Grizzley

Chapter 6

I just stepped off the jet, the hum of the engines still ringing in my ears.

Deuce stayed behind in Houston with Malani and the baby—Tre.

They were getting discharged tomorrow. I came back early to get everything set up for my boy and his family.

I wanted their transition back home to be smooth for them.

I was going to go to his crib early in the morning, and set everything up that he hadn’t had a chance to put together yet.

Seeing Tre earlier had done something to me, though.

I ain’t say it out loud, but holding Deuce baby these past days, it softened something I thought was long dead.

Baby Dank too… that boy had my heart in a chokehold.

The way he wrapped his fingers around mine, like he trusted the world already.

Like he knew the bond that I had with his father before he was ever born.

Made me wonder if I’d ever get that.

A family.

Then reality slapped me back quick.

Love wasn’t in my cards. I learned that lesson the hard way. Got played once, and that was enough to turn a man cold forever. Feelings made you sloppy. Sloppy got you buried.

I pulled into my driveway just before midnight. The neighborhood was quiet, lights low, everything looking regular enough to lull you into comfort. I stepped out the car, keys still in my hand, mind already on my next move—

That’s when the van slid up.

Black. No plates.

All the doors flew open at once.

I didn’t even reach for my strap. I didn’t have time to process, the shit happened so fast.

They rushed me fast—boots, fists, metal. One cracked me in the ribs, another clipped my jaw. I tasted blood but didn’t make a sound as I fought back. Didn’t beg. I knew better. A bag came down over my head, thick and suffocating, and my body got tossed into the van like cargo.

Doors slammed.

Engine peeled off.

I didn’t fight.

There was no point. I had been caught slipping.

This life always came back to collect. I just didn’t know who sent the bill.

They tied my hands tight, taped my mouth. I counted turns, bumps, time—but after a while, all that blurred together. Could’ve been an hour. Could’ve been three. When the van finally stopped, they dragged me out, boots scraping concrete.

The smell hit first.

Oil. Rust. Old blood.

They had brought me to an old rundown abandoned warehouse.

They strapped me to a chair, tight enough that my shoulders burned. Then they stepped back.

Silence.

A figure moved out the darkness.

I knew that walk.

My chest tightened.

Sav.

My baby brother.

Mama named him Savage, and the nigga lived up to every syllable.

He stood there staring at me like I was a ghost. Or maybe like I was the devil. Hard to tell. Same eyes as mine. Same build. Same rage sitting right under the surface.

“Long time, Griz!” he said finally.

I said nothing. Tape still over my mouth.

He paced slow, talking like we was catching up over drinks. Said how much he admired me growing up. How he wanted to be me. How I cut him off years ago ‘cause I saw too much of myself in him—and I didn’t want that blood on my hands.

Then he stopped in front of me.

“You know why you here?”

He pulled out his phone.

Hit play.

The screen showed me exactly why I was here.

There was a video of Gremlin. Bag over his head. Tied up, and being beaten, like a slave. I knew that the life my brother Gremlin lived, would come back to catch up with him, but I still didn’t know why the fuck I was here.

Before the clip ended, a woman stepped into frame.

Cherish.

She looked straight into the camera and smiled.

“Let’s play a game,” she said. “He took my entire family from me. Now I’m taking his. Ten million by Friday to stop the bloodshed that’s to come. Only catch? You gotta come find me.”

The video cut.

Sav slid the phone back in his pocket.

“You was supposed to kill her,” he said calmly. “You told us it was done.”

I swallowed.

Gremlin.

That name rang in my head like a warning bell.

“She got him,” Sav continued. “And if you can’t lead us to her… your life on the line too.”

I already knew.

This was my fault.

I should’ve killed her on arrival. No hesitation. No mercy. Especially knowing what Gremlin held over all of us. Especially over me. Something in me allowed myself to fall for her, even though I knew that I shouldn’t. She played the fuck out of me, and now I was here.

Sav leaned in close.

“To me,” he said low, “it look like you fell in love with the bitch. Only reason a nigga would disobey orders like that.”

His eyes hardened.

“And love,” he added, “gets everybody killed.”

The tape stayed on my mouth.

But my mind was already racing.

Because Cherish didn’t just start a war.

She aimed it straight at my blood.

And this time?

There wasn’t gonna be no mercy left in me. This wasn’t about saving my brother, this was about her playing with my heart.