“It’s not me I’m worried about, Alana. That right there lets me know you don’t need to be involved in this shit. They don’t have to do shit to me. They can hurt me more by coming for you, Trooper, or even worse, Sophie. Do they know she’s mine and not his?”
She looked down and that told me everything I needed to know.
“Alana, look at me. What did you promise them? It had to be something big or they would have never let me out.”
“I have names, dates, and proof of his business transactions. William doesn’t know I had access to it, but I have enough information to get both of them locked up.”
I laughed deep and loud before my hand moved down my face.
“You don’t really believe that, do you?”
“Yes I do. Why wouldn’t I? It was enough to get you out and your deal is solid. I made sure of it. I can show you what I gave them.”
“Alana, that don’t mean shit. If they let me out because of that, they plan on trying to use me one way or another. That’s the only guarantee that comes with that. Prescott has been doing this shit for years, paying off the right people and killing those who refused to play nice. They lied to you. They fucking lied. I don’t care what you gave them, that shit doesn’t mean a gotdamn thing. Fuck!”
She stood and moved toward me, but stopped short of touching me. “But they let you out, so it has to mean something.”
Alana had no clue how this shit worked, and even though she had been married to William all this time, she had no idea what his family was capable of. More so his father. True enough he was just a man, so it didn’t really faze me, but he had his hands in shit that would make it difficult to stop him. Even for the feds.
“I’m not saying they don’t believe it just as much as you do, what I’m saying is it ain't gonna happen. Why do you think that nobody ever did a gotdamn thing about your father? You know who did it just like I know. The fucking cops told me it was Harold, but they also told me they couldn't do shit about it because of who he was. That was right before they asked me to snitch on his ass. I told them to kiss mine and kept it moving. The only way to stop Prescott is to kill that muthafucker. You just put that on me, whether you meant to or not.”
I read her thoughts without her having to say a word. She regretted what she had done, even if she was grateful that it’d brought me home.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
She meant it sincerely, but that didn’t change that she had royally fucked up. Even still, she was my heart and I would do everything in my power to fix it. If that meant killing the entire Prescott family, there wasn’t a question about what I would do. I just had to figure out how to do it without ending up right back in the place I’d sworn I’d never return.
Reaching for Alana, I forced her into my personal space and exhaled as I closed her in my arms.
“I’ll figure it out,” I said as I lowered my chin to the top of her head while it rested against my chest.
“You just said you would have to kill him. Maybe I can?—”
“Baby, let it go. I said I’ll figure it out.”
Removing one hand from her body, I used it to lift her chin so her eyes were on me. She looked nervous, so I smiled.
“Damn, I ain't been home but five minutes and you lost faith in me already?” A smile crept across my face, but her expression didn’t change.
“Things are so messed up.”
“You trust me, right?”
“You know I do, but…”
“Then let me figure this shit out.”
I kissed her soft and slow and she kissed me back. When I pulled away, I closed her in my arms again. I had no idea how I was about to make this shit happen, but I was keeping my family safe, even if I had to paint the city red to do so.
Chapter 50
Carlos
“How about tomorrow? Okay, that works. Yes, I can’t wait. No, you know how he?—”
I snatched Maddie’s phone from her and held it to my ear. “Ma, she has to go. She has more important shit to be doing than to be on the phone with you all day.”
“Los, give me my phone.” Maddie jumped off the sofa and tried to grab it back from me, but I turned my back to her.
