Misunderstood (Toussaint Mafia #4)

Chapter 1

Present Day

Unknown number: Meilani baby, please answer the phone. I really need to see you, hug you, and make things right, sweetheart. You’re so beautiful now and I can’t wait to see that pretty smile of yours. Call me please, love mommy.

“Is everything alright, Mrs. Saintil?”

Her drivers deep voice broke Meilani’s train of thought. She licked her lips after adjusting her black square-shaped shades. From the back of the SUV, her eyes wandered over to the Saintil warehouse. In a fleeting moment, memories of being at the Bedford warehouse with her family came rushing back to her. Her siblings handling business. Running shit like always, but times were different now.

Drastically.

Now what was to come of the Toussaint mafia? Meilani had no idea, and the stress of her life hit her hard. It was such a hard fall from grace that she still hadn’t fully recovered, even after weeks.

“Hang on a sec. I need a little more time.”

Meilani whipped out her Chanel mirror from her yellow ostrich bag and gave herself a once-over. The worst part about life was having to forge ahead when all you wanted to do was run and hide in the corner. Meilani had no interest in engaging in meetings with the Saintil mafia. She didn’t want to pretend everything was fine and certainly wasn’t prepared to be seen in Marcy Falls, but she had no other option.

Her husband was the Don.

It was not only her responsibility as a wife, but also her role to support him. She continued to serve as his consigliere and had an obligation to be there for him. More importantly her heart was with him, because he never stopped showing up for her. So regardless of how she felt, she was going to be by his side.

Meilani played with the long water wave black and ash blonde extensions that appeared to be growing from her scalp. The wig was long, reaching her waist, and perfectly installed, making her wonder why she hadn’t jumped on the wig trend sooner. For the most part, she appeared to be fine. The high-waisted jeans fit her thighs and backside perfectly, while the white blazer added a boss chick vibe. As she cleared her throat again, attempting to buy more time, she sensed her phone vibrating in her lap.

Anxious, Meilani hesitated to check her phone and see who was trying to contact her.

Toussaint Girls:

Boston: Did you all get a text from mom? It’s tough not to call her that, even though we agreed not to. The real question is, did you all respond? This is our life right now, and it’s unbelievable that Ossa still hasn’t seen her. We gotta go see him ASAP.

Maia: I still haven’t replied. I haven’t slept in days, and I’ll be rude if I say something to her now. I have other things to worry about besides her and yeah, we definitely need to make that trip to see Ossa. I really miss him.

Masami: Call her anything you like, Boston. I don’t want you all to think I’m trying to tell you how to talk to her. I had a talk with Imani this morning and she made it clear that Ossa ain’t interested in seeing Jazmine, but he’ll be ready to see us soon.

“No rush, but Joyner mentioned the meeting just began, Mrs. Saintil,” the driver noted politely, and Meilani sighed.

Meilani stowed her phone away agitated by the mention of Jazmine in the text messages as she exited the SUV. She rushed into the warehouse as fast as she could with her six-inch pumps on and noticed the meeting was, in fact, underway as she advanced on her man.

“Sorry about that,” Meilani apologized softly, her words intended for his ears alone. Yaseer’s eyes, the color of a rich rum, gazed up at her with intensity.

Being with Yaseer was like crossing the railroad track just as the train was approaching. It caused a mix of fear and adrenaline to surge through her. Scared to let go but not able to hold back. Skillfully, he had shattered the defenses surrounding her heart, and now, because of her father, she faced the possibility of losing it all.

“No worries, Mei,” Yaseer responded, then focused on his worker. “You can finish, Russ,” he said, and Meilani looked down at him.

Yaseer made being the Don look so damn good. His custom black three-piece wool suit highlighted his impeccable sense of style, with his expensive jewels stealing the spotlight. From diamond cufflinks to his Saintil Cuban chain and diamond earring, Yaseer was every woman’s fantasy—and lucky for Meilani, he was her husband. He wore his individual braids pulled back into a low bun. His thick lashes, full lips, and slanted, rum-hued eyes were all on display. Everything about Yaseer ignited a fire in Meilani, and she couldn’t help but be turned on by him. She even admired how perfectly groomed his beard was and how thick and shiny it looked, making her wish her juices could somehow be attached to it. Yaseer briefly smirked at her, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, before quickly shifting his gaze ahead. She took a moment to gather her thoughts.

