Edited Woke Culture

Chapter 15- Fronting

After meeting with Avery Daniel, I immediately opened a butcher's shop called Meats n Meats. My operation was up and running within days. I even had customers. And I might as well sell the meat and make more cash. At least, that was my thinking. After the business was going, I went back to Seattle to find Avery, and he handled everything for me, but he said I needed to expand, so I opened a designer clothing store to sell nice clothes to people living in the suburbs of Seattle.

But Avery said it still wasn't enough. I needed to think of more things I could do with my money to make more money. I opened a software company.  I opened a liquor store. I did so many different things, but it still wasn't enough for Avery. Avery wanted me to do more, and he was getting 5% of all income, so I understood why.

I was tapped out of ideas. I had a front for basically everything: clubs, restaurants, theaters, etc. I had everything, and I couldn't expand any further. Avery had stretched me thin, but he was doing everything excellently. I couldn't deny his talent.

Avery was making me a massive amount of money, albeit illegally. I didn't really care. I could just compel any cop that tried to arrest me, and if that didn't work, I could always kill them.

My fronts were doing incredibly well. While they had to have he appearance of a functioning shop, they attracted a lot of business in Kent, which was where most of them were located. As we had to keep the cash flowing, Avery advised me to do some transactions the legal way. And seeing as it was the later half of the twenty-first century, most people now paid with cards, so they would have to pay with their cards, and I would mark up the price to deter people from actually shopping there.

The bar was the best front I had, as it was still a predominately cash business. A lot of people on a budget would withdraw cash from ATM's so they wouldn't spend too much at the bar. It was by far my most successful front. And, by Avery's judgment, he suggested I do give-aways, like buy a bottle get a bottle, to allow more cash to flow through the front. I didn't know how it worked, but by the end of the first quarter, I was washing millions a month in drug money, which wouldn't be the best move unfortunately, as it would draw a lot of attention.

I had all angles covered. My operation was without cracks. I had everything going exactly how I liked, and I liked it that way. Everything was running smoothly, but some bad people were interested in what I was doing.

All my shops in Kent garnered a lot of attention, as many were the first of their kind. In the past, if someone from Kent wanted to go clubbing, they would have to go to Seattle, so I'd made nightlife single-handedly flourish in my new city.

Thugs from the Blood gang were nipping at my heals. They wanted their cut, and I wasn't about to give it to them or face the consequences.

One night about three months from the time I had bought several empty shops— some were easier to start than others, as they had already had such great real estate for those particular investments available— I was closing up shop at Baba Boutique, then a thug happened across me. He was a Blood, and I could detect weakness from the muscle sent to smoke me out.

"You the owner?" He said as he flashed his pistol.

I laughed.

"I said, you the owner?" He got more belligerent and removed his gun from his waste band, almost as if he intended to use it.

I didn't take kindly to his threats, but I lazily replied, without giving him too much attention as I closed up shop for looks, "I am," I told him, "but I don't want your protection," I mocked.

"It isn't optional," he said as he pointed his aim at my head.

It was late. Oddly, I wanted to get back to my insane girlfriend so we could blow off some steam. I had recently introduced her to daylight rings, so she was out and about 24/7. While I was certain she'd become less frenzied with her feeding habits, she knew the rules about turning people, and she now knew how to successfully hunt without drawing too much attention to Lust Coven.