“Who the fuck is your husband?” Yaseer wondered, reloading his clip.
“Quinten Bentley.”
“He works with the Bentley Cartel?”
“He’s currently the head of the family.” I clarified, wondering what was swirling around in his head because the last thing I wanted to do was lose him. That thought crossing my mind told me I was falling for him, whether I wanted to admit it or not.
“That flight, you can forget about. You coming with us.”
“No, I have a life that I need to get back to,” I fretted. “I’ll be okay. Quinten isn’t going to do anything to me. He just wants to assert his power in front of you.”
“And we see how that worked out for him. We are going the same way, so you are really just catching a flight with us,” Yaseer advised.
My eyebrows raised, and I turned in my seat to face Yaseer. I didn’t know where he lived, and never shared with him where I lived either. “Where am I going?”
“Tampa. I do my research, unlike you. I’ve been living there since we expanded and opened the second Legacy Wealth Management office. I also bought a minor league baseball team there.”
“Don’t worry, I can get all up in your business, too. Just wait and see.”
“I’m an open book. I thought you realized that already. Anything you want to know, just ask me.”
I melted into the seats, my hand grasped firmly in his as we headed to his parents’ house.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Quinten Bentley Sr.
“Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!” I screamed as the bullet tore through my shoulder, excruciating pain exploding through my nerves and snatching the breath from my lungs. The force of it knocked me back, slamming my body into the truck so hard the metal dented upon impact. My knees buckled, and I crumpled to the ground, clutching my wound as warm blood gushed between my fingers.
My men were all crouched down around me until the gunfire ceased, and the tires squealing were the only sound left. Tevin popped up from beside me, aiming his gun at the car. I gathered the little bit of strength I had in me to kick my leg out, stopping him before he could pull the trigger.
“Don’t fucking shoot at them with my wife in that truck!” I snapped, closing my eyes from the additional pain that yelling brought on.
“Man, you got us looking like a bunch of bitches. That nigga shot you and skirted off with ya wife, and we supposed to eat that shit?”
I yanked the black t-shirt over my head and pressed it hard against my shoulder, the fabric soaking up the blood fast. My teeth clenched from the sting, but I kept my eyes locked on Tevin from my position on the ground, leaning up against the truck. “What the fuck else you gone do, nigga?” I growled, daring him to do something. “Somebody go after them! See where the fuck they going!” I ordered after he failed to move or say anything else.
“You want somebody to run after them and not shoot back while that nigga shooting at us like he fucking John Wick. This some bullshit, Q! I been ten toes down with you since I was a jit, but I ain’t blind. The fact that yo wife popping her pussy for another nigga not going to feed our families!” He argued.
I scrambled, pushing through the pain to gather every ounce of strength I had left as I pushed myself off the ground and stepped in Tevin’s face. The sound of a truck driving off behind me told me that some of my men were still subordinate and following orders.
“Tevin and Q, calm down!” Damon barked, stepping in our direction. He pushed Tevin back, then opened the rear passenger door that I was standing in front of to help me inside.
“Everybody else go find some shit to do! Tevin, you drive us to Q’s house so we can have the doctor pull up over there.” Damon ordered once I was seated in the truck.
Footsteps pounded from every direction as men piled into the other two trucks. Doors slammed, and engines growled as they pulled off in various directions. Tevin begrudgingly rounded the car and claimed the driver’s seat. Damon closed the door and hopped in the front passenger seat before Tevin pulled off.
“Tevin, you of all people know it’s a lot going on right now,” Damon broke the silence in the car.
Taking the words right out of my mouth. We went back to middle school. When his family was toppled and ran out of Miami, I gave him the opportunity to feed his family off the strength of our friendship. Now this motha fucka had all this stress on his chest with the same nigga that fed him.
“I do, and that’s why I think we should be focused on what the fuck your cousins might try to do instead of what your wife doing. She gone, Q! Let her go and focus on what’s important. Everything you doing is going to lead to you losing power.”
“Motha fucka my family is important!” I seethed.
“I said what I said. You keep mixing this with your personal shit, and we the ones catching bullets behind it.”
“I’m the one with a bullet lodged into my shoulder. You just fine,” I groaned, looking at the wound. It was just a few inches away from where Marissa stabbed me.
