The Cocaine Princess Part 5 (Cocaine Princess Series #5)(16)

“Do you love my daughter?”

“Yes, I do. I love her with all my heart, more than anything or anyone I’ve ever loved in my whole life.” Blake didn’t hesitate to speak the truth. He felt the eyes of everyone at the table sliding across his face like butter in a hot pan. Turning to Alexus, he added, “And I’m pretty sure she loves me the same way.”

“Does her money factor in anywhere?” Rita added.

Alexus sucked her teeth. “You don’t have to interrogate him, Momma.”

“I got this,” Blake said, and shifted his eyes back to Rita’s coal-hued visage. “If you remember correctly, I was with your daughter when the feds had taken everything y’all owned. I was with her when she was still wearing blue jeans and gym shoes, so you know it’s not the money. I’m glad she’s wealthy, but I’d still be with her if she was broke. I’ll be with her ‘til I’m dead.”

“Hmm.” Rita was nursing a glass of ice water through a straw. Flicking her hazel brown eyes from Blake to Alexus and then back to Blake again, she seemed to be pondering what to say next. Finally, she said, “I listened to your album earlier today. Believe it or not, I actually liked a few songs. I’m not a fan of anything outside of the gospel genre, but I must admit that you’re one of the most talented rap artists I’ve ever heard. I’d like you to be a guest on my show this Wednesday.”

“My manager already has me on a tight schedule. I’ll be on a nationwide promo tour for most of this month. Wednesday I’ll be in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.”

Porsche’s eyebrows shot skyward. “All in one day?!”

“Yup,” Blake said as his daughter slid down from her chair, ambled around to him, and leaped onto his lap. “We got a Boeing 747, so I’m able to take my tour bus and up to fourteen cars with me everywhere I go.” He didn’t mention that Alexus had paid $60 million for the 747; Rita would have lost her mind.

“So,” Rita asked, “did Douglass get your concert tour rescheduled?”

Nodding his head yes and checking his icy Rolex for the time—5:48—Blake replied, “We gotta work around the NBA games for the next few months, but yeah, we got it all worked out. Tickets’ll be on sale next Friday.”

“Excuse me, Ms. Bishop,” Mercedes interjected. “There’s something I’ve been dying to know for a while now: Were you and Papi together when he got my mother pregnant?”

‘Uh-oh,’ Blake thought.

Rita took another sip of water. “Papi and I were married. Your mom was my hairstylist. I didn’t learn of their affair until last year when you came along. I do remember Whitney being pregnant before she moved here to Chicago, but I had no idea who the father was. We never did talk much. I was always so busy taking care of Alexus back then.”

“Is it true what they say about Papi being a Mexican drug cartel leader? I’ve asked him a couple of times, and he keeps denying it. I just want to know the truth, in case it has something to do with my mom’s murder.”

Rita sighed. “Some lunatic went crazy and killed seven women named Whitney on the same night. No one has come forth with any information on the Whitney killings, but I’m sure Papi was not involved. To answer your question, though, Papi was the alleged leader of a drug cartel in northern Mexico. I believe his father founded the cartel. As far as I know, that cartel’s been disbanded.”

Taking a bite out of her steak taco, Alexus regarded Blake with a please-keep-your-mouth-shut look. Rita was completely unaware that the Costilla cartel was still in business, and that her own daughter was its leader. And Mercedes didn’t know that Alexus had sent a team of hit men to find and kill a woman Blake had admitted to cheating on her with; a woman whose name he said was Whitney. Blake knew how horrible Alexus felt about both devastating secrets, so he kept quiet and fed Savaria a piece of cake.

When dinner was officially over, they all followed Rita out to her pitch black Maybach 57-S. The evening was cool and breezy. Blake stood off to the side while the others spoke to Rita. He couldn’t stop thinking about the text messages he’d received from Fly.

“Daddy,” Savaria said, tugging on Blake’s tee shirt. “Is you goin’ to take me to Grandma Carolynn house? Cause, um, I don’t wanna go there yet. I can go there the after day.”

Blake squatted down in front of his little girl. “Don’t say ‘the after day’; say the next day okay? Now…tell me why you don’t wanna go to your grandma’s house?”

“Cause I wanna go to my cousin Tiffany house and… and to my cousin Danielle house in Imbiana.”

“You wanna go to Indiana and visit Tiff-Tiff and Danielle?”

“Mm-hmm.” Vari nodded her head, and the four-carat yellow diamond earrings in her lobes jounced lightly. “Cause I, um, I miss them, Daddy. I miss my cousins.”

Chuckling aloud, Blake said, “I got you, baby girl. I’ll have Alexus take you out there first thing in the morning.” He stood up, walked over to Rita, and gave her a hug good-bye. Then he stepped back as she slipped into the open rear passenger’s side door of the Maybach. Her driver pushed the door shut and she was gone a moment later.

Mercedes spun quickly around to confront Blake. “I hope you know my boyfriend’s in the hospital with a f*ckin’ concussion you retard!” she ranted.