"Who?" I asked, but I already knew. Somewhere deep inside me, I already knew. "Who's dead?"
Namier's face contorted. His whole body shook. And when he screamed the name to the top of his lungs, it was gutting. Heartbreaking. The kind of scream that comes from a place so deep inside you that it can't be faked. The scream of a man who’d lost his other half. All the wind left my body like a nigga had just gut punched me.
"ZAIRE! It's ZAIRE! He’s GONNNNNEE!” Namier yelled.
The room went silent except for the sound of his breathing. Heavy and broken. My heart ached bad as hell like that muthafucka was about to stop beating. My brothers had always been my world. I guided them and protected them from anything life threw at them, but I had failed this time and I knew exactly what happened without even asking.
My little brother.
My blood.
Gone.
This shit couldn’t be right!
Everything I'd been building, everything I'd been protecting, everything I'd been working toward—none of it mattered anymore because my brother was dead and niggas was about to pay for that with their life.
I looked at Tatti. She was pale. Her hand was over her mouth.
Then I looked back at Namier.
"Tell me everything," I said, my voice deadly calm. The kind of calm that came right before the storm. "Tell me exactly what the fuck happened." I barked as tears fell silently. I’d never cried in my life but for every tear that fell, that’s how many bodies I was about to drop around this bitch.
—
I didn't move. I just stared at Namier like he'd said something in a language I couldn't understand.
"Tell me everything," I said again, quieter this time. "Every single word them niggas said to you."
Namier's hands were shaking so bad he could barely talk, but he laid it out. The call. The voice. The message about the warehouse. Brick Boyz taking Zaire off the map. The nigga saying checkmate on the phone like my brother life was a game. The threat about getting our black suits ready.
The more he talked, the more something in me went dark. This wasn't real. This was some sick shit they were trying to pull to get in my head. Zaire was too thorough. Too careful. Too much of a Carter to get caught slipping like that.
"Nah," I said, already moving toward my closet. "Nah, that shit ain’t go down like that. I need to see it with my own eyes. I need confirmation."
I was throwing clothes on. Jeans. A black hoodie. My kicks. Moving fast, my whole body operating on adrenaline and rage.
My phone was already in my hand. I was dialing to try and get a peace of mind. First call rang and rang and rang. No answer.Second call. Same shit. Third call. Nothing except that ringing sound that made my skin crawl.
Zaire. Damn Zaire.
What the fuck man?
I grabbed my keys and my phone. I was moving on pure rage and grief mixed together into something that felt like it might destroy me from the inside out. But I couldn't let it. Not yet. Not until I knew the truth.
Tatti rushed back into the room, fully dressed now. Her hair was thrown up. She looked ready for war just like I was. She was wearing a black hoodie and some jogging pants.
"You staying here," I said, not even looking at her. "This ain't the move for you and I don’t have time to babysit when some real shit just popped off!”
"I want to be there for you," she said, stepping closer. "In whatever way that looks like. I promise I won't be in the way, and you don’t have to talk to me like that, Seem. I just wanna try and help,” she said softly.
I wanted to say no. Wanted to tell her to stay in this compound where it was safe. But the look in her eyes told me she wasn't about to listen. And truthfully, I needed her there to keep me calm. She’d been what grounded me lately. I needed to know she was close.
Namier gave her a look so cold it could have frozen fire. A stare that said everything he wasn't saying out loud. Seeing that, I knew immediately that I had to shut that shit down.
I shot him a look back. Hard. Telling him without words to cut that shit out. Yeah, he was hurt but he wasn’t about to take thatshit out on my wife. I would never play that shit or let him get comfortable stepping out of pocket.
"Man, I can't believe I was with a bitch while my brother was getting murked. I’ll never come back from this," Namier mumbled, his voice broken.
