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KAI
Allie interned under Imani’s father at his biotech company. I paced back and forth in the lobby, impatiently waiting for the receptionist to find Allie and let her out early. We didn’t have much more time before everything went to shit.
As soon as she walked out of the hallway, Allie spotted me and shrugged on her coat. “Kai?” she asked, brows furrowed and eyes wide as saucers. “What are you doing here? Jace is supposed to pick me up in, like, a half hour.”
I thanked the receptionist, grabbed Allie’s wrist, and pulled her out into the frigid December air. “We have to go. I already texted João, who’s with Jace. He knows that I’m picking you up.”
Her eyes widened as she stumbled after me in the snow, the slush, and the ice. When we reached my bike, I tossed her my helmet.
She stared at me like I was absolutely insane. “What’s going on, and why are you driving a motorcycle in the middle of winter?”
“It’s the only thing I have.” I kicked one leg over the bike and sat. “And I’ll explain later.”
“If you want me to leave with you, you’ll tell me now,” she said, scrambling through her purse to find her phone. “What is going on? What’s wrong? Something has to be because Jace told me not to go with anyone else.”
Needing to get out of here now, I placed the helmet on her head and strapped it on. “We have to release the information about Nicole now instead of when we planned to tomorrow. Her dad found out. And when it’s released, you need to be safe. This town will fucking blow up over the police force pimping out underage girls.”
Through the helmet, Allie stared at me in shock, and then she got onto the back of the bike and wrapped her arms around my waist to hold on tightly. “If Imani finds out that I rode on the back of your bike, she’s going to freak out. She likes you a helluva lot.”
And while that might’ve been true a couple weeks ago, Imani knew what Allie meant to me. And tonight … I would have to tell Allie what she meant to me too. It was now or never, and I didn’t have the heart to wait anymore.
Anything could happen at any point, especially with the rumor of Allie being pregnant floating around Redwood. Akio’s family—or Jace’s father—might try to hurt her or some shit. I needed her to trust me enough so that I could protect her.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled up to my run-down house in the middle of the slums. Once Allie texted Jace so he knew where she was, she handed me my helmet. I guided her to the side door and down a set of creaky-ass stairs to the basement.
Allie watched as I typed a code into my lock, clicking the heavy metal door open and gesturing for her to walk inside. Hesitantly, she stepped into the room and stared in awe at all the computers, monitors, and screens.
After I typed another code into my security system, I placed my jacket and the helmet down on a table, flicking on the lights and making the room come alive. Monitors turned on, lights flashed, computers pulled up programs with security footage and social media accounts.
“Make yourself at home,” I said, sliding onto a seat in front of the main computer with my stomach in knots. “We need to release the video as soon as possible, before Nicole’s father finds her at Jamal’s place.”
I didn’t give a fuck about releasing this video, but the nerves of telling Allie that she was my sister were eating me away on the inside. How the hell would she react? How would she … take it? I’d watched and protected her from afar for so long. I didn’t want her to hate me or Dad. He had done so much for her too.
Allie sat beside me and looked over my shoulder, watching me type a string of letters and numbers into a program, the screens around us changing colors and pulling up websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even the Redwood news stations.
“Nicole is safe, though?” she asked, brows drawn together in worry.
“For now,” I said, grimacing. “Landon is with Imani, and João is with Jace. Don’t worry.”
“Why’d you come to get me?” she asked.
I froze, my heartbeat in my ears. What could I say to that? Should I tell her now? I didn’t want her to run out of here in tears once I told her. She had always looked up to our father, and … we never really talked that much. I didn’t want to lose the little interaction that we had.
After taking a deep breath, I continued typing. “Jace would kill me if we left you at your internship when this all went down.”
Not entirely a lie, but it wasn’t the complete truth either.
I needed to protect her.
“Jace wouldn’t kill you,” she said, crossing her arms and staring at the side of my face like she knew something. “You know how to use a gun. You’ve been in way more street fights than he has. There’s something else. Why can’t you tell me?”
I paused for a moment and looked over. “Why can’t I be nice?” I asked, my voice quieter than it had ever been.
João might’ve been cold to anyone who wasn’t his family, but at least he knew how to interact with Ana. I didn’t know the first thing about having a sister and what that kind of relationship was. But, fuck, I craved someone. I wanted a family.
“Being nice would’ve been texting me and telling me to leave my internship, not picking me up from it in the frigid snow when all you have is a motorcycle,” she said to me, arching a brow. “Poison isn’t just nice to random people like me.”
“You’re not a random person, Allie,” I said, sucking in a sharp breath and glancing back at my computer screen. “Wait,” I said, fingers moving even faster across the keyboard. I paused for a moment and looked up at the screens, and then I pressed the Enter key and sent the video out to the world from anonymous accounts that couldn’t be traced back to me easily.
