Page 13 of Lennox Lane

Lennox looked at him perplexed as he asked what was funny. KC crossed his arms and leaned against the counter as Tariq pointed at Lennox.

“This nigga is sick,” Tariq said.

“I’m good,” he lied.

“You are jaundiced with jealousy, Nigga,” Tariq countered, “You’ve been sitting here all morning looking like Lane filed a restraining order against you,” he added, making KC chuckle.

Lennox closed his laptop. “Y’all done?”

“Not even close,” KC said, “What’s going on?”

Lennox should have lied. He was excellent at lying when necessary. Omission, misdirection, clean fabrication, layered truth. It was skill he’d learned from the original Midnight Ledger, a man who could hide a second life inside a first one and still sit at the dinner table asking if anyone needed more bread. KC knew him too well, Tariq was too nosy to let it go, and Lennox was too irritated to keep his mouth shut.

“I hacked Lane’s phone and email,” he blurted.

The silence was loud as KC blinked before asking him to repeat what he’d just said. Tariq stared at him for one full second before he exploded with laughter.

“This nigga said it like he checked the weather,” KC said still in disbelief.

Lennox frowned. “It’s not like that.”

KC’s expression shifted from amused to incredulous. “How is it not like that?” He needed to know.

“She needs protection.”

“Yeah, from you.” Tariq countered.

Lennox shot him a look. “From threats. Same as y’all.”

“Lane is sis, but she damn sure not on my payroll,” KC pointed out with a raised brow.

“She’s connected to Cadence and Nova. That makes her adjacent,” he said, truthfully.

“Adjacent stalking, that’s a new charge,” he managed to get out between laughs.

“I only get alerts when certain trigger words hit, and suggest potential blackmail, threats, danger language, unusual contact patterns.”

KC studied him. “And?”

Tariq grinned. “And he got curious about more than threats. Look at his face—this nigga went from cybersecurity to cyber-hoe behavior,” Tariq called him out.

He wanted to deny everything Tariq was saying, but that would make him a bold-face liar. So, he opted to say nothing. KC tilted his head and asked what he found out that had him snapping at Lane all morning like he was pms’ing.

“She’s going on a date tonight,” he admitted with clenched teeth.

Tariq slapped his knee. “There it is! The truth.”

KC coughed into his fist, clearly trying not to laugh as he asked, “With who?”

“Some square-ass industry nigga named Devin Halstead.”

Tariq was now doubled over as he instigated. “Not square-ass.”

“He wears loafers without socks. I can tell from his email cadence,” Lennox said with more bitterness in his tone than he cared to admit.

KC lost the fight and laughed. “Email cadence?”

“Too many semicolons. Man’s a menace,” Lennox added.