Chapter 89: Soul Searching in Advance of Goodbye
Armando’s POV
We’re already aware we failed the review. Sadly, we expected it, but Mark told me to look at this as a chance to learn more about myself. He has. He’s realized that he’s been so desperate to prove he was ready to rise to the Leadership that he’d become a piss poor leader. He and his partner barely had a relationship. His branch wasn’t trusted within RangeMan. His men were considered snoops simply because he was a snoop.
I wondered how he didn’t know all of that, but I guess Steph telling him that meant more.
He had a lot about himself to change. Apparently, Steph calls it a ‘pillowcase’ moment. He can’t pry the story behind that out of her, but he said that his relationship with her is improving. He’s repairing his relationship with Vic. His men are relearning the importance of trusting the leadership again, regardless of what they have heard or what they think, but he’s opening his leadership style up to listen to his men again instead of simply handing down orders.
Eye opening, he says. Still, he wonders if that’s what Ranger would do.
I’m not sure. Charlotte is going well. Atlanta chose great men, Chase and Rodney are doing a great job helping me build the branch, and I’m determined to show that I really do know what I’m doing. I’m not stupid, never have been.
I know that my performance in Charlotte will have to offset whatever she says about Miami.
“So, Miami. What should I think?” Steph says, smiling. All of Miami Leadership is here, not just the Core Team, as we’ve heard, but the next level down. We’re looking at each other, confused.
“You want what we hope you think or what you probably really think?” Mario says, a half smile on his face. Steph laughs and the tension decreases a little.
“You tell me. What would you say about Miami?”
Again, it’s silent. No one wants to say it, so I will.
“Piss poor leadership because the man at the top wasn’t a good leader.”
No one will look me in the face, but I see cheeks reddening. Steph nods. “How should I fix that?”
I swallow hard. “I don’t know.”
“Really?”
My hands are shaking. My men won’t look at either of us.
“Fine. You fix it by firing the man at the top.”
“Correct.” My shoulders slump. “Fortunately for you, I can’t fire Ranger or Tank.”
Everyone’s head rises sharply. My mouth drops.
“What?”
Steph sighs. “Don’t get me wrong. Ranger’s a great manager when you can get him to sit still long enough to pay attention. But Ranger hates being in the office and he hates paperwork. He told me that himself. He relies on his XOs to do what they know is right, but he wasn’t watching you guys constantly. Tank? Tank’s so busy trying to keep everything afloat when Ranger’s overseas he can’t pay attention to what’s going on. You two have already had the discussion about how he feels, right?”
I nod.
“So, if I’m being fair, they should have fired you and Antonio years ago.” I know I’m red. My men won’t look at me but we all know it’s true. “I see their failure to do that as primarily responsible for about 50% of the problems here. Now, the other 50%? That’s squarely on every single one of you.”
Every man is looking at her in shock.
“Mando is the obvious example of bad management because he should have fired Antonio, but having met Tony and learned more about him, I understand his issue. However, each and every man here had a management problem, well, except you Ren, because you’re brand-new to Miami management. I met with smaller subgroups of each major product offering because those men didn’t want to speak in front of their colleagues because they considered them assholes. That’s a problem. That tells me that brotherhood here in Miami is gone.”
We’re all looking at each other in shame.
“Your men don’t feel comfortable talking to you. They feared retribution for telling the truth. That’s a huge problem. Do your men feel they can come to you with their problems? If they don’t, you need to fix that.
Antonio was a problem, yes, but he’s only a problem if you allow him to take over. You men allowed him to take over. And his little clique wasn’t just bodyguards. Pedro was research. Patrice was monitoring. There were ways to handle them. There were ways to get rid of them. You’re creative men. I’ve seen it. So what happened here? Why did you allow them to just take over? And what stops another Antonio from taking over here in the future?”
She sounds bewildered. We have no answer for it.
“I don’t need an answer right now but I want all of you to think about it. That’s why I wanted to meet with all of you as a group. You need to rebuild brotherhood in this branch. That’s your biggest issue. Brotherhood died because you had a man you hated and you couldn’t get rid of him, but you should have and could have strengthened the brotherhood against him to get rid of him in other ways. You all knew Mando would catch hell at home if he fired him. None of you could come up with a way to get rid of him, to convince him to quit? You all hated him.”
