Dance Moms - Chlobird

Chapter 12 : Weak Link

Terrance Berkeley stood over his newly owned property, another building to his collection. His developer has plans to turn the poor neighborhood into a high-end commercial district, and is paying for his service to remove all occupants in the sector.

For every building he owns, his developer will purchase with an agreed percentage, so the less he spends on this project, the more money he saves, and with his influence on the local gang, it costs little to remove the occupants by force.

From the roof Terrance watched his men work, shoving tenants of young and old out of the building under his feet, all carrying their last-minute packing and being removed from their homes. Where they will relocate is not his concern.

His concern was the period before the exchange. It takes a month to clear all legal documents before handing it to his developer, and like many other properties he owns, he makes good use of the space.

This neighborhood marks the shame of the city, the politicians look away, the police stay away, which offers the perfect spot for stash houses. Every building he owns is rented to lawbreakers, storing everything from money to drugs to illegal arms - a different kind of storage unit for the underworld.

His men will pick up the goods, have them delivered here, and load them into one of the many abandoned buildings where no one will look. In return, he will receive a rental fee, along with ten percent of the contents. A good business indeed.

He was marveling at his empire when his phone interrupted. He looked at the screen and sighed.

"Where are you?" his little brother asked.

"I'm working."

"I know. I can see your men!"

Terrance's eyes searched the streets, and spotted Clay two blocks down, standing next to his no-good sidekick Roy.

"I told you not to show up in the neighborhood!" Terrance grunted.

"Relax! I'm way out of the area." Clay growled.

"I don't have time to handle your shit!"

"What? Now you're ashamed to see me?"

"Stay right where you are! I'm coming to you!"

Terrance hung up the phone and made his way down, got into his car and drove.

Clay was always the rebellious one, spoiled by the attention of their parents. He never worked a day in his life, not since he got expelled from school, and jail.

Being the wiser of the two, Terrance has long foreseen the flaw in their father's career – a leader of a motorcycle gang, riding aimlessly on a path of petty crimes.

So he left the family, put himself through school and landed a job as a real estate salesman. There he learned when the law is power, the landlords are kings. Owning land means he could manipulate it any way he wishes - a nightclub, a drug house, even firearm storage, all protected by law and cannot be searched without a warrant. An ironic system that was written to protect the very people who just got thrown out of their homes.

He reached the spot, got out the car and took a long look at his defeated little brother. The image reminded him of their father, who believed violence could solve everything - a belief that led to his death in a stupid road rage. Terrance tried to take his brother out of that life, even gave him a property to invest in, but Clay was weak at management, and simply let the building rot to the ground.

"What is it now?" the big brother asked annoyingly.

"A tenant, owns me two months of rent!"

"And you can't deal with that? I thought you had your own gang."

"I'm dealing with it!"

"Then why are you here?"

"She's disrespecting me!"

"She?" Terrance raised his eyebrows.

"Well, they." Clay corrected. "They're disrespecting me, so they're disrespecting you!"

"How do you even come up with that logic?" the big brother shook his head. "You sound just like Dad, dragging everything into a fight."

"At least Dad would do something!"

"Exactly what got him killed! Started a fight with some random person on the road!"

Terrance turned back to the empty district, his well-tailored suit made him stand out from the crumbling neighborhood.

"Look at this! This is my empire, and it's growing. I asked you to come with me, but you insisted on following Dad's legacy, The Skull Riders." he quoted with his fingers. "I gave you a building. Do you even know how much it worths? It's supposed to set you for life, but instead you run it to the ground!"

"It's a mistake!" Clay shook in disappointment. "I can do this alone! I should never come here! I never need your help!"

Clay went back and straddled over his motorcycles, kicked the engine alive, the heavy machine roared, kicking up a cloud of gravel and dust before darting into the distance. Terrance watched his little brother ride away, wondering how long until a call from county to bail him out again.