CHAPTER 9

"And there goes the last wad of twenty thousand dollars" Cage said, tossing the wad which had a band carefully wrapped around it into the black duffel bag on the floor

"Cool cash, isn't it?" Baron said, crouching and taking one of the wads out of the bag. There were five wads in total, making a hundred thousand dollars.

"Of course. Bastard money!" Cage replied, slightly kicking the duffel bag

Baron sniffed the crisp notes as he flipped them back and forth against his nose bridge and nostrils.

"There's something the smell of dollar notes does to me" Baron muttered slowly against the notes which were now slightly pressed against his lips

"Boss, I know right. Money's just everything"

"It'll get you penthouses with luxurious swimming pools, designers and of course, sleek rides"

"We live for the money, boss. But it seems like you're forgetting something" Cage said, a sly grin playing at the corner of his lips

"And what's that?" Baron caressed his beards

"Good punani"

"Oh yeah" Baron laughed

"Money with 'em bitches feels just right" Baron said, his mind wandering to the night he shared with Alexandra

"Did you hear that?" Cage asked as his ears perked up, the hairs on his body standing as well

Both men went silent for a while and the sound of a door creak danced in their ears. They weren't alone now.

"Now you run along, Cage. Seems like we have unwanted company" Baron said

The smile on his visage was now replaced with a frown. Cocking his gun, he replaced it into the waistband of his jeans.

"Righty-ho, boss" Cage said and before Baron could even blink an eyelid, the latter was already gone through the window

The door to the room pushed open and Iphan walked in.

"Richmond" Baron said. That was Iphan's surname.

"Sage" Iphan called out Baron's surname too

Both men weren't enemies, but they weren't friends either. They just didn't seem to see eye to eye and Baron hated it so much whenever Iphan tended to interfere with his affairs in the conglomerate.

The feeling of wanting to snap Iphan's head off his neck arose in Baron like an erupting volcano whenever the latter countered his words during a meeting in the conglomerate.

Baron knew deep in him that if Iphan further pushed his buttons, he'd have no choice but to teach the latter a lesson he wasn't going to forget in a lifetime.

"Seems like you were busy" Iphan started

"Well, what can I say? A nosy parker like you knows no other job but stick their noses in other people's businesses"

"Well, well…" Iphan trailed off, laughing

"And that nosy parker just saw your accomplice run off" Iphan said, the image of Cage walking off the roof he had landed on after jumping out the window creeping up in his head

"I applaud your sharp sightedness, Richmond. But I advise that you go pluck out your eagle eyes, so they don't get you in trouble someday" Baron said, looking at Iphan from the corner of his eyes

"Tsk!" Iphan scoffed

"Only if Cage knew that he's more of a lapdog than a right hand man. Poor him. He doesn't know how much of a puppet he is"

"Lame joke!" Baron rolled his eyes

"I'd rather you cut off your hands 'cause they pilfer X-habit's drugs and money like they don't" Iphan said, a look of seriousness growing on his face

"Fucking stay out of my shit, Iphan" Baron snarled

"No! You stay out of X-habit's shit!" Iphan shot back

"Seems like you're slowly forgetting that I'm a part of The Big Four"

"The biblical Judas amongst us"

"Surprising how you still remember what you were taught back then when you used to tag along with Grandma to the cathedral" Sarcasm laced Baron's voice

"Don't you dare try to siphon, Sage"

"Now you won't pass the buck and pin your shenanigans on me. You brought up the whole Judas topic"

"You know, it would have been better if you were never a part of The Big Four, talk more or less, X-habit. Pilfering these drugs and money doesn't make you any different from the traitors amongst us; doesn't make you any different from Thogg who paid for his sins with his life back then"

"And why would you even compare me with Thogg? We're two different beings. Nigga was a broke motherfucker who never had a vision; pilfered just so he could accumulate wealth he never really had need for"

"So, what are you tryna say now? That you've got some kind of shitty vision, huh?"

"That's none of your fucking business!"

"You know, I still don't get why y'all will let Steven take the lion's share and give y'all peanuts, making him look like some God that he's not while y'all are the minions in the picture" Baron said

"It has always been that way from the scratch, Baron. X-habit was solely Steven's idea. We are some kind of shareholders here, you know"

"Tch!" Baron scoffed

"Shareholders my foot!"

"And a friendly reminder: You're a minion as well"

"And just so you know, this minion is about to break free!" Baron said, doing air quotes when he mentioned minion

"Indeed! Are you leading some kind of revolt? A coup d'etat? What will you call that? The Baron revolution?" Iphan mocked

"Give it whatever name you wish, Iphan. I don't give a monkey"

In a swift move, Iphan pulled out his gun and pointing it at Baron, he said,

"You'd probably give two monkeys when you're rotting six feet down"

But the look on Iphan's face went from that of mockery to that of surprise when he noticed that Baron had a gun pointed at him already.

"Surprised, asshole?" Baron laughed

"Probably the calm look on your face after a bullet has drilled your skull would be so pleasant to the eyes"

When Iphan didn't reply, Baron continued speaking.

"I'm way smarter, Iphan. I saw all of that shit coming. Go pick on someone your size"

Both men stared at each other, smirks on their faces, different thoughts on how to bring the other down, rummaging through their heads.

Baron's phone buzzed in his pocket and he guessed that that was Cage calling, but he didn't let the call distract him. A sly smile settled at the corner of his lips as he looked at Iphan one more time from top to bottom, bottom to top and again.

Baron's phone buzzed again and he knew he had something important to attend to.

"Don't try anything funny, Iphan" Baron said, still pointing the gun at Iphan and moving backwards

Iphan pointed right back and moved forward.

"If you do, you won't only drop dead to the floor on your knees, but I'd also make a mosaic on the floor with the particles of your brain"

That said, Baron jumped through the window and, still pointing his gun at Iphan, ran off using the same route Cage had used earlier.

Tucking his gun into his pants pocket, Iphan made a mental note not to spare Baron the next time he caught him pilfering.