6. Echo
ECHO
I took a breath before my uncle made his grand entrance, making a mental note to give the receptionist a bonus for the heads-up.
“Demetrius, I shouldn’t have to come looking for you,” he started in lieu of a proper greeting. “You’ve been gone for almost seven months with no word. What’s this about?”
The hard part about being a Cannon and the head of this family stood before me. Arland Cannon’s need to make me explain myself had gotten old fast.
I continued to watch hours of security footage over the last few months. Mainly focusing on the days leading up a handful baby adults rejecting the Collective.
There she goes, I thought.
Forever entered on the perfect day a couple weeks back. My staff moved like a well-oiled machine, whether I was here or not.
During initiation season, Cannon towers were open to all. Not a soul was to be turned away.
“What’s what about?” I asked, switching cameras to follow her movements from that day.
“You allying with an outside family on our behalf without speaking to any of us.”
I leaned back after pausing the video, a still of Forever standing exactly where my uncle stood right now.
“When have I ever needed to consult you all about anything?”
The only man who held a higher rank than me in this family was my grandfather. And he died years back, leaving everything to me, including making decisions on behalf of the family.
It was never my goal or intention to pull rank on the older Cannons, but sometimes they needed a reality check. And I was the only one who could give it without consequence.
“Is this about your mother?” he asked, quickly changing tune and taking a seat. “We all loved Aurelia, but she chose her fate for the sake of the family. Her only goal was for you, Oliver, and Solei to live a life without fear of retaliation.”
He meant well, but nothing anybody said would get me to back down.
Fourteen years ago, she left willingly, and we rolled with the punches. I wanted to honor her choice to go back to the life she’d managed to escape after meeting and falling in love with my dad.
But fourteen months ago, I received a package filled with her things, items she’d never willingly let go of.
If my mother was dead, I wanted her remains. And if she happened to be alive, I could only take the package as a cry for help.
Not a goodbye. But an ‘ I need you.’
“Why do you think they won’t give us her remains?” I asked, gaze drifting back to the laptop.
I loved pretty women; the darker the better, and she was exactly my type. But getting her on my side had to do with way more than her gorgeous ass face.
“Nothing but a power play,” my uncle said after a second. “Or…”
His hesitation forced me to look up.
“Or she’s still alive,” I finished for him. “And if that’s true, what do you propose I do? Let the society stand on top of us and cower?”
It all came down to respect.
They had the audacity to send her shit to my doorstep with no explanation.
Fuck that.
We deserved answers. Or a fucking body to lay to rest.
“This is bigger than you,” he tried to reason.
Arland was the opposite of my dad. He preferred we lived in peace, but what the fuck was peaceful about this life? About this family or the fucking city we lived in? Nothing.
Not a goddamn thing.
“It was bigger than your brother, too.”
He chuckled and leaned back.
“And you saw firsthand how it ended for him. Do you want the same to happen to you?”
I shrugged and hit play on the video.
Ms. Pretty never moved from her spot by the door. She took the room in more than once before leaving.
Mmm.
“What’s so important on that screen?”
I spun it around for him to see.
He stared at it for a short while, lips pulling deeper and deeper into a frown before speaking.
“Isn’t that…”
“Yup…” I turned the screen back. “She’s the new broker.”
The broker title was always inherited; her father previously held the role and was known for his hot temper and ruthlessness.
“Is she part of your plans?”
I knew all there was to know about Forever James before I stopped her car in the middle of the street two weeks ago. Everything I’d done up until this point was to cross paths with her, and she’d come right to me.
The broker would never miss an opportunity to put a Cannon in the dirt, no matter who held the role.
“Only when I get her on my side,” I said, closing the laptop and standing. “You don’t have to worry about me leaving Everwood for months at a time again. All I need will come to me from now on.”
He sighed and unfolded himself from the chair, stepping in front of me as I rounded the desk.
