Chapter 1

The chances of someone in the crowd recognizing me as Santana's daughter is high enough to send my nerves spiking. We aren't some boujie ass family whose reputation can be tarnished by having a stripper in the family. Instead, I am the daughter of Santana Ortiz, the biggest and best drug dealer the city had seen since Deeno got sent to prison. Although Daddy is dead and gone, his name still holds weight in the streets. The last thing I need is some stranger telling me my daddy would be rolling in his grave if he saw who I turned out to be.

Trust me, I've heard it before.

The pressure is on as I shake my head free of any paranoid thoughts. After a year and a half of doing this, my nerves still managed to bite me in the ass while I waited backstage for Lucky to introduce me.

"Now we all know what y'all came here for," Lucky starts saying into the mic.

The crowd starts making noise. I give my outfit-- if you could call it that-- a once-over in the floor-length mirror we have next to the stage for this exact reason. My red wig is sitting to the left of my head when it should be directly in the middle. I roll my eyes at all the raggedy hoes I walked past who didn't bother to tell me nothing. They didn't give a fuck what I looked like. To them, the more tore up I looked, the better they felt about themselves. We fought for confidence more than we fought over money.

"Welcome to the stage, Ms. Kandi Redd!"

I give Lucky a kiss on my way up. He ain't the least bit fazed by me. He had to introduce girls all night long. Kisses was just our way of thanking him for saying our names right.

My heels clank as I walk on stage. Trap music starts playing in the background as I drag my feet to the pole. Midway, I stop, and crawl over. This gets the men going crazy like I knew it would. I take my time licking my lips at the ones with the most chains slung around their necks. I don't waste my time with the lame niggas sipping their drinks, enjoying the show but too cheap to pay for it. I slide my body around the pole as the thin weight of the green bills hit my back. I only play up the aerobics routine for so long. These boys came here to see half-naked ass shaking and that's exactly what I give them. I pull the string around my iridescent silver bathing suit top, and let my girls speak for themselves. The crowd gets louder and even the cheap niggas pull a few one-dollar bills out and throw them at me. I make sure to give them a nice look before grabbing onto the pole for balance while I bend over.

I get caught up in the music and the Henny I sipped in the locker room and lose track of all I'm doing. All I know is more fellas join the party and wads of money is being thrown at my back. When I realize all the dough is coming from the other side of the stage, I twerk across the stage doing my signature trick where I slide across the stage on my hands and knees, twerking the entire time. Once I make it across, the big spender starts hyping me up with my back to him. I turn around to thank him and my heart stops.

"Candyce?!" Ace yells.

Oh my god.

His chocolate skin complexion makes it hard to read his face with the colorful lights dancing around the club. The club's music is too loud and the crew he's with is even louder. But the lights or the loudness don't stop me from recognizing my big brother's face or voice.

His face morphs from shocked to embarrassment, to a death stare all too quick. I'm trying to scurry off the stage to get away from him but he hooks his hands around my waist and pulls me off the stage. The crowd starts boo'ing him and I see Tony, the security guard, making his way over to us. The night was already going sour but as mad as Ace was, I didn't want to see him square up with Tony. Tony would win for sure, but Ace's crew would start bussing shots before the fight was even over. I don't want to see anyone carried out on stretchers or worst yet, body bags, on account of me being so reckless.

"All y'all shut the fuck up!" Ace yells at the crowd, "This my baby sister. She seventeen! Y'all oughta hope I don't fuck none of y'all up over there!"

With that, the shouts from the crowd dies down. Some even make the effort of leaving the club once loud mouth here starts yelling about my age.

By the time he stands me upright on my feet, Tony has made his way over to us.

"It's okay Tony. Really, I know him," I press my hands into Tony's stomach to stop him but they don't slow him down at all.

"Get out the fucking way Candyce!" Ace pulls me back my arm.

"And go put on a fucking shirt!" He adds.

