Marz

Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

Marz

By the time I pulled up to the safehouse, everyone, and I do mean everyone, was already there.

Groaning, I looked over at Heir. The last thing I wanted to do was overwhelm her.

While I appreciated everyone pulling up, if she was in shock, the less people that were around…

the better. I called Pops as I pulled into the garage, and he answered on the first ring.

“Y’all good?” Pops asked.

“Yeah. I’m assuming Winston called everyone?”

“Yeah. We got your car. By the time Nep pulled up with your spare key, the police hadn’t arrived, so whoever owns that place knew what he was doing by picking that location. We swept the scene and took pictures. Beethoven got a cleanup crew on it. I’ma let you lead this, but tell me what you need.”

“Right now, I need space to talk to her and figure out what’s going on. I don’t want to overwhelm her with a lot of people she doesn’t know.”

“Alright. I’ll pull everyone. We’ll wait in the guest house out back. If you need us, we’ll be there for you to delegate. If not, I’ll send everyone home in a couple of hours.”

“’Preciate you, Pops.”

“Always.”

I waited until about five minutes had passed to give them time to get out the safehouse. Heir was rocking in her seat, staring out into the distance. When we first left, she was coherent. It seemed like the more time she had to get in her head, the more she shut down.

“Who did you know in that building?” I asked. When she didn’t respond, I gently rested my hand on her thigh. “Heir?”

“Hmm?” she called, head jerking in my direction. She looked at me with wide, teary eyes, and that shit broke my heart.

“Who did you know in that building? What were you doing there?”

“My… boyfriend.” Sniffling, she hung her head.

“Do you share your location with him?” She nodded. “I need you to cut it off, aight?” As I opened the door, I told her in a gentler tone, “Right now, Heir.”

Nodding, she wiped her face and pulled her phone out of her purse. I got out of the car and walked over to her side. With my arm wrapped around her, I led her into the house through the kitchen. Falling back or not, it didn’t surprise me to see Pops had left a guard by the front and back doors.

I didn’t bother showing Heir around. Honestly, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to even process what she was seeing right now.

Remembering from our night together that she liked vodka, I grabbed a bottle out of the kitchen along with a cup and took her to the living room.

I sat close enough for her to remember she wasn’t alone but far enough away to give her space.

After pouring her a double shot of the vodka, I handed her the cup.

As she gulped it down, I took the time to refamiliarize myself with her.

The jet black pixie cut accentuated her beautiful face.

You had to be a certain kind of fine with no imperfections to pull off a short haircut, and Heir was doing that effortlessly.

Her slanted, honey brown eyes were puffy and red, and so was the tip of her small nose and pouty lips.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked.

“Do you work for him?”

“Iman?” Heir nodded, avoiding my eyes as she tightened her grip on the cup. “Hell nah. Do you?”

Her head shook as she finally looked at me.

“He wants me to.” Sighing, she ran her hand down the back of her neck.

“My boyfriend, Jay, works for him. Long story short, I’m a CFA and CPA, and Jay asked me to be Iman’s accountant.

Before today, I thought Iman was his broker and that Jay was a real estate agent.

“When I took on Iman’s account, he expressed that he was looking for someone to handle his personal expenses and taxes, so I agreed off the strength of Jay.

He’s laundering money and hiding money from the IRS.

And I’m talking millions. I prescheduled an email to my boss before making copies of Iman’s file, then I left the office to go and talk to them.

When I told Jay about my findings, he basically admitted to knowing what Iman was into.

“That’s when I found out that he is a real estate agent but that’s not how he makes his money.

” She laughed bitterly before drinking the last of the vodka.

“They were testing me. Iman wanted to see if he could trust me. He wants me to fix his books, help him run a new scheme, and hide his money from the IRS. I told him I wouldn’t do that, and he said I would either do it or die.

When we were leaving out, he told Jay to kill me if I didn’t…

” Her eyes blinked rapidly as she fought back her tears.

“My own boyfriend agreed that he’d kill me if I didn’t work for him. ”

“Ex-boyfriend,” I corrected. “That nigga ain’t ya nigga no more.”

Her smile was soft as she cupped my cheek. “Marz...”

“I missed you.”

She scooted closer and wrapped her arms around my neck. When I hugged her back, her body relaxed against me. “I missed you too. I can’t even process being here with you but…”

“We’ll talk about us later. Right now, my main concern is your safety.

” Cupping her cheeks, I looked her face over.

“Iman wants you dead because of your disobedience and what you know about his business. That won’t just change.

If he wants your ex to kill you, he’s going to try.

I need you to stay here so I can keep you safe while I try to fix this shit.

For me to do that, I need to know how much of a threat he is. ”

“Why do you want to help me?”

My face covered with confusion before I chuckled and released her. “Why wouldn’t I help my wife?”

She laughed softly. “Who are you, Marz? I don’t want to go from one dangerous situation to the next. You… the way you… how do we know they aren’t dead?”

