CHAPTER 1
Thief in the Night
Oni
Haveyou ever known you shouldn’t be doing something, but you do it anyway? That’s me. It’s how I always get my butt into trouble.
Brooklyn, New York, is no longer a safe place for me. I’m not able to call it home anymore.
Twenty-seven hours on a bus. A whole day and three hours. A one-way trip to get me away from all the drama and keep me out of a jail cell.
Twenty-seven long, boring, stinking hours that I will never forget. That’s how long it took to get me to where I know no one and no one knows me. Because of my uncle, I can now live with a little less fear.
Or at least that was the plan. I’m sticky, I’m hungry, and I want to go to sleep, but my one weakness is staring me in the face. The reason I’m on the run in the first place.
Incredible. This has to be a sickness. I have to be insane.
I’m running for my life, and I still don’t know how to say no. If I had walked away in New York, I would still be there. Why am I like this?
Jail time is the least of my worries back in New York. I’m not stupid in the slightest, which is why my mom is so angry with me. I have the potential to do so much more with my life, but I haven’t been able to let this vice go.
Fuck, all I need is for them to find me because I’m too stupid to walk away. I can’t do it. My mother has risked so much to help me. I have to walk away this time.
I chew on my lip as I circle the sleek black Lamborghini.
“I should just walk away, but I can’t. This baby is too sweet. She’s taunting me to take her,” I mumble to myself.
They’re still out there, I know that. They always will be. That’s why I’m going to walk away.
“Who am I kidding?” I huff.
I’ll never be the good one who puts common sense first. I have to scratch this itch. It’s my own daddy’s doing.
Sure, we seemed like a really nice, well-off family on the outside, but how does everyone think we got that way? The police just always looked the other way. My uncle and my dad used to run shit back in New York, then my dad was taken away from me and everything changed. My uncle moved here to Miami, and my mother and I were alone.
She was happy to get me away from that life, thinking I would never steal another car. That was a pipe dream. It’s ingrained in me.
I’ve been stealing cars since I was nine. That’s right, nine, with pigtails and Chucks on. Daddy was always so proud when I could pop a lock and hot-wire a car in record time.
I was faster than any of his boys. I was thirteen when I graduated to the high-end stuff. That’s when things got out of control. I love a piece of expensive heavy metal between my legs.
Too bad the last piece of metal I stole was worth more than just the sticker price with its inconspicuous cargo and lethal owner.
“Fuck it,” I mutter.
I look around and get ready to get to work. I’ll just spin the block and park it somewhere once I’m done. I don’t know anyone here to take it to a chop shop.
I pop the door open and go to climb in, but someone pushes the door closed from behind me. I go to turn to fight, but freeze when I come face to face with the last person I thought I would see here in Miami.
“They said you wouldn’t be able to resist. I had hoped they were wrong. Hello, Oni. Do you know who I am?”
“Y … yes,” I stutter. “You’re Rico Gallo.”
“Do you know how stupid I would look if you stole another of my cars filled with product? In fact, I’m starting to feel like a target. Are you targeting me, Oni?”
“No,” I say and swallow hard.
Shit, I didn’t even know he was in Miami. How was I supposed to know this was his car? I didn’t know the first time.
