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The cashier rang everything up, and the total came out to be $22.48. Toya reached into her purse, but I pulled out my wallet before she could offend me any more than she already had.

“You sure, Caine? You just bought all of that stuff back at JJ’s and I feel bad with you buying my food too. I have a little money.”

“Listen, you don’t have to tally up what I do for you. I brought you here, so I got you. Don't offend me again by pulling out that lil flat ass purse.”

She laughed before zipping it back up.

When we got back in the car, she put the bag of food down on the floorboard underneath her legs.

“Why you not eating your food while it’s still fresh?”

“Oh, I didn’t think you would want me to eat in here. It’s so nice. I don’t want to drop anything.”

“If you drop something, I’ll get it cleaned up. Simple.”

“Okay, good to know.” She picked up the bag from the floorboard. Toya dove into her food, and I turned the music up to vibe while she ate.

When we got close to her apartment complex, I got a call through my speaker from Steelo, my neighbor across the street. Steelo was forty-five years old and still lived with his mama. That nigga sat at home all day working on his car under their carport, so that made him a perfect watchdog for my house when I wasn’t there. Security cameras could only catch so much.

I answered the phone and put it up to my ear.

“Yo, what’s up?”

“Caine, my man. You busy?”

“Not busy if it’s something I need to know.”

“Yeah, I think you might. You know I like to review footage on the camera out front when I’m not out looking around just to keep up with the neighborhood.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I saw something that happened a little bit earlier that I think you might want to know about.”

“What is it? Talk to me.” I readjusted myself in my seat.

“There was a nice ass car parked across the street from Sanford’s house for a good thirty minutes, and no one got out of the car.”

“A nice car, what kind?”

“A Benz, Bentley, or something. Luxury car.”

“Okay, who was in it?”

“Well, no one got out of the car, but your wife got in and sat in the car for a minute. I’m only bringing it up because smoke came out so thick I’m sure it was a man inside. Now if that was her father or somebody, I apologize for bringing it up.”

“Nah, that wasn’t him, he's locked up. Download that part of the footage and send me the video if you can so I can look at it myself.”

“Okay, I got you. Call me back if you need me.”

“I got you,” I replied, hanging up.

The video came through a few minutes later, and I turned the volume down before watching it from the beginning. The footage showed the car pulling up outside the house. It sat there for a minute before Kharti came out, walked over, opened the passenger door, and climbed inside.

I watched closely. Whoever was behind the wheel was familiar enough that she got in without hesitation. She sat in the car for a few minutes, as smoke crept out through the cracked window. Kharti usually hated smoke, so why the hell was this conversation so important that she would sit in that shit?

I raised the phone closer to my face, driving with one hand as I held the phone with the other. Toya hadn’t said a word to me because she was still stuffing her face in the passenger seat.

“Who the fuck is in that car?”