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LANDON
“You want a smoke?” I asked Jace Harbor, who was visitingus while the girls had a day to themselves.
Three hours ago, he had come over to talk about his father and what he wanted done to him along with the rest of Redwood.
I pulled out a cigarette from the pack and handed one to João, then took one for myself and pushed it between my lips, lighting it up when Jace refused. “So, are we really going to believe Nicole?” I asked.
Kai looked up from scrolling on his computer. “I believe her because of how Akio reacted to that police officer taking her into the building during the game last night, but we need solid evidence to prove it to the rest of Redwood.”
João puffed on his cigarette. “She texted me this morning, told me that she’ll get us something solid by lunchtime on Monday.”
After pulling the cigarette from my mouth, I leaned back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Someone knocked on the basement door, and we all glanced over at it. We weren’t supposed to have any visitors.
“You invite someone?” João asked, cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
After Jace shook his head, João set the cigarette down in the ashtray and walked over to the door, reaching into his back waistband for his gun. He opened the door a few inches and grumbled something to himself. “What are you doing here?”
“João, don’t be annoying,” Imani called from outside. “Let us in.”
A few moments later, the door opened wider, and the girls walked into the room.
“Jace, your girl’s here,” João called.
Jace shot up from the couch, grabbed his coat and keys, and hurried over to the door. “I’ll see you guys later. Text me when you come up with a plan. I’m down to meet whenever, now that football is over for the season.”
Standing at the door, both Imani and Allie had their hair and makeup done.
“Thought I’d find you here,” Allie said to Jace. “We just dropped Nicole off at her house.”
“Baby,” Jace cooed at her, burying his face against the crook of her neck. “You look so good. You haven’t done your makeup, put perfume on, or straightened your hair like this for, what, two years now?”
She giggled and playfully pushed Jace’s chest. “Jace, stop it.”
“Gross,” Imani said playfully, scrunching her nose and walking over to me.
“Why are you here?” Allie asked Jace.
“I came here to convince Poison that Nicole was telling the truth,” Jace said to her, gently stroking her face. He glanced back over his shoulder at us, then back at her. “After what you told me this morning, I thought it was necessary.”
A smile stretched across her face. “You really did?”
He nodded and grabbed her hand. “Now, come on. I want to bring you out. Once they have a plan, they’ll text me. We’re going to bring him down, one way or another. The police chief and these other fuckers in Redwood aren’t going to get away with what they’ve done.”
Once they left, Imani sat down on my lap and rested her head on my shoulder. “Nicole came to hang out with us today, and it was surprisingly … nice. She isn’t as mean as I thought she was, and she actually seems like she was telling the truth about her father.”
Kai arched a brow, giving João and me a look. “Told you guys.”
“We still need something fucking solid. If she can get us texts, videos, anything, we can destroy him. Otherwise, nobody is going to believe us over the fucking cops, no matter how corrupt they are,” João said.
Kai’s phone buzzed on the table. He picked it up, face hardening. “Fuck.”
“What is it?” Imani asked.
“Akio is standing at the front door,” Kai said, pulling up the security cameras.
I placed Imani on the couch beside me and walked up the stairs to the basement door, then pulled it open. Instead of waiting for me to ask him to come in, he stormed right into the house and hurried down the stairs to find Kai.
“I have news about my family. Something that you all are going to want to know about.”
