Lies You Tell (DE)

39.

" Does Grace know you're with me?"

" Na," Joseph said, shaking his head. " She think I'm workin,"

Emily nodded. " Thank you for coming to meet with me. I've been meaning to talk to you about this since it happened,"

Joseph sat quietly across from Graces mom at a random coffee shop. She'd contacted him and asked to speak with him which he found a little strange, wondering what it was that she had to say that could only be said in private.

" Has your uncle ever said anything about Grace to you before?" Emily asked, looking up from her coffee at Joseph. " I'm just asking because it seemed like at the party he was using her to make you mad and get a reaction out of you,"

Joseph furrowed his brows unsure of where this conversation was going.

" Na not really," He lied. " Why? I saw the way you looked when he was talking to you before I walked over. You looked upset,"

Emily exhaled, nodding and looking at the table.

" I've known your Uncle Max for a very long time.."

" You've known Max for a long time.." Joseph repeated, confused. " Before you met him at the baby shower?"

" He was Graces fathers best friend,"

" Graces pops?"

Emily nodded. " Rich,"

The name rung a bell, he'd heard his uncle say that name a few times over the years.

"Her father is the one that started the Black Mafia,"

Joseph was stunned. " How do you know all this?"

Emily chuckled. " Because I was there. I'm the one that bought the brick that started it all," She said in a matter of fact tone.

" Rich had just lost all his money in a police raid. I was working at McDonald's at the time, this was when we were kids like eighteen or nineteen before Grace was born. I saved up my first thousand dollars and he asked me for it. This was back when bricks were cheaper of course,"

" I'll never forget when he asked me for the money I must of looked at that man like he had two heads. I had worked so hard to save that up. He promised he would give me my money back plus more and he did. He made us rich," She reminisced.

Of course Joseph had heard of how the Black Mafia came to be many times growing up, but her version of events sounded far more different from Max's. Strangely enough, he believed hers more. According to Max he was the one that started everything and there would be no Black Mafia without him.

He was addicted to the power and control that being apart of the Black Mafia brought. At one point, they completely controlled the city of New York.

That's why he went the lengths he did to be at the head of it all. He wanted the control, the fear, the respect, the money. Everything was starting to make more sense now to Joseph— the talk Joseph and Emily had at Graces graduation dinner, the 'secrets' Grace claimed Emily was keeping.

" She doesn't know, does she?" Joseph asked.

Emily shook her head no. " She can't know. I told you she isn't like us. I tried my very best to raise her different. She is not built for this type of life Joseph,"

" Max has said stuff about Grace, I lied," Joseph admitted.

" Stuff like what?" Emily asked.

" Nothing directly but he tries to blame her for being the reason Dre and I are cutting him off,"

" It's because she reminds him of me. He hated me because he thought I was the reason Rich and his other friend tried to cut him off. He used to swear I was the one in Rich's ear telling him what to do,"

" Who was the other friend?" Joseph asked curiously.

Emily shook her head. " I couldn't think of his name off the top of my head it's been so long. I didn't really know Rich's friends like that besides Max,"

Joseph nodded.

" Do not trust him Joseph. Max is a very dangerous man and he doesn't care who gets in his way, I've seen it with my own eyes. Richard never came back home alive after going to meet with him, I'm the only one that knows that,"

" He killed Graces dad?" Joseph asked.

" I think so. I never spoke about this with anyone because nobody knew the life I was living. It was like I was living a double life and it was very lonely. I couldn't confide in anyone about these things. There was only so much I could tell Nia. Things got very bad between Rich and Max after Max told him that he couldn't be apart of the Mafia anymore,"

" Max was very greedy, he would go against the code and break the rules. He'd do things to put everyone in danger and stuff that started having the FBI snooping around," Emily said.

" More and more bodies started popping up very sloppily, he was going out on a whim doing things and making his own decisions without even consulting Rich first and they just couldn't risk him being apart of the Mafia anymore, it was getting to be too dangerous," She continued.

" Max had been reaching out to Rich constantly saying he wanted to talk. Rich was so loyal and loved Max, because before they were business partners they were brothers so he gave him a chance. Rich never came back home. The police knocked on my door that night saying he was dead,"

" I never got to see his body. It took a month for us to be able to have a funeral for him and even then, they returned him to me cremated without my permission. Grace was eighteen months old. After that, I packed up and moved to Jersey because I was scared that he would come for me too,"

Joseph was at a loss with all the information he was learning. It was crazy and a lot to process but everything was slowly starting to make more sense the more she told him. Max felt like Grace was doing the same thing he thought Emily did to make Rich cut him off the way Dre and Joseph were doing.

But in reality, Grace had no idea what was going on.

" Grace can't know any of this, nobody can or he may try to hurt her or me for telling you. Nobody knows any of this," She pleaded. " I know him, he's a coward at heart and the most scared people do the most desperate, drastic things," 

" Aint nobody finna touch Grace," Joseph said sternly.

" That's my baby Joseph, she's all I have,"

" You got my word I won't let nothing happen to her. My word is bond, she all I got too,"

Emily nodded with a small smile. Grace was older now, she couldn't protect her how she used to be able to. Emily found some comfort in knowing Grace would be okay with Joseph. She trusted him.

" Just please do not trust that man Joseph. I've seen him hurt the people that loved him the most over money,"

Joseph nodded getting up from the table heeding her warning. " I won't, I promise,"

-

Oop 😭 THOUGHTS?? Talk to me

Joseph??

Emily??

MAX?