“I’ll have compound security tighten up. More rounds at night. The younger ones probably need to be escorted to and from until further notice, too.”
I nodded.
Our family wasn’t big, but we were close. There was more than handful of underage kids to protect, though.
“Lock it down tonight. Oliver and I have a meeting just outside the city.”
We both started for the door, and I pulled it open to let him out first.
“Noted…” he turned to look at me from halfway up the hall, a worried frown pulling at his lips. “Because I know I can’t convince you to drop this, I’ll step aside from attending EG’s annual gala this week. Might be best for you and Oliver to show face.”
The Everwood Group was nothing more than a subsidiary of the Collective. Every year, they held a gala for the city’s most prominent to attend, charging five hundred a plate on the guise of making Everwood bigger and better but together.
It was the only time rejectors openly shared space with society members, the only time it was acceptable.
After my uncle disappeared from view, I checked the time and headed for Oliver’s office. He’d left the compound before me this morning, and I hadn’t seen his face since.
“I have to go, Oliver,” a sultry voice echoed from his open office door as I approached.
His laughter followed until I stepped into view and lifted an eyebrow.
“I see you need more work to do around this bitch.”
The lanky woman with a fitted cap over long braids looked back and untangled herself from his lap.
She was purposely concealing her face.
A society girl, if I had to bet.
“Later, Ollie!”
She slid past me, eyes connecting with mine but only briefly before dashing up the hall and out of view.
“Damn, you really scare every woman I bring around.”
I shook my head and stepped completely inside.
“Which family does she belong to?”
The annoying nigga pressed two fingers to his temple as if I were giving him a headache. Didn’t matter to me one way or another as long as I got answers.
Keeping tabs on his conquests meant keeping him safe when shit hit the fan, because it always did.
“You’ll be proud to know she’s the broker’s assistant. I’m warming her up to switch sides. Two assassins on the team are always better than one, right?”
I sighed but didn’t respond.
He wasn’t wrong per se.
She was an assistant in name, only based on society’s rules. The second highest ranking assassin in that faction of the Collective.
Her role was also inherited.
“How long?”
He shrugged and started packing up his desk.
“Since long before you left…” Our eyes met. “Wasn’t planned or anything. Had no clue she was that high up until after we got the scoop on Forever. I figured, why not keep her around, even if she’s plotting against us for their benefit.”
I nodded.
“What time is the meet tonight?” he asked before I could dig deeper.
“A little after midnight. Just outside of town. Your uncle is shutting down the compound just in case. We’ll leave from there, though.”
He rounded the desk, bag slung over his shoulder.
“Are you sure we can trust the O’Sullivans? You still haven’t told me how you managed to get them on our side.”
He wouldn’t believe they were actually on our side if I told the full story.
“They couldn’t resist my charm,” I told him as we headed down to the lobby. “We don’t trust anybody. But I know a solid group of people when I meet ‘em.”
I was prepared for every possible outcome. There was a backup for my backup plan.
“Mr. Cannon!” a kid about half my size yelled across the lobby, stalking toward us. “Can we talk?”
I stared down at him when he stopped in front of me.
“There are two Cannons standing here,” Oliver said, but we both knew who he’d been talking to. “Be specific.”
The kid’s eyes bounced to my brother, and he cracked a smile that showed his youth. Definitely a new rejector if he was standing in front of us.
“My bad! I ain’t mean no disrespect. I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Damon Halstead. My dad rents a space across the street.”
“Oh yeah?”
He nodded, the four plaits in his head moving too.
“Yeah. We do cyber security. But I want to branch out now that I’m eighteen.”
I could practically feel Oliver making mental notes on the kid. He dealt with the new rejectors and helped them get accustomed to their new normal. He decided who we invested in.
“Branch out how?” he asked, unable to keep silent when intrigued about something or someone.
“I can hack into anything. Almost caught a charge at twelve.”
He showed us all thirty-two teeth, clearly proud of himself.