She sighs and looks at Mario. “I remember what you said about accepting someone because he’s a brother but tell me this: was Tony really a brother? You yourself said that you realized that Mando and Diego would fight and die with you. Tony would have a great excuse for your family if you died. Is that brotherhood?”
“No,” Deuce says quietly.
Steph nods. “Can it be done? Yes. San Antonio froze Shane out.” Eyebrows rise. “Yeah. That brotherhood is new and strong. Those men turned the brotherhood on Shane and froze him out until he quit.” Everyone looks at each other. Our faces clearly say, hmm. “Now, I’ve seen some glimpses of brotherhood since I arrived. I see it among all of you. Now that the cancer is gone”—a few chuckles—”you’re coming back stronger. You already know what your biggest problem is.”
“The sexism,” Braulio says.
“Right. Fix that,” Steph says, sitting forward with a fierce look on her face. “Not only is it a danger with our customers, but the XOs are floating the idea of hiring women into each branch. I’ve held off for two reasons. One, I don’t want to disrupt the brotherhood, especially in a branch like this where it has to be rebuilt. Second, I don’t want any woman to come in and have to face what I did. I’d sue all of you for hostile workplace.”
We all swallow hard.
“Honestly, when the head of HR visits and gets groped in less than six hours, I lose interest in bringing women into this company. She didn’t face that problem in Trenton. She comes to company headquarters and gets groped. I seriously considered closing this branch off that incident alone. Thankfully, Candy knows how to handle that, but she shouldn’t have to put a stiletto in a man’s foot for him to get the point to respect women.”
We nod.
“Right,” Ryan says quietly. “That’s what sexism is about. Lack of respect. Sexism is rampant here because there was a lack of respect for management here. Again, the brotherhood. Every man should respect each other. I shouldn’t have to issue death threats to keep the men out of accounting. If I tell them to stay out, that should be the end of that.”
We all stare at Ryan before acknowledging, silently, that he’s right. Steph looks impressed.
“Right. Also, I’m announcing, officially, that Maria and Rafe are transferring to San Antonio.”
The men groan. That’s a blow.
“You guys failed my grandma and the San Antonio men want Maria and Rafe back. Lourdes and Eduardo are going to Charlotte. You’ll be without a housekeeper until Ranger comes back and makes a decision but if he asks me, I’ll tell him not to rehire one until he’s ready to move here permanently.”
I swallow hard and look at the men. Each man realizes that Miami will be the only location without a housekeeper and they might not get one for years.
“So, my official findings?” We look over at her. She’s smiling. “Brotherhood has to be fixed here. Get together and remind yourselves of why you’re brothers, why you are RangeMen. The worst of the branch has been transferred elsewhere, but I have no idea what will happen to those men when Ranger returns. They might be fired and they might not.”
Our mouths drop but Steph nods. “The entire company has a problem with sexism. It’s not just you, but you’re the worst of the bunch. The attitude exercises you guys will do here will be done all across the company. Those men may return to this branch with their heads back on right and with a new respect for everyone, especially women. I don’t know. I’ve seen stranger things happen.”
She looks directly at me and smiles. I chuckle. Mark.
“Anyway, they may come home and be retained. They’ll still be brothers. You’ll need to welcome them back but make sure they understand that it won’t be tolerated. The XOs certainly intend to ensure that those men understand that their attitudes won’t be welcome in the other branches. If and when those men come back here, the attitude here needs to be the same: We don’t and won’t tolerate disrespect of anyone. Frankly, each of you remains because Miami management balanced on the safe side of the numbers.”
That gets the first real smiles in the room.
“Anyway, repair the rep. Repair the brotherhood. Prepare for Ranger’s return.”
“Officially?” Ryan asks.
“Officially, you failed. You come out as ‘Needs Improvement’, just like Boston.” Every man releases a breath. “Business-wise, this branch is doing well, much better than I expected. Your problems are internal. Ren, you have a tough job ahead of you.” He nods, taking notes. “Feel free to call me or Leadership Core along with Mando. Lester plans to come in when I leave.” She laughs. “You’ll need Golden Tongue’s help.”
