16. The Men We Used to Be #2
Zay pushed off the wall slowly afterward.
My brother was in rare form in his all-black.
This Nigga looked terrifying tonight. He had a scowl on his face.
I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was the protector of his household.
The one who promised YaYa danger wouldn’t come near their children or their doorstep.
He felt like he had failed as a man in protecting the family.
I picked up on his unspoken cues because I felt the exact same way.
Zayden didn’t talk a lot of shit tonight. He wasn’t loud; instead, he was ice-cold, which meant Miles was definitely losing his life tonight.
“You know what I don’t understand?” I asked, conversationally, while walking slowly toward Miles.
“Jared protected you countless times on the inside. Your ass wasn’t the best fighter, so Jared made sure no one fucked with you, and you had a decent job on the inside that didn’t consist of washing the shit stains out of other Niggas draws.
But once you hear that the Nigga was shot at his own wedding, you have no remorse in your eyes.
” He tilted his head slightly. “Cameron must have some good ass pussy for you to die behind that bitch.”
Miles swallowed hard. Fear was creeping in properly. “You don’t understand,” Miles rasped weakly.
“Then explain it to me.”
When Miles took too long to respond, Zay punched him directly in the ribs so hard the crack echoed through the room instantly.
Miles screamed, begging for mercy. His legs hung in the air as he struggled, trying to breathe through broken ribs and panic.
I stayed standing, watching calmly. Because prison taught me something important, violence worked best when somebody stayed emotionally detached.
“You know what’s crazy?” I muttered quietly. “We really were trying to be family men.”
Miles coughed up blood harder.
“I had no clue someone was gonna try and shoot Jared, man.”
“But you know where the person was hiding who did plan it.”
Miles went silent again. I approached him slowly, and something about that movement alone made real fear finally settle across Miles’ face.
Because he knew me, he knew what prison turned me into.
He understood what grief did to Niggas like me.
At this rate, I knew Miles wished that Zayden would just shoot him in the fuckin’ head.
But traitors deserve to die a slow and painful death.
I crouched directly in front of him.
“You got one more opportunity to stop playing with me, Miles.”
Miles stared at me, breathing wet and uneven.
“I don’t know everything.”
“Well, tell me what you do know.”
Zay grabbed a baseball bat and began hitting him on either side of his ribs. “Start talking,” Zay ordered calmly.
Miles cried differently now; every breath sounded like drowning. Blood coated his teeth while sweat dripped down the side of his face. I ain’t feel bad about none of it.
Not after seeing Camilla screaming over Jared’s body in that church as she held her pregnant belly.
Not after hearing Jazzy scream for her daddy, like her heart was breaking in real time because she had just gotten him back.
Nah.
Mercy was gone tonight.
“You know what the problem with Nigaas like you is?” Zay asked quietly while rolling his sleeves higher. “Y’all always think the people funding the chaos gon’ protect you from it.”
Miles tried lifting his head. “No matter what I do or say, I’m dead anyway.”
“The worst thing isn’t death,” I muttered. “Sometimes you gotta pray to go to hell quickly pussy.”
“I don’t know who was plotting against Jared,” he gasped painfully. “But I know who may have connected everything.”
My jaw tightened. Miles swallowed blood before speaking again.
“Alan ain’t never stopped letting shit go after being forced to leave Cherry University,” His breathing rattled painfully. “The laundering. The shell companies. The federal connections.”
Zay’s eyes narrowed immediately.
“Federal.”
Miles nodded weakly.
“Cameron built relationships inside task forces.” Another painful breath. “She fed information both ways.
“She is the FBI, right?” I asked flatly.
“Yes.” Miles coughed hard again. “Her dad was the distributor for your competition, Dez and Kyle, back in the day. When word on the street got out that y’all were seen in an argument with them at the skating rink, and then they turned up missing, his operations have never been the same.
Alan began to hate y’all. Pair that with the way Zay blew up his cover as a professor and forced him into hiding.
Alan still moves weight on other college campuses, and Cameron keeps all eyes off her father while using her badge to remove any of his competition. ”
Cameron’s been moving under federal shielding while still orchestrating criminal shit on the side. This bitch was bold.
Zay paced slowly, now looking murderous.
“She’s behind the alley?”
Miles hesitated.
I stood immediately. Making my way over to Miles with the bat.
His panic exploded instantly. “YES!”
“She’s been collecting dirt for YEARS,” he rushed out desperately now. “Blackmail, financial trails, recordings–” His voice shook harder. “Everybody thought Charles was the mastermind, but Cameron was moving pieces, too. She gave us all a role and threatened us with jail time.”
Damn. So Sharon really birthed a monster.
“Why shoot Jared?” I asked.
“I swear I never heard them discuss taking him out, but knowing Cameron, her motive was probably because he was about to become mayor.” Blood slid down his chin.
“Y’all really don’t understand how dangerous that is for someone who could potentially beat her or have information on her father holding that much power.
She is obsessed with the Nigga like her father is her king. ”
“Where is she?”
Miles shut down instantly again.
“That I can’t say. She knows where my daughter lives, y’all. I'd rather die than put my seed in harm's way.”
“And you think your daughter is safe if you don’t tell me what we need to hear,” I added.
“You don’t understand Cameron. She forced me to marry her. She’s a fuckin’ devil in a skirt.”
I grabbed his jaw hard enough to make him wince instantly.
Miles’ eye twitched violently. “She's using another name now.”
Zay stopped pacing immediately.
“What name?”
Miles looked between both of us like he regretted speaking already. “Promise me that you’ll protect my daughter. Y’all have daughters. Y’all are standup Niggas that I regret double-crossing, please.”
I expected Zay to spit on this Nigga and tell him to go to hell, but he obliged him.
“Word on my momma, Nigga, I’ll make sure your little girl has what she needs.”
“She goes by Janessa.”