“It’s also the definition of persistence. And persistence has made me a very wealthy man.”
“And my answer has made you a very rejected one. Multiple times.” I stopped laughing because the humor had served its purpose and now we needed to get to the business. “Let me be clear with you since the last few conversations apparently didn’t stick. Our arrangement is done. I’ve paid what I owed you for the product that was lost. Every dollar, plus the ten percent Ipromised. We’re square. And I’ve recovered what I needed to recover from the people who took it.”
He didn’t need to know the details of that last part. The half of his cocaine sitting in my possession was leverage I was keeping in my back pocket.
“So there’s nothing left to discuss between us,” I continued. “No partnership. No equity. No transport arrangement. We’re done doing business. Effective today.”
Rios uncrossed his legs and leaned forward slightly. Just enough for the energy in the room to shift. His face didn’t change but something behind his eyes did, that patient predator stillness I’d clocked the first time he sat in that chair hardening into something colder.
“My family will be very disappointed to hear that,” he said.
“Disappointment is a fact of life, Mateo. We all deal with it.”
“Some of us deal with it better than others.”
I looked at him across my desk. This man with his tailored suit and his veiled threats and his cartel connections sitting in my chair trying to make me feel something I’d never felt in a boardroom or a basement. I wasn’t afraid of Mateo Rios. I wasn’t afraid of his family. I’d been in rooms with men who made Rios look like a middle manager and I’d walked out of every single one of them on my own two feet.
“Be easy,” I said. “And don’t come back to my office.”
He sat there for a second longer than necessary. Then he stood, buttoned his jacket, and walked out without another word. No handshake this time. The door clicked shut behind him and I sat there for a minute thinking about whether I’d just made a problem worse or put one to bed. Decided I didn’t care either way. I wasn’t in the business of bending for men who thought patience and threats were the same thing.
I finished the emails, signed the change order, called the insurance adjuster back, and packed up. It was almost seven andMehar was at the estate waiting for me and I’d been away from her for too many hours already. I grabbed my keys and headed for the elevator.
The drive to Virginia was quiet and clean and for forty-five minutes I wasn’t a CEO or a killer or a man at war with his best friend. I was just a man driving home to the woman he loved. And that was enough.
21
Mega
“How long are you going to be here?” Camille asked, rubbing her belly while she sat across from me on her new plush sofa.
She had just moved into this condo in Bethesda with her friend Lyric. They had a nice lil setup out here but I couldn’t stay long. Camille and I were fam but we weren’t super close. She was the only lawyer in the family though and she’d helped me out of a bind before, so when I needed a couch and no questions, she was the call.
“Just until my connect comes through with a new spot. A week or so.” I leaned back on the couch and looked at her. “Quest know we cousins?”
“Not to my knowledge. I’ve never had a reason to mention you. Besides, Quest always kept me at arm’s length even when we were together. What did you do to him and why are you on the run? You kill somebody he loves? Did you hurt Serenity?”
“Nah. Hell no. I would never do something like that,” I lied. As much as I wanted to lean on my cousin, I couldn’t fully trust her. There was something about the Banks family that made people cave. Made them loyal in ways that overrodeblood. Camille had been Quest’s girl for three years. That kind of history leaves residue no matter how bad the breakup was.
“Uh huh.” She wasn’t convinced but she wasn’t pressing either. “Don’t bring no shit to my door, Mega. I’m eight months pregnant and I have to prepare for this baby.”
“Is that your baby daddy?” I asked, nodding toward the hallway where Lyric had just walked through the front door with shopping bags on both arms.
Camille rolled her eyes without dignifying it with a response. Lyric had been out of town since I moved in last week and this was the first time I’d be seeing her.
“Who is this?” Lyric asked, looking at me like I was a stain on the new furniture.
“You ain’t tell her I was staying here?” I shot back at Camille.
“This is my cousin Mega,” Camille announced.
“Wsup,” I said. Damn she looked good. Camille ain’t know what to do with all that. I never understood that whole situation but it wasn’t my business.
“Mega… Mega?” Lyric shifted her eyes to the ceiling like she was searching for something. Then they came back down sharp. “Wait a minute. Isn’t Quest’s sister Serenity dating someone named Mega? Are you that Mega?”
“Yeah.” I rolled my eyes.
“Listen, Lyric. Do not tell Quest that he’s staying here. Please,” Camille said.
