Before my pops was murdered, my mother was working for Banks Reserve but Grandma Rita ousted her as she got deeper into politics. My grandmother said that my mother didn’t have the focus and ambition to grow Banks Reserve, a billion-dollar company, so she began to groom Quest to take over. My mother has been bitter about that ever since.
She also remarried a man named Dante Oldsman, Serenity’s father. Dante works for a rival liquor company and my grandmother found that disrespectful.
I couldn’t imagine what my mother wanted from me. We hadn’t spoken in years. She was up for re-election in about a year. She probably wanted me to pretend like we were a happy family and I ain’t have the energy to lie. Nor the desire.
14
ZAHARA
The sun wasn’t even up yet, but I was already on my knees in my closet, pushing aside shoes and old bags, searching for the shoebox I’d hidden in the back corner months ago.
My hands were shaking. I hated touching this box. Hated what it represented. Emergency money. Run money. The last resort for when everything went to shit and we had to disappear again.
But Yusef’s music camp deposit was due today. I’d already asked for one extension. They wouldn’t give me another.
I found the shoe box wedged behind a stack of other shoe boxes. I pulled it out, sat back on my heels, and lifted the lid.
The cash was still there. One thousand dollars in mixed bills, rubber-banded and slightly musty from being hidden for so long. And underneath it, wrapped in an old T-shirt, was the gun.
A Glock 19. Loaded. Ready.
I stared at it for a moment, my chest tight. I’d bought it off a guy in LA years ago, preparing for the day thathefinally found me. Back when I was terrified every shadow was someone coming to finish what they’d started.
“Hey?”
I jumped, nearly dropping the box. Yusef was standing in my doorway, his eyes wide behind his glasses, staring at the gun in my hands.
“Yu—” I started, but he cut me off.
“Do you thinkthey’restill looking for us?”
The question hit me like a punch to the chest. Us. I hated that he even had to live with his level of fear.
I carefully set the box down and stood up, blocking his view of the gun. “I don’t know. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. But don’t worry about that. Here’s the money. Take it right to the counselor when you get to school,” I said handing over $800, nearly wiping out our emergency cash. But I was determined to make it back this Sunday at the farmers market. I was going to be selling my rolls, and I was going to start advertising dessert catering. It was time to hustle. I hated living check to check.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. You earned this. You worked hard for that spot.”
He took the money carefully, like it might disappear if he held it too tight. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, baby.”
He hesitated in the doorway, looking back at the shoebox.
I sat back down on the floor, staring at the shoebox. At the gun. At the stack of cash that was supposed to save us if everything fell apart. It wasn’t much, though. Not nearly enough to create a new life if I needed.
I thought about Prime. About the way he’d held me on the side of the highway. About his hands on my face, his voice calling me Goddess. About the look in his eyes when he saw Yusef’s bruise.
I shouldn’t be thinking about him. Shouldn’t be letting him get under my skin. But I couldn’t help it. There was something about him. Something that made me feel seen in a way I hadn’t felt in years.
Even if he was dangerous. Even if he was complicated. Even if getting close to him was the worst possible idea.
I put the cash back in the box, closed the lid, and shoved it back into the corner of my closet.
Then I got ready for work.
“Girl, people cannot stop talking about these rolls.”
