29. Real
( The Present )
I tapped my fingers impatiently, ready for this meeting to start. I usually enjoyed my time in Houston, but this wasn't about pleasure at all. Well, unless I considered finding this bitch and getting some answers, pleasure. It just might be, if I got to hem her ass up to get them.
It wasn't until after she left that I knew something was wrong. I popped up at her place the Monday after she told me she was leaving, and she really was gone. I expected our team to find her within the hour. I'd trace her credit cards, find the number to the second phone she kept, and text her the weather in whatever city she was in. That was my plan. That was all the warning she was getting before I showed up at her door and let her know what my rules were.
But the top-notch trackers and hackers we hired couldn't find anything new on Evanie Hill. They also couldn't find traces of her in the house or in the BMW. It was a wipe that was clean enough to throw off the best finders in the business. The nursing license she used was backed up by records at the Board of Nursing and at the university she claimed as an alma mater. My team sifted again through documents that laid out her history. I noticed how little there was. She was supposedly from the Atlanta area with no close living family. I'd been so wrapped up in what we had going that I didn't pay attention to all the little details. The house with no family pictures. The phone that she claimed was for work. The way she always changed the subject when I asked about her. The time I had let it slide that she mentioned a sister. She'd hidden herself even more than I realized.
I tore through Texas, looking for a woman I didn't even have a picture of. The one she should've submitted to the Board of Nursing was conveniently missing and there were no traces of her badge images at her jobs. Then, the little electronic trail we could find disappeared. She hadn't left much in terms of people who could tell us anything, either. Liam and Chill wouldn't let us talk directly to Taleah and Kelsey, who claimed not to know anything.
Eventually, Cairo put something on my mind that I had been refusing to consider. What if she was a plant? The coincidental meeting she claimed she’d had with Aaqil looked different now. And we had enemies beyond Aaqil, people looking for just the right tip to take us down. We were building on a mostly solid foundation, but there were some shaky parts that didn't need to be seen—the kinds of things that could destroy us. Was Ev, or whomever she was, sent there to shine a light on those? That thought had me thinking over our conversations in detail. I’d shared a lot of my thoughts with her, but only in vague terms. I thought I was protecting her. Apparently, I should’ve been looking out for myself. Three weeks into my search for her, I found myself lounging at my Mama's table as she served me some little quick bread she was experimenting on and a cup of tea. I’d gone to Cairo’s first, but he was caught up in some shit with Keelah that I probably shouldn’t be witness to. I smiled as Mama cut the muffin into quarters, like she did when we were little.
"She doesn't exist," I mumbled, picking up a piece.
Lowering herself into the chair next to me, she patted my shoulder.
"She does exist. You just have to try harder."
I shook my head before biting into the food. Damn, my mama could bake! I swallowed before smiling at her.
"Ma, that's good as fuck. What you?—"
I stopped as she popped my forehead.
"All that damn cussing!" she scolded, rubbing the spot she’d just smacked. "But that's based on Mexican chocolate. A little spicy, a little sweet. And going on the menu for fall, I guess. Now, let's talk about your girl," she said, putting her elbows on the table so she could rest her chin on her fists.
"She ain't my girl."
I wanted to correct that immediately. My only interest in her now was finding out the reason for the lies.
"Mmm. But you brought her to see us, and I heard you were ready to fight one brother for smiling at her and the other for speaking on her."
I swear them niggas were snitches. My mama had a way of pulling stuff out of you, though. She smirked, then took a sip of tea, her eyes never leaving me. I mugged her, earning me another forehead slap.
"Why you so calm? Shorty probably a spy," I reminded her.
She sucked her teeth. "That girl ain't no spy. I could tell."
I eyeballed her as I ate another piece of the muffin.
"You psychic now?"
"Don't be a smart-ass, Montréal. Let me ask you a question. Does she make you feel new and different things, like you haven't felt with anyone else? Does she settle your spirit? Do you want all her time and that still might not be enough? Do you think about a future with her?"
She shot questions at me like a modified AR. And they were questions I was going to ignore because the answers shook me.
"You said 'a' question, not an interrogation," I teased.
She grabbed my hand and squeezed. "The fact that you won't answer says enough. No, I'm not psychic, to answer your question. But I am a believer. You cared about that girl, more than I've ever seen you show. I prayed for that for you, for all my children. God wouldn't let her be a spy. I'm claiming that. I believe that. I prayed on it," she said confidently.
I knew she meant it. Rachel Hamilton had survived hell, and she always said she wouldn't have made it through without God. Her faith was unshakable. I wasn't there yet. Lifting my mug, I met her eyes again.
"You better pray on her safety. If she's on bullshit, she gon' need all the prayers she can get."
That night, I got the same report from our tech people that I'd been getting. They didn't know shit. I looked at the time on my phone. 10:36 PM. Too late to call probably, but I had to try again. I opened my contacts and selected a name. The phone rang twice before an irritated voice greeted me.
"Real, man, it's after hours. I know you miss ya girl, but I can't let you harass mine. Baby girl almost asleep."
I sighed. "Liam, the only people she really fucked with were Taleah and Kelsey. I just need?—”
"Baby, let me talk to him."
Taleah's muffled voice in the background made me stop.
"Leah, if you don't want?—”
"It's okay," she said.
A second later, her soft voice crossed the line. We exchanged greetings before she got to the part that I was interested in.
"Real, before she left, she admitted some of what was going on between y'all. Please know that she really cares about you, but she's dealing with a lot. I know you're probably confused and wondering what happened, but I honestly think you should leave this alone for now. I'm sorry, but if Everly wanted you to find her, you'd be able to find her."
