Page 192 of Vega

I inwardly groaned. “Tonight.”

“Or first thing in the morning.”

“I can’t. I got some shit going. Wise and Vega gonna have to meet y’all without me.”

“This something you need to hear first.”

“Well, I can’t right now,” I spit. Then I took a deep breath. “I … I got some personal shit going on. I can’t meet right now. Just holla at me now.”

“What up, Prodigy?” I could hear Icon speaking too, as if Legend had the phone on speaker.

“Damn, both of y’all on the line at the same time? This must be serious.” I chuckled, but they replied in silence, making my laughter cease. “What’s the word?”

“We found out who killed Kash.”

“Okay…”

“It was Knox.”

“The fuck?” I damn near slammed on the brakes until I remembered I was moving with traffic. I fought to keep control of my ride as I asked them, “You sure?”

“Yeah. You know we’ve had Jamir looking through Kash’s burner,” Icon explained. “Knox is all over it. Kash overheard Knox plotting against y’all. Kash overheard Knox meeting with Dane, boss of the Hollows—"

“Fuck,” I grunted, instantly recognizing the name.

“They’ve been planning to make a move against the Street Kings and take back territory y’all took over.”

A few months ago, we had taken over a neighborhood over east that used to belong to the Hollows, Dane Hollow’s crew, but it wasn’t because we were out here picking on weak niggas for sport. Dane was wasting the real estate. His product was weak, workers weren’t being paid, corners were unprotected, and innocent people were getting caught up in their trigger-happy bullshit. The block was making the wrong noise without making real money, so we stepped in. If you can’t control what you claim, somebody with more discipline eventually will.

“We can send you the evidence we have,” Legend spoke over my silent shock.

“Yeah, do that.”

“You know what we gotta do, right?” Icon asked.

The Cartiers were real businessmen. I knew that they wouldn’t have told me this information unless they knew it was rock solid. Knox was my brother. So, knowing that the Cartiers were about to kill him truly hurt my soul. The world started to spin as I drove. My heart started to thud with regret. But it was also beating with rage because my best friend had been plotting against me.

“Do what you gotta do,” I finally told them.

“Bet,” Icon replied, sounding relieved.

“Thanks for the heads up. Respect.”

“No doubt,” Legend and Icon said simultaneously.

Just as I was hanging up, my other line rang. I cringed because I really couldn’t take anymore that night. I just wanted to get home and hide out in the darkness.

But it was Jamir.

I answered. “What up?”

“I handled that other thing you asked me to do.”

My focus returned to the road. “You found her?”

“Yeah. Arielle never left Illinois.”

My grip shifted around the steering wheel. “What?”