Page 148 of 4 Corinthians

“I don’t care,” I told him. “Cori doesn’t belong to him.”

“We know that,” he replied. “Robert doesn’t, nor does he care. When he found out you were sniffing behind Corinthians, he was pissed.”

“You not telling me shit I don’t know,” I told him, then looked over at Uncle Bradon. “Why waste my time with this shit? He ain’t useful.”

“I wish that were true,” Uncle Bradon sighed. “Stop playing games with him and tell him what you know, Tulane.”

“When Bradon put me in charge of the Cali office, we put a few things into play. Nothing too major, just some back door tools to be able to keep an eye on Logan and Robert.”

“Okay, and?” I replied.

“This is his private landing strip,” Uncle Bradon answered. “It’s connected to one of his houses.”

“You’ve known where he was the entire time?” I asked him.

“No, this account was just activated a few days ago. I put eyes on it, a few young niggas that people wouldn’t even look twice at. Robert only came once, hasn’t been back, so I had my boys go inside to check it out. They called me when they saw some shit that didn’t sit right with them.” Tulane knocked on the window, and the car started moving. “I called your uncle when I saw it and told him. He came here, checked it out himself, then called you.”

“What was it?” I asked. I knew Robert well enough to know that whatever it was would never be good.

“You’ll see.” Uncle Bradon answered.

The drive to the house was quick. When we pulled up, Tulane didn’t wait for the driver to come around and open the door. We got out, and he led us up the stairs and to the front door.

My hand went to my back and wrapped around my gun.

“You ain’t gonna need that,” Tulane said, shaking his head. He opened the door and stepped inside. “He ain’t been back.” He flipped the light switch, and I walked into the house. It reminded me of my childhood home with dark floors, white walls, and no personal touches. The walls were bare, and the furniture looked like it had never been touched. “This way.”

Tulane and Uncle Bradon headed up the stairs. I followed behind them. Even though he said my gun wasn’t needed, I still had it in my hand. When they got to the top of the stairs, they turned right, then walked to the last door and opened it. They stepped back, and I walked in.

The first thing I noticed was it was a kid’s room. Specifically, a room for a little boy was decorated with a superhero theme. “What the fuck?” I said, looking around. My watch started beeping, but I didn’t turn it off. I walked to the bed and snatched the wooden letters off the wall. “What the fuck is this shit?” I threw the H across the room. I stepped on the bed and walked across it when I noticed the pictures lining the wall. They were all of Judah, from the time he was born until recently. All in the same park, him playing, laughing, running with Corinthians. I could tell she didn’t know they were being taken because in none of them were they looking at the camera. Next to the pictures was a height chart. It was dated with ages and his height and weight, like Judah had grown up in this room.

“Four,” Uncle Bradon called my name, but I was already on the move again. I went to the closed door and pulled it open to see it was filled with clothes, all of Judah’s size. I stepped back, shaking my head. “Four.”

“Uncle Bradon, he wants my son?” I asked, looking at him. “Huh? He wants my fuckin’ son?! To do what? Raise him! Make him a monster like he did me? His mama? Is that what you’re telling me? He wants Judah?”

“Not just Judah,” Uncle Bradon said. “Follow me.” He walked out of the room and to the other side of the floor. When he got to another room, he pushed it open, and my stomach dropped again. The room was identical to Cori’s room at her house. Every detail was the same, down to the small scuffs on the floor. It even smelled like her. I approached the bed and for a second just stood there, staring at it. “Four.”

I picked up the cuffs attached to the bed and my head started to spin. I could hear my bracelet alerting me about my heart rate, but it didn’t matter.

In the background I could hear Uncle Bradon talking, asking me to calm down but I couldn’t. Uncle Bradon stepped in front of me and put something to my ear.

“Uri?” Cori’s soft voice came echoing through the speaker. “Uri, baby, breathe.” I closed my eyes at the sound of her voice and did what she said. “There you go baby. Do it again.”

“Cori-“

“Come home, Uri,” she told me. “Whatever it is can wait. Just come home.”

***

From the moment we left Robert’s house until I saw Cori standing at the airstrip was a blank. I couldn’t get my mind to stop spinning; every so often, I would hear my bracelet start beeping. Eventually Uncle Bradon called Nine and had him turn off the sound. But it didn’t matter; I could feel my heart slamming against my chest the entire ride. When we landed, I got up, walked off the plane, and right into my woman’s arms. She stood there, waiting, worry and fear etched into her pretty-ass features.

“Where’s Judah?” I asked her as she drove.

“With Deuce,” she answered. She stopped at the light and looked over at me. “You hungry?”

“No.” I sat there, scared as fuck at the thought of telling her what I saw. She was going to run; there was no doubt about it, and truthfully, I didn’t blame her right now. Robert had made her life a living fucking hell. I licked my lips then rubbed my hand over my hair. “We umm, need to talk.”

“Okay,” she said. The light turned green, and she pulled off. “Now?”