Chapter 3
Waking up the next morning, I am in the kitchen making breakfast when Rio walks in. I hand him his plate and we take our plates to the table with coffee and eat in comfortable silence. Once it's done, I load the dishwasher and start it before heading to get ready for work. Once we are both ready to walk out, Rio says "Ride with me." I nod and get into his car and we head to the warehouse.
Once at the warehouse, I head to my office and my brother walks in behind me. "How are you doing?" he asks. "I'm okay." I tell him but don't look up. "Seriously." he says. "Seriously. I'm okay. I knew for a while he was cheating on me but didn't have proof. I'm staying with Rio so I know I'm safe. I'll be fine." I tell him. Rio walks in and I hand him the report that I just printed showing the previous day's numbers. "Looks good baby girl." he tells me before kissing my cheek and he sits on the couch for the three of us to talk. Carlos knocks on my door. "Come in." I say. He walks in and says "Boss, we got a problem." Rio looks up and Carlos says "Fine and Frugal was robbed yesterday. They took it all." he says. "What do you mean they took it?" Rio asks. "They took everything." Carlos says. "How much were we keeping there?" he asks me. I look at my spreadsheet and say "Half a mil." Rio rubs his hand down his face and says "Eddie, take Carlos and see what you can find out. I want names." They nod and head out to find out who took his money. I look at Rio and say "They'll find them." He looks at me and says "I know." He stands up and walks over to me and asks "How you doing?" as he places his hand on my cheek. I lean in just a little and wrap my hand around his wrist. "I'm okay Rio. I promise." I tell him. "Good. You know I got you right?" he asks. "Always." I say and he smiles softly at me. Kissing my forehead, he heads out of my office.
A little later, Rio comes in and says "Grab your jacket. You're with us." he says and I look at him and Eddie confused and we head out the door with Carlos behind us. We get into Carlos' car and head out to the suburbs. "Where are we going?" I ask. "Fuckers that took our money? Three suburban bitches. Gonna have a little chat." he says and I just nod. We walk up to a house and Eddie picks the locks. We let ourselves in and Carlos lets the dog out while Eddie feeds him while we wait. Once the homeowner comes in, Rio tells her to call her other two friends and after about twenty minutes, the three of them are sitting there scared shitless while Rio tells them that they have a week to get us our money. They stumble over their words about only having some of the money and can get us most of it. We head out the door after putting the fear of Rio in them, which is much worse than the fear of God.
We head back to the warehouse and me to my office. I'm sitting at my desk a couple of hours later before I call Rio and Eddie into my office. "What's up Princess?" Rio asks. "I was thinking. What's going to happen if those chicks don't get us your money back?" Rio looks at me and says "Then their men are going to be planning out funerals." he tells me simply. "What if we didn't do that?" I ask. "What are you thinking?" Eddie asks. "I have an idea. You're always talking about flipping the game. It's the only way to stay alive in this business right?" I ask. "Yeah." Rio says. "What's one thing that all suburban bitches do that no one bats an eye at?" I ask and they look at me confused. I roll my eyes. "Look, one thing all suburban bitches do is shop. But what if they did it with our money?" I ask. "I'm not following." Rio says. "Okay. They shop at places like Target, Cosco, Cloud 9, big chain companies. No one bats an eye if they spend two grand on a flat screen television or gaming systems for their kids or laptops for their kids. Those bitches are always buying appliances because they are updating their kitchens and shit." I tell them and they look at me confused. "All of those chains have a thirty day return policy. These bitches walk in and shop, pay cash, then go to another location and return it. You pay cash, as long as you have your receipt, they refund you cash. Our cash goes out, clean cash comes in. And no one would ever think that chicks like them would be working for us." I say. Rio looks at me for a minute and says "That might work." he says. "Plus with them being involved, we have something to hold over their heads if they decide to rat." I say. Rio stands up and walks over to me. Cupping my face, he says "When we go to collect, you're going to be there. This is your game baby girl. You run it." he tells me. I look at him shocked and he says "You're a boss bitch now. I trust you." He tells me. "Thank you." I tell him.
A week has gone by and we are sitting in the kitchen of the suburban bitch's home with her two friends. "You got my money?" Rio asks. "Most of it." one of them says and they hand it over. Rio is sitting on the counter with me standing beside him, leaned against the counter and his arm is around my shoulder pulling me close. "Well, today's your lucky day. Because my Queen here, feels you might be worth keeping around." he says and I look up at him. "Go for it Princess." he tells me. I step forward and say "Here's how this is going to work. We're going to give you our money and you're going to go shopping. Only hit the places like Cosco and Target. Big chains. You shop with our cash and then return the items for a refund of cash. Our cash goes in, clean cash comes out, and you get to live another day and we'll even be generous enough to give you a cut. Ten percent." I say. "Fifteen." the redhead says. "Twelve and a half." I say. "Deal." she says. "We'll be in touch." Rio says and we walk out the door with Rio's arm around my shoulders again.
We get back to the warehouse and I head to my office and Rio follows me. "You did good." he tells me. "Thanks." I say. "You okay?" he asks as he closes the door. "You called me your Queen." I say. "Yeah. So." he says like it's the most normal thing in the world. "Rio…" I start and he stops me. "Look, you got a good head on your shoulders. You proved that with this idea of yours. Thinking outside the box and shit. I need that kind of woman by my side. You've always been my Princess, time you got a promotion. You're my queen and when you're ready, you move your things into my room. We run this empire together baby girl." he says. "Are you sure?" I ask. "Fuck yeah." he tells me before kissing my lips softly before deepening the kiss. When we separate, I caress his cheek and we just stand there together enjoying being close.