I was so stuck in my head I almost didn’t see her.
Big Mona.
Leaning against the wall outside my cell like she’d been waiting. Arms crossed. Two of her girls posted up beside her like bodyguards.
Mona was tall as hell and built like she’d been fighting her whole life. Word around here was she ran commissary, made book on card games and fights, and had enough pull to make your life miserable if she wanted to.
I’d been avoiding her all week. Keeping my head down. But I’d felt her watching me. Asking questions about me.
And now here she was. Blocking my path.
“Banks, right?” She smiled but her eyes was cold. “Like the liquor?”
I didn’t say nothing. Tried to move past her.
She stepped in front of me.
“Word travel fast in here. Your man’s family own Banks Reserve. Fancy lawyer coming through every other day. That rock you was wearing before they booked you?” She sucked her teeth. “I heard it cost more than my grandmama’s house.”
I kept my face blank. “I need to get to my cell.”
“See, here’s the thing.” She stepped closer. Close enough for me to smell the commissary coffee on her breath. “You about to fly out to Cali. That’s far from here. And a lot can happen between now and then.” Her eyes dropped to my belly. “Lot can happen on that transport too.”
My hand went to my stomach without thinking.
Mona watched the movement and smiled. “That’s cute. You worried about the baby.” She pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and tucked it into my jumpsuit. “Ten thousand. In my account. Forty-eight hours. Have your fancy lawyer wire it.”
I stared at her like she was out of her fuckin’ mind.
She shrugged. “Like I said. Lot can happen.”
The ugly bitches she ran with laughed.
I still didn’t say nothing. Just stood there looking at her until the smile started to slip off her face.
“Forty-eight hours, Banks.” She stepped aside, finally letting me pass. “Clock’s ticking.”
That slipof paper was burning a hole in my pocket.
I was calling Prime first thing in the morning.
Cuz, if I told him about Mona—if he knew somebody in here threatened me, threatened our BABY—he would set this whole place on fire.
I walked into my cell. Sat on my bunk. Looked at the slip of paper in my hand.
Ten thousand dollars. Forty-eight hours.
Big Mona thought she knew who she was dealing with.
She had no idea.
Prime was gonna love this.
7
PRIME
Vivica’s office was on the fourth floor of the Wilson Building. Heart of DC government. This was the spot where she sat on her throne, throwing her weight around as if she were a queen. She’d been the mayor for decades and it was about time that her reign was over.
