CHAPTER 4
No Way Out
I broke every traffic law between Cane Run Road and my beauty supply store.
Red lights didn’t mean shit.
Neither did stop signs.
All I could think about was the picture they had taken of my children.
Whoever was behind this wasn’t watching from a distance. They had walked up to the store, photographed my kids through the window, and disappeared before anyone noticed.
I called Nesha again.
“Bring the kids to the back door,” I told her. “Now.”
“Key, what the hell is going on?”
“Just have them ready.”
When I pulled into the alley, Nesha stood outside with Jayce and Amaya, her purse over one shoulder and the store deposit bag clutched beneath her arm.
I jumped out and opened the back doors.
“Get in.”
“Where are we going?” Jayce asked.
“To Auntie Tasha’s.”
“I thought you and Auntie Tasha were mad at each other.”
“Boy, get in the car.”
Nesha glanced toward the trunk.
“What’s in that bag?”
My head snapped toward her.
“How you know there’s a bag in my trunk?”
“I saw you pull up. The trunk wasn’t closed all the way.”
For the first time since we met, I wondered whether I could trust my best friend.
Nesha saw the suspicion in my eyes.
“Hold on. You think I got something to do with