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I wasn’t about to get spiritually fussed at by Granny Liz.

Still, there was one thing standing between Yonas and him leaving.

The truth.

“Aight,” I told him. “I’m gonna let you leave.”

Relief hit his face immediately.

“But first, you finna tell Lakelyn everything.”

His relief vanished. “Everything about what?”

“Don’t play stupid now. Tell her why your job is really in jeopardy. Tell her you wasn’t some innocent mothafucka getting blamed for everybody else’s shit. You knew exactly what was going on with those contracts, shell companies, and kickbacks, and your ass benefited from it too.”

Yonas’s jaw tightened.

Lakelyn frowned at him. “Yonas?”

“I’m fine!”

“Nah, you not,” I said. “And while you’re confessing, tell her why you really here.”

He shook his head slightly. “I’m not doing that.”

“You’re not?” I challenged.

Lakelyn’s brows pulled together. “Not going to do what?”

Yonas realized too late that he had answered somebody she couldn’t hear.

“Aight. We doing this the hard way,” I said.

I hated going inside people. The last time I had done it, I’d sworn it would be the first and last. Being inside somebody else’s body felt wrong as hell, and it drained me more than most of the other shit I could do. That time with the couple, I had used the woman’s body to speak through her. I wasn’t doing that with Yonas. I didn’t need his mouth; I just needed his nerves.

I stepped into him.

His whole body jerked. “Oh, shit!”

Lakelyn jumped. “What the hell?! Yonas, are you okay?”

I stayed beneath the surface, not controlling him, just reaching for the little signals his body already knew how to send.

I started with his ribs… just a little playful tickle.

Yonas folded halfway over, laughing and cussing while trying to protect both sides at once.

“Stop!”

Willow stared at him, confused. “Stop what?”

Yonas looked toward the space where I was standing. “Nigga, quit fucking with me!”

“Confess then.”

His jaw tightened. “No!”

Aight.