“And we’ve handled them so far. Most of them come for us… not those that we love,” I declared.
“Unless they aren’t built like that. We both know not everybody lives by the same code. That list is of every player living that might still want to come for us,” Ohan recited, falling back in his chair.
I bit down on the inner part of my jaw while thinking about his statement.
He made a few points. I had been a computer engineer since I was eighteen years old. By the time I was twenty-four, I was working for the government and making more money than a nigga knew what to do with. I stacked my bread, and when I met my first wife, I spoiled her. We bought our first house in cash, and I was able to send my kids to the best schools when they arrived.
Life was fucking good. However, as always, with the good comes the bad. On the surface, I was a white-collar type, and nobody would’ve ever thought that I came from the gutter. I had gangsters, pimps, and murderers in my family and circle. I was just the one that kept clean hands. Working for the government, I was considered a white hat. I used all of the powers I had for good deeds until the price changed.How would you handle being offered five million to hack into a corporations database or security system?
Not to mention these weren’t the kind of people that you tell no. Ohan and I both were very aware of how things like this tended to play out. We had pissed plenty of people off. Inheritances had been robbed, databases wiped out, family-builtbusinesses were destroyed. We collected lump sums of money while their lives were devastated. It wasn’t the most honorable way to make a living, but somehow, I took comfort in all the money we were raking in.
“I got a call that night. More of a message from Arrow,” I voiced, and both of Ohan’s brows lifted.
“And you didn’t think to mention that before now?” Ohan questioned, shaking his head.
“It didn’t seem important at the time,” I replied, pensive, as I replayed the rest of that night. “My daughter came home and told me what had happened, and it never occurred to me?— “
“What did he say?” Ohan prodded.
“He said, ‘there are no secrets that time does not reveal’,” I recalled, shaking my head.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” Ohan’s face scrunched up in confusion.
The wheels in my head spun. Getting involved with Arrow, there were plenty times where I wondered if I had sealed my own fate . He was a monster but the kind that compensated well so that I didn’t even care. He would make a simple request, and although it seemed harmless, it was often detrimental to other people.
“It means something we did for him turned into something else,” I said, fingers fisting my beard. “You still got that file where we keep all that shit?”
“Our insurance policy? Damn right.” Ohan nodded.
“I’m going to need to dig into that. I need to know everything about Arrow and how he ties into every fucking thing. They say everyone has a past, let’s find out his.”
FREQUENCY
It wasearly afternoon when I arrived outside of Looney’s Fish spot. That mothafucka Ledge loved everything about the hood. I was raised here too, but I wasn’t keen on coming around here like him. He still fucked with bitches he never thought he could pull and used his money as his influence. I was on a different scale. My father made sure that we never lived in that environment. I didn’t come from the bottom, but I got my respect from the streets because I had to take it. The blocks kept Ledge going. He thrived off that shit. He and I had piggybacked off my father and made a name for ourselves, but mothafuckas didn’t actually know who we were. The mystery that surrounded us was exactly how we wanted it.
I slid into the chair across from my ace once I was inside, and I could see he was already in the middle of smashing a couple of platters. His phone sat in front of him on the table, and he scrolled through it. Snatching a few fries from his plate, I stuffed them into my mouth.
“What’s good?” I greeted him, pressing my back against my chair.
Ledge brought his eyes up from his phone. “Check it, Chevy on the bullshit, but… I got other resources. Kitana got this shit popping with the real estate company. She mentioned that with the kind of paper we talking, might as well just fund our own agency. We talking six-figure properties and up, bro. We can wash all this shit and have a large front to cover it all. I don’t know how we didn’t think of this shit before.” Ledge laughed a little and chewed his food before he grabbed his juice and sipped.
“Because it requires a face.” I ran my hands down my beard and watched this nigga continue to eat.
He stuffed his mouth and licked his fingers like he had a couple of bitches pregnant somewhere. My mama knew when Ivana was pregnant with Ivy because she had picked up on myappetite. A nigga ate good regularly, but it was like I had a tapeworm when she was carrying my seed. Nothing filled me up. Pausing, Ledge glanced across the table at me.
“Damn, that’s right. Well, we can use Chevelle. I’ll get her to act right?—”
“No.” I cut him off quickly before he even got ahead of himself.
I didn’t want my business in the hands of a temperamental woman like that. One bad move from Ledge, and that bitch would blow up my entire operation. Murder for hire was our specialty. That was how we made our bread and butter. The world didn’t know that, and they didn’t need to. But it was what it was, and we were good at that shit. If I could do nothing else, I always hit my mothafucking mark. Frowning up, Ledge’s jaws continued to move as he pondered what I said—food for thought for real.
“Why? I mean, she’s bad as hell. She’s smart. I trust her,” he argued.
“I don’t.” I kept it real with him. “Her emotions depend on you. You unpredictable as fuck, Ledge, and I don’t like that shit. We ain’t got time for it.” I shook my head.
Staring off, I started turning the wheels heavily while trying to figure out a solution to our problem. At this point, a nigga was tired of even trying to find other ways to flush the cash. I needed results ASAP. Who ever thought having too much fucking money would be a problem? We did need a woman for that particular position. There weren’t many that I even trusted to hold such a position of power.
My sister, Kara, was born an airhead. She could barely do her damn times tables. Lyra was leaving a bad taste in my mouth with all of her fucking demands. That didn’t leave a lot of women other than my mother and Celine that I even fucked with like that. And suddenly, like a fucking light bulb had gone off, Iconsidered Harbor. As fast as the thought was in my head, that shit flew right out, but then it came back again.
