“I think you want to break him,” I said quietly. “Piece by piece. And you think this will do it.”
He didn’t answer. Which was answer enough.
“You think hurting me hurts him,” I said. “But you’re wrong.”
He barked out a laugh. “You sure about that? I bet he losing his damn mind looking for you!”
“He ain’t losing anything. You know what he’s doing? He’s strategizing. He’s calculating. He’s coming.”
Trell’s expression darkened. That made me smile.
“You’re used to people running scared. You’re used to people folding.” I leaned forward as far as the restraints allowed. “I’m not folding. Mekhi sure as hell ain’t folding, boo.”
He moved toward me abruptly, his breathing faster. I swallowed hard. Okay, I’d pushed far enough. Maybe too far. So, I switched tactics the way we practiced in class.
De-escalation.
Reframing.
Redirecting.
“You want Mekhi to see you so badly. Why?” I asked him, but I was asking myself, too.
His head whipped toward me. “You don’t know shit about me!” he hissed.
“I know resentment. I know resentment causes pain that turns into anger because it’s easier to aim at someone than feel it.”
He clenched his jaw.
“You act like Mekhi owed you something he never took.”
A muscle jumped in his cheek. He wrestled with something, and I sat silently, waiting to see which way he’d go. Finally, a rueful smile lifted his lips.
“You’re smart,” he muttered. “Too smart.”
“Then let me go,” I tried.
He laughed bitterly. “Can’t do that.”
“Why? Because you think if you hold me, he’ll break first? He won’t.”
“You don’t really know nothing about him.”
My chin lifted, training forgotten. “I know he’s coming for me.”
He stepped closer, gaze cold. “That’s the point, sweetheart.”
My stomach twisted. After today, nobody better ever call me sweetheart again. Trell wanted the confrontation, even though part of him feared it. I inhaled slowly, forcing my breath steady. I had to keep going, but I couldn’t stall forever.
God, please, I prayed.I know he’s coming. But could You hurry up the process a little?
I was still talkingshit to Seth as we made our way home from the hospital. I was ready to get back to Emancipation. My little thug was no doubt worried. I’d tried to call her from Ajani’s phone after we got discharged, but she hadn’t answered. I was shaken up from the accident—I had hit my head hard enough to black out for a minute, but I hadn’t planned to tell Farrah until I got home. Seth’s big mouth had blabbed to Kera who had texted Farrah. Wasn’t even shit wrong, except with Seth’s car. That bitch was a goner, totaled. That’s what his bad driving ass got. I was probably slightly concussed, but they had released us, no problem.
I knew something was off the second Ajani pulled into the driveway. It wasn’t anything overt, no smashed windows, noalarms blaring, no neighbors screaming. I just had a feeling, quiet and wrong. My stomach tightened. Hard.
After the meeting with Black, I should’ve been thinking about leads and locations, about disrupting the trafficking pipeline, about Trell and the havoc he was wreaking. Instead, all I could think about was getting inside and seeing her. I couldn’t lie; I wanted to hold her for a second, let myself breathe. I didn’t even make it to the door.
Steel was outside, stiff and looking dazed. That was the first punch.
