Carrie had come upstairs to retrieve them 20 minutes ago letting them know that the Mistress would be home soon and they should join them for an early dinner. Raynoldo, Raul, and Felix gave each other glances but followed the woman from the recreation room attached to the dorms upstairs they had been sitting in. Raynoldo had done well for himself over the years as the leader of a moderate-sized organization that had been well-established for over a decade, but these people had money-money. Donte had seemed intimidating, maybe a little dangerous, but he definitely came off as a well-put-together dad type when you first met him. He wasn’t what you would think of them right now. They were currently sitting at the table waiting, while Lihte watched them from the sitting area. Suddenly, there was a lot of noise. Kids?

  “Donnie? Why did I have to miss my studio session?” It was a voice soft like a gentle melody, smooth and lilting despite the apparent dissatisfaction in it. He couldn’t see her as Carrie came forward to take her things, but then a pretty young thing with copper skin and wild brown curls stepped into view. “ Donnie! Valon!” She yelled, every syllable shimmering with a subtle vibrancy that lingered in the air.

  “Who the hell are you?” He heard a different voice say, taking his attention away from the girl, and she was pulled behind the group of males she entered with.

  “I’m sorry, Sir.” Carrie said gently. “Mr. Martin and Mr. Lavine came home with them and told me to treat them as guests until you arrived back.” She answered for them. Right, then Donte and Valon came out of a room just behind them.

  “Hey, baby,” Valon said walking up to the young girl and taking her into his arms, squeezing her tightly as he bumped her nose with his own.

  The three men watched as the whole group greeted each other affectionately.

  “Donnie? Are you going to tell me why there are three strangers at my dining table? Val? You let him bring strangers home?” The girl spoke again with apparent confusion as she watched them curiously.

  “Holy shit!” Raynoldo thought to himself and wondered if the other guys felt the magic that was drawing him in, like his favorite song, stirring something profound within his soul.

  “Fuck!” He quietly muttered as he realized he was struggling to maintain his focus, drawing his business associates attention to himself. He shook his head as he refocused on the people in front of him.

  “I didn’t want a trace of this anywhere. I presented him with a business proposition, but of course, you have to make the final choice.” Donte commented, smiling at her as she searched his eyes.

  Raynoldo looked her up and down. She was dressed in black leggings and an oversized cropped top that hung from her shoulders. She couldn’t be more than fourteen, maybe fifteen if you paid attention to her. Was she in charge? And then she looked back over her shoulder, looking him square in the eyes, tilting her head to the side. He watched them with eager interest. He guessed he should have known that they had given them fake names.

  “Ok, fill me in,” Miza instructed.

  “He has an organization that has been trying to legitimize most of their business and keep their business mostly on the petty side. They recently had a war that was, um, unintentional, but he has power in his city. Weakened, but with the right influence and shifts in business his organization can regain that power and maintain it, maybe rise as we play the field.” He said as they all came to join them at the table, the girl sitting at the head with Valon and Donnie taking their seats at her right and left sides.”

  “Symbolic?” Raynoldo asked to himself as Donte continued.

  “The war that broke out caused him to lose his youngest child. A toddler, so he and his lady are looking to have less involvement and get away from it all. He was originally going to let his second take over, but I approached him. I think his crew has the bones to build what we need here. It’ll give you practice. All we have to do is provide him with protection and guidance for his organization.”

  “Practice?” Raynoldo thought to himself. That word gave him pause about what his people would be used for

  “And you can keep it within our agreed parameters? No drugs? No trafficking? No Weapons? Diplomacy under a different name?” Miza confirmed

  “Yes. I know the game from working with your father. I’ll play the parts and do what you need me to do that the humans so often fail at.” Donte assured her.

  “I’m not sure this is what Leana ever wanted.” She said.

  “I’m sure she’s had time to come to terms with the fact that this world doesn’t work with simple conversations and peace talks. If we want to make change, we have to make change.” Donte advised as his Nestmates stayed silent because they also wondered how Leana would feel.

