Page 267 of Invisible Bars

I nodded slowly, rubbing my hands together—half in anticipation, half in satisfaction. Aaliyah had been ghost since her lil’ fake announcement. But her and Sasha? They were thick as thieves. If Sasha was out in the open, Aaliyah wasn’t far.

“Handle that.”

Chi didn’t need clarification. He knew exactly what that meant:

Bring her to me.

The moon barely peeked through the cracked windows of the old house. The air was thick with the stench of mildew, and the peeling paint and broken floorboards added to the dilapidated atmosphere. Sasha sat bound to an old metal chair, sweatglistening on her forehead as her mascara began to run. Her ankles and wrists were taped, but her mouth was free, though it trembled with fear. An old light bulb swung from the ceiling, buzzing softly overhead.

I stood a few feet away in the shadows, arms folded and eyes fixed on her like a wolf deciding which bone to crack first. Chi leaned in the doorway, slowly chewing on a Honey Bun while taking sips from a bottle of water.

“This kidnapping shit? Y’all doing too much!” Sasha snapped, trying to sound tough.

I stepped forward, calm and cold. “See, that’s your problem, Sasha. You think this is akidnapping. If we was onthatkind of timing… it’s likely you wouldn’t still have a pulse.”

“What he said,” Chi agreed, then added. “So technically… that whole Naji situation wasn’t even a kidnapping then. It was more like an involuntary relocation… with snacks.”

I turned my head slow as hell and glared at him.

Chi threw his hands up in surrender. “I mean—allegedly. Hypothetically. In a fictional universe that doesn’t exist in real life.”

I kept staring.

Chi cleared his throat. “Anyway. Sasha… go ‘head and give us the location before I accidentally say some other shit I ain’t supposed to. We didn’t bring you here to kill you, but Ipromiseyou, if you keep playin’, this nigga gonna show you whatdoing too muchreally looks like. So how 'bout you just tell us where yo’ girl is hiding out and we can all get on with our lives?”

I stayed quiet and just let the room work on her.

People fold faster when their silence feels like it’s wasting somebody else’s time.

Sasha shifted nervously in her chair. "I told y’all already—I haven't seen Aaliyah!"

I tilted my head, scrutinizing her. "Are you really sure about that?"

"I swear?—"

Before she could finish her sentence, I pulled out my phone and tapped the screen. A picture appeared: Sasha smiling, standing in a hospital room beside her frail, elderly grandmother.

Sasha’s breath hitched. Her bravado cracked instantly.

“H-how’d you get that? That picture…”

She looked up at me, wide-eyed and trembling.

I chuckled—the kind I reserved for people who underestimated what I was capable of.

“You’re asking the wrong question,” I responded, kneeling just enough to meet her eye. “What you should be asking is what else I got… and what I’m willing to use.”

Sasha’s bottom lip shook like it was trying to run away from the rest of her face.

“Now…” I rose again, smooth and unbothered. “One last time. Where is Aaliyah? It would be a shame if you left your grandmafirst.She obviously needs you right now, and if you don’t show up tomorrow, she’ll probably be wondering where her baby girl is at. Wondering why she didn’t show up to give her a kiss or feed her Jello.”

Sasha looked at the photo again.

That did it—she cracked like I knew she would.

There’s always that one kind of love—sick, unconditional, desperate—that will make a person fold.Sasha’s was her granny.

“Okay, okay!” she conceded, then gave up the hotel, the room number,andthe alias Aaliyah was using.