Best Foot Forward

She was wearing six inch heels, a bold blue. A matching dress, all of which matched her vivid eyes. Classy stockings. A new necklace, with a fancy sapphire gleaming in the middle and matching earrings. Her favorite perfume. And her ring finger on her left hand conspicuously empty.

She'd made good use of Jabo's card to get this ensemble, and she met him at 7 p.m. at a luxurious mansion he was apparently renting. He poured her a glass of fine wine and chatted. Of her past, of her children, of her wants and needs.

"So, you know all about me ... but what about you?" Elizabeth said, fixing her big blue eyes on him.

"Hmm," Jabo said, fingers tented, looking at the fine white beauty queen before him. She was aching to be tamed. But she needed someone forthright too. "I grew up in a broken home. Dad went to prison when I was young. Fuck, he's still there. probably will always be there. Dropped out in high school, started slingin' dope. But I was different than the other motherfuckers, that just wanted that for life. So I started branching out. Being a distributor. Running hoes. Protection rackets. You name it, I did it. More wine?"

"Ummm, y-y-yes, please," Elizabeth said, on her back foot.

"So before I knew it, I had my own little empire. Employing fuckups like D-Train. Trying to stay one step ahead. But then I wanted what I couldn't have."

"W-w-which is?"

"Legitimacy. Think of all those fucking crime movies. What does the kingpin always want at the end of the day? To do it legit. To not look over his shoulder his entire life. I need some legitimacy. And you, Elizabeth Castle ... are legitimacy."