I glance at my phone again. Still no chance. Still too many eyes. Lennox turns toward the selector. “Yow. Play back the music. Mek the people dem enjoy demself.”
Then he shoves Cas down into a seat like she’s a rag doll. “Focus pan yuh party, idiot gyal.” Mi hate him.
I scan the area. Wait, where’s Suzanne? Panic creeps in, climbing up my spine like cold fingers. Weh she deh? Lennox notices too. “Weh har friend deh?” he snaps.
His boys start glancing around. “The gyal mussy run gone,” one says, eyes sweeping the crowd. Dem love call woman gyal.
A some dutty bwoy dem,my subconscious says.
“Unuh gwaan go look fi the gyal right now,” he orders.
And like dogs, they scatter. But one lingers. He’s looking at me. Smiling. That slimy kinda smile. The one that mek yuh skin crawl.
“Lennox, guess wah?” he calls, tapping his phone like he just found gold.
Lennox lifts his head slowly, annoyed. “Wah?” he asks, in an unpleasant tone. All him friends him treat bad.
Serve him right.
“Bad man… a Prezi woman.” He stares at me now, grinning like a freak. “From she step inna the place, mi deh ya a pree and mi a try memba where mi know her from.”
My stomach twists. My skin go cold. My face blank.
But Lennox, Lennox looks at me like he just bit into poison. “Prezi?” he repeats, disgust curling in his voice. Pure venom.
And mi hear it clear. The pure, bitter hatred for Nickoi bubbling up.
Mi man nuh like yuh either wasteman.
SUZANNE
I’ve never been this scared in my life. Not even close. And it’s notjust fear, it’s precision. Every move, every glance, every breath has to be careful. Controlled. Because it’s not about me anymore. It’s about keeping Zara safe long enough to make it out of this place alive. Everything else, what I did wrong, what I should’ve done, can come after.
Cassandra and I are friends. She sent me the invite to her business opening party, and I had asked her if the area was safe. She said yes. Said it’s calm. It didn’t sound dangerous. Didn’t feel like a trap. So I said why not? It felt like the perfect excuse to get Zara out the house. And now? this.
Lennox. Of all people. And the worst part? He’s focused on Zara, watching her, flirting with her, threatening her, completely unaware that she is Nickoi’s woman. Nickoi’s fiancée. And not just that. His biggest enemy’s woman!?
If Lennox ever finds out the truth… If he finds out who Zara really is to him? It won’t just be some twisted flirting game anymore. He’ll see her as a target. He’ll see her as a weapon. Because he’ll know he’s holding Nickoi’s weakness in the palm of his hand. And Lennox is the type of man who would love nothing more than to make him suffer. I texted Junior the second I got out of there. He was furious. Going off in all caps.
‘WHY YOU NEVER TELL ME ‘BOUT THE PARTY? IF MID KNOW MI WOULDA SEND SOMEBODY FI PROTECT UNUH. NOW LOOK!’
Zara’s on a rooftop. In Lennox’s grip. And no one is there to stop it.
‘ Just mek sure him nuh tek yuh phone or cut contact. Mi soon reach,’he typed back.
I tell him okay.
My fingers trembling.
I slip off the rooftop when Lennox was distracted by Cas. Slid into the stairwell, down to the bathroom. Locked myself in astall. My heart racing so loud I could barely hear the dial tone. I pressed call. Nickoi.
He picks up on the first ring. His voice low. Dangerous. “Suzanne.” Jesus.
His tone alone mek mi heart slam. “Um… mi know you a go vex with me but—”
“Suzanne,” he cuts me off. Silence.
My throat dries out. “Zara good?” His voice is low and cold now. Not even asking. More like demanding confirmation for something he already knows isn’t true.