“I’m better now, though. They can only catch me if I want them to.”
Damon’s eyes moved between the two of us before he stepped closer.
“I heard you were looking for someone,” he whispered. “I can help.”
Oliver and I looked at one another, the quick exchange enough for us to understand.
“Alright,” Oliver said, pointing to the reception desk. “Go over there and fill out some paperwork for me. Stop by tomorrow and we’ll test those skills.”
He ambled off to do as told, and we watched him interact with the girl manning the desk. It didn’t take long for her smile to stretch.
“Little nigga is personable. We could use that around here.”
I nodded.
“Any other prospects?” I asked as we continued on our journey to check on businesses within walking distance.
Once a month, we made our rounds; it was important to foster community and make them feel safe and secure in their decision to reject. New or old.
“Haven’t had the chance to dig through the folders yet, but there’s always a bright one in the bunch. Might’ve just met him, but we’ll see.”
We couldn’t be there for everybody, but we did our best. The better we treated them, the more loyal they were. And loyalty was important in this city.
“I need to make a run, but I’ll meet you back at the compound,” Oliver said after we made a handful of stops.
I eyed him closely, but didn’t question his movements.
“Be careful. And don’t make me come looking for you.”
He waved me off and slid into his midnight blue Range Rover. I watched until he turned the corner, then went back to the office.
The door was already slightly ajar when I pushed it open. Cluing me on to an unexpected guest.
“You should really up your security.”
Her voice was soulful, almost like silk. But I ignored it and her altogether, understanding this was a game of cat and mouse we were playing now, except I wasn’t the fucking mouse.
She was.
“I have a question for you,” Forever went on once I took a seat.
She’d taken up residence behind the wet bar and, from a quick glance, made a drink, too.
“I’ll answer if I get to ask one back.”
This time our gazes clashed, hers filled with what looked like pain.
Interesting .
“I think you’re pretty as fuck,” I added, needing to get that shit off my chest. “We’d make some pretty ass babies, don’t you think?”
She scoffed, and I let my smile loose as I pushed from the chair and approached for a better look.
The night we stood toe to toe outside the compound with her car’s headlights keeping us from blending in, I’d been smitten.
But now that we were in more natural light, I wanted to catalog her features. Especially when I might not ever get the chance again.
Forever was deep, dark across the board. Hair, eyes, and skin, much like my own.
She had high cheekbones that not even a frown could hide. Her top and bottom lips were meant to be sucked on, especially glossed and darkly lined as they currently were.
I rounded the bar and let my gaze peruse her athletic frame. She was thick in all the right places and, more than likely, cut up under the black, form-fitting gym set she wore.
“How tall are you?” I asked, not caring about the blade she’d slid from her sleeve. “My guess is about five-foot-nine.”
Forever stood just below my chin in sneakers. Not too tall or short compared to my stature.
“Is that what you wanted to ask?”
I turned toward the liquor shelf and reached for something dark.
“Nah. Just making conversation until you get to the reason you’re here.”
She laughed and moved away from me, taking up residence where I stood before.
“What’d you do to get on their bad side?” she asked.
I grabbed a glass from under the bar and poured a shot of whiskey.
“Do you typically interview your marks?”
“When their file comes with barely any information, I do.”
“And if I choose not to answer, then what?”
She smiled, and the urge to stick my tongue down her throat surfaced.
“Either way, you have to die.”
I hummed.
“Because you never go against your people, huh?”
Forever shrugged, but her lack of verbal response made me wonder why she was really here.
I decided to switch gears.
“Something hurting you?” I asked, leaning into the bar to get another good look at her.
She frowned but couldn’t disguise the flinch that followed, then immediately began to back away.
“See you soon, Demetrius.”
“One day you’ll call me Echo,” I said, not waiting for a response I knew wouldn’t come.
Instead, I watched her leave and slipped out not long after, heading straight for the compound.