“Golden Tongue?” Ren asks, a small smile on his face.
“Ram is nicknamed ‘Silver Tongue’ in Trenton because he’s almost as good as Les.” We laugh. “Anyway, Les is great at calming angry clients.” She looks at Thomas. “Pull your suit and prepare to learn from the best.” Thomas grins. “Questions?”
No questions. Everyone else leaves and I look at Steph. “Curiosity question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Boston failed and we’re ‘Needs Improvement’?” I ask, bewildered.
She smiles. “Boston is officially ‘Incomplete’, but they had personal and business problems.”
“Our personal problems affected business.”
She nods. “Yeah, but they had business lines they weren’t chasing because of their problems. You have all possible business lines going and everything running well except bodyguards. You fix that and the personal problems and you’re fine. I’ve met with our angriest clients. I’ve let them know that the worst sexists are gone and that Antonio was fired. They’re still peeved, but I asked them to give us time. Sexism can’t be eradicated overnight, as many of them know.”
She laughs and I smile. “So, I’ve done what I can. I’ve put the word out that the branch is definitely under HR review, Antonio’s gone, and the worst men are gone. Most of the women I talked to were interested in knowing how I tested for the sexism here, so that helped.”
“Thank you,” I murmur. She closes the door.
“Tony? How’s he taking his dismissal?”
I shrug. “No idea. He’s missing.” I look at her. She looks confused. “I’m determined not to ask questions I don’t want the answers to.”
Her eyes widen. “You think . . . “
“I think I’ll never ask,” I reply firmly.
“He’s family,” she says, confused, but I shake my head.
“No. He was a pain in my ass.” I sit down and motion for her to sit. “Mariela told me that I had to get some counseling while we were in Charlotte. I’ve been seeing a counselor about my family issues. She spoke to me, Mari, and my brothers and she believes that my family is toxic to my well-being. She believes Tony, my aunt Chita, and my mother all exhibit signs of being narcissists.” I swallow hard to fight the tears. “They literally held my family hostage for years with their petty vendettas and squabbles. I was the scapegoat while Tony was—”
“The perfect one,” Steph murmurs. I look up at her and smile tightly. She gets up and sits next to me. We lean against each other in silence for a few minutes.
“Counseling is working out?”
I nod. “Mari was right, as usual.” I chuckle. “I had to get away from them again. I’ve run from them for years, college, the military, Flagami, anything I could do but I always ended up right back under them. I told my family that my mother will never move in with me again.
I have to cut off anyone toxic to my emotional health until I’m strong enough to handle it again. My brothers started counseling after I told them how much it was helping me. Seeing my sexism score just solidified it for me. I have to work on me and I have to keep my family out of my life until I’m stronger.” My girls need to see that Daddy respects women so they understand what they should look for in a man someday.
She nods. “You want to stay in Charlotte?”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say “Yes!” but I stop. “Let me talk to Mari first.” I smile. “I make decisions like that with her. If she’s not happy, I’m a miserable man.”
“Good,” Steph says, smiling. She pats my back and leaves.
I look around my office and smile. ‘Needs Improvement’. We failed but we’re already coming back.
We have to fix the brotherhood here.
Diego’s POV
I’m kicked back in my office, staring at the walls.
We failed. Thomas and I knew we would, so we concentrated less on trying to pass and more on making sure that Steph was able to uncover every problem we had so she could give us a true idea of what was going on here.
The brotherhood, or lack of, was the problem. Again, something simple. I saw it in NYC and it was obvious there. I knew it was a problem here, but knowing that it’s the true problem makes me wonder if I’m any good as a strategist. I can hunt down work but my own branch was in the shitter. Jesucristo.
I look over and Steph is stepping through my door. She takes a seat in my chair and I pass her water. It’s silent. I’m sitting forward now, pen in hand, ready to take orders. She shakes her head and motions for me to put the pen away.
“One on one,” she says. I smile. “How do you plan to fix the brotherhood here?”
