01. That moment when a twenty-two year old hacker gives you evidence that the most influential hip-hop artist in the world wants you dead. Dania met me at a cafe across the street from Yeri & Yoli’s Unisex. From where I sit sipping on matcha tea, I can see that the place is packed. No one knows that I’m the third but silent partner in the business or that it was my idea to design and market the salon as the place where you could get your shape up, purchase your new Tims and meet Ms. Right Now before hitting the club or that I’m the one who put in a call to Mona Scott Key’s location manager and lobbied sitdown status on Love and Hip Hop. All they know is that it’s the trendy boutique where Erica Mena made her comeback to Love and Hip Hop by flinging a bottle of acetone at some Instagram model trying to break into the rap game. That appearance on the show with a cameo from the Segui Twins – the most endearing sisters on VH1 since Cardi and Hennessy – made the salon where you had to get your nails polished and edges smooth before a Thursday night on the town. After ordering a toasted chocolate croissant and cappuccino, Dania pulls a binder out of her La Boriqueña backpack and slides it over the table. I flip it open and the first email says all I need to know. “You never told me how you found me,” she says before biting into the croissant. “A friend recommended you.” My stomach sinks deeper with every page I turn. There are emails, Google Docs, text messages. They’d be cryptic to others, but they’re explicit to me. “I got voicemails, too. That guy you thought might be involved?” I put my finger to my lips to warn Dania not to say any names. “You were right.” That moment when the nigga whose career you resurrected decides the next upgrade requires teaming up with your nemesis and plotting to kill you. Dania casts her eyes on her gnawed nails. “They laugh.”
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