  “Ok. I clear it. But I want you to remain mindful that any assignments we put out, I could drop in on. If you wouldn’t want me there, don’t do it.” She said firmly, giving no room for argument, then she directed her gaze to their guests. She smiled brightly at the men, dazzling them.

  “So let’s talk business. Hi, I am Princessa Mizarmonie Alasmonsette Hyodolshi Lea. I go by Sara Harison here. You are?” She announced with strength and grace that was shocking to them despite the bubbly voice that delivered the words.

  “You are a child?” Raynaldo said, perplexed.

  “I mean, I am fourteen going on fifteen. So yeah, but I haven’t been a child for a very long time, even though we sometimes try our hardest to forget that I have to be such a silly grown-up. Is that a problem?” She questioned in a sweet tone that dared him to question her.

  He looked at his two associates, who he knew had been impressed by Donte over the last two days. They both shrugged.

  “If you can take care of my men, then no. But if you can’t, then we eventually will.”

  She giggled. The girl giggled. Everything she did had an ethereal air to it.

  “I’m sure it will be fine.” She assured.

  ~

  Within the next three weeks, the necessary papers were drawn where they needed to be. Immediate cuts to the organization were made with severance offers to get members started on better paths. The old boss and his family relocated to one of the houses in the section of the Silvercrest Estates that Valon purchased for their faction under an assumed name, giving them more privacy in the estates since all of the neighboring houses to their base tucked into the back of the development were now off the market.

  Life was taking off for them yet again. The acquisition of the new organization gave them the people they needed, but with that came a new host of problems. These weren’t Lestanians. Their loyalty wasn’t by blood. It was by paper, charisma, their sense of safety and community.

  They had to keep stability during this transition period so that the organization did not lose itself in their city’s power structure. Donte was going to spend a few weeks away while he talked to the captains, enforcers, business managers, and recruiters because the nest needed to have control over Diaz’s old crew. The plan was that he would come back at the end of Pyol (April) with the enforcers and captains so they could meet the new boss and learn her desires for the continuation of the organization directly from her. Though Donte doubted there would be too much trouble.

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  Before Donte left, during the first week Raynoldo was there getting paperwork and his new house in order, Donte noticed that the human had become practically obsessed with her. During a nest huddle, he brought up the topic, and Alex posited that he was probably just a human who was more sensitive to the divinity within Miza. Xe assured Donte that it was a pretty common occurrence that even the staff members and some students at the school dotted on Miza. So Donte let it go, but Valon held on to that information.

  They were now entering the second full week of Pyol. It was a lazy Sunday as all of the teens had been forced to endure mandatory state standardized testing, and the juniors took their college readiness test to get their scores added to their college packets that would be sent off during the next application period for the fall semester after they graduated. Valon left the downstairs study after sending Donte the paperwork he requested. They had only lost a few members of the organization who had already wanted to get out but had no recourse before they took over. The bulk of the members needed to have a legitimate job.

  With Miza’s staunch stance on not wanting to help people who pushed drugs or were involved in human trafficking, Donte had to be very strategic in how he planned to keep over 50 people busy and compensated until they were adequately loyal to the lady. Donte had always struggled with the different codes of ethics he had to engage with Miza. She was different from her father. When Miza was younger, it was easy. She was just a baby, so he took care of the baby, but then the baby started speaking and asking questions and not liking the world that he was accustomed to. He was loyal to her, though, so he would use what he knew to make what she wanted happen.

  To do that, Valon was expanding his security company and had filed the proper paperwork with Donte’s name. They were going to focus on protection because the remaining members of the Spectors who were lost since they got out of drugs and guns needed to be occupied. That was the mistake Diaz had made. He had an organization and got soft, and then when his people needed their leader for their livelihood, he failed them, and that had a heavy cost for him. They had a city that had a lot going on. A lot of names compete in drugs and trafficking. A lot of people were scared. Donte was going to use that. While they would be a legitimate security consulting firm, they would primarily be working with nightclubs and restaurants that can’t have regular security and a few other businesses.

