Page 5 of Trial of Deceit (The Family’s Oath #1)

Chapter two

W hen her guest entered the house, Ashari quickly shut the door and faced the woman. “Did anyone follow you?”

“No,” the woman answered, stepping closer to place her lips on Ashari’s.

Ashari’s knees weakened as the woman had her way with her. A throat cleared from behind her, reminding Ashari that now wasn’t the time. She pulled away, scratching the back of her neck.

The woman looked over Ashari’s shoulder. She chuckled. “First time seeing women kiss?”

Romar scoffed. “No. And it’s not the first time I’m seeing them let emotions cloud their judgment.”

Lyssa’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I reviewed last night’s footage. Before leaving the main room, Ash was supposed to move her hair from one shoulder to the next. Not down.”

Lyssa glanced at Ashari, who gulped. “It’s just one little mistake. Don’t let him bring you down.”

“One little mistake can cost her this case.”

“But it didn’t.”

Romar hissed his teeth, directing his heated stare at Ashari. “Sit down and tell me what happened last night.”

The ladies exchanged glances before joining Romar on the sofa.

“What happened after you left the club?” Lyssa asked.

Romar gasped. “You didn’t follow her?”

Lyssa shook her head. “How could I? Jed usually does them at the club. I wasn’t expecting him to change his routine.”

Romar glared at Ashari. “You know better than to leave by yourself!”

Ashari sheepishly grinned. “You’re acting like Sanjae and Jaia weren’t tailing me. Plus, Tsai was watching on the cameras.”

Romar sighed, running a hand down his face. “I know, but this case is important. You can’t afford so many mistakes.”

“I won’t make more.” Ashari moved to the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the stocked fridge. After taking a sip, she smirked at her partners. “I know I left a mark on Jed.”

“Yeah?” Romar asked, raising his brow.

Ashari nodded. “Yes, even though he says my accent is bad. I passed all of my Patois classes and thought I sounded great… guess not.” She shrugged, then smiled. “Overall, the night went great.”

Lyssa’s eyes narrowed. “What happened at the hotel?”

Romar glared. “Ash…”

She glared back. “Do you guys think I’m stupid? I was disgusted pretending his compliments were good! I trained too long for this. Nothing will come between me and Jed except handcuffs.”

“Good,” Romar said, smiling as Ashari returned and sat between him and Lyssa.

“You haven’t answered me,” Lyssa said. “What happened at the hotel?”

Ashari stared at Lyssa, refusing to answer. Lyssa scoffed, stood, and walked toward the door.

Romar shook his head after the door slammed shut. “This is why you don’t mix business with pleasure.”

Ashari chuckled, bumping his shoulder with hers. “I’m a grown woman. Who I have sex with has nothing to do with you. And I don’t want a relationship; Lyssa knows that.”

Romar opened his mouth to respond, slamming it shut as a noise from outside the door startled them. They looked in that direction to see Lyssa. Her eyes were wide, her grip tight around the phone she waved in the air.

“A shootout happened!” Lyssa exclaimed.

Ashari sat upright. “Who?”

Lyssa kicked the door shut as she walked further into the room. “Tsai checked the plates. It’s Jed’s car.”

Ashari froze.

A chill ran down her spine.

“He’s dead?” she forced out while Romar sucked in a breath. Anger coursed through her veins at the possibility that Jediah would die a simple death instead of rotting away in prison for the rest of his menacing life.

“I don’t know,” Lyssa’s words rushed out as she stared at the screen of the phone. “Waiting on her to get back to m— He’s not dead,” she said, and Ashari along with Romar exhaled a big breath. Grinning, Lyssa dropped herself beside Ashari and laid her head on her shoulder.

Romar glanced between them before saying he would see them later. A moment after he left, a knock came on the door. It was Ashari’s coworker, Charlie, who held a tray of baked treats in her chubby hands.

“Hey!” Charlie said as she entered the house. “Long time wi don’ hang out after work, so I thought to come over!”

Ashari smiled. “You always a carry only sugary things come fi fat me up.”

Charlie chuckled. “We can be fat together.”

Pushing her phone into her back pocket, Lyssa approached the door. “Unu have fun. Me a go do… other stuff.”

Ashari didn’t comment, causing Lyssa to sigh before exiting. Ashari closed the door while smiling at Charlie, who was plating slices of chocolate cake. “Me glad yu come still. Me need a distraction, and you’re perfect.”

Charlie chuckled. “How?”

Ashari smiled. “You’re sweet and cute. Always wearing your little bows,” Ashari said, tugging at a bow hanging at the end of Charlie’s big braid. “Me know me say this every day, but I’m glad you became my friend after I moved here.”

