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“You look awful, man,” I told him, taking a seat in the chair I’d brought in with me. He was seated in another, in the middle of the room.
“Fuck you,” he grumbled, his words much less muffled than they’d been the last time I was here, when his mouth was still swollen and raw from our little tussle.
I chuckled, leaning back in my chair to get comfortable. “I’m a little disappointed in you, man. I’d hoped for a less predictable response.”
EJ’s head lifted, eyes narrowed. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “It just seems… cliché. I’m clearly in the position of power here, and yet you still play tough.Fuck you, fuck your questions, kiss my ass, I fucked your wife—that’s the script, right? Because you think you have nothing left to lose,” I predicted. “Youthinkthat me killing you is the worst that could happen.”
“Wrong,” he grunted. “The worst that could happen is having to sit here and listen to your bitch ass.”
I grinned. “Damn… you’ve lived a sheltered life if you think that,” I told him. “You’ll understand soon enough. In the meantime… I’m not going to hold you long. I just need to confirm a few things.”
“I’m not answering shit for you,” EJ spat. “You know my people are looking for me, right? It’s over for you, and your little company, my instructions were clear. Even when I’m gone, you’re not safe.”
My eyebrows lifted. “That sounds pretty intimidating. Wow.”
That must not’ve been the reaction he wanted. He planted his feet and tried to lunge, only to be snatched back again; his binds were connected to the floor, too. “Bitch ass boy,” he growled, shaking his head. “You feel like a man?! Huh?! Untie me, let’s really see what’s up!”
“We’ve already done that; this is the result, remember?” I asked, gesturing at the way he was bound. “I wouldn’t mind beating the shit out of you again. I just don’t really have the time today and I messed up a perfectly good suit when we did this before. And… it would just be redundant. So we may as well just cut to the chase.”
“I already told you I’m not answering shit, nigga.”
“I heard that.” I nodded. “But I don’t think you have a true grasp of your situation. Do you know where you are? How long you’ve been here?”
“Why does it matter?!”
“Because, again… I don’t think you understand the situation, but you need to. You’re atThe Black Gallery. You’ve been here a week.”
All the pretense of toughness melted off his face, and he shook his head. “Nah. You didn’t—”
“Oh, I did.” I grinned. “Because see… I warned you. On Christmas day, remember?” I asked. “I made it clear that you were to stay away from my wife. And listen… I know you didn’t know, but I still consider that strike one. ’Cause you were disrespectful.”
“But these niggas aren’t—”
“And then, there was strike two.” I kept talking. “You put your hands on her, put abruiseon my wife. You told her I couldn’t protect her. I told her she would never have to worry about that again. And then… strike three. You turned me into aliar, Eric.”
“Orion,man—”
“Tell me flat out whose directives were so important that assaulting my wife was an acceptable action for you. Was it really William Stark?”
“Yes,” he answered immediately, suddenly freed from his conviction to not tell me anything. “Nalani has her mother’s computer, and he wants it.”
“Wow,” I droned. “So you’re telling me that computer was important enough to die for?”
“No. Lani wasn’t even supposed to be home.”
“So you’d been following her?”
“Not me. The bitch was supposed to be keeping tabs on her.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What bitch?”
“Your daddy’s bitch,” EJ answered, and for a moment I was confused. My father had been gone foryears.
But he had a widow.
My eyes narrowed, and I sat forward in my chair. “Are you telling me Breanna is working with William?” I asked. “For what, and for how long?”
