She tried to hide her smile but didn’t try that hard. “Just make sure you don’t get caught.”
“I never do.”
“Mmhmm,” she laughed.
The front door opened and Serenity walked in carrying a brown paper bag from the carryout down the street. The smell of General Tso’s chicken and shrimp and broccoli hit my nose before I saw her. She stopped when she saw me sitting at the table and her face did about four things at once before landing on a smirk that was covering something sharper underneath.
“I know that ain’t my big brother who dragged me to rehab and abandoned me. You know I had to hitchhike back to town. I could’ve gotten trafficked.”
“Sis, I’m so sorry about that. Things got crazy. Mehar was kidnapped and?—”
“Wait, what?” The smirk dropped. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. I got her back. But I need to know where Mega is.”
Serenity set the bag on the counter and crossed her arms. She looked healthier than the last time I’d seen her. Clearer eyes, fuller face, steadier hands. Thirty days clean looked good on her even if she was staring at me like she wanted to throw the lo mein at my head.
“You abandon me and now you want my help? What does Mega have to do with Mehar?”
“Long story but he’s behind the robbery and the fire. He hired the Vipers. He was using you to get intel on our family and feeding it to somebody above him. And I ain’t letting it slide that he put his hands on you. So I need you to tell me where he is.”
Something moved across her face when I said that last part. Not surprise. She already knew Mega was dangerous. But hearing her brother acknowledge what Mega did to her, hearing me say it out loud like it mattered, shifted something between us.
“I swear if I knew, I would tell you. I haven’t spoken to him the whole time I was in rehab.”
“I need you to contact him. Tell him you want to see him. I just need his location.”
She went quiet. I watched her jaw tighten and her arms press tighter against her chest and I understood what I was asking. I was asking my sister, who had just spent thirty days getting clean and putting distance between herself and the man who abused her, to pick up her phone and reach back into the darkness she’d just climbed out of. That wasn’t a small ask. I knew that.
“I don’t want to see him,” she said.
“You won’t have to. I swear. I just need him to respond so I can trace his location. One call. That’s it.”
She looked at Rita. Rita’s face was unreadable, which meant she was letting Serenity make her own decision without interfering. That was growth for Rita too because that woman had an opinion about everything and sharing it was her cardio.
“Okay,” Serenity said. She pulled out her phone and dialed Mega’s number. It rang four times and went to voicemail. She looked at me and I nodded for her to leave a message.
“Hey, it’s me. I’ve been thinking about you. I just got back and I want to talk. Call me when you get this.” Her voice was steady and soft and convincing and I hated that she wasgood at this because it meant she’d had practice performing for dangerous men.
She hung up and put the phone on the counter and wiped her hands on her jeans like she was cleaning something off them that soap couldn’t reach.
“Thank you,” I said. I stood up and hugged her and she let me, which was more than I deserved. “If you want your job back, it’s yours whenever you’re ready.”
“I need a break from all of that right now. I’m gonna stay with Rita for a while and figure some things out.”
“Whatever you need. Just hit me when you hear from him.”
“I will.”
I kissed Rita on the forehead, grabbed my keys, and headed for the door.
I got in the Maybach and pulled away from Rita’s house and headed north on 295. I had one more stop before I went back to Virginia. The McLean Urology Center off Dolley Madison Boulevard. My consultation was at 3:15. I couldn’t believe I was going through with this. For the first time since Quindon, I actually wanted kids. I wanted a wife. And I was gonna get it.
19
Mehar
I texted Quest before I left.Going to Baltimore to drop money to Bryce’s family. Of course I’m going with security. I’ll be back this evening.He responded with one word:Careful.That was enough. He trusted me to handle my own, and I loved him for it.
