The Diamond Syndicate

“Whatever, Ma. I’m done with the situation. Just don’t expect me and him to be all cool and shit. It is just business for me, period.”

“I need you to do me a favor.”

When Dante didn’t respond and just looked at her, she took that as a yes.

“I need you to round up a few other people that you know. I need to see if they want to get down on making some money.”

“Doing what, Ma?” Dante asked, but he didn’t really want to know.

“Insurance claims,” she said.

He frowned, not understanding. “Insurance claims? What are you talking about?”

“Auto insurance and health claims. We get people to create false car accidents and set up appointments with a chiropractor to go for therapy. One driver is gonna sue the other driver, and the lawyer is gonna get a big payoff. Everybody gonna get a piece of the cake.”

“You always got some kinda hustle going on.”

She laughed with him, knowing he was right. “You know how I do it. But, trust, if I didn’t have these hustles, we would be struggling on welfare for real.”

“Ma, I don’t know. That sounds like too many people involved, and it sounds risky to me.”

“Dante, people been doing this for a minute, and ain’t nobody get caught yet. Listen, ain’t you tired of living up in here?” Diamond looked around her room, for emphasis. “I’m tired. I want a house, our very own house. I want a car, our very own car. I just want to get out of this neighborhood, period.”

Dante sat there and processed what his mother was saying. He knew if he didn’t do what she asked him to do that she would make life hell on earth for him.

Dante also often suffered with depression, unbeknownst to his mother and others. It seemed as if the cycle of life was repeating itself with him the way it had with Diamond. The only difference was. Diamond wasn’t abused like she abused Dante.

This was what she saw her father do to her mother and thought it would make him act the way she wanted him to behave.

But Dante wasn’t a happy kid most times. He would lie in his room at night wishing on a star, hoping and wishing there was a God. Someone to save him from his inner sufferings. He wanted to be far away from his mother at times, secretly despising her in moments like this, although he did love her.

r /> His ultimate dream was to finish school, get a job, and move far away from the hood and his mother. He wished he had other relatives he could call on when he felt sad, but his mother revealed nothing to him about other relatives. It was as if she wanted to keep him away from anyone who would possibly show him love.

The thought of being able to buy a house was something that appealed to him. They could get a big enough house so that it would seem as if they each had their own place. He thought about having a huge finished basement that he could turn into his own private apartment. The idea was sounding better and better, the more he thought about it.

“I need you to round up some of your friends to help with this,” she said, continuing to make demands, rather than asking for his opinion.

“What? You don’t have enough of these niggas around here that would jump for you?”

“They already have their place with me, and I need some new meat on standby, in case I come up with another plan.”

“I mean, what am I supposed to tell them, Ma?”

“Shut up, boy!” she yelled. “Just do what I tell you, and let me know who you got in mind before you say anything to them. I need somebody who’s trustworthy. Then I’m gonna be the one to talk to them. I’m gonna have Pop and Trey here when I talk to them.”

“Seriously, Ma, I ain’t tryna go to jail.”

Diamond sighed heavily. She had managed to remain patient, trying to be a better mother, but in her mind, Dante wasn’t supposed to ask any questions. There was no questioning or talking back as far as she was concerned.

“Boy, you don’t worry about all that. Just do like I tell you, and we gonna be all right. We gonna get paid and move. I wasn’t supposed to end up like this.”

Dante readjusted the gun in the front of the waistband of his jeans.

“By the way, what the hell are you doing with a gun?” Diamond wasn’t worried about the gun, because she knew he wouldn’t dare try her.

“Ma, ever since you started running with them, I hear a lot of shit out there. I hear how Trey be wildin’ out on niggas, shaking them down and shit. I don’t know what y’all into out there, so I gotta protect myself in case somebody runs up on me for repercussions because of some shit y’all did.”

Diamond was actually proud of Dante for taking the initiative to protect himself. “I understand. Come on, let’s eat.” Diamond stood and walked out of the room, with Dante on her heels.