“Serenity, you can’t just?—”
“I can. And I am.” She held up a hand. “But that’s not all. I’ve accepted a position elsewhere. Better pay. More responsibility. A chance to build something on my own, outside of the Banks name. I’m not even a Banks to begin with.”
“Where?” I asked.
She met my eyes.“Brick City Crew.”
The silencethat followed was deafening.
Quest looked like he might have a stroke. Justice’s mouth was hanging open. And me? I felt like the floor had just dropped out from under my feet.
“Brick City Crew,” Quest repeated slowly, like he was hoping he’d heard wrong. “The crime syndicate. THAT Brick City Crew.”
“They need an accountant. A good one. And they’re willing to pay three times what I was making here.”
“Serenity, do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself into?” Justice was on his feet now too. “BCC isn’t some corporate gig. These are dangerous people. Killers. Drug dealers. The kind of people our father used to run with before he went legit.”
“I know exactly what they are.” Her voice was calm. Too calm. “Your father built his fortune running with people like them so that he could grow Banks Reserve. You think I don’t know the family history? You think I’m that naive? And what they do isn’t all that different from y’all. Your dirt is just dressed up in a corporate facade.”
“Then you know what happens to people who make mistakes with their money,” I said quietly. “One wrong number. One misplaced decimal. And they don’t fire you, Serenity. They bury you.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact.” I stood, walking toward her. “BCC is run by somebody they call Shadow. Nobody knows who he really is except the top lieutenants. Not even the lower-level soldiers. You’d be walking into an organization where you don’t know who’s really in charge, handling money for people who kill first and ask questions never.”
“I appreciate your concern.” Her tone made it clear she didn’t appreciate it at all. “But I’m a grown woman making my own decision. For once in my life.”
“This isn’t about treating you like a child,” Quest said, his voice rising. “This is about keeping you alive!”
“No, this is about control!” She finally snapped, all that composure cracking. “This is about you three not being able to handle the fact that I’m doing something you don’t approve of! Something you can’t manage or manipulate or ‘protect’ me from!”
“Serenity—”
“I’m DONE being protected!” Tears were streaming down her face now, but her voice was strong. Fierce. “I’m done being the baby sister who gets shipped off to boarding school while you three handle ‘family business.’ I’m done being kept in the dark. I’m done being controlled. By Vivica. By you. By ANYONE.”
She grabbed her purse from the table and headed for the door.
“If BCC wanted to hurt me, they would’ve done it already. They approached ME. They want my skills. My expertise. And for the first time in my life, someone is valuing me for what I can do, not who I’m related to.”
“Serenity, wait—” Justice reached for her arm.
She pulled away. “Don’t. Just… don’t.” She paused at the door, looking back at us. “I love you. All of you. You’re my brothers, and nothing will ever change that. But I need to do this. I need to be my own person. And if you can’t respect that… then maybe we need some distance.”
“If you make one mistake with their money,” I said, my voice hard, “I might have to kill somebody to save you. You understand that? You’re putting ME in a position where I might have to start a war to protect you.”
She held my gaze for a long moment. “Then I guess I better not make any mistakes.”
The door closed behind her.
For a long moment, none of us moved. Just stood there, staring at the space where our baby sister had been, trying to process what the fuck had just happened.
“This is bad,” Justice said finally. “This is really, really bad.”
“You think?” Quest slammed his palm on the table. “She just walked into the lion’s den and we can’t do a damn thing about it!”
I stood there, my mind racing.
BCC was run by somebody called Shadow. A ghost. Nobody knew who he really was—not the low-level soldiers, not the street niggas, not even most of the lieutenants. Just a name that made people move right when he gave orders. The kind of power that stayed powerful because it stayed hidden.
