As a man I could tell when a female was feeling me, and I could tell when a woman was low-key flirting with me. Perfect! I would need to capitalize on this and hit her up at a later time. Shit was coming together effortlessly.

TRAE

As I looked out the window, all I saw were endless clouds and another plane far away. My thoughts went back to how Charli’s cousin, Kon Li, a wannabe black gangster, who thought he was Nino Brown from New Jack City, had drunkenly given me a piece of information.

“Dude,” Kon said through slurred speech. “I’m not stupid, you know. I can teach you a lot. I know they want to replace me. But it’s okay. You know why? Because I will be getting a promotion. The big boss is about to get even bigger. He’s about to fuck up the whole banking system. And I’m going to help him. We about to get paid, dawg!” He clinked his glass against mine.

This bitcoin or cryptocurrency technology probably was the alternate banking system and had covered all types of black-market shit over in China from organ stealing, to white slavery, to drug trafficking. Even so, I still felt like we should have tried to delay this trip. The Don admitted there would be some risks, but he said we’d have protection from his men and his allies. The Carlos Cartel versus the Chinese Triad. It was like choosing between the rattlesnake and the anaconda. You’re fucked either way. But my attitude at this point was let the chips fall where they may.

Suddenly I took a deep, calming breath, as the plane landed in Beijing after our eighteen-hour flight. I had come a long way rising from on-the-block mode to boss mode. I chose this life and I knew there was no turning back. Once again, we found ourselves in unchartered territory.

KAYLIN

“You see, bitcoin is the new gold rush, like the internet was twenty years ago. America is behind the times with it,” Mr. Wong, our escort, said as he continued with his PowerPoint presentation. We were seated on the fiftieth floor in an office building in Beijing. I could see tall buildings all over the city from the glass windows which surrounded the building. China was crammed with people. Rich people. Filthy rich young people. “Since the big market crash in 2008, cryptocurrency has become the wave of the future. We are paying close attention to the growth. A recent article by Bloomberg reported that China Renaissance investor, Richard Liu, sacrificed a seven-figure salary to focus on bitcoin and cryptocurrency, especially initial coin offerings.”

I listened intently as they spoke. I still felt like a pawn. Our business was fueling their business interest. I wanted to know how I could make this new venture our business, without Don Carlos or the Chinese.

“Did Don Carlos shoot up my house?”