I’ve been thinking about that. “Sounds like it’s time for some team building exercises.” I smile. “Honestly, you’ve given me the best ideas. RangeWorld is one big dick-measuring contest.” She laughs till she cries and I smile. “Really! Every XO, every strategist, every liaison, we’re always in there talking shit to each other, discussing how our branches are the best and sharing info.
Competition has built the brotherhood in this company, so I’m thinking that’s what I’m going to use for this branch. Competitions, not just work but play. Paint-balling, regatta, Iron Man competitions, that kinda stuff. Allows the men to have a basis to talk shit to each other.”
She nods, smiling. “Great idea, Diggy.” She stands to leave and I frown.
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.” She laughs. “What? You expected me to rake you over the coals?”
I shrug. “I didn’t know what you were going to do.”
She shakes her head and stares out of my window. My view sucks. I have the highway. “Tank is watching you,” she says quietly. My smile drops. “I want to see you succeed.” I smile cautiously and she grins at me. “He’s pleased so far. You’re impressing him and, from what I understand, the San Antonio men are watching you carefully. They’ve heard the rumor that you’re the front-runner to be their XO. You have a lot of eyes on you. Show them why you’re the front-runner in a one-man race.” She knocks on my desk and leaves.
I kick back, grinning. Yeah, I’m taking San Antonio but I need to show why I’ve earned it.
The skillset to be an XO is different from the skillset to be a strategist but they overlap. I’m doing both jobs right now but I’m making sure I can handle it. I don’t want Tank thinking I can’t handle the job or any job he throws at me.
I smile. Rebuild the brotherhood, starting with rebuilding respect for leadership. I did it in NYC. I can do it here. I start making a list of events the men can compete against each other in.
Thomas’s POV
I’m staring at the numbers in RangeWorld, trying to avoid Mack’s eyes.
“Why?”
I sigh. I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid him for long. “Ahmed and Hamid.”
“What?” Mack looks completely confused. I minimize RangeWorld and stare at him.
“Those fuckers planned to run their mouths the first moment they could,” I tell him quietly. “They were a danger. They’d already talked. That’s why.” I kick back and stare at him before glancing at my door. Locked. Good. “Steph has big plans for you, son.” His eyes widen. “She sees you taking Diggy’s spot down here. You’ve impressed the hell out of everyone.”
A slow grin spreads across his face. Mack’s truly pleased and he swallows hard. I nod.
“Exactly. She’s ready to promote you up, make you a leader, but if those fuckers talked about even half of the shit they knew, they’d take the business down. They had to be contained. I was hearing all kinds of shit in the networks. That’s why.”
Mack’s quiet. I look at him. “You came down here and in three weeks, you managed to snag six bodyguard contracts. You got out there and hustled for contracts and this isn’t even your damn branch. You did what had to be done and Steph made sure it got counted in your weekly numbers. So work you got us got counted in NYC’s numbers. Diggy’s gonna be pissed when he realizes. I hope you’re gone by then.”
We break out in laughter. Mack wipes his eyes.
“She believes in me. It’s . . .” He falls silent but I nod in understanding.
“Yeah. So I looked at what was going on and realized that I had to do what needed to be done. Mando’s coming back—”
“Explain that shit to me, cuz right now I just think his ass is weak, son,” Mack says, looking pissed. I sigh and give Mack an overview of Mando’s family. When I’m done, Mack’s sitting back, sobered.
“Damn! That’s fucked up. His mamí is that chick?”
“Yeah, she’s that chick. His mamí, his tía and Tony. So Steph saved him by getting him away from them. The man you’ve seen lately, that’s old Mando coming back. Mando was take no prisoners when I first met him. Don’t sleep on Mando. Anyway, Mando’s coming back, Diggy’s possibly getting a promotion and if that happens, you get a promotion. Steph’s making shit happen. Diggy and I are thinking about praying to her. She gets shit done.”
Mack falls out laughing and I join him. We finally sober and wipe our eyes.
“Still, Raptor?”