Now him and Tony are standing eye-to eye. Though, saying that is a huge stretch. Big Tony is at least 6 foot 5 and my brother is only 5'10. The major height difference doesn't put an ounce of fear into Ace's heart though. He's Santana-bred through and through.

"You need to leave this club and Kandi alone," Tony growls.

"Kandi? Oh you mean, Candyce, my underage sister?" Ace asks.

Tony glances over at me, looking as pathetic as I can hiding behind all of my brother's men. When Ace pushed me away from Tony, his crew opened a path for me, all of them shielding their eyes. Now, I'm a thousand percent sure all of them couldn't take their eyes off me while I was onstage as Kandi Redd but as soon as they find out I'm Candyce Ortiz, Santana's daughter and Ace's little sister, I'm immediately deemed off-limits. I stand behind all of them now, as they all brace up behind Ace. If Tony took a swing, he'd have to be renamed Clueless Tony cause Daddy taught Ace the value of loyal men. They would all stomp Tony's big ass out if he laid a finger on Ace.

Speaking of Ace's loyal men, I spot someone ushering a man out of his chair behind Tony. Then, without making a sound, he picks the chair up and swings it over Big Tony's head. Poor, Tony didn't even see it coming. Immediately, Ace's men jump all over Big Tony, stomping all over him. I try to push through them to rescue him but I'm no match for the reckless idiots that would bark on Ace's command. I feel a hand grab my wrist and pull me towards the club's entrance. As the door closes in front me, I silently pray Tony makes it out of the scuffle alive.

The minute we're free from the club's intoxicating aroma, I sober up. Which unfortunately for means mean that the breeze in the nighttime air has me shivering since I'm half-naked.

"I bet yo ass wish you woulda put some clothes on now huh?" Ace yells from behind me.

I turn my attention to him and the person pulling on my arm. I recognize that light skin and deep-cut waves anywhere. Even if I didn't, the red and black tattoos covering his neck is more than an indication that Caesar Caldwell is back in town. He was the only person unaccounted for in the club, but I didn't think to check for him either. Now that I think about it, he must have been the ninja in the crowd who smacked Tony upside the head with the chair.

"When did you get in town?" I breathlessly ask Caesar.

My ankles are aching in these heels. He's pulling me along too fast. I can barely keep up without full on sprinting.

"Wait, I can't keep up!" I yell to both him and Ace.

"Don't start that whining shit Candyce. I'm telling you. The only reason I ain't choking yo ass up right now is cause you don't have no clothes on. But best believe, the second you cover up I'm snatching yo little ass," Ace remarks.

His threat has me dragging my feet further. I know for a second Ace would never hit me. But then again, I've never done anything this bad. Or at least, he's never caught me. He's so busy walking fast with his veins sticking out of his neck, I can't really gage his full reaction. I want to plead with him to get myself out of this situation like I always do but I know I won't be able to make my case when he can't stand looking at me.

At the car, Caesar throws me inside the backseat and slams the door. He tosses the keys to his car at Ace.

"You not coming? I thought we had some business we had to discuss?" Ace asks.

"We do. But you got other shit to deal with. Besides, someone needs to get them boys out that club before we be looking at a murder charge," Caesar says. His voice is a lot deeper than I remembered. I guess that's what three years would do to a growing man's vocal chords.

"Meet me at the crib first thing tomorrow. You know Moms is gonna' wanna know that time in New York ain't make you forget how she throw down in the kitchen," Ace says.

Caesar grins and I notice four gold teeth spread across his bottom row. Damn.

They dap up and Caesar walks back to the club. He evil eyes me before he leaves. Oh yeah, all that fineness made me dizzy for a second. Caesar is my brother's right hand man, his childhood best friend. If nothing else, I know he's probably equally as mad at me as is Ace. Somehow, some way, Caesar has gotten it warped in his mind that I'm his little sister too. But the spot between my legs doesn't throb like it's doing when my brothers look at me.