PARADOX

PDX37

February 1st 2023
Dallas, Texas
10:52 am

"Why the fuck yo people watching me son!" Rashad yelled into the district attorney's face. Having an older brother meant he got to learn from his brother's mistakes. The day Rashad stepped into the game he knew what steps he'd have to take to not end up like Rahim. Money talked, bullshit walked. And it was the most powerful convincer. His first order of business after moving to Dallas was building connections with the who's who of the law. He was paying a couple people under the table to keep the heat off of him—this was a big step that most niggas couldn't do, and unfortunately it left them locked up and cased down.

"W-what? Watching you?" Harrison questioned as panic flushed his face. In his world, it wasn't about Rashad going to jail—it was about that extra money that would possibly be leaving his pocket. Lord knows if Rashad wasn't throwing money their way, they'd be more than happy to slap silver on his wrists and take his black ass to prison. "Yes nigga! I'm not breaking you niggas off in vain, we gotta fuckin deal." Rashad fussed banging his fist on the wooden table.

"I got a girl and I'm looking after my niece and shit—I can't do no time right now." He added. His anger started to wear off, so he helped himself to a seat. "I'm on it Rashad, trust me." Harrison spoke as he grabbed his phone. "And I'm not sliding you niggas nothing till you get them niggas off my trail." Rashad spoke.

Harrison nodded his head, "I'll have it figured out by the end of the week—but is there anything you needa tell me? So I can combat it?" He questioned. Rashad eyed the nervous white man, his eyes scanned the small area as he held a glower on his face.

"Nah." He finally answered. At the end of the day, he was still a cop and Rashad knew he'd be a fool to confess anything to him. Rico dropping the pack was something that he'd never confess. Fucked up part of the game was if Rico went down—Rashad wasn't saving him, he had his own ass to save. His part as a connect was to attempt to take the heat off of everyone in his camp as a whole. Rico would have to pay for his dumb ass slip up himself.

Harrison nodded his head, "I'm on it Rashad, don't worry." He spoke, causing Rashad to knit his eyebrows together. "I ain't worried bout shit—y'all the ones that needa be worried." He stated. Harrison gulped before nodding his head yes. Without bothering to reply, Rashad turned on his heels and made way out of the office. He looked both ways before deciding to go up the long hallway and to the first door on the right. He walked through in the room without bothering to knock and letting himself in.

"Rashad." Officer Lozada exclaimed once laying eyes on him, he quickly ended his phone conversation and gave his attention to Rashad. His smile slowly turned into confusion when he noticed Rashad wasn't reciprocating the excitement. "What's going on?" He questioned.

"You need to check your people." Rashad spoke as he leaned over the desk, he was calm as ever, speaking above a whisper. "I should've killed them niggas and sat them in front of this office since y'all wanna play with me." Rashad spoke, sending a cold gust of wind through Lozada's body, causing him to slightly shiver. Lozada was the higher up and had been running the whole building for 8 years. A short Hispanic man, that preferred to be called by his last name since he shared a first name with his late abusive father.

"Who? Talk to me Rashad." He spoke as he grabbed a pen and pulled the single stack of post it notes closer, Rashad furrowed his eyebrows together. "Why the fuck you acting clueless like you don't run this building, Lo?" He questioned.

"Just please relax—sometimes the city sends in new hires, I know now and I'm on it. Consider the problem good as gone." He assured. "You know how we operate. It's under control." He added.

Rashad ran his tongue over his top row of teeth as he nodded his head. He'd been in this position before, and Lo handled it. Being in this position now hit way harder knowing he had Sahara and Amina in his life. He didn't want Sahara to be scarred from the most important men in her life getting locked up, nor did he want Amina feeling like she was right about him. On top of that, hearing her say that everyone she loved was taken away broke his heart into a million pieces. That moment played in his head over and over all night, internally fucking him up.