“I emailed them to you already,” I answered.
Cross looked up and smirked. “You knew I wasn’t going to tell your ass no, huh?” she laughed, and I shrugged. “You’re spoiled as fuck.”
“Nah, I just know if I want the information, I gotta come to the best,” I replied. “And you love me like family, so even though you are going to cuss me out, you’ll still help.”
“True,” she nodded. “Now, let me see what I can do.” She worked on her computer while I relaxed with Love. It would take her a few minutes to log in to her encrypted email to get the picture I’d sent her. “Amethyst, where did you get this picture from?”
“Morning,” I answered. “Why? Something wrong?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. But I could tell from the way her face was twisted that she was lying.
“What’s the matter, Cross?” I sat up. Even though I was moving, I was mindful of Love sleeping on my chest and didn’t move too fast. She shook her head, then ran her hand through her braids. “Nah, spill it, what’s wrong?”
“Do you have any idea who this is?” she asked, lifting her head, and when she did, I saw the worry in her eyes.
“Nah, which is why I’m here.”
“Did Nine see this picture?” she asked, then looked back at the computer.
“I sent it to him and you, why?”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she mumbled as she started to type.
“Cross?”
“Give me a second,” she said as she typed. “Do me a favor, grab my phone and call December for me.” I did what she asked and put it on speaker when the phone started ringing.
“Yes, Cross?” December answered.
“December,” Cross said calmly, even though her fingers hadn’t stopped moving. “Is Six with you?”
“Nah, she’s in the living room with Nine working on something, why? What’s up? You need her?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I need you to get her laptop and get into her encrypted email and delete something for me.”
“What?”
“A picture,” she answered. “Amethyst sent me and Nine a picture to the encrypted email, and Six has access to it because it goes to the scanning software. I don’t want her to see it.”
“Why?”
“Take me off speaker phone, December,” she said. “And close your office door.” The tone of her voice was serious, which made me sit up a little bit straighter. Cross turned to me, then looked down at her daughter. “Put her in the bassinet over there.” She pointed to the small bassinet near the end of the couch. I slowly moved, making sure I didn’t wake her, then laid her down.
“Alright, tell me what’s up,” December said.
“Amethyst sent me a picture of Robert,” she replied. Whoever the hell Robert was must’ve been important, since there was no last name, yet December knew exactly who he was.
“Fuck,” December hissed. “Where the fuck did he get a picture of Robert from?” I quickly told him how I got the picture. “I’m not even fucking surprised that Robert is caught up in this shit.” He kissed his teeth, then the line got quiet for a few minutes. Cross was still working on her computer. Every so often, she’d look over at Love, but never stopped working.
“He was at Grant’s funeral,” Cross said, then stood up. She started pacing in front of the coffee table. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I’d never seen Cross this stressed before. “December, this is a big fucking problem.”
“I know,” he agreed. “Alright, the picture is deleted. But we gotta tell Uri.”
“He’s supposed to come by later tonight; he and Nine have plans.”
“Talk to Nine when he gets home, but before Uri gets there, so he has time to process and figure shit out,” December instructed. “I’ll talk to Six once he leaves.”
“Y’all care to fill me in?” I said, looking at Cross, then at her phone. “Who the fuck is Robert Strong and why do y’all care?”