Charlie smiled and tugged Ashari into a big hug. “I’m happy I met you, too!”

Jediah burst through the door, angry as a bull.

Women, who were dressed in only bras and panties while they packaged drugs, jumped out of his way, scared of the big boss.

The men who were cleaning money, looked up at him with a worried gulp.

An angry Jediah was never good. Watching him charge through the rows of workers in the warehouse, they knew not to so much as breathe too hard and let him hear.

So, they dragged their eyes from him and went back to their work.

Approaching another door, Jediah grunted at the men guarding the door with assault rifles. They moved out of his way while his three most trusted men followed behind him with an extra large storage bag After entering the room, they dropped the bag on the floor. A muffled grunt came from within it.

Annoyed by the sound, Jediah hissed, “Shut him up.”

Dimitri delivered a hard kick to the middle of the bag. A crack rang out, paired with a soft groan.

The man sitting before a wall of computer monitors jumped from his chair when a tap came on his shoulder. He grabbed the pistol off the table and snapped around, his gun cocked and ready. Jediah looked down at the barrel and raised a brow as he met the younger man’s apologetic eyes.

“Sorry,” Tyre rushed out. He flicked on the safety before placing the gun beside the keyboard. He moved his headphones from his ears to his neck. “Wa yu need?”

Jediah motioned his head at the bag on the floor. “Mi have somewhere fi be in a hour, so mi caan’ have fun with him. Run his fingerprint.”

Tyre nodded, spinning the chair around to face the state-of-the-art computer. He had a tech whiz’s wildest dream — from the latest core processors to equipment only government agencies should have.

Dimitri and Cameron yanked the bloody man from the bag, hauling him toward the scanner Tyre pointed at. The battered man struggled against them, hindering their task. Dimitri hissed before removing his swiss knife from his pocket and making a clean cut across the man’s index finger.

“Ahh!” the hitman released a piercing scream.

Gasping, Tyre stopped typing to look at Dimitri. His eyes widened at the blood spraying from the hitman’s finger. “Please don’t let it touch the equipment. R—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dimitri grunted.

Elias gave the boy a tiny smile before kicking the body bag toward the hitman. He gave the man a hard glance. Still screaming, the hitman stuck his hand inside the bag, his breathing becoming more labored as Dimitri pressed the heel of his boot on the finger to slow the bleeding.

Tyre gave them another worried glance before gulping hard. He resumed tapping away at the computer, his fingers moving fast as if he was in a hurry to get them out to clean up the blood. Jediah lingered behind the chair while Tyre worked.

A beep finally came from a machine.

“Is it ready?” Dimitri asked, hovering the finger above the scanner.

Tyre nodded quickly. He shuffled about in his chair as the hitman continued to groan. “W-what did he do?”

“Hitman,” Elias answered. “We killed the other three and left before police could arrive.”

“Civilians?”

“Yu know Jamaicans. Of course people did have phone,” Cameron said.

“I’ll get started on wiping any videos I can find online,” Tyre said, shifting his focus back to the computer. In twenty minutes, he knew everything about the hitman.

Cameron grabbed the file from the printer and laughed. “What kind of name is Errol?”

“Mi father did name Errol,” Dimitri defended.

“So?” Cameron asked, raising his brow. “Old ass name.”

“Show some respect, Cameron. His father died,” Elias said, and Cameron pretended to zip his lips and throw the key away.

Elias scowled at Cameron’s antics while accepting the file.

He flipped through the pages, picking through the information until he found the most relevant. “He works for the… Valcourts.”

“ What ?” Jediah exclaimed, startling Tyre. Jediah stormed toward Elias and yanked the document from him. He looked from the document to Errol.

Errol grinned through the pain. Dimitri sneered before gun-butting him. Errol’s head snapped backward, blood rushing to his mouth and staining it. He seemed disoriented for a fleeting second, but when he recovered, he laughed like a maniac.

Jediah’s grip tightened on the document, causing the papers to crumble.

Errol was disrespecting him. How could he have no respect for the largest gun supplier in Jamaica?

“Kill him,” Jediah ordered through clenched teeth, unblinking as Dimitri took out his gun and gave Errol a clean shot in the ear.

The laughter abruptly stopped.

Tyre gasped as Errol’s body stilled. His eyes widened at the blood crawling across the floor. “Jed, Reka a go kill mi!”

“Relax, rookie.” Cameron chuckled as he laid a heavy hand on Tyre’s shoulder. “A no the first somebody dead in here.”

“The room will be clean before Reka returns from her assignment,” Elias assured, and Tyre nodded, though still apprehensive while staring into Errol’s lifeless eyes.