Yaseer was destined to be the Don, and Meilani felt privileged to witness him in his true form. It was an honor to be married to him, and when the truth gets revealed, she made a promise to herself to fight for their marriage. Because there was no way he was gonna walk away from her easily. If Yaseer thought he could leave her and be happy with someone else, both him and the woman he chose would have to deal with her crazy behavior because she would do whatever it took to keep her husband.

As Russ, one of his advisors, began speaking and going over the reports, she rested her hand on his shoulder.

“Shipments have been solid. The other families are pretty pleased with what they’re getting from us outside of Revvy. He wants to talk to you about Rocco taking over his operations. I’m thinking now that the Founding Members are on his head, the dude’s trying to lie low until things settle down. He’s never been a real boss to me. And then there’s the issue of the money that’s gone. Yo, Hogg, bring in Dash,” Russ said, leaning back in his seat.

Meilani like everyone else, looked towards the front of the warehouse. She watched as the deadliest guard Yaseer had; Hogg carried in a badly beaten Dash by the shoulders. He dropped Dash off near Meilani’s feet and Meilani kept a neutral face as Yaseer slowly stood. He gently touched her hips with love as he walked past her.

“Russ, do you know how much he took?” With his gun in hand, Yaseer inquired.

The temperature in the room rose and Meilani’s heart started pounding.

“It’s about 350 grand. This man been plotting with the stock money for months,” Russ spilled, checking out the files before him.

“Dash, that’s how we doing it now?” Joyner’s face twisted into a frown of disappointment. “We just got your mom that house built in the borough on the best block out there, and you pull this snake ass shit. Fucks wrong with you?”

“I only grabbed a few thousand, on my momma I didn’t take all that money! Somebody else was already running the money. Swear on my life, I’m sorry, man!” Dash huffed then dropped his head back down. His ankles and wrists were bound, and his eyes were swollen. “Yaseer, I intended to give it back. It wasn’t only me, there was a file on there. There was an app software that was taking our money,” Dash alleged before spitting blood on the ground.

Yaseer casually put on his silencer and squatted down. He glanced at Dash, Meilani, and their crew before letting out a sigh. He seemed worn out and, most importantly, hurt, while Meilani was about to lose it. She was becoming so nervous that she was beginning to sweat.

“Russ, you believe this nigga? How about you, Mei? What do you think, Joyner?” Yaseer waited for a bit before shaking his head. “Does anybody believe he was only taking a few dollars from us? Anybody? Cause I’ma reasonable man. If any of you think he’s being honest, I won’t shoot him. Like, I’ll just paralyze him or whatever so he can learn his lesson,” Yaseer said in his deep voice.

Meilani chose not to speak, as she felt remorse for Dash. Yes, Dash was stealing, but he was telling the truth. Meilani was also stealing from Yaseer as well. She recently stopped in hopes of making things right but knew that in the end even that wouldn’t matter to her husband.

“If a man steals once, we don’t give him time to do that shit again,” Joyner said, reciting words Meilani had heard Ossa speak before.

Words straight from the mafia’s playbook.

Yaseer glanced behind him and furrowed his brows when he saw Dash.

“If you had asked, I would’ve given it to you. I’ll make sure your son is straight though,” Yaseer told him before pulling the trigger.

The bullets echoed like fireworks as they were discharged from the gun and into Dash’s body, which immediately became motionless. Dash’s eyes remained wide open and fixed on Meilani. Meilani was taken aback, and her eyes welled up with tears when she realized how close she was to a murder.

As a tear threatened to escape, she hurried to the nearest restroom. She bent over and emptied her stomach, throwing up everything she had eaten earlier that morning into the toilet.

“You good?” Russ asked as he entered the bathroom after her. “You was looking kind of scared and shit when we was talking to Dash. I was hoping you didn’t shed tears for him,” Russ smirked, giving Meilani wet napkins.

