PRIME
The red-eye from LA landed at six in the morning. I didn’t sleep on the flight. Couldn’t. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my son’s face. My daughter’s face. Zainab handcuffed to that hospital bed, looking like she’d been through a war and barely survived.
And then I saw Thad. Smiling at family dinners. Shaking my hand. Playing the loyal cousin while carrying secrets that should’ve gotten him killed years ago.
By the time I pulled up to the warehouse, the sun was just starting to rise, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. Beautiful morning. Peaceful. The kind of morning that made you forget ugly things existed in this world.
I was about to remind somebody.
Justice was waiting outside, leaning against his Range Rover, scrolling through his phone. He looked up when I approached.
“He’s been hanging there all night,” Justice said. “Screamed himself hoarse for a few hours, then gave up. Pissed himself around 3 AM.”
“Good.”
“You sure you wanna do this yourself? I can handle it if you?—”
“Nah.” I rolled my shoulders, cracked my neck. “This one’s personal.”
Justice nodded and fell into step beside me as I walked toward the warehouse entrance. The door groaned when I pushed it open, and the smell hit me immediately—sweat, piss, fear. The cologne of a man who knew he was in trouble.
Thad was exactly where Justice left him. Hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, arms stretched above his head, feet barely touching the ground. He couldn’t move, couldn’t shift his weight, couldn’t do anything but hang there and suffer.
He looked rough. Eyes swollen, lips cracked, dried blood crusted around his nose from where Justice must’ve got him during the initial takedown. His designer clothes were soaked with sweat and other things I didn’t want to think about.
When he saw me, something flickered in his eyes. Hope, maybe. Like he thought I was here to save him.
Stupid nigga.
“Prime.” His voice was wrecked, barely above a whisper. “Prime, bro, thank God. Tell Justice to let me down. I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever he thinks I did?—”
I walked up to him slowly. Took my time. Let him see my face, my posture, the complete absence of mercy in my eyes.
“Please, man.” He was crying now, tears cutting tracks through the grime on his face. “Just tell me what I did. Whatever it is, I’m sorry. I’ll make it right. We family, Prime. We blood. You can’t do me like this.”
I stood in front of him, close enough to smell the fear coming off him in waves. Didn’t say a word.
“Is this about Mehar?” He was grasping now, throwing out guesses. “Because if it’s about me cheating on her, I’m sorry. It ain’t that serious. She ain’t even family—I am. I know she’s your girl’s sister, but come on, bro. It ain’t that serious.”
I punched him in the jaw.
His head snapped to the side, blood and spit flying from his mouth. The chains rattled as his body swung from the impact.
He groaned, working his jaw, then spit out a glob of blood onto the concrete floor. When he looked back at me, there was a new calculation in his eyes. Trying to figure out what I knew.
“Okay, okay.” He laughed nervously, blood staining his teeth. “This about Farah? Is that it?” He had the nerve to smirk. “I thought you ain’t even want her, bro. I just got some pussy. She was an enemy anyway—YOUR enemy. I only fucked her a couple times. She ain’t family either. I am.”
I punched him in the eye.
This time he screamed, the sound echoing off the warehouse walls. His left eye was already swelling shut, the skin around it splitting from the force of the blow.
Then I hit him in the stomach.
He doubled over as much as the chains would let him, gagging, trying to catch his breath. I stepped back and watched him struggle. Didn’t say a word. Didn’t need to. Sometimes silence was louder than any threat I could make.
“Bro…” He was gasping, drool and blood dripping from his lips. “Bro, please. Whatever this is about, we can talk. I got a baby on the way, Prime. I got a girl named Kacey and she’s about to have my kid. You can’t kill me. I’m about to be a father.”
I tilted my head. Looked at him like he was the dumbest motherfucker I’d ever met.
