Page 84 of 4 Corinthians

“We need to talk,” he said, looking at the knife in my hand. “And put that away. You already know you can't hurt me.”

“I could kill you,” I replied.

Uri chuckled, shook his head, then wiped his hands over his face and stepped back. “If anyone could do it, it would be you,” he said.

We stood in a stare-off for what felt like forever. Me coming here was supposed to give me time to think. To figure out what the hell I was going to do to protect myself and everyone around me. He was here because Robert had figured out what we’d done to the Franklins. I knew it would come with repercussions, but I didn’t think that he would send Uri, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Tyrell only showed up to the shop when my family was around. A constant reminder that Robert could touch anyone at any time. His sending Uri was different.

“Tell me why you’re here,” I finally said. “Why did Robert send you?”

Uri’s face twisted in anger. “Robert didn’t send me,” he denied. “I haven’t seen him in years and not for lack of trying on my part.”

Hearing him say that gave me a small sense of relief. Robert hadn’t sent him, but he was still here. It had to be a reason why.

“Then why are you here after all this time?” I asked him. “It’s been years, Uri. Why now?”

He smirked, then licked his lips. “It’s been years for you, not me. I’ve always known where you were. I’ve been around, standing in the shadows.” He’d known but never said anything until now? I thought back to the few times I thought I saw him but swore my mind was playing tricks on me. At a store or out running errands. Times when I felt like someone was watching me and chalked it up to being paranoid.

“Why?” My brow lifted in surprise. He started to answer, and I held my hand up to stop him. “It doesn’t matter. You can't be here. Not now, not after all this time.”

“Co-“

“You can't be here,” I said again. “Go back to wherever you were hiding.”

“I can’t,” he told me. “I’m here. My cousin, he’s in-“

“Was that your doing?” I asked, lifting my brow. “Huh, was that your doing? Sending your cousin here to get in good with my family and then following him?”

“No,” he denied with a shake of his head. “That was fate. Nine and all his shit was fate.”

“I don’t believe in fate, Uri.” His eyes narrowed when I said his name. “So, tell me why I shouldn’t call my cousins and tell them that you’re here, that Nine is your cousin.”

“And that we have a past?” he asked me, and I stopped talking. “If you tell them that, then you’ll have to tell them about your past. About what you fought so hard to keep a secret. Can you do that, Cori?”

“Don’t call me that,” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t call me Cori. My name is Corinthians. Cori was the little girl who had to learn to fight to survive.”

“Then, call me Four,” he countered. “Uri was the boy who didn’t know love.”

Four

Three hours prior…

“Come on,” Nine said, walking away. I watched Corinthians walk out of the restaurant and rush to her car. For a moment, she looked so happy to see me; her pretty-ass eyes shone with excitement, then they dimmed, and she looked afraid. She nibbled on her bottom lip and tapped her left hand against her thigh. Seeing her like that pissed me off. She didn’t need to be afraid of me.

We sat at the booth Nine had originally pointed out, and he went to work figuring out what was wrong with my bracelet. There was nothing wrong; it monitored my vitals; my shit was off after seeing Corinthians.

Our waitress came to the table, took our order, then disappeared. Nine’s phone rang, and he answered, putting it on speaker so he could still work on my bracelet.

“What’s good, Ex?” he said.

“Shit, sitting here watching TV,” Exodus replied. “Yo cousin big-headed ass doing some interview.” One being friends with Exodus wasn’t something I could’ve ever seen coming. That was fate laughing in my face, if nothing else. She’d met Exodus’ close friend Tobias, who was also a rapper, at a college party.

“She told me she had an interview,” he chuckled and nodded. “Focus is in the background looking mad that she is being nice to everybody but him?”

“You already know it,” Exodus answered.

“Nigga is gonna give everybody hell for the next few weeks,” Nine replied.

“I just told Khrisen the same thing,” Exodus said, referring to Focus’ brother. “Anyway, that wasn’t the reason I was calling. I called to let you know my cousins decided to do a little impromptu girls’ weekend, and I need you to lock in on their location while they are gone.”