Chapter 21

Kazimir and Naydine sit down at a large table, a large sectional couch surrounding it.

Pierre turns on his camera that was hooked to a computer, and begins a countdown for a live video.

"Okay, okay! We going live in 3...2...1...NOW!"

He smirks and waves at the camera.

"Yo! Welcome back to another episode of Street Intellect! I'm Pierre!"

Dréy smiles, waving as well.

"And I'm Dréy! Shout-out to y'all 700,000 viewers for tuning in to our podcast! In today's episode, we gon' be talking 'bout whether a female or a male that slept wit' the whole block should be getting married!"

Dréy turns the microphone to Naydine.

"'Ight, we gon' start wit' this girl I met on social media. Uh, hol' on. What you said your name was again?"

Naydine rolls her eyes, leaning forward towards the microphone.

"I'm Naydine."

"A'ight, Naydine. Tell us what you think!" Dréy says.

She leans forward to the microphone again.

"Well, in my opinion, I believe that it is up to the person that is in love with the person who had sex multiple times to make that choice."

Pierre nods, turning the microphone to him.

"Alright, so let me ask you this. If a man you were interested in slept with the whole block, would you consider marrying him?"

"Personally, no. I mean, you could have a sexually transmitted disease. What if I want to start a family one day and can't because the child can be born with the disease as well and I wouldn't want it to suffer with that their whole life?" Naydine replies.

"I see where you coming from, but it wouldn't matter since you gon' be home the whole time taking care of my son." Dréy adds, looking down at his watch.

Naydine raises a brow.

"I'm sorry? The child can be born as a girl or boy. The hell do you mean your son?"

Dréy sighs, taking a sip of his soda.

"See, this is the thing with y'all females. Y'all never think anything through. We can keep making babies until a boy is born. As your husband, I love and respect you but as my wife, you are automatically supposed to submit to me. If I say go get a job while I advance my kill streak on Black Ops, that's what you need to do."

Pierre nods in agreement and shakes his head in disappointment.

"Unfortunately, that's the problem with females these days. Women only want to submit when a man has money or a large dick. As someone who has both, I've experienced this multiple times. How you think me and Dréy got all these sexy ass hoes in this room?"

Some of the women laugh and Aria shakes her head, grabbing the microphone from Pierre.

"That isn't even a compliment! And as a husband, like Dréy said, you are supposed to love and RESPECT your wife. If she says she doesn't want any more kids, then you should respect that as if you were doing the same with your boss at work."

Dréy groans, running a hand down his face.

"First off, whatever your name is, a marriage ain't a business deal. It's a jointed bond between two people who have the same vibes and care for each other. Second off, I'm a male and as head of the house, I'm supposed to lead everything. So once again, my wife goes with whatever I say, no questions asked."

Naydine grabs the microphone from him, leaning towards it.

"Yes, dumbass. They care for each other meaning they'd both respect the complicated choices their marriage may have to offer."

"No, no, no." Pierre says, shaking his head. "Females are naturally made to be submissive whether you all like hearing it or not. No matter how much you may disagree with this, it's a fact. Facts do not lie."

Naydine stands up and walks out of the door, Aria quickly following behind her.

Dréy sighs.

"Women. Getting mad at the truth as usual."

He then turns the microphone to Kazimir.

"A'ight, uh, Kashy right?"

"Kazimir." the young detective bluntly replies.

"A'ight, Kazimir. Tell us your thoughts." Dréy says.

Bringing the microphone closer to him, Kazimir leans forward in his chair.

"Honestly, both men and women should stop going after people who don't match what they want. We wouldn't be sitting here having this idiotic conversation if everyone just found someone who had the same intentions as them."

"So let's say a man wants a good wife and he finds a female that seems to match his whole personality. Fast forward two years later and just as he is thinking about proposing, he finds the female cheating on him. Should he leave or try to make amends?" Pierre asks.

The red-eyed man leans forward to the microphone.

"Well, if you're asking me what I think, he should leave. It's clear that she lost interest in the relationship, but this can go for males too."

Dréy nods in agreement, bringing the microphone to him.

"Okay. Now let's say she went out wit' her homegirls for some food or somethin'. Yo' girl got on a sexy dress to the point where men ain't gon' have no choice but to stare. Two hours later, she back in the cut crying 'cause somebody started catcalling and touching her and she felt uncomfortable. In your opinion, who was in the wrong?"

Kazimir shakes his head.

"The man was in the wrong. This should be a world where everyone should learn self-control, live in comfort, and not have to worry about that type of stuff."

