Page 30 of Trial of Deceit (The Family’s Oath #1)

Chapter sixteen

A shari nibbled on her bottom lip as she stood outside the slightly ajar door.

Since she’d stood there, peeking through the small space, her gaze never left Jediah.

He was sitting at the chess table in his office, his eyes faroff as he looked at the board.

He had one arm stretched across the table, while his other had an elbow propped atop it.

He held a black chess piece in that hand, which he kept twirling slowly.

Though Ashari wasn’t sure which piece it was, she knew he was playing against himself.

Since she’d lived here, she’d noticed he had a tendency to do that whenever Dimitri wasn’t around.

A scowl came on her face at the thought of Dimitri. Then, came the memories. The way his locs had been free that night. How they’d swayed in the slightly chilly wind as he’d tossed the shovel at her feet. His eyes had held no emotion — not for her, and especially not for Romar.

Ashari inhaled deeply, hoping the influx of fresh oxygen would be enough to smother the surging sadness that threatened to suffocate her. Then, she pushed the door inward.

Jediah didn’t look toward her, but Ashari wasn’t surprised.

He seemed in another dimension until she pulled out the chair opposite his, then lowered herself onto it.

Jediah blinked rapidly, shaking his head as he sat upright in his chair.

His eyes remained on hers as he lowered the piece to a random place on the board.

“Ash,” he said, clearing his throat again. “A long time yu in here?”

She shook her head with a small smile. “Distracted?”

His face became a blank slate. “What do you want?” he asked instead of answering. Jediah looked at the board, his brows coming together after noticing how he’d thoughtlessly placed his piece.

“I came to ask a favor.”

He chuckled. “And what would my little agent want?”

“My brother…” she muttered, causing him to stiffen. She lifted her chin as he looked into her eyes. His eyes swirled with questions while hers remained passive. “Romar deserves a proper burial, Jed. Please. Me never ask you for nothing yet. Imagine how you woulda feel if Reine—”

“Nothing can happen to Reine.”

Ashari couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “Just imagine.”

“No.”

She sighed. “Why you so stubborn?” she asked, and he shrugged. As his hand moved over the board, reaching for a piece on her side, Ashari grabbed it. Their eyes met, and her gaze softened. “ Please …”

Jediah stared at their hands for a moment, then his eyes moved back to hers. “Okay.”

Ashari smiled. “Really?”

He chuckled. “Stop gwan like yu don’ come use yu puss eye dem fi mek mi weak to yu.”

She grinned. “Thank you! I really appreciate it.”

Nodding, Jediah freed his hand. He crossed one arm over the other while relaxing into the chair. “Weh yu a go bury him?”

“Back home,” she answered, and his brow raised. “I mean in America.”

“No.”

She frowned. “But you said—”

“I’ve never been outside of the country before,” Jediah confessed.

Ashari thought about how she was somewhat the same. She knew no other countries except America and Jamaica. Though she was born in the latter, it hadn’t been a home for many years.

Jediah dragged her from her thoughts as he stood. “I won’t let you out of my sight like that.”

“Fine. Can I at least get some privacy to cremate him and release his ashes?”

Jediah nodded. “Of course. You’re not a prisoner, and I’m not heartless.”

“There you go again…” she teased, and he grinned.

“Let’s go for a walk around the estate. Mi need fi clear mi head.

” He extended a hand toward her. Her brow raised as she looked from it to his face, causing Jediah to mimic her.

“You’ve sucked — or rather bitten — my dick, but you’re scared to hold my hand?

” he asked, and she dryly laughed, making him grin. “You’ll pay for that.”

“What are you gonna do? Bite my clit?”

“Tempting,” Jediah replied, his eyes raking her body.

Ashari shivered from the attention. She placed a hand in his, trying not to let it show that she liked how his large hand enveloped hers. She convinced herself that she enjoyed his touch only because he was being a gentleman.

Unsurprisingly, his hands were cold; she pondered just how long he’d been cooped up in his office.

Was it before or after she’d returned from the headquarters?

Because she’d been locked away in the room for far too long, redoing her braids at her new vanity, replaying recordings from her earrings while the conversation with Lyssa refused to leave her mind.

“Ash,” Jediah said, cupping her face with his other hand. “You good?”

Sighing, she confessed, “I have a lot on my mind.”

