Page 191 of Vega

Renzo’s expression grew cold. “I don’t believe anything Sal or Denise says anymore.”

I looked around the house that had hidden my father while lies shaped the rest of our lives.

“I’m sorry that I left, that you lived with all these unanswered questions. I just didn’t know what else to do. Marcus has enough power to bury anyone he wants.”

“So do I.”

Fear returned to his eyes. “Prodigy, you don’t understand what he’s capable of.”

“I’m about to find out.”

“You can’t confront him without knowing everything. You know what I could prove. There are still pieces missing.”

“Then we find them.”

“We?”

“You think I’m leaving you here after waiting eighteen years?”

His eyes filled with emotion again. “Marcus can’t know you found me before we understand everything he’s hiding.”

I hated the idea of leaving him there, but he was right. Bringing him home would expose our hand before we knew who else was involved or how deep Marcus’s control reached.

“So, you stay here for now,” I said. “Jamir keeps digging, and you give me every name, account, payment, and connection you found over the years.”

Renzo nodded. “We put the whole story together before Marcus knows we’re coming. One wrong move could get you or your mother hurt.”

“And once we know everything?”

His fear disappeared beneath eighteen years of anger. “Then we figure out how to get rid of him.”

I drove back to Chicago pissed beyond words. My stepfather, uncle and auntie were snakes. They’d watched me spend eighteen years wondering why my father left while knowing the truth all along. They let me believe Renzo had chosen another life over me while keeping him buried in Michigan.

I didn’t know who the fuck I could trust anymore.

Leaving my father in that house had torn me apart, but staying any longer was too much of a risk.

Renzo and I had embraced so many times before I left that I lost count. Each time his arms closed around me, I wanted to hold on longer. Having my father in front of me after all those years felt too good to walk away from.

It hurt just as much.

He’d been alive the entire time, living alone because the people I loved and trusted had forced him out of our family.

I felt broken and manipulated.

Every memory involving Marcus played differently now. Every time he’d told me he was proud of me, every lesson he taught me, every birthday, every time he’d stepped into the space Renzo had been forced to leave.

I wondered had any of it been real.

I’d been driving in a daze, barely registering exits or the traffic around me. The same questions kept circling.

I was about thirty minutes from home when my phone rang through the speakers.

It was Legend. My brows curled, curious what he could want. We had received our new shipment without issues, and it wasn’t time for us to make any payments.

“What’s up, Legend?” I answered.

“Yo’, we need to meet asap?”