Pierre pulls the microphone to him, clearing his throat.

"See, that's where I have to disagree. If she wearing something Victorian-era, the girl genuinely likes the style; if she wearing something with 95% of her skin showing, she likes the attention from other men. As someone who is looking for a loyal woman, I'm not about to be up at 1 A.M. trying to comfort the bitch 'cause she having dreams about another man."

*SLAM!*

Shutting the room's door behind him, Kazimir makes his way to Pierre's living room and storms out of the front door.

He opens his car door, slamming it shut before hearing a knock on the driver's side window.

Rolling the window down, he looks up to see Naydine and Aria.

"Couldn't stand it either? Naydine asks, smiling.

The young detective's eyebrows furrow.

"Dréy asked a question about whether or not a lady should be blamed for being sexually assaulted by a man because of her outfit. That bastard Pierre says yes and that he won't even comfort her if she has nightmares about it."

He sighs and shakes his head, putting the car's gear in reverse.

"I have to go. Bye."

Aria and Naydine watch as Kazimir pulls out of the driveway.

"I wonder why that angered him so. He's a boy, so I thought he'd agree too." Aria says, taking her own car keys out.

"His sister was a rape victim and had been sexually assaulted by her own boyfriend even before she was murdered." Naydine softly replies. "I just hope he sees a therapist to help with the trauma. It seems to be quickly overpowering him."

--- 9:35 P.M. ---

Glass shatters on the ground as the young detective punches the car's window, kicking the driver's door as well.

Taking out a match, he lights it and throws it onto the automobile, the car immediately bursting into flames.

"Fuck that idiot and his damn car."

Walking off, Kazimir sighs and dials Alexei's number.

"Hello?" the young law student answers.

"Hey, Alexei. I'll be at the station in fifteen minutes."

"Alright, I'll meet you there."

Hanging up, Kazimir puts his phone back in his pocket before walking down the sidewalk to the Special Forces Department.

Standing in front of the building, the young detective watches as Alexei's car pulls into the parking lot.

"My deepest apologies for making you wait, Mr. Cizetto. I had to drop Khristina off at Mr. Richano's house and sing her to sleep." Alexei says, walking up the steps.

Kazimir lightly smiles and shakes his head.

"It's fine, I just got here anyway."

The young law student slightly raises a brow.

"Are you feeling alright? You look as if you're about to faint."

Kazimir nods.

"I'm just a bit cold. I had to walk here since my car was stolen when I left it running in order to go inside a store and grab a bottle of water."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it." Alexei replies. "I'll give you a ride back to your place once we're done."

Kazimir nods.

"Thanks."

The two men enter the building and Kazimir leads the way into a room where his co-worker sat.

"Nia!"

Looking up from her laptop, the young woman smiles.

He walks over and Alexei follows behind him.

"This is Alexei La'rine, Khristina is his little sister. Alexei, this is Nia Ellison. We've gotten a bit further in some of our cases since she's joined the team." Kazimir proudly explains.

With a smile, Alexei shakes her hand.

"It's quite a pleasure meeting you, darling."

Nia looks down at her shoes and smiles.

"Oh, um, thank you. If I'm not mistaken, you're the second child of the late airline CEO Elliot La'rine, right?"

"Yes, that's me." the young law student replies.

"I'm sorry about your loss, I know it's hard." Nia says, sitting back down. "However, I have something I'd like to show you regarding your parents case."

Turning her laptop to Alexei, Nia points at the screen.

"If you don't mind, I'd like you to examine this list of people and see if you recognize any of the names on here."

Squinting at the screen, Alexei shakes his head.

"No, I don't believe- Wait, this one looks familiar."

He points to one of the names.

"Brent Domonkos. Yes, he and my father often held talks together with future investors that were interested in the company. Sometimes, we'd have him over for dinner."

Nia softly sighs in relief.

"Thank you for your confirmation, it helps plenty."

"May I ask why Brent's name is on this list?" the young law student asks.

She looks up at Alexei.

"Brent Domonkos is suspected to be in a group called Merderaé. The crime team believes he and the group has ties to your parents death. However, upon doing further research of my own, I highly suspect there is another group ran internationally that is over Merderaé."

Alexei turns to Kazimir who shrugs.

"A higher group, hmm? Well, please contact me if you find anything new, darling."

Nia smiles and closes her laptop, putting it in its case.

"I'll keep your request in mind. Oh, please pardon me, I suppose I should help Caio with the rest of the paperwork. See you two soon!"