up in Orlando that they won with ease, following a team party that was hosted at the club. Steven felt happy that he at least had that moment with his son to hug him and tell him how proud he was, but their relationship was always strained. Despite the differences with his son, he loved him enough to fund his dream. The scholarship to the local university was not cheap, but Steven would never regret it. He wanted his son to have the best of everything, no matter what.
Emily remained on his mind through out the day. Steven knew their relationship was doomed to fail at any given moment. It wasn't so much that they had a loveless life outside of having amazing sex and fancy dates. The subject of social media had come up during the weekend and again yesterday. Emily demanded that they take photos together to post on her social media accounts while Steven refused at every moment. The only photos they had together were stored on his phone and he wouldn't send them to her. The argument of trust had erupted last night. All Steven could think about was that he probably had made Emily curious as to why he wanted to remain out of photos with her. He knew a young woman like her had no business dating someone like him who could be trouble. Eventually they would have to split, but he did not want to hurt her with an ugly break out.
The afternoon hours came through the day while he sat behind the wheel of his metallic blue Cadillac and took a ride out from home. Steven wasn't sure yet where he was going just yet. Every now and then, he liked to get behind the wheel of his Cadillac and enjoy a nice quiet cruise by himself. The Cadillac was a Coupe DeVille from the year 1964 with a white top and matching white seats and steering wheel. Steven adored the old car more than anything that belonged to him. Unlike his brother Tony who needed luxurious things at all times, he would take the old blue Cadillac over any sports or luxury car. He had another car, a black Mercedes that he rarely took out for a drive. While he was driving through the neighborhoods of Coconut Grove, his phone vibrated with the notification sound of a text message. While stopped at a red light, he reached for his phone through the inside pocket of his jacket to read the text from an unknown number.
'Hey, it's me love! Need you to meet me ASAP'
A second text appeared moments later with an address. No name was given in the texts so Steven wasn't sure what this was about. His first thought was that it had to be Emily in some emergency probably texting from a friend's phone. Regardless what it truly was, the message couldn't be ignored. Steven put the phone down and turned the wheel of the car after reading the text. The address listed was on Star Island. To get there, he would have to get on the interstate and hit the MacArthur Causeway and go through some toll gates. Star Island was quite known for being an island with numerous big mansions and some famous names who resided there. When crossing over the interstate, numerous thoughts ran through his mind of just who this mystery text could be from. It wasn't until half an hour later when crossing through the toll booth into the wealthy island neighborhood, Steven had remembered something that was beginning to feel all too familiar with the text.
The address led to a large mansion that was owned by Heidi Klum. Steven remembered as the old flashbacks ran through his head. He smiled to himself once he realized the destination he was moving to was her mansion. Heidi had been a long time friend to the Diaz family, going back to the 90's. She had known Tony and Steven's father: Esteban Diaz, otherwise known as 'papa'. After his death, she had carried on a good relationship with Tony for party favors. It wasn't until the early 2000's did Steven really grow close to the woman. They used each other a little bit for business apart from a fling here and there in the party night life of the town. Heidi always came back to Miami once a year to check with Tony, leaving Steven wondering if this was her time to arrive for a little vacation.
Once he reached the gates to the mansion, he could see a figure above on the balcony. Heidi's mansion had a large black gate leading to a driveway. The mansion itself was a two-story house with a balcony up the front. Steven could see a blonde woman in a fur coat and sunglasses looking at him. Judging by the distance, it didn't appear she had any clothes on beyond the fur coat. Steven had to wait for the big automated security gates to open while the female figure disappeared from the balcony, back beyond sliding glass doors. After a moment waiting, the gates rattled and began to move to the left, opening the pathway for him to move his car and park next to a fancy white sports car that Heidi had. Steven assumed it was a Lamborghini or a Ferrari. He stepped around the stone walkway, heading to the front door when it opened to Heidi herself standing in the fur coat. Below, she wore a brown bikini bottom. Steven smiled while she moved the pair of gold sunglasses from her eyes to look at him.
"Heidi, I wasn't expecting you to text me today from an unknown number. What happened to your old phone?"
"I ditched my old phone after Christmas. I just got a new one and I imported my contact list, so you'll have to change the number in your phone. Come on inside, I've been wanting to talk to you."