“I’ll find out how many ran away and how many I hit. I know Iman is still alive. I have photos I can show you later. I don’t want you to see that right now, but I will need you to look and identify Jay. If he’s still alive…”

Her head shook as she stood and began to pace. “How long do I have to stay here? Will I be able to go to work in the morning?”

“You mentioned an email,” I deflected, not wanting to tell her I didn’t know how long she’d have to stay. “Can you cancel it?”

“Yes. I only told them I had to do it from the office to buy myself some time.”

“Good. Go ahead and cancel that for me. Save it as a draft. That email can be leverage that keeps you alive or the ammunition he needs to try and kill you. I have to talk to him to know which one.”

Heir’s pacing stopped as she looked at me. “I appreciate you saving me, but I don’t want to pull you into my bullshit, Marz. Especially if it’s going to risk your life.”

A quiet laugh escaped me as I stood and walked over to her. “I’m a protector by nature, and I’ve risked my life for less. Trust me, bae. It ain’t shit I won’t do to keep you safe.”

“I wanna question why, but I also just want to sleep. My head is killing me.”

“Okay. I’ll show you around and get you settled before talking to my people.”

“You’re not leaving me, are you?” she asked as we walked out of the living room.

“Nah. I’ll be here as long as you are. I may have to leave to make a move, but I’ll always come back.”

Her pout made me smile, but she nodded her agreement.

I showed her around the two story house before leading her to the primary bedroom.

I told her she could shower and try to relax while I got some answers.

We kept new hygiene products and clothes for both genders in all sizes at our safehouses, so she had something to change into, but I promised her I’d get her a few of her things from home tomorrow if it was necessary.

After making it clear to her that she needed to avoid talking to Jay and letting anyone know where she was, I left her alone and headed outside to the guest house.

When I imagined Heir returning to my orbit, I never imagined it would happen like this.

Hours Later

There wasn’t much to find about Jay online.

He had a basic social media profile and landing page as a realtor.

While I looked into him, I checked the cameras around the house on the monitors.

I didn’t believe Jay had gotten Heir’s location before she stopped sharing it with him, but I wanted to keep an eye on the house just to be safe.

Even with there still being two guards outside, she was my responsibility.

Everyone had been gone for about three hours.

I’d thanked them for pulling up and assured them that I’d call if we needed anything.

For now, all we could do was wait. I wanted to talk to Jay and Iman individually before coming up with a plan.

In case Jay was alive and tried to contact Heir, she gave me her password and phone before she went to sleep.

She’d told her parents that she was staying with a friend for the night, and while I wished I could assure her that this would be over quickly, I couldn’t say.

I dropped a lot of bodies behind her today, and Iman didn’t strike me as the kind of man to take that lightly.

Now that I knew what Jay looked like, I could confirm that he had run out of the back door with Iman and that I hadn’t sent a bullet through either of them.

What fucked with me most was learning that she’d been with Jay for almost two years and he didn’t hesitate to agree to kill her on Iman’s command.

As I fed Jay’s phone number to the software Eze’s techy ass left behind, the sound of Heir’s scream gained my attention.

As I jumped up from my seat, I looked at the monitor for the camera in her room.

No one was in there with her, so she must have had a bad dream.

Still, I hopped the stairs by three to make my way to her as quickly as I could.

I told the guards they could stay outside as I charged down the hall.

Setting my Glock on the dresser, I watched as Heir rocked from side to side.

Her knees were pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around them as she fought back her tears and shook her head.

Her fear made me want to go put a bullet in Jay and Iman’s brains, but I’d been trained to play the long game and not be so reckless.

As much as I didn’t want to wait, I had no choice.

I walked over to the bed and made my way behind her. As I wrapped my arms around her trembling body she said, “I’m sorry. I had a bad dream.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” I assured her, rocking her slightly.

“What you went through today was traumatic enough. Add to that being in an unfamiliar environment after the man you loved betrayed you… You’re entitled to a nightmare.

” Her body relaxed just enough for me to gently tilt her neck and kiss it.

“You know what would be a nightmare for me?”

“W-what?”

“If I woke up in the morning to you running out on me again.”

That got a giggle out of her, causing her body to relax even more.

“I’m not running away this time. I regretted leaving the way I did last time. I don’t think you being the one to save me is a coincidence. I can’t process my feelings for you yet, but I want things to play out differently this time, Marz.”

“Things will definitely play out different this time around. I promise,” I guaranteed her before kissing her cheek.

With most women, I was never affectionate.

With Heir? That shit came easily. It was harder to keep my hands off her.

Her trembling stopped as I ran my fingers through her hair.

“I also promise that you’re safe here, Wifey.

I ain’t gon’ let nothing happen to you, aight?

Whatever happened was just a dream. I got you. ”

“Thank you,” she whispered before yawning, slouching against me and turning slightly.

As I rocked her and massaged her scalp, I covered her face with soft kisses. It didn’t take long before she was asleep in my arms. Instead of getting out of bed, I decided to hold her in case she had another bad dream. Plus, much too much time had passed since the last time I had her in my arms.

We had a hell of a lot of time to make up for.