Meilani gradually rose, feeling unsteady from getting up too quickly. She grabbed the napkins from Russ and used them to clean her mouth.

“I appreciate it, and I’m fine,” she wiped her mouth while Russ watched her.

Russ positioned himself against the doorframe and gave a nod.

“Nigga was talking crazy and saying anything. Don’t let that bother you. If someone was stealing from the app, I’d know. It’s part of my job,” he told her, and Meilani felt queasy hearing him say that.

She didn’t know if it was her guilt or his intense stare that made her want to pull her gun on him. Time seemed to crawl as Russ gazed at Meilani with unwavering focus. Unwilling to yield, she maintained eye contact with him until he smirked.

“Now that he’s no longer here, that matter should be resolved. In the Saintil mafia, we don’t accept any type of stealing. Whether it’s big or small and I’m sorry to hear about your people, Mei. The way everything went down was crazy. It’s messed up cause none of us expected that. It came out of nowhere. Kind of like this situation with Dash,” Russ shrugged, walking out of the bathroom.

Meilani felt uncertain about Russ’s sneaky comment as she observed him walking away. She was not only Yaseer’s wife. His own cousin who was the fucking Don, she was also Meilani Toussaint. The feeling of being disrespected lingered, yet she hesitated to voice her concerns. It was clear that once her family’s affiliation with the five mafia families ended, people felt more at ease to gossip and say negative things.

Despite everything, Meilani had confidence that her family would recover.

Or at least she hoped they would because she wasn’t about to get used to the disrespect.

“Mei baby, you good? Russ said you was throwing up,” Yaseer asked, walking in after him.

Meilani took a deep breath and nodded. Tossing the napkins, she turned to Yaseer and offered him a gentle smile. It was adorable how his brows furrowed with worry for her.

“I’m okay. When will you be ready? Reubens home going celebration is tonight. It’s only for a few hours,” she explained.

Yaseer gave his well-kept beard a tug and glanced down at Meilani.

“I have business to take care of with Russ today, but I’ll be back in time to pick you up.”

Meilani shook her head not wanting for him to have to go out of his way. He had already done so much for her and with every nice thing he did she felt more regret and shame for her actions towards him.

“Yaseer, you can meet me there you don’t have?—"

“Mei, I’m not gonna meet my wife at some damn home going celebration. We’ll go together like husband and wife should, ma. I know Reuben’s death hits close to home for all of you. Let me be there for you. Now what’s up with the throwing up? Don’t tell me you’re getting soft, you feeling sick or something?”

Meilani moved closer to Yaseer and gently placed her hand on his firm chest as she spoke.

“I think my period is about to start. You know, it makes me nauseous and tired. No need to worry baby I’m good.”

Yaseer’s eyes, the color of rum, pierced into her as he placed his hand on her waist.

“If you’re not feeling well, my mom can cook for us today. Or we can try out a cook that Joyner told?—”

“I wanna cook and sort out my closet too. I made a mess when I handed over all my unwanted stuff to Boston for her clothes drive. I’m gonna go home now and I’ll talk to Russ about the shipment runs later,” she replied, needing some space to think.

Yaseer lightly squeezed her waist before taking a step back. Lately he’d been staring at her longer, holding her tighter and fucking her like the world was about to end. Meilani didn’t know if it was guilt or fear, but she was scared to find out what he was thinking.

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Also, we gotta talk about some shit, but we’ll do that on the way to Reubens’ home going. Okay?”

Meilani felt her worry heighten. She smiled nervously before giving a nod.

“Okay, see you soon.”

Softly brushing her hand across his chest, Meilani quickly slipped past Yaseer and hurried out of the warehouse. Within thirty minutes, her driver pulled up to the Saintil estate. She thanked him before stepping inside her home.

After organizing her closet, Meilani treated herself to a long, hot shower. Once she was cleaned up, she oiled her skin, tied her hair into a bun, slipped into a black silk robe, and headed to the kitchen. Ignoring the slight headache that lingered, she began preparing food for Yaseer.

“Let me call Imani,” she murmured, placing an AirPod in her ear and asking Siri to dial her sister-in-law.

