Your move, nigga.
Pocketed the phone and drove off, Farah’s muffled screams still echoing in my ears.
War had officially begun.
32
BRANDI
It’s been four days. Four motherfuckin’ days since Zoo left my house talking ’bout he was gonna handle that bitch Zahara and her murderous-ass son. Four days of calling his phone and getting sent straight to voicemail. Four days of texting and getting no response. Four days of sitting in this house losing my goddamn mind.
I ain’t sleep. Could barely eat. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Nigel’s face. My baby boy. My only child. Gone ’cause some little punk-ass kid decided to play gangster.
And now Zoo was gone too.
I knew it in my gut. The same gut that told me something was wrong the night Nigel ain’t come home. The same gut that been screaming at me for four days straight while I sat here in this dirty-ass house, empty bottles of Hennessy on the coffee table, ashtrays overflowing with blunt roaches, wearing the same robe I put on Monday morning.
I looked a mess. Felt worse.
My phone sat in my hand, screen cracked from when I threw it at the wall yesterday. I pulled up Zoo’s contact one more time. Hit call.
The number you have reached is not available. Please leave a message after the?—
I hung up.
Wasn’t no point leaving another message. I’d left twelve already. Cussing him out. Begging him to call back. Crying into the phone like some desperate bitch. He ain’t respond to none of ’em.
’Cause he was dead. I knew it. I fucking KNEW it.
That bitch Zahara and her rich-ass boyfriend had killed my man. Just like her son killed my baby. This whole fucking family was poison, and they’d taken everything from me.
EVERYTHING.
I scrolled through my contacts ’til I found Kelvin’s number. Zoo’s right hand in the BCC. If anybody knew something, it’d be him.
He picked up on the third ring.
“Yo.”
“Kelvin, it’s Brandi, Zoo babymutha.”
“Oh shit, Brandi. What’s good?”
“Ain’t nothing good.” I took a drag of the blunt I’d been nursing for the past few minutes. “You heard from Zoo?”
Silence on the other end. Then: “Nah. I been calling his ass too. Went by his crib yesterday—truck wasn’t there. Ain’t nobody seen him since…” He trailed off.
“Since when?”
“Since he told me he had something to handle. Said it was personal. Wouldn’t give me details.”
My chest tightened. “He called me that night. Said he found the bitch who helped cover up Nigel’s murder. Said he was gonna follow her. Make her pay.”
“And you ain’t heard from him since?”
“Not a word.” My voice cracked. I hated that. Hated sounding weak. But I was running on empty. “Kelvin, I think something happened to him. I think they got him.”
More silence. Then: “Aight. I’ma come through. We need to talk about this in person.”
