swing's ransom ↠ devanté swing

one.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK
APRIL 26, 1995

"No, no no! I specifically said that I wanted the newer mattresses at every location BUT that one!" Frank yelled at one of his employees through the phone. "The reasoning is because we're about to start renovating! I don't have to explain this shit to you! Fix it!"

Meanwhile, Nova sat on the couch, admiring her medium length square shaped acrylic nails. She'd just gotten a fill-in. Before she left, Frank was on the phone, so she was disappointed to see that he was still talking after she returned. She'd chosen the color highlighter and accented it with chrome.

"Daddy, do you like my nails?" she asked, hoping that in some way, shape or form, her dad would pay attention to her.

"Those are nice sweetie," Frank replied. It was almost like he was a robot. He didn't even bother to look at his daughter's hands. So much for that, Nova thought. All this man was worried about was getting the loot. In a few ways, that was totally fine. But when she needed him, he was actually never there. Nova could kill a man and Frank wouldn't care. Ever since her mom walked out on them years ago, Frank became obsessed with his work.

She sighed and exited her dad's office. Nova had her own four bedroom condo, but she loved being around her dad so much that she was barely there. Believe it or not, but Nova was always a loner. Not by force, but by choice. She always believed that people were only nice to her because of her looks and who her dad was. There were only two people that saw her during her darkest days: Imani and Darius. Imani was her best friend, but they only recently became best friends in her adulthood. Darius has known her since high school. They dated briefly, but decided that being friends was a better fit for them. However, that didn't mean that they didn't get down and dirty every once in a while. Darius did his own thing, Nova did hers, and that was that.

Scrolling down her beeper, she paged Imani, praying that she wasn't busy. "Yo, what's up?" she happily answered the phone.

"Nothing much you know, just trying to see what we can get into."

"Whaaaaat? Mr. Darius ain't around to be dicking you down? Aye, I should become a rapper, that shit was a slapper. Oh! There she goes again!"

I laughed, "You a fool, Mani. I ain't messing with you today man."

"Don't hate. Appreciate. I ain't doin' anything, as far as I know. My uncle just wants me to look over this new lease for him. Some guys supposed to be renting this warehouse for awhile or something, I don't know and I don't care." Imani was an assistant and an advisor for her uncle's renting company. She got paid generously and loved doing the work because it was family oriented.

"I'm down to to join the cause. You know my daddy ain't doing shit but trying to make money for himself. Oh, and for your information, I was with Darius earlier this week!" Nova defended her actions to her best friend.

"It's okay, girlie. I ain't judging. You can come on over though. Frank still being Frank, I see."

"When will that ever change?" Nova laughed.

"Right, but let me start getting dressed to go pick this paperwork up. Come over whenever you're ready."

"Alrighty, you got it," the two best friends hung up the phone. Nova decided to call her male friend to see what he was up to as well.