Page 54 of A Kingpin’s Weakness

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the carriage.

Man, fuck that fairy tale shit. And fuck Seth too.

I’ve sat back in the shadows watching this nigga live like he ain’t got blood on his hands.

Smiling. Loving. Building a life with the woman my pops was supposed to have.

And now she out here carrying his baby like it’s some goddamn blessing.

Meanwhile, I ain’t even get a coffin. No funeral.

No headstone. No closure. Just silence. Ronnie was a lot of shit, but he was my father.

And Seth took him from me. Like he was nothing.

They all think this life Seth built can’t crack, like he’s untouchable.

That’s the problem with people like him; they forget that the enemy don’t always come loud.

Sometimes he waits in the corner. Patient.

Watching. And I’ve been watching everything play out. Now, I was done waiting.

I jogged down the porch steps like my heart wasn’t still thumping from what I’d just done. The smell of blood was still fresh in my nose; I wiped my hands on my jeans and slipped back into the car like it was just another Tuesday.

Noah sat in the passenger seat, clueless. His sister was bleeding out in the kitchen, and this dumb little nigga was worried about borrowing my whip.

“You can hold the car while I’m gone,” I said, sliding behind the wheel.

His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Word?”

“Yeah. We brothers, right?”

“Bet. How long you gone?”

“A few weeks. Maybe months. Ain’t really decided.”

He sighed. “Wish I had somewhere to run off to.”

I looked over at him, the corner of my mouth twitching.

“Your family gon’ need you.”

He scoffed. “They don’t want me. They wanna control me. Make me feel like a little boy or something. They don’t see I’m a man.”

“You gotta prove it to ‘em.”

That part I meant. Even if I just executed his sister, I meant that. We pulled into the gas station. I handed him some bills. “Go fill her up.”

As soon as he hopped out, I slid Stormi’s phone from my pocket.

I’d watched her put in the passcode a few days ago when she was showing Noah a video.

She never thought twice about who was watching her.

That was her first mistake. I walked behind the building, far from the pumps, and hit Seth’s name. Of course he was her last call.

He answered on the first ring.

“Stormi, tell me you’re in the driveway. I’m missing you,” he said, voice soft and warm like a man in love.

That softness made my blood boil. “Stormi can’t come to the phone right now,” I said, flat.

“Who the fuck is this?” His tone flipped instantly.

“The Grim Reaper. You thought you were the only killer?”

“If you lay so much as a finger on her?—”

“You better pray your bitch still breathing,” I cut him off. “I left her leaking on that cold-ass kitchen floor. Let’s see how strong she really is.”

Silence. Then rage. “You’re a dead man.”

“Have fun finding her,” I said, then ended the call.

I tossed her phone into the woods behind the station like it was nothing. Because to me, it was. Noah came walking back, cap twisted backwards, completely unaware he was down one sister and one future.

I got in the car, cranked the music up, then reached over to toss his phone out the window without him noticing.

We hit the road toward the airport. Time to disappear for a while.

But this ain’t over. I’ll be back when it’s time to take what Seth thought he could keep forever.

I ain’t done. Not until he feels what I felt. Not until he begs me to let him die.

TO BE CONTINUED………