I nod. “Your boys need to see that it’s possible. It’s possible not only to get out of the hood, but it’s possible to make mistakes, big ones, and still come back strong. They need to see that if you work hard and truly make up for the shit you’ve done, you can still make it because their daddy did. You worked hard, Cuz, put them first, busted your ass, and things are happening. I wanted to make sure that a few fuckers with a grudge didn’t fuck it up for everyone.”
He nods. “You think you did it clean?”
“I think so. Mando’s not asking me questions. I think he suspects but if I know Mando, he’ll never ask.”
“You think you and he will be cool?”
I stare at my screen. “I dunno. I hope so. I think so.”
“We will.” I look up. Mando’s in the doorway, keys in hand. He shuts the door behind him and strides over and extends his hand. I take it and he yanks me out of the chair and hugs me tight. I squeeze back and smile. He nods at Mack.
“I’ll never ask questions,” he says quietly. “I don’t want to know.”
I feel relief deep in my core. “Your family?”
He shrugs. “I know this is cold, but I don’t give a damn. They ran me down for years. Even now, they’re harassing me to call out RangeMan resources to find his ass after I’ve already told them no.” He looks at me. “Your alibi clean?”
“I was the last man to see all of them alive. I’ll be questioned, heavily, but I should be OK.”
Mando nods. “Let me know. I’ll work to get my family to drop it.” Mando nods at Mack and leaves.
Mack looks at me in wonder. “That’s ice cold, son.”
I smile and resettle in my chair, pulling up RangeWorld again. “That’s the Mando I originally met.”
Steph’s POV
Maria and I are on 8, repacking for me to go home. I smile at her.
“So, you and Rafe—” She starts laughing.
“Not you too!” she says, throwing her hands up. I laugh. “Lula asks every day!”
“And?” I ask, smiling. I sit on the bed next to Manny, who is napping again. Manny’s overdue for a haircut. My favorite curls are back. I run my fingers through his hair and smile at Maria, waiting.
“We’re taking things slowly,” she says quietly. “I really like Rafe. I don’t want him to think that I’m just replacing Armand with him. I like Rafe for who he is.”
Maria finishes packing my clothes and leaves. I sit back against the pillows and stare at the ceiling. Manny curls his tiny body up against me and I smile at him.
Miami’s finally done. I’ve had enough. I’m ready to go home and rest for a while. San Antonio is next and I have a pillowcase to deliver to BLT but I have to be careful about how I do it.
RangeMan was a mess because they stayed in Trenton trying to save my life all the time and I’m grateful, but this is their business. They should have been honest with me. They should have told me. OK, yeah, I would have taken an immediate trip to Denial Land but at least I would have known. I would have made changes.
I look up at the ceiling. Would I have made changes? Honestly? I mean, even after breaking my leg I gave Hec a hard time about making the changes I knew I had to. It took me five months and a kick in the ass from Ella for me to accept that I had to make the changes needed. Sigh. Shit. No, I wouldn’t have made the changes. I would have fought about it. I made the changes this time only because I had no other options.
Still, this is their business. I have to be careful. On one hand, I can see how much they love me because RangeMan was having multiple problems and they never investigated. On the other hand, did it take all four of them to rescue me?
I cringe. Tank ran the business. Bobby stayed to ensure I got medical attention. Les was running the branch when Ranger wasn’t there, according to Ram.
Ranger.
He and I are really going to have it out when this op is over.
I meet with the men the next morning. Mario and Deuce are smiling.
“We heard about the swag issue.”
Hal groans and everyone breaks into laughter.
“No! No swag! Seriously! I have payback to deliver to NYC and Boston and you’ve already had a dose of Edna,” Hal says, peeved. Everyone laughs.
“We agree,” Mario says, smiling. “We think the swag’s done at this point.”
I smile. Hal looks curious but suspicious.
“I mean, we could have gotten the CO a RangeMan bikini,” Braulio says, walking forward with a bag, and everyone breaks into laughter. I look in the bag and Candy whistles.
Black bikinis, silver bikinis, even a leather bikini with RangeMan embossed on it everywhere. “But,” Deuce continues, “we considered that somewhat tacky. Well, until we considered that this is Florida and the CO would fit right in with a leather bikini.”
