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"Kenny got shot last night. I’ve been tryin’ to find out who killed him."
Wanda’s facial expression softened. "Kenny’s dead?"
"Yes, Wanda, he was ambushed last night."
"Nobody told me about it," Wanda said.
"You know Black wants you to stay out of this part of the business."
"Still, I’ve known Kenny for years. Somebody should have said something to me."
"Now you know," Nick said, thinking that he had gotten out of this one.
"Okay, so you were out lookin’ for Kenny’s killers."
"Yes, Wanda."
"If that’s all it was, why couldn’t you answer your phone, or at least return my calls?"
"I told you I was busy," Nick said frustrated, knowing that Wanda was just getting started.
"Busy doin’ what? If you were just ridin’ around looking for whoever killed Kenny, that doesn’t explain why you couldn’t answer your phone or at least call me back."
Nick looked at Wanda for what seemed like a long time and thought about what to say. He thought about telling her the truth. That Rain had been dealing. That she had been robbed and several of her people had been killed, and they had been out all night looking for the shooters.
Two things prevented that: One, she wouldn’t believe that’s all there was to it. Mainly because it wasn’t, he had just gotten finished fuckin’ the shit outta Rain for the second time that night. Two, even if she did believe that was all there was to it, and he knew she wouldn’t, Wanda would tell Black that Rain was dealing and that was the last thing he needed or wanted.
Nick had given Black his word that he would keep their operation drug free because of the arrangement Black had with Angelo Collette and Stark. Nick thought back to that night and how he and Black ran through hypothetical situations. At the end, they both agreed that each hypothetical always ended the same way—in jail or dead.
"I ain’t goin’ to jail, Nick. We already got enough problems with the DEA without this. Last thing we need right now is them crawling all over us again," Black told Nick that night.
"So what are you gonna tell Angelo?"
"I been thinking about that. How I can give Angee what he wants and without actually doin’ shit."
"How you plan on doin’ that?" Nick asked.
"I’m gonna get him and Stark together and then I’m gonna tell him that I would offer advise and council to Stark as a personal favor to him. But for reasons that I know he understands, I can’t go any further than that."
"You think that will satisfy him?"
"As long as I can get Stark to do business and as long as I can control him. But for that to work, you gotta be my guarantee. You gotta make sure that nothing we do touches that. We can’t have our hands dirty in none of that."
"I’ll stay on top of it," Nick promised.
"I haven’t said anything about this to Wanda. But she was there when Angelo came to Cuisine, so she knows something’s up. She wasn’t happy with the answer I gave her, so she’ll be coming at you. But she doesn’t need to know anything about this."
"Understood."
Nick knew that he couldn’t tell Wanda anything about Rain or why he had to handle it, because it would lead back to the arrangement Black made with Angelo, and that wasn’t what Black wanted. He had a choice to make. Remain silent and run the risk of losing Wanda. Or betray Black’s confidence.
The choice was easy.
"Did whatever you were doing all night involve Rain Robinson?"
"No," Nick lied.
"Don’t lie to me, Nick, please don’t lie to me. Have you been with her all night?"