  Donte had spent the last few weeks working with the new “management” of the organization. Diaz agreed that he still needed to do something, but he couldn’t be a face in the Organization anymore. He would move to be their “second” and become the enforcer of discipline internally and assist in keeping the captains in check as needed. It solved some issues as some members were relieved to see the familiar face, but many were still pissed at him about the war. His old “second” would now be their third-in-command and be in charge of everyday management. Felix and Raul were staying on as Captains, but they needed at least two others to continue overseeing the other businesses that the organization had previously.

  One of the things that Donte also did was purchase a local gym space inside of the organization’s known turf. He needed all of the members of this Organization to be fit at all times. Giving them a space to go to make sure they would have fewer arguments about it. He discussed with Juliana that he wanted to establish that area specifically as their turfs and that whenever people weren’t assigned jobs or with their family their was there, helping out or working out, whatever the manager said to do.

  “A lot of these people haven’t been doing anything for a while, Mr. Harison. A lot of them lost faith in the Diaz. If it were easy to jump ship, they would have.” She kept bringing up the same points. Things he knew.

  “A lot of your questions will be answered next week, Juliana. Right now I just need you to do.” He told the woman.

  “Right, because next week we get to meet the actual boss, right? We are criminals. You get that right. We do crime. Most of these people don’t know anything about working a legitimate business.” She scoffed.

  “I fail to see the issue. Run the business as usual. Or maybe not as usual. Run it as you are told. You were in charge of discipline. Diaz failed in a lot of ways, but you had connections to his people daily. You were in charge of the captains. You were in charge of relaying the information that needed to be known and to keep every single Specter soldier straight and you failed.” Donte responded. “ You can question all you want. But you are on thin ice. You think I am letting your new Boss invest in something just to have a legitimate business we don’t need. Be smarter and do what you are told.” He said coldly.

  “Jules, I honestly didn’t get the impression that these folks play around,” Felix interjected.

  “You are always overly impressed. I’ve known Diaz for 20 years. We were prospects together. He got soft after Luca was born. You can’t be soft playing these games.” She diverted her eyes to Donte. “Just because you have mommy and daddy’s money to spend on shiny toys doesn’t mean you should.” Juliana said, glaring at Donte. She didn’t like him. He gave off an aura that was just confusing. Dark and dangerous. It was alluring but off-putting.

  “Again. You are on thin ice. I don’t play games. And you should remember that you are too high in this organization to walk away. Leadership dedicates their life. So if I can’t trust you, then that is fine. You are the only one that loses. So be patient or don’t. But shut the fuck up so I can work and get out.” He snapped at her.

  Julianna was not pleased with how Donte spoke to her. She practically snarled at him before she walked out. Donte pulled his fingers through his long, dark hair. This woman wasn’t going to work. Not if this was how she was going to be. She clearly had issues with Diaz and those issues had affected how the Specters had operated. He knew Miza wasn’t going to like it if, by the end of the “retreat,” he and Val decided she wasn’t going to cut it. No one this high up in criminal or underground organization got just to walk away.

  He had been here for weeks. He missed his partners. He missed Miza. He missed Nesting. He missed the rest of his family. He needed this to work out because if taking the academy back was the best way to get his family back, he needed to make sure they had a fighting chance. He turned to Felix and Raul, who had been here working with them on picking a new captain.

  “Either of you want to try to convince me that she wasn’t behind some shady shit that went down.” He inquired.

  “I’m not going to pretend like Jules and Diaz didn’t have problems, but she could’ve taken the Specters from him. She never did. For years, she didn’t take over. Maybe she did make a bad call, but she’s been loyal to us. Organizations don’t usually get sold off, but shit, we did, so we are just going to do what we need to do. Especially for the new members.” Raul responded.

  “And if you are being real, you are offering the kids in this gang and some of the older members stability that they have never had. Hell, you are bringing stability that the community hasn’t seen in a long time. If we can make it happen like Diaz wanted, I’m not going to fight it. Boss seems chill, too. Young, but sure.” Felix said. “I’m kind of upset that I don’t get to be a part of the big reveal, though.” He laughed. Donte smirked.

  “We trust you enough to let you stay with the soldiers while we brief everyone else. We will make your trip special.” Donte smirked.

  The last chapters of OGI are going up on Patreon today.