“Riding crop?” I ask, holding the one in the bag up. Candy is looking at the bikini bottoms.
“It’ll have to do until we can get the whip,” Braulio answers, and the Miami men double over in laughs. Hal is shaking his head in annoyance. His lips are a thin line. Mack’s taking pictures, laughing his ass off.
“So we considered what we could get her that would be big. Personal. And we realized that the rest of the company had outfitted her well,” Mario says. “You didn’t leave much for us to give her.”
“Until Maria pointed out something basic. The CO takes lots of notes,” Ryan says, smiling. Ryan, Mario, Deuce, and Ren pull bags from behind them. “So we thought about it and decided that she should have the best paper and pens for her important thoughts.”
“So, we got you two embossed folios, personalized stationery, personalized pens, everything a top businesswoman needs to make sure everyone knows she’s writing down important thoughts,” Thomas finishes. The Miami men cheer, the men from the other branches laugh, and Hal smiles behind me. “As long as it’s not clothes,” I hear him mutter. I look at the selection of fine stationery the men purchased and smile.
“What’s a jotter card?” I ask, holding one up.
“Think of it as a Post-It note in a post-card size,” Mando replies.
I look at the gift and smile. “Thank you. This is wonderful.” I look at the pens with my name on them. “Well, that solves the problem of proving my pens have been stolen.”
The men laugh and cheer. I wait for it to die down.
“Thank you. This is a great gift and I can guarantee I’ll use it every day. Now, Miami Leadership has the results of your review and they’ll share them with you, but I want all of you to remember that RangeMan is built on brotherhood.” The men nod, smiling. “You need to rebuild brotherhood in this branch, among yourselves. Do that and this branch will give Hal a run for his money.”
“Steph! Your bed is in Trenton. Could you please remember where your loyalty should be?!” Hal moans and everyone laughs and starts ribbing him.
“Sorry. I’m the CO. My loyalty is everywhere. My loyalty is to the brotherhood.” The men cheer and I smile.
I settle back in the first class seat and look at Grandma. She and Larry decided to come home with me. She finally decided to move to Florida for the winter. She’ll stay with Larry and decide if she really wants to stay there permanently. I’m happy for her.
Mack’s looking at the numbers in RangeWorld. “What’s going on?”
He glances over. “Makin’ sure my men are on point. I want my crown back!” I smile at him. “Javi is running another set of etiquette classes. I’ll be home just in time to take them.”
“Good,” I murmur.
“Yo, Boss,” Mack says quietly, “What happens if Miami can’t get their shit straight?”
I sigh. “I don’t know.” Mack nods and continues looking at the RangeWorld numbers.
Hal and Candy are behind me and I hear them whispering to each other. I know Candy’s trying to come up with more assessments to fix the sexism and we’ll think up some more stuff once we’re back on the ground. Meanwhile, Manny’s gone to sleep on Hector’s chest. Hec’s taking him back to Atlanta next week but he’s enjoying this time with Mijo.
The plane lands 3.5 hours later and I turn my phone on. It rings almost immediately. Mom.
“Hello?”
“Stephanie? Oh good. Are you home?”
“We just landed.”
“Good. Are you coming to dinner tonight? I’m serving pork loin and chocolate cake.”
I sigh. I’m tired but she’s promising cake. Cake trumps everything. I look over at Grandma. “Pork loin and chocolate cake for dinner.”
Grandma snorts. “Tomorrow. Larry still needs to see my apartment and aren’t you tired?” I nod. “Well, tomorrow is soon enough.” She turns to Larry. “Might as well meet my daughter sooner rather than later.”
Larry smiles. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“OK, Mom, we’ll come over tomorrow. Grandma’s bringing a friend.”
“A friend? Who? What’s her name? What do they—”
“Call grandma, Mom. I gotta go.” I hang up and lean my head back.
Mack looks at me, smiling. “I wish I didn’t have to get on a train. I almost wanna see this.”
“No, you don’t,” I reply. “Trust me. You don’t.”
A/N: The bikinis were a gag gift, poking fun at the other branches for their lack of creativity and Hal for his annoyance at it.
