We led them outside to Quest’s black Escalade. Julius and Ivy were both silent now, the reality of the situation sinking in.
“Get in,” Quest ordered, opening the back door.
They climbed in without protest. Thad got in after them while Quest and I took the front.
“Where are we going?” Julius asked, his voice shaky.
“Shut the fuck up,” I said from the passenger seat.
Quest pulled out two black hoods from under his seat and tossed them back. “Put these on.”
“Wait, what—” Ivy started.
“Put. Them. On.” Quest’s voice left no room for argument.
I heard shuffling, whimpering, and then silence except for their heavy breathing through the fabric.
Quest drove for about an hour, taking turns I knew by heart. We were heading to one of the Banks Reserve warehouses in an industrial part of the city. The kind of place where screams wouldn’t carry and security cameras didn’t exist.
We pulled into the loading dock. The building was dark, empty. Perfect.
“Get out,” Thad said, hauling them both from the vehicle.
They stumbled, blind and disoriented. We led them inside, their footsteps echoing in the cavernous space.
Quest and I walked in and got prepared. Two chairs in the middle of the warehouse floor. Drop cloths spread out beneath them. And hanging on hooks nearby—two clear plastic ponchos.
I grabbed mine and slipped it on. Quest did the same.
“Sit them down,” Quest said.
Thad shoved them into the chairs. They were breathing hard through the hoods, probably trying not to panic.
“You can take them off now,” I said.
The fear hit them like a physical thing—I saw it in the way Julius’s face went slack, in the way Ivy’s breath caught in her throat. They knew what the ponchos meant. Knew we weren’t planning on staying clean.
“Oh God. Oh God, please?—”
Ivy immediately started crying. “Please don’t hurt us. Please. We’re sorry. We’re so sorry.”
Behind them, Thad was leaning against a support beam, arms crossed, grinning like this was the best entertainment he’d seen all year. And maybe it was.
“Please,” Julius started, his voice shaking. “Please, we can explain?—”
“Explain what?” Quest cut him off, circling them slowly. “Explain how you’ve been fucking my sister’s best friend? How long, Julius? How long you been disrespecting our family?”
“It’s not—it wasn’t like that?—”
“Then what was it like?” Quest stopped in front of Ivy, tilting his head. “You. You came to our house. Ate our food. Acted like family. Like a little sister. And this whole time you were plotting on our sister’s husband?”
“I didn’t mean—” Ivy’s voice cracked. Tears were already streaming down her face.
“Shut up.” He stepped closer. “If you was that horny, that desperate, we could’ve hooked you up with somebody. One of our boys. Somebody single. But nah. You decided to fuck our sister’s husband.”
Ivy was shaking now, unable to meet his eyes.
Quest turned to Julius. “And you. Man, I thought you was different. Thought you actually loved Serenity. She stood by you when you was broke. When you was building your business. She believed in you when nobody else did. And this is what you do?”
