She crawled over to me and I grabbed her face, kissing her deep. When I pulled back, I looked at her with new eyes.
"You smart as hell," I said. "And you a quick thinker. Real quick."
She smiled against my lips.
"I learned from watching my father," she said. "I may have cut him out of my life, but I learned how to think like him. How to see angles and how to manipulate situations in my favor."
I kissed her again, holding her close.
For the first time since I took over this empire, I didn't feel like I was carrying it alone. I had somebody beside me who could think three moves ahead. Somebody who wasn't afraid to get herhands dirty. Somebody who was using her brain as a weapon just like I used mine. I knew that I had to protect her too, and not let any of this shit touch her. So, we wouldn’t be making a habit out of her inspector gadget shit either. This time was just necessary.
“I’m about to call your pops.” I told her.
"You did good today. Real good."
She leaned her forehead against mine and I realized that this marriage wasn't just about protection or business anymore. This was about having a real bitch in my corner. Someone who could stand beside me and fight alongside me.
And that changed everything.
Three days. Zaire had been in that hospital bed for three long ass days and all I could think about was the nigga who put him there. Toolie, the nigga they sent to kill my brother, he was dead. Zaire handled that - but Demon was the one who gave the order. Demon was the head of the Brick Boyz, he was the one who decided my brother should be dead after what we’d taken from them. Like they wasn’t the muthafuckas who’d started the war.
And now Kaseem was playing house with his new wife while I was supposed to just sit back and act like everything was cool. Waiting on Kaseem to call a shot. That shit wasn’t happening.
Yeah, I was happy as fuck for my brother, but I wanted blood too, and I wanted that shit bad.
The entire time that I’d stood beside Kaseem at his wedding, I couldn’t even focus on how nice the shit was. I couldn’t focus on how much this meant for and to my brother. All that was on my mind was killing niggas. Still, I had to put on a fake face and push through. Cause deep down, I really was happy for my brother. This put him a step closer to what he had been working for.
I'd been parked outside one of Demon's trap houses since midnight. The car I had rented was tinted dark enough that nobody could see inside, but I could see everything around me. Every person coming in and out. Every transaction. Every movement these fuck niggas made. Now, the old me would have shot the whole muthafuckin street up. But I was trying to change.
Mars pulled up to the location I’d given him around two in the morning and slid into the passenger seat without saying nothing. He just looked at me like he already knew I was about to do something stupid.
"Have you been sleeping?" he asked.
"Nah," I said, eyes still on the trap house. "Can't sleep at a time like this. These bitch ass niggas crossed the line with this last one.”
"You need to go home, get some rest, clear your head," Mars said. He was speaking that calm voice that older niggas use when they trying to save you from yourself. "This ain't the time to move off emotions."
"This is exactly the time," I said. "While niggas is comfortable. While they think we ain't coming."
Mars sighed. He knew me. Knew that once my mind was set on something, it was hard to pull me back. But he tried anyway.
"Kaseem said—"
"I don't give a fuck what Kaseem said," I cut him off, my voice cold. "My brother almost died. Zaire almost got took away from me and everybody acting like we supposed to wait and strategize. Nah. I'm moving. I love Kaseem but I’m gone let him focus on his business with his woman, while I hold shit down out here.”
We spent the next six hours going to every spot we knew Demon touched. The trap houses. The club he owned downtown. The car wash where he laundered money. We pulled up to each location, watching, waiting, looking for that nigga or his crew to slip up. Waiting for an opening.
We came up short on every single one.
The sun was starting to come up when Mars finally told me we needed to stop.
"You need sleep," he said. "You running on fumes right now and that's how niggas get caught slipping or get killed."
"I don't need shit," I said, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles were white. "I need Demon. And I'm not stopping until I find him."
Mars looked at me for a long moment. He knew he couldn't convince me. Nobody could when I got like this.
"Alright," he said quietly. "But I'm telling you now - Kaseem find out you been out here doing this without him, there's gonna be problems."