“I was gonna say hey, my favorite sis-in-law, but with how y’all been moving, I’ll just say hi,” Imani teased when she answered the call.

Meilani rolled her eyes as she cleaned the chicken wings.

“Quit fronting, you know you miss us. Now, when is my brother coming home? Imani, he needs to be here. The running from the past stops now—and I need you here too,” Meilani said with a frown.

There was silence on the other end of the line until Meilani heard her niece softly crying in the background.

“I know, baby. Your auntie’s talking to me like she’s your daddy,” Imani cooed, soothing her daughter. “He’s the only one who can ever demand anything of me—and she knows it.”

Meilani couldn’t help but snort.

“Yeah, that’s probably why you’re knocked up again. Just so you know, Masami mentioned you were sick when she came over.”

Imani smacked her lips, and Meilani grinned.

“You all are so damn messy. Like my momma and her sisters. First of all, I’m not pregnant and tell Masami to mind her own business before she starts talking about me. I was feeling off that day and had no clue we’d have guests, so I didn’t bother with my appearance. When I had Kashton, I was young, and I forgot how difficult it can be having a small baby. Thank God, Ossa and my granny have been there for me every step of the way. My mom is even trying to be nice to see the baby. I’ve been letting her because I need the help, but honestly it’s time to come home because I could use all of you. What’s going on? Everyone been good since shit hit the fan?”

As Meilani dried the chicken, her mind wandered to the DEA. Ever since everything went down, they had gone off the grid. Meilani wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. All she knew was that as long as they were still in Marcy Falls, everyone was on high alert. She was surprised Yaseer was conducting business in broad daylight, especially since his organization was as meticulous as the Toussaint mafia. They handled things smoothly, and Meilani had learned a lot from watching him and his team.

“Yeah, but that’s not the reason I called. I need you to come here so we can talk,” Meilani explained, stepping away from the kitchen island. She used the tongs to turn the chicken, letting out a sigh.

“I swear we’ll be back soon, sis. I know it’s about that time.” Imani’s voice came through the phone, but then she paused. “Wait a sec,” she said, speaking to someone in the background. “I’ll call you right back.”

After ending the call, Imani wasted no time dialing Meilani’s ghost phone—a device their grandfather had given to all of them. It was untapped and untraceable. Their grandfather replaced them weekly, and Meilani used hers so rarely she had nearly forgotten about it. With one hand busy seasoning her chicken wings, she grabbed the flip phone with the other and pressed it to her ear.

“You know, I always forget about this phone. Plus, I hate holding phones up to my ear. My shoulder’s already hurting. I don’t know how people did this back in the day. I would’ve been walking around on speaker phone all the time because this is too much,” Meilani complained. “But I really need you here. There’s so much going on, and I’m not sure what to do,” she whispered, glancing at the kitchen cameras.

“Sis, I’m in the same boat,” Imani replied. “Your brother’s around here acting like he’s training for a fight with Floyd Mayweather. He’s running and walking again, despite the doctor telling him to slow down. Working out like crazy—and won’t even mention your mom being back. This morning, he fucked me like he was paying me $10.00. My cooch is still sore and I’m sitting here like what the hell is going on? I can’t take too much more of this man in this house with all his pent up frustrations. He really needs you all and closure with your mom. Fuck it, we both need a drink,” Imani admitted, making Meilani laugh.

“Sorry, I know this is a lot, and I’m not laughing at your pain. Do you have any idea when you can get him to come home, Imani? As his wife, you’ve got to keep reminding him how important family is—because he’ll avoid it until he absolutely can’t anymore.”

Imani sighed deeply on the other end of the line.

“I understand. I’ll drag him there if I have to,” she replied. “I’m going to talk to your grandpa this weekend and see if I can convince him to make it happen. I’ll even hold off on the sex. It’s been time for us to come back. Have you been in touch with her?” she asked.

Meilani cranked up the heat on the grease before breading the chicken.

“She’s been texting us, but I haven’t replied. Honestly, I don’t want to hear what she has to say,” Meilani admitted, dropping the chicken into the hot grease.

With a frown, she stepped back and leaned against the marble island.