12. Retirement Is Overrated #2
Daniel continued, quickly trying to survive now. “They said there was corruption tied to the Davis campaign.” His breathing shook. “The person said Crown Logistics buried financial crimes connected to old murders.”
I stared at him silently. “How were you contacted?”
“Encrypted email.”
“I believe you don’t know who contacted you, but tell us your theory about the Prices and how they fit into this?”
“I don’t know!”
That was a fuckin’ lie. This Nigga gets paid to be nosey for a living, he has a hunch even if he doesn’t want to share it. Xavier hit him in the head with the butt of his gun.
This time, Daniel fell sideways into the table, knocking files everywhere.
“Is Cameron Price in the FBI? Is she protecting you?” X asked sharply.
Daniel froze.
And right there? We got our answer.
Daniel realized he fucked up the second his face gave him away, but it was too late now.
Xavier saw it instantly, too, because his entire posture changed.
“She’s a fed,” X repeated quietly.
Daniel’s split lip trembled slightly while blood dripped onto his white shirt.
“I don’t know exactly what she is.”
X grabbed him by the collar so fast the chair tipped backward.
“Stop fuckin’ playing with me.”
“I’m telling the truth!”
“No.” I stepped closer slowly. “You're telling a partial truth.”
Daniel looked between both of us, breathing hard. He was smart enough to realize panic would get him hurt worse, but he wasn’t smart enough to stay out of this shit to begin with.
I picked up one of the printed emails from the floor.
“Okay…Okay, I will tell you everything. Cameron approached me first about picking up the story of corruption within the campaign. She said it could be tied to an old murder, but I wanted no part in it because she wanted me to pay for the story. I know y’all have no reason to trust me, but I take my credibility seriously.
If I have to pay for a story, more than likely parts of it aren't true. But when I got an anonymous email, and they shared files that didn’t just incriminate your family but hers as well, I decided to do my own private research.
“She approached you first?” I heard what he said, but I had more questions.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said the Davis campaign was dirty.”
“That ain’t enough.”
Daniel swallowed hard. “She said–” He hesitated.
X punched the wall beside his head instantly.
“Finish the fuckin’ sentence.”
Daniel flinched. “She said the alley murders tied back to your family!”
I stared at him quietly while my mind started assembling pieces faster than I liked.
Because only a handful of people knew enough details about that alley.
And now this reporter somehow had federal-level access and crime scene photos.
Meaning Cameron wasn’t just hiding. She was moving strategically.
“She's trying to build a RICO,” I muttered quietly.
X looked toward me immediately. Cameron’s need for revenge for what her hoe ass Mama Sharon did landed us all into a a fuckin’ federal conspiracy case.
Daniel kept talking fast now because survival mode had finally kicked in.
“She said you were all connected financially. She said Crown Logistics cleaned money. She said she was the one who put the bug into the Democratic party’s ear to have Jared run. She said the campaign would expose everything eventually anyway.”
That fucked us up because we all begged Jared to do this, and now he was enjoying it.
He had believed the system was potentially ready for a Black leader who stood for change.
I didn’t have the heart to tell my brother-in-law that he was being used in a ploy because of his mom, the same bitch of a mom who put him behind bars.
Cameron wanted us scared. Unfortunately for her, fear stopped working on Niggas like us a long time ago.
I crouched in front of Daniel again, calmly.
“You got backups of all this data?”
He hesitated.
Xavier cocked his head slowly.
Daniel exhaled shakily. “Cloud storage.”
“Who else got access?”
“No one.”
I knew his ass was lying. I sighed quietly. “You know, Daniel, I hate when people choose the hard way.”
Daniel looked toward me desperately.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody.”
That almost made me laugh. Because civilians always thought information itself wasn’t violence. But in our world? Information kills faster than bullets.
“You should’ve stayed a sports reporter,” X muttered.
Daniel’s eyes widened instantly. “How do you know that?”
I smirked slightly. “We know everything about people who poke around our family.”
That finally broke him a little. Real fear settled in his face now.
I stood slowly walking toward the kitchen.
Behind me, Daniel’s breathing got rougher instantly.
“What–” His voice shook. “What are you doing?”
I turned back toward him calmly.
“Cleaning up a problem.”
His face drained completely. “No, no, no, wait—”
“Too late to wait.”
“I have children!”
“And you still gambled with your life.”
Daniel looked toward Xavier desperately now. Wrong move, because X had already mentally crossed the line ten minutes ago.
Panic exploded out of Daniel suddenly as he shoved Xavier backward, trying to run toward the front door.
When would Niggas learn never to run from X? He hated to expend energy. X caught him instantly. One hard hit to the ribs folded him, the second punch dropped him, and the third made blood spray across the hardwood.
Then the old Xavier King came back in rare form. I haven’t seen this version of my baby bro since 2006.
He was no longer X, the businessman, or the soon-to-be husband X.
He wasn’t the gentle father who tucked Genny in at night. He was prison X.
Violence lived differently inside men who survived cages. Daniel curled against the floor, gasping, while X stood over him, breathing hard.
I walked over calmly, pulling Daniel upright by the collar.
His eyes looked glassy and disoriented now.
“Look at me,” I ordered.
Slowly, he did.
“Who else knows about Cameron?”
“Nobody,” he whispered weakly. “I swear.”
I studied his face carefully. I believe he was telling the truth this time. Which meant Cameron still wanted control of the narrative herself. Good. That gave us time.
Daniel started crying quietly afterward.
Actual tears.
“Please—”
I looked at X, and he nodded his head once.
And in that silence? The decision was made; no discussion was needed.
Because there was no world in which we left this man alive with all the evidence he possessed.
I would need to take his laptop and try to crack the code to find out who was sending him this anonymous information.
I pulled my gun smoothly from the back waistband of my sweats. I screwed the silencer onto my piece.
Daniel saw it immediately and started shaking harder.
“Please don’t do this.”
I looked at him quietly for one long second. “Retirement is overrated. I really enjoyed tonight.”
I shot Daniel right in the heart. Silence swallowed the room afterward, except for Daniel’s body collapsing against the hardwood floor.
X wiped blood from his knuckles slowly while breathing through his nose.
We exited his apartment via the fire escape and drove off as quietly as we had come.
“That bitch Cameron is really the feds,” X stated in disbelief.
“Yup. Which means we’ll have to stay ten steps ahead of her.” And I realized Cameron Price might actually be the most dangerous person we’d ever faced.