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“A new shipment’s coming in tonight. I want seven men on it.” Noble nods.

“You think those dudes are really brave enough to pull some shit like a heist, Bossman?” he asks.

“I think that anyone trying to make a name in these streets and looking for a come-up will try some stupid shit, even if it means selling his mama down the river,” I answer, taking a sip of the bourbon in my glass.

We had gotten some information on the license plates that came back from the limo at the club this weekend.

Unfortunately, it belonged to a limousine company, and the owner stated that the party had paid for it in cash.

The name that he had been given was returned as bogus when Aris worked her magic.

The person’s name they’d used had been dead for the last six years.

I don’t believe in irony, coincidences, or luck. I’m sure that their appearance has something to do with a new shipment of guns we’re getting in tonight.

Since I don’t have a name and only the face of four men, I’m going ahead with tonight’s plans, but we’ll have extra safeguards in place.

I want to bring those bastards out of hiding.

“Yeah, but maybe you underestimate your power in these streets,” Hakeem declares.

“I don’t underestimate shit. That goes for how desperate niggas can get. These guys, Crimson Edge, they’ve been coming up fast in these streets. Now, I don’t know if the dudes at the club are linked to them or not, but I’m not taking any chances.

“I never underestimate anyone looking for power or the opportunity to take my seat at the helm of this world. I didn’t get to where I am by being a fool. I learned from the mistakes of those who came before me,” I explain.

“What do you want us to do with them?” Malik asks.

“Nothing yet. I want to keep watching their movements, see what their next plan is, find out exactly who’s running shit, not the figurehead they have in place,” I reply.

Malik nods in agreement.

“It’s been a minute, Bossman. I won’t lie. My trigger finger is getting itchy,” Janel confesses.

They have all been keeping a close eye on me since Essence’s name came up.

They don’t know that she and I have a history that came before I got into the game.

Parker’s the only one who knew me before the game, the only one who knew my parents and all the bullshit that went down back then. Well, not everything.

“That will come in time,” I reply to Janel, frowning at my buzzing phone.

Why the fuck is Georgette calling me? She never calls me unless it’s an emergency, like the time that Bayleigh was in a car accident or the time when their shop was held at gunpoint because an employee’s disgruntled ex-boyfriend decided he would hold everyone hostage until they told him where his woman was.

I glance at Parker, nodding for him to take over the meeting while I step away. Lifting the phone to my ear after pushing the button, I step outside the conference room.

“Hello?”

“Zaire, I don’t know what’s going on. I just know that Bayleigh said that her sister needed her.

She rushed out of here, but she returned to grab her gun.

I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen to me.

Her sister was begging her not to go over there.

I don’t know where ‘there’ was. Then she said that Bayleigh would only make things worse for her. ”

“Are they still there?”

“No. I just know they both took off out of here like a bat out of hell. Riley jumped in her car and chased after Bayleigh.”

“Thanks, Georgi, for calling me.” I rush back into my office to grab my keys.

“Zaire, one more thing,” Georgi adds apologetically.

“Yeah?”

“You should have seen Riley’s face. I don’t know if that will help you or not, but someone got a hold of that girl and did a number on her face,” Georgette states.

A growl hums low in my throat as I hang up the call without telling her goodbye. She’s given me all the information that I need, whether she knows it or not.

“You good, Z?” Parker asks, stepping out of the conference room next to my office.

I shake my head no. “Family shit has gotten out of hand. Hold everything down.”

“Gotcha, bro,” he replies, following me out to the reception area where the elevators are located.

“Marisa, I need you to send a bouquet of fresh tulips to my wife’s business, to the attention of Georgette Rivers.”

“The message, sir?”

“Thanks for everything. Your loyalty is incomparable.”

“Got it, sir,” she responds, pushing a button on her desk.

The express elevator opens, and I rush onto it and jab the button to take me to the private parking garage. The moment that I step off the elevator, the black Range Rover is waiting for me with the rear door open.

The button that Marisa pushes alerts my driver, Ghalen, that I’m on my way down. He’s always ready to go at any moment, and if he needs a break or to step away, then Jamal would be the one to replace him.

I hop into the back seat, and Ghalen pulls away.

“Where to, Bossman?”

“Riley’s home.”

He floors the gas.

I have always respected Bayleigh’s wishes to let her handle her family business on her own. What I won’t do is allow my woman to go down for some bullshit that her family couldn’t handle or something that jumps off and pulls her into it like this.

I’ve often told Riley that if she needed protection, an escape, a place to go, money, or anything, all she has to do is say the word. Riley stays because that’s what she chooses.

While she tells her big sister that her husband doesn’t put his hands on her, I’ve always suspected differently.

When they were in their twenties, Kenny tried his hand at being a dope boy.

He wasn’t cut out for the game, but that never stopped him from messing with several women at once.

At the time, Riley wasn’t involved with him, but she was crushing on him.

We all warned her to stay away, especially when he got China Houston pregnant. That girl was a whole lot of trouble.

But the moment that he realized that Riley’s attention was all about him, he used that to his advantage to make China jealous. He used to jump on China all the time.

I had one conversation with him in the beginning after learning that he and Riley were dating.

I hadn’t had to have another one because he’d never put his hands on her.

Over the last year, I began to suspect things had changed, but I’d been so caught up with my business, I hadn’t had time to drop in on them and see how things were going.

What tipped me off that something was wrong was that Riley stopped coming to family events, and she seldom let Bayleigh come to visit her. There was always another excuse: she was tired from working, they were going on a vacation, she wasn’t feeling well, and she and Kenny were heading out.

I hadn’t pressed the issue, but now that Bayleigh has become directly involved, I know there’s some shit in the game.