Chapter 9
Ididn’t even hear myself breathing. All I heard was gunfire cracking off brick and metal, loud enough to shake my fucking bones.
I was crouched behind the front fender of a long black Chevy with one hand on my weapon, the other on Keondra’s back while she shielded Amour.
Carmen was beside me, steady and locked in, while focused.
The whole street was screaming and scattering, with chairs flipping inside the restaurant, doors slamming, and people running like roaches when the light flicked on.
But we were calm because chaos was something we’d been raised in.
I didn’t notice Malik at first until a flash of movement hit my peripheral view.
He wasn’t ducking and he wasn’t scrambling nor was he frozen.
Instead, he had pulled out his piece from inside his hoodie and was positioned over me with his bodyguard next to him.
He wasn’t in front of me and not blocking me but covering like he understood this shit.
I looked up at him with my eyes wide, but he was too busy scanning the street to look back at me. “What the fuck is this?” he mumbled, breathing steady. “Who the fuck are y’all?” He wasn’t yelling and he wasn’t panicking. He was pissed and confused and protecting me anyway.
The sedan peeled off around the corner. The second car followed with two tires screeching.
Carmen and Keondra’s shadows were already clearing the angles with their guns still raised and eyes still tracking.
Nobody holstered a thing yet because you never holster too soon because that was the easiest way to get caught slipping.
I stayed crouched down with my gun down but ready. My chest was tight, and I could feel my jaws burning from clenching too damn hard. Malik finally looked at me. “Nah, for real, O’Shynn,” he said, in a rough tone. “Don’t lie. What the fuck did I just witness?”
I swallowed hard and my heart was beating loud enough to feel it.
I had always kept my worlds separated and clean.
Business stayed with business and pleasure had its own place.
Family was sacred and the cartel side lived behind doors most people never even saw…
the underworld. Everything was in its own lane, its own box, never touching but right now those boxes weren’t boxes anymore.
They were cracked wide open in the middle of a Miami sidewalk with gun shells still warm on the concrete, and Malik had just seen every truth I never intended for him to see. Fuck!
I looked him dead in his eyes because there was no use in running from it, and I had no cute girl act, and it wasn’t no laughing it off.
“You wanna know who I am?” I asked, trying to control my adrenaline rush.
“Fine… I’m not just the girl who runs a club.
I’m O’Shynn Royal. My family runs this city whether folks want to admit it out loud or not.
My brother is Dom. Yeah, that Dom. The one people whisper about when they don’t want to say his name too loud.
Dique the great, yeah, that’s my twin brother and Carmen Royal is indeed my sister-in-law. This is our empire.”
Malik stared at me like he was processing memory and every night we’d spent together along with every conversation and every quiet moment trying to re-understand me through this new lens. He wasn’t scared and he wasn’t backing up either. If anything, he looked more present, and more aware.
“So that’s why you always had walls?” he asked.
I nodded. “I wasn’t ever gonna bring nobody into this unless they knew the weight of it for real.”
Before he could respond, the black trucks came roaring up with powerful engines vibrating along the road, the shadows moved into position without a single word spoken.
Carmen was already helping Keondra get Amour into one of the SUVs.
The toddler was still crying, Keondra was cussing under her breath, Carmen was trying to calm both of them down, and the street smelled like burnt gunpowder now.
We had to go before the police arrived, but of course we would leave two or three shadows behind for media control.
Malik finally looked away from me long enough to take all that in and when he looked back at me, his voice had changed. “So, I’ve been messin’ with a queen this whole time, one of the Royal cartel queens at that,” he said, quiet but intense.
I didn’t smile. “Something like that.”
One of our people opened the back door of the SUV, waiting. Carmen called my name one time in that firm but urgent tone. I lightly touched Malik’s chest, just so he’d feel me more than understand me.
“I’ll call you later,” I told him.
“You better,” he replied with tight jaws, but eyes never left mine. “Don’t disappear on me.”