“Like wa?”

“You, Jediah. It’s always you.”

She looked over her shoulder with a smile, expecting to see Jediah.

He’d stepped out for a bit to speak to the overseer of this warehouse.

Curious as she was, she knew better than to sneak out.

Dimitri had let her off the hook last time, and she knew she wouldn’t be so lucky if he discovered her snooping a second time.

Plus, it wouldn’t be so easy with all the cameras and armed men roaming everywhere. Ashari’s smile faded when she saw Reka.

Reka gently closed the door to the computer room behind her before taking long strides toward the desk. Placing her hands flat against the top of the desk while Ashari spun around in the chair, Reka leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Whatever you’re doing, you need to stop it.”

Ashari’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

Reka’s eyes narrowed. “Now’s not the time to be playing games. I told you that Jed isn’t someone to take lightly, and you’re not listening. You know what happened to his fiancée, right?”

Ashari relaxed into the chair. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Reka,” she said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

Reka stared at her for a moment before dipping a hand into her pocket. She removed a phone, did a few swipes, then showed an image to Ashari. Ashari’s eyes widened as she studied the screen. It was her meeting her father, walking across the parking lot at the headquarters.

“How?” Ashari forced out, her eyes darting to Reka’s. No one was supposed to know about this building. It was a simple yet spacious two-storey constructed under the guise of being a call center.

“Cameras are everywhere.” Reka straightened her stance while putting the phone back in her pocket. “Tsai was teaching me her program before I left. I don’t know what you’re using or how to fully use it, but I know enough, and I’m going to learn how to clone it for Jed.”

Ashari gulped, then whispered, “Does he know about… us?”

Reka paused before shaking her head. “No. He recruited me during training. Why would he know about us when not everybody actually completed it?” she asked in a normal tone.

“That’s true,” Ashari said, her words trailing off while glancing at Reka’s pocket. “Did you show him?” she asked, causing Reka to shake her head. Ashari exhaled a long breath. “Thank you—”

“Don’t thank me. Stop now, Ash. Either be his wife, or leave. You can’t have one foot in and one foot out. I won’t tell him this time, but if I find out that you’re still helping them, I will tell Jed,” Reka threatened.

“Tsai would hate to see what you’ve turned into,” Ashari mused.

Back then, she’d loved how Reka was practically joined to Tsai by the hip.

It took away from their time together, but made the moments they spent together more intimate.

She’d loved listening to Reka go on and on about technology, watching her eyes light up like she was a silly little kid all over again.

No anger left Reka’s eyes when she replied, “Or maybe she’d be proud that I’m no longer the naive little eighteen-year-old you loved only when you could cry to me.”

Ashari frowned. “Reka—” she quieted as Reka snatched a laptop off the desk before stomping toward the door.

Ashari’s throat tightened. It was becoming increasingly hard to breathe. There were too many pieces of Reka in this room. From the silly photograph inside a simple frame of her and Tyre, to the trash can overflowing with empty cups of iced coffee.

She stood and moved toward the door. She couldn’t stay in this room anymore. As she opened the door and stepped out, the guards raised their brows at her. They didn’t question her as she continued down the hallway, for which she was thankful.

Arriving in the large room, which was more of a mess hall, where the drugs got bagged, Ashari thought of how smart of a businessman Jediah Richardson actually was.

Drugs were loaded onto the transport trucks of Cameron Reeves’ company, guarded by the workers of Dimitri Forde’s security company, then dropped off at Elias Swaby’s wholesales to be sold on a secret menu.

Jediah Richardson being a silent investor in the chain of wholesales could easily cry foul if he was ever accused of being tangled in with the drug trade.

His being the CEO of the renowned Richardson Motors gave him the excuse of spreading out his assets.

Businessmen dipped money into industries they weren’t adept to all the time; it was like a hack to a constant cash flow.

Sure, there was a risk of possibly investing in a shady company, but the wholesales had been around long before Jediah was born.

How could he know that they distributed drugs if they’d never been caught?

Everything tied in beautifully. No one ever got this close to Jediah to be privy to this information.

But the drugs weren’t the only reason why the F.B.I.

wanted him. The objective of her case was to figure out how he moved the guns.

There were many working theories that the cars he regularly imported and exported were somehow involved, but every angle proved fruitless.

All audits were good. Every sweep was clean.