I started to object, but then something in my brain clicked. "Appreciate that. I won't bother you with this again," I said, ready to get off the phone.
Sleepy and more open than she meant to be, Taleah had said all I needed to hear. I dialed Warren, the head of our techies.
"Real, we working hard, but?—”
"We been looking for a nurse named Evanie. Try Everly. Check southern states for her. I'll pay you triple to do it now."
I hung up, grabbed my lighter and a blunt, and headed for the roof, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep. All this shit could be for nothing. Taleah could've just made a mistake, mixed up Ev's name with someone she knew with a similar name. But I didn't believe that. And three hours later, I found out I was right. Everly Love Miller, RN, BSN, from Louisiana. I stared at the picture Warren had sent me. Why the hell was a nurse from small-town Louisiana playing with me?
It turned out Everly was the sister-in-law of a nigga named Optimus Fontenot, known as Prime for obvious reasons. Prime came from a very old New Orleans family that was into a lot of... questionable activities. But their territories didn't include anything of interest to us and vice versa. Cairo knew him distantly. Everything he'd ever seen or heard indicated Prime was solid. My older brother reached out to set up a meet on neutral ground in Houston. That's how I came to be here with Targen and Ghazi, waiting and losing my patience by the second.
"This nigga," I growled.
"Chill. We were early, early," Ghazi said.
I didn't want to hear logic. "Shut up."
My brother chuckled. "You better be glad I know this girl got yo' head messed up. Keep tryna handle me like a bitch, you gon' be searching for her from the afterlife."
Wanting an excuse to lash out, I started to stand. Targen grabbed my arm as the door opened. I dropped back into my seat. Prime strolled into the room with two other dudes, nodded at two of the four guards posted in here to keep things neutral, and took a seat on the opposite side of the table. Leaning back in his chair, he steepled his fingers and smiled.
"So, you the man that got my li’l sister-in-law shook.”
“Shook?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Shook,” Prime repeated. “Shorty came home before she was expected. We could tell she was feeling pressure, and I guess you still applying it. Noticed you around when I checked on her a few times, but I never—anyway, enough about that. How did you find her? I need to figure out the mistake, so we don’t make it again.”
I sat up higher, his words making me tight as fuck. “So, you did create that identity?”
He shrugged. “With the help of some friends in high places. It’s good to know people.”
“Did you send her to me on purpose?”
Forget all the small talk and bullshit. My mama taught me a long time ago that the best way to find out what you wanted to know was to ask. Prime’s smile disappeared as he leaned forward, placing his hands palm down on the tabletop.
“Is that what you think? You accusing me of some shit, Hamilton?” he asked, voice tense.
I smirked at him. “You up to some shit, Fontenot?”
A tense silence reigned in the room for a minute. I sat unmoving; my eyes as focused on Prime as his were on me. Finally, the corner of his mouth lifted again.
“On the strength of Cairo and the cats who’ve been vouching for you, I’ma pretend that wasn’t an insult. Your family’s… holdings don’t move me. They’re nowhere near my lane. So, no, I didn’t send Ev. I created that background for her for a few reasons. For one, it was a test run, to see if we could pull it off in case we need to do something like that in the future. Then, I’m a man with many pursuits. I have enemies who’d love to get at me through my people. It’s no secret that my wife is my soft spot. I wasn’t leaving her little sister five hundred miles away like a sitting duck. That identity let her travel and have the space she wanted and be relatively safe. She’d be safer if she’d stay out of these situations like I’m sure she had with you. The last fool got a little carried away. Acted like he had dreams of being a stalker before I made it clear it’d be safer for him to find another target for his attention. I figured if she didn’t use her real name, she’d be more secure,” he explained. “But here you are.”
“Here I am. And there’s nothing wrong with the groundwork you laid. A human slip-up led me to her. Even if I believe you had nothing to do with anything she may have planned, you can’t really know what else she may have been up to,” I challenged.
“That’s true. But who would she be working for? And why?” Prime shot back.
“I don’t know all that yet. But anything is possible. I have enemies, too. I’d be crazy to let her fool me twice. I wanna see her.”
He scoffed. “I highly doubt that girl coming to see you, if she running from you. She ain’t gon’ give a damn what I say.”
Apparently, I was going about this the wrong way. Prime thought this part was optional.
“She ain’t gotta come see me. I reached out to you as a courtesy, because I didn’t want to show up where your people are without giving notice. But one way or another, I’m going to see her.”
I was calm and willing to stay that way as long as he didn’t get out-of-pocket. He could protect Everly from everyone else, but he wasn’t keeping her from me. I didn’t care if I had to steal her ass. Prime laughed softly as he relaxed into the chair.
“Let’s be honest. You gave me notice because you knew a pop-up would mean trouble," he said.
There was truth to his words but no fear in my heart.
“You’re a powerful man, Prime, but so am I. A smart man avoids trouble unless it’s absolutely necessary. And I find it necessary in this situation. Absolutely .”
He studied me again. I had said all that I needed to say, though, so there was nothing else for him to learn. Finally, he spoke.
“I’on care if she was up to something, she won’t be hurt on my watch.”
I nodded once. “I can agree to that.”
He fell silent again, too introspective for me.
“What?” I prompted. “What else you wanna hear, Fontenot?”
“Oh, I heard everything I needed to when you admitted this was worth the trouble I could cause you. Assuming all the feelers I got out on you come back clean, when you thinking about visiting?”