Later that evening four men were sent to Trae’s apartment and four more were parked in a van out front of my house. We had to bring the Don’s team up to speed on the recent shooting. We told them about the move to the Sag Harbor condo. Obviously, Don Carlos was an expert at this shit. He immediately sent over a moving company, carpenters, electricians; the whole nine. Three days later, we were being escorted out to the Hamptons.

The China assignment came at the most inopportune time. It had me thinking the Carlos Cartel was behind the shooting, just so that we could call on them and be committed to the trip. The shooting locked us into the trip because it was now a favor for some favors. Coincidence? Never. However, according to Don Carlos, we wouldn’t regret it. It was supposed to come with very heavy financial rewards, which wasn’t my motivating factor.

Our record company, Game Over Records, was dead in the middle of an artist launch, and yet I was uprooted and on my way clean across the world. Angel demanded that I allow her to go to the office, but I had to sit her ass down. Not only because she was pregnant, but it wasn’t safe. I had everything under control. She would have to wait until I came back. Thankfully, I had just hired new legal counsel, Frank Stephanopoulos, and a new operation manager, Seth Cohen, who came highly recommended. He was a staple in the hip hop industry. He had only been there two months, but I was confident in his ability to run the company in my absence. We had promoted him from A&R exec to Operations Manager. I had to trust and believe that everything would work out. If I had a choice in the matter, I would have no parts of China. No matter the payout.

But we didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Once the wives got settled in and it looked like things were under control, Trae and I flew back to Connecticut to see the Don. We were given our passports, visas, first-class tickets, money, and our instructions as to who we were to meet in Beijing.