My eyes immediately went to the truck that was speeding toward them.
“Wes, get King and Knight out now. Quazi and Rook stay back. If I miss this shot, I need that vehicle stabilized one way or another.”
“Got it.” Rook quickly reloaded his gun and I watched as the truck’s windows rolled down and Rook shot up the windshield.
I aimed through the open window as the man aimed his gun out of it and sent off my first shot. It missed but the second one sent his head back and the truck veered thanks to Rook. I watched it slowly come to a stop and Rook and Quazi jogged toward it. I made sure they were good while they ran through it.
“We’re good,” Quazi announced.
I didn’t respond. I just lowered my gun and started to pull it apart.
I tossed it in my carrying case, threw it over my shoulder and headed out, taking the steps on the side of the building and hopping in my whip with the bag still on me. I shoved it to the back and pulled off, one hand on the wheel the other dialing King.
He answered on the first ring.
“Yeah?”
“You good?”
“Better.” He chuckled. “We’ve got the money and our work.”
“Good. Me and Quazi will make sure the clean up is good and meet y’all back at home.”
“See you there.” King ended the call and I hit a sharp right.
When I rolled up to where Quazi and Rook were, they both had their guns drawn and were checking bodies, making sure there weren’t pulses and running pockets along the way.
“Rook, you’re good to go.” I nudged my head to the side.
He chuckled.
“I’m good. Thanks.”
“Yeah, alright.”
I didn’t argue with him.
Even though I was the head of our family’s security and had been for years now, Rook didn’t just listen to my recommendations or instructions the way that Knight and King did. They were my older brothers, sure, but they also knew that I was good at my job and that when I said some shit there was a good reason for it even if I didn’t have time to explain what that reason was.
Rook, on the other hand, did whatever the fuck he wanted, and when I’d first taken over it had been a liability but now I planned for it. We were twins, two halves of the same soul. He went where I went and I trusted nobody to have my back more than him.
Us and Quazi took care of clean up, calling in some friends we knew that owned a farm where they disposed of bodies. Donovan, Renier and Brix had been getting rid of bodies as long as I’d been creating them and we’d never had problems, so we went through the basics of taking care of vehicles while we waited for them then helped load the bodies up into their trucks. I paid them all in cash, dapped them up and sent them on their way.
Then, the three of us headed to the family house, the Barron Estate. When we walked inside laughing was already coming from the living room so we headed straight there.
The entire family was in attendance and even though we’d had a great night and come out on top, a small ping of anxiety pierced through me when I saw my brothers with my sister-in-laws.
I loved them. For real. The women were amazing women, and they loved my brothers as much as my brothers loved them, but their presence was nothing but a reminder that I’d be getting married sooner rather than later and to a woman my parents picked out for me.
Our entire family traditionally went through the process of an arranged marriage. We all got married on our twenty-fifth birthdays and honestly our parents had been pretty successful, but that shit didn’t really make me feel all that better.
King and Xavia had grown into a perfect match. King had always been ambitious and headstrong, and Xavia was the kind of woman who not only understood that but supported and nurtured it. She was his ride or die and she put the family above everything else, including her own morals. She was selfless when it came to the advancement of the family in a way that King appreciated and respected and made her the perfect match for him. They were consistent in their views of sacrifice and democracy to keep things running smoothly and neither complained about the power that had been given to them even when it was a heavy load to carry.
Knight, on the other hand, had only gotten married a year ago. His arranged marriage had been to Novalie, who was anything but a trophy wife. Her father was Quazi, and it was apparent from the way she was always on offense and defense at the same time. She’d been a little culture shock to me. Knight was nothing if not the man worthy of his namesake. He was agentleman and I’d been sure that he’d need a wife who could thrive beside someone who coddled them and treated them like the softest most breakable person in the world. That wasn’t Nova. She was a strong woman and Knight’s marriage to her had forced him to loosen his grip on control which was a welcomed change. I was glad to be wrong.
His second wife, Casmi had just somehow stumbled into their lives. They’d all met the same day. She’d been in a loveless and abusive marriage and Knight and Nova had both wanted to save her and set her free.
They’d saved her.
