“What does he do for a livin’?”
“He owns clubs back in Texas.”
“So, you link wit’ a nigga from Texas and miraculously show back up at home. Some shit real fishy, Zhane.”
What were the odds of them running into each other in Texas? I grabbed her phone and pulled her head up by her hairso her face could unlock her phone. While she took a little cat nap, I took the time to take pictures of bank accounts, pictures of him and her, and text messages. Just some little shit that I can run through the database to figure out who the fuck this nigga was. His face didn’t look familiar at all. He looked to be about in his late thirties.
I sat back in the chair, watching Zhane as she drifted in and out.
“Stay wit’ me.” I tapped her cheek, making her eyes flutter.
“Why are you doing all of this, Whodie? I told you I just wanted you,” she slurred.
“Then why are you back in the city all of a sudden? Wasn’t Texas treatin’ you just fine? You got this big ass rock, I’m sure you had a nice spot to lay yo’ head at, and a daddy for yo’ bastard ass kid that you tried to put on me.”
“I ain’t…I ain’t got nothing to do with what you and your bitch got going on,” she said.
“Why the fuck you watchin’ me and puttin’ trackers on my truck and shit?”
“Because like I said, I wanted you. I always wanted you, but to get to you, I had to fuck the crew. You never really gave the attention I wanted, so I thought coming back in better condition than I left, we could be something.”
I reached over and grabbed her phone again, scrolling through more messages and pictures. The deeper I went, the more I realized she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was. Zhane was careless. Always had been.
“Look at me,” I said. “Does Rico know who I am?”
“I might have told him about you. I can’t remember.”
“Might have?” I wanted to slap the fuck out of her.
“He asked a lot of questions. He doesn’t like not knowing shit.”
“Did you tell him about Adore?” I asked.
Zhane hesitated a little longer than I would like, so I grabbed her jaw tightly until I could feel her fucking teeth pressed against it.
“Yes!” she cried. “Yes! I told him y’all run shit together. That’s it, and that’s all. Rico does not sell drugs; he moreso wanted to know about the club scene.”
I let her jaw go and walked away to think. If Rico was asking her questions, she was my only link to him. Our way in if he was the problem. Zhane had just won herself a get out of death card.
“You lucky,” I muttered.
I grabbed her phone, purse, and everything else she came in with and tossed them on the other side of the room.
“Get some rest. You’re gonna need it,” I told her, covering her mouth so she wouldn’t be able to scream.
She mumbled something under her breath, but I didn’t catch it and really didn’t give a fuck. I closed the room door behind me and went straight to the bathroom to wash my hands. Afterwards, I pulled my phone out to dial Adore’s number. I stopped before I tapped her name. I wanted to call and tell her everything, but the less she knew right now, the safer she was.
CHAPTER 20: ADORE
I hated rooms like this. It was always my goal to never have to sit in a lawyer’s office unless I was signing deeds and contracts. Everything about this made me feel controlled. The way the lawyer sat across from me and flipped through paperwork like he wasn’t about to change the direction of my life. It didn’t feel like my world. In my world, shit moved fast and with intentions.
“Let’s start with what they actually have,” he said, finally looking up at me.
I leaned back in the chair and crossed my arms like I wasn’t about to hear something that could bury me.
“They don’t have you physically moving product. There’s nothing here that places you in any of the transactions. You’ve kept yourself clean of that, and it’s partially why you’re not sitting in a federal cell right now.”
I knew they didn’t have me doing any hand-to-hand transactions. This shit wasn’t new to me and I was always careful. If they had surveillance, it would be me chilling and smoking weed on the block, but that was the most they could have. Shit, everyone from the hood did that, it didn’t make them a kingpin.
