Legend was behind the wheel. Sincere sat in the passenger seat, with his eyes locked on me. Sincere’s face was filled with panic, the kind a man got when the woman he loved was in danger and he could not reach her. His eyes stayed locked on me. They were angry and desperate, searching my face like he was trying to read my expression to see if I was hurt. His jaw worked like he was grinding his teeth, and I could tell he was holding himself back from doing something reckless right there in traffic just to get to me. In the back passenger seat, Saint leaned forward into the open window space, and everything about him looked vicious. His eyes were cold and his posture was forward like he was already calculating where to hit first. He did not look scared; he looked offended, like Kodi had crossed a line thatcould not be uncrossed, and now Saint was ready to make him pay for it.
Relieved, my mouth opened, but I knew better to make a sound. But Kodi caught it, anyway. He followed my stare, then turned his head and saw them riding right beside him.
His mouth curled as his eyes narrowed. He looked at me again and smiled with no warmth. “Oh, that’s your lil’ boyfriend?”
“Kodi, please,” I whispered.
He started laughing. It did not sound normal or amused. It sounded…unhinged.
“That nigga think he can save you? He gonna play Captain Save a Hoe?” Kodi’s gaze then snapped back to the truck. He lifted his chin at them, daring them to make a move. Then he slammed on the gas. The car surged forward so hard my body jerked against the seatbelt. The gun stayed pressed into my side. He cut between lanes without signaling, forcing another car to slam on brakes behind us. Tires squealed, horns blared, and drivers rolled down their windows, cursing him out.
“Kodi!” I cried. “Stop!”
He swerved again, barely missing a parked car, then scraped the side of a moving one. The sound of metal on metal was loud.
In the backseat, KJ pulled his headphones off. “Daddy!” he screamed. “Stop! Slow down! You gonna crash!”
“Kodi,” I begged. “You’re going to kill us.Please!”
He did not answer. He drove faster and more reckless, cutting through traffic, forcing people out of his way. Cars swerved. Brakes slammed. People leaned on horns and shouted out windows. But Legend kept up with him.
KJ cried louder. “Daddy, please! You’re scaring me!”
“Kodi, listen to him. Listen to your son!”
Kodi finally turned his head and looked at me fully. His face was blank.
My whole body locked up.
He held my gaze and spoke with a cold voice that scared me more than anything had that evening. “Maybe killing us is what I want to do.”
SINCERE BELLAMY
I sat in Legend’s passenger seat with my phone pressed to my ear, and I felt helpless in a way I hated. Rhythm’s call was still connected. I could hear everything, including Kodi’s threats. Every second that passed made my panic rise higher, because I could hear her tears and fear, and it was making me feel more and more like a failure that I still could not get my hands on her.
Legend drove wildly, keeping up with Kodi, while Saint and Reek were in the backseat, quiet in that way that meant they were trying to figure out what to do next.
“Breathe,” Legend said to me without looking over. “You can’t help her if you lose your shit.”
I tried. I did. I pulled air in and it still didn’t feel like enough. My throat felt closed. My hands would not stop shaking.
“I’m watching the love of my life about to lose her life.” As I spoke, I could hear that my voice was the weakest I’d ever heard it. “Her kids are in that car. I’m right here and I still can’t help them.”
“We got this,” Reek said from behind me. “We got her.”
Saint leaned forward between the seats. “Soon as we get hands on that nigga, he done.”
I didn’t answer because all I could see was Rhythm’s face from when we pulled alongside her. I could still see her frightened, wet eyes, trying to hold it together because her babies were right behind her.
I knew I loved her. I had been trying not to rush it. But this was different. This was not just in my head or in my mouth. It was in my veins. It ran through me and made me desperate for her.
Kodi drove ahead of us, swerving through traffic, running lights, cutting people off and forcing them to slam their brakes. Then he turned off the main street with a sharp turn.
Legend followed, staying on his bumper. The road Kodi took was darker, emptier, and lined with trees and patches of dead grass. There were no storefronts, pedestrians, or cars parked on either side. It looked like one of those stretches of road people avoided at night because there was nothing there to save you if something happened.
My stomach turned. “Where the hell is he taking her?” I turned my head toward Legend. “What do we do?”
Legend kept driving. “We stay on him.”
