Page 207 of 4 Corinthians

“Krude…”

“I’m outta here,” he said, walking to the door. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Love you.”

***

“What do you mean they are meeting?” I asked Psalms. I looked over at the room across the hall from Uri’s room, then back at her. “What are they meeting about?”

“Cross said something about telling them that Four was going to kill them when he first met them,” she answered, and I nodded. Uri told me that he originally planned to kill the Stones because he thought they were connected to Robert, but once he found out they weren’t, he let it go. He said he and Nine decided only to tell Citrine, and eventually Pyrite found out, but no one ever told Amethyst. He was kept in the dark too much for my liking. They said it was because he was short-tempered and focused only on protecting Yale, which was true, but they were setting him up for failure because of that. He was running on half-truths and messing things up along the way.

“Amethyst isn’t going to take that well,” I said, shaking my head.

“Probably not, but I can't change it,” she answered with a shrug. “All I know is that the Numbers are pissed, which is understandable because of Four, but I don’t know anything else.”

I wiped my hands over the black sweats I’d changed into after I showered and sighed. “I need Uri to wake up,” I said, shaking my head. My eyes went back to their meeting. “If he doesn’t…”

“Oh, no,” she cut me off. “Nope, we aren’t thinking like that. We aren’t doing that. He’s going to wake up. He’s too damn stubborn not to. Just give him time to rest.”

“I’m trying….” I laughed and shook my head. “I prayed. Last night I closed my damn eyes and prayed for the first time in a long time.”

“Damn,” Psalms exhaled. I faithfully went to church and believed in God without a doubt, but I didn’t pray. I didn’t think God heard my prayers. It wasn’t logical, but I concluded that I prayed too much as a kid. I was asking God for too much, and he stopped listening, so I only prayed when it mattered. The last time I prayed was the night I prayed for clarity with Judah. After that, nothing until now. I prayed for Uri to wake up. God had to hear that, right? He wouldn’t leave me hanging, would he?

I looked down the hallway to the elevators. The doors opened, and Pyrite’s second in command of his security team, Tank, as well as Krude’s friend, Lavender, stood there holding hands. Lavender noticed me watching us, gave me a small wave, then the doors closed.

The lights started flashing, and alarms went off. “Code red, room 712,” an announcement went out over the intercom.

Pyrite jumped up and ran out of the conference room. “That’s Yamari’s room!” he yelled as he ran down the hallway. Everyone in the conference room chased behind him. Yamari’s room was on the same floor, just around the corner and down the hall.

***

"I wanted you to hear my voice. To make sure you haven’t forgotten what I told you because I think you have. I told you that you'd never get away. That I had the final say-so in everything. That you aren't in charge of a damn thing! I told you, Pet! I said I have the final say-so, yet you act like I don’t. I have sat back and watched you for months. MONTHS!" He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "My punishment was going to be simple. You obviously need to sit in the dark for a while. Alone. That’s all I was going to do, but now?" He laughed softly. "That isn't going to be enough. I'm coming for you. Your cousins? Dead. Your grandparents? Dead. Your sister? Going to Logan this time. Judah? At my side. And my son? His head will be mounted on my wall! I’m going to kill everyone! Do you hear me?! I’m killing everyone! Because you didn’t listen! You let him touch you! Pet you-"

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Krude leaned across the table. He pressed the end button, then locked the screen.

"That nigga dramatic," he said, shaking his head. "I’m pretty sure he busted a blood vessel in his eye from all that yelling too."

"Probably," Judge agreed. He turned to me and smirked. "You alright?"

"I’m good," I answered him. I looked around the room and laughed softly. "I don’t know how I am, but I am." I'd listened to that voicemail a million times. It didn’t scare me. Robert didn’t scare me. I knew he was desperate. He wanted control.

"Because you realize you aren't alone," Krude shrugged. "Now you wanna handle this nigga? You plotting something, or wanna freeball it? I'm good with either."

"You can't freeball anything with Robert," I said, shaking my head. "He's too calculated. He has plans for his plans, plans."

"You giving this nigga too much credit," Judge said.

"I wish I were," I replied as I watched Uri. He still hadn't woken up. It'd only been a few days, but that was more than enough for me. In that time, we'd barely scratched the surface of what Robert really had his hand in. People in my cousin's inner circle weren't really friends. The shooting was a lot more complex than originally thought. Xoey was being investigated for who knows what, and people were scrambling. I'd only left Uri's side twice. The first time to confront Micah Stone and Tulane, and the second to kill Lavender. That was something I didn't see coming. Lavender was Krude's friend; a random confrontation in the middle of the road had brought her in. Now we knew differently. She wasn't random. She worked for Robert.

Uri's door opened, and we all turned to see Bradon walk into the room. He looked tired, stressed, and annoyed, and I guess he had every right to feel all those things. His brother was trying to kill his nephew.

"No improvement?” He asked, and I shook my head. "You get any rest?" He shook my cousin's hands, then gave me a quick hug before sitting across from me.

"Did you?"

"No," he chuckled, then sat back. "I've been doing research. Checking then double-checking files and connections."

"Find anything interesting?"

"Robert covers his tracks well," he replied. "Cross and Nine are looking into some things for me, and I've put out some feelers as well in our old stomping ground. There's a name that keeps popping up, and I want to check on it. We have a meeting here soon."