Eisani looked at Kisa as if she had two heads. “The conversation didn’t even get that far. You of all people should know I’m no snitch, and that’s what they want me to do to get a deal. I’ll just take my chances at trial.”

“E, take what they offer you. I don’t care. I can’t let you take the rap alone. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Kane, you are talking crazy. You got kids! Christen and Kai need you out there. I caught the case, I respect the game, and I follow the rules.”

“But, Eisani, I can’t stand by—”

“Yes, you can and you will. The only thing you can do for me is promise to take care of my mother.”

“You know I’m going to do that!”

Leaning in, Eisani said in a low voice, “I also need you to keep Mish off TaTa.”

“That’s out of my hands.”

“No, it isn’t. She’ll listen to you,” Eisani insisted.

“Not on this one. Are you forgetting how much your sister knows? People are not going to sit back and wait for her to dime them out too. Word on the street, Ta been setting up niggas for months. Do you expect me to protect her from them too?”

“I expect you to do me the one favor that I asked for while I do this bid. It would crush my mother to have one daughter in prison and the other in the grave. As much as I hate my sister right now, I have to think of my mother first.”

Kisa folded her arms firmly across her chest, “Eisani, you yourself just said seconds ago that you know the rules and you respect them. They don’t change according to the person. We both know snitches get found in ditches. I didn’t make the rule, and I can’t adjust it to suit TaTa.”

“You are a piece of work,” Eisani hissed.

“I might be, and if your sister had her way, this piece of work would be sitting in your chair wearing that uniform, and you expect me to keep someone off of her.”

“I wish you would’ve never moved back to New York,” Eisani spouted coldly. “Then maybe I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“No!” Kisa twisted her neck. “If your weak-ass sister had been twenty-one about her shit, you wouldn’t be sitting there.”

“You know, cousin, you don’t ever have to worry about where I sit anymore.” Eisani stood up. “As a matter of fact, don’t bother visiting or writing. Just enjoy your life.” Eisani walked away and never looked back.

Chapter 23

Big Ma’s funeral was standing room only. Nearly a thousand people came out to pay their respects. The family planned the service according to Big Ma’s final wishes—no sad music, no sad eulogy, no drawn-out service.