I didn’t answer because I didn’t need to.
He watched me climb inside that truck like he was memorizing every movement.
The truck pulled off fast but steady. Amour was still crying in Keondra’s arms with her little fingers gripping her hoodie tight and her tiny face all wet and flushed.
Keondra kept rocking her, but her mouth was still running because she was pissed and I knew this couldn’t have been the first time she witnessed a shootout because she grew up in one of the roughest hoods in Miami.
However, this was most likely the first time she’d been directly in one.
“I swear, I can’t even get no damn black-eyed peas in peace,” she said under her breath with an attitude.
“All I asked for was some macaroni, some cornbread, and a peace of mind to go. But no, soon as I step foot anywhere, bullets wanna start flying like confetti around this bitch. I’m so fuckin’ annoyed. ”
I rubbed my forehead. “Keondra, relax.”
“Relax?” she chuckled. “I almost got my baby shot over some collards. My spirit is disturbed.”
Carmen had been quiet the whole time. She was sitting slightly to the side with her hand resting over her stomach, as if she was protecting it.
Her face wasn’t shaken with fear or any of that…
as a matter of fact her face was calculating, already sorting through possibilities, motives, and timing.
That lawyer brain never slept. Before any of us could speak again, both of our phones rang at the exact same time.
Mine lit up with Dique’s name. Hers lit up with Dom’s and the truck got real still real fast.
I answered. “Yeah.”
Dique came in mad as hell and he was pissed. “What the fuck goin’ on O? I just landed and Tone talkin’ about the hood turned into Baghdad. He got the call. Tell me my baby girl ain’t out there in that shit…”
He stopped speaking because Amour’s ears perked up at the sound of his voice. She looked around, with her small eyes wide and glossy. “Daddyyyy?”
The whole truck fell silent for a second once again, hell even Keondra killed the attitude.
“Yeah, baby,” Dique said, and his whole tone changed sounding softer but hiding what he really felt. “Daddy’s right here. You, okay?”
Amour nodded even though he couldn’t see her, and the little tears still sliding down her cheeks. Keondra kissed the top of her head and swallowed hard. “She’s alright,” Keondra said, in a shaky voice still too upset. “We all fine.”
The anger came right back into Dique’s voice. “Who the fuck shot at y’all?”
Before I could answer him, I heard Carmen speaking quietly into her phone, but she was calm, and precise with her words. “No, I’m not hurt. Yes, I promise. The baby is fine, Dom. We’re already en route.” She paused, listening. “Alright. I’ll put you on speaker.”
She tapped the screen and Dom’s voice filled the truck. He didn’t sound like he was panicking and he didn’t sound loud. He sounded like a man standing in the middle of a chessboard who already knew the next five moves.
“Everybody listen,” he said. “We’re not reacting sloppy. We don’t move off emotion. We move smart. I’m already handling the back end. Y’all sit tight and do exactly what I say.”
We all answered in our own ways but mine was a simple, “Got you.”
Dom continued, in a controlled tone. “No panicking. Keep yo’ eyes open and keep short communication.
I’ll call back when I find out who was behind this shit.
I already know for sure it wasn’t another cartel and wasn’t no affiliates from Cuba, Mateo confirmed that.
Get out the streets now,” he said and then the line disconnected.
I lifted my phone back to my ear. Dique was still there. “Tell me where y’all at,” he said.
I gave him the truck number and the route. “Bet. I’m comin’ straight there.”
Then the call ended. The truck interior was quiet except for Amour’s little hiccups.
I leaned my head back for a second, trying to let the adrenaline really slow down.
Carmen finally looked over at me, but her hand stayed on her stomach as she slowly ran her thumb back and forth across it.
She didn’t have to say anything. I already knew what that look meant.
This wasn’t random, this was intentional and as a soon-to-be mother, it was exactly what she was afraid of.
I nodded at her, letting her know I understood and she nodded back as the truck kept moving.