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she was inching closer in curiosity.
    Shaking my head, I quickly followed Naveen. I glanced at Cory in a way only he and I got as brothers, and he moved to close off the room by pulling out the pocket doors, and locking them just in case. Once Cory headed down, Melissa followed. Inez ended up being the last to go with her scary ass, so that she could close the door that led to the kitchen in order to give Uncle Snap privacy and keep what we were doing on the low.
    One by one, we made our way below. At first, everything did appear to be an old wine cellar with various books and things as if Mama Claudette had just finished Bible Study or tutoring classes. But, as I glanced around the dark place, finding a light switch, I saw that Naveen was gone. Panicked, I moved around until I found a hallway. To the right was a fancy shower and, as I kept going, another wall popped up with a bookshelf that was slid to the left.
    Following it, I heard the others behind me.
    â€œWhat the hell is this,” I heard Melissa say. “Is this some type of maze?”
    â€œFeels like it,” I heard Shanelle say. “At least it’s clean. It seems as if this has been used regularly. What was Mama doing?”
    â€œThank God Mama was a clean freak. If one spider or mouse jumped out, every last one of y’all would be kissing my ass, because I’m out! Dios! ”
    Shanelle’s solemn chuckle filled the tunnel as she sharply whispered, “Shut up, Inez.”
    Ignoring them, I cupped my hand to my mouth and shouted, “Naveen! Where the hell are you, man?”
    Moving quickly the deeper we went, I stopped when I saw light. Making a quick left, I was surprised yet again when I stumbled into a massive chamber. The place was so big that it looked like a condo apartment. I mean it had everything. A modern chef’s kitchen, fancy furniture, a sky light, expensive art, and in the middle Naveen stood with wide eyes. Turning to where he looked, I saw on a wall a glass marker board with pictures, red Xs, addresses, money amounts, and next to it, on a pop-out wall, guns, stacks of cash, and bags of various types of drugs.
    â€œFuck out of here,” I muttered, walking into the place. “Why the hell would Mama have this place . . . and this shit?”
    I stood next to a large flat-screen television that turned on showing us the inside of Mama Claudette’s house, outside of her house, the neighborhood, several other areas where we lived, and areas I couldn’t place.
    â€œBecause, Claudette was murdered. She was one of the biggest queen pins in Atlanta, and all of you she chose to groom to take over her empire; and one of you to take her place in the Syndicate.”
    Shanelle and Inez’s, “Oh, hell no!” basically summed up everything we all were thinking.
    Looking around as one, we saw Uncle Snap standing in the tunnel entryway where we all had come from. Straight up, I was tripping on how casually he moved around the place as if this was nothing brand new to him. In his hands were his bottle of Henny, and that Mason glass. The old man took slovenly sips, then moved to a pillar in the room. With a deep grunt, he slapped this palm against the pillar, revealing a side panel that brought the rest of the chamber alive all around us. All the sadness in his eyes seemed to partially melt away as a stern seriousness replaced it.
    The old man moved away from the pillar, walked in front of a large black reclining chair then dropped down in it. Taking a seat in front of us as if he were a king, our uncle stretched his legs out, took another deep swig from his jar then watched us as if waiting for us to respond.
    Honestly, from that moment on, I had nothing to say because a brotha’s mind was on lockdown. I stood with my siblings staring in utter disbelief. What the hell was this?

Chapter 3
    Shanelle
    â€œWait, wait, wait,” I yelled. “Slow down. Say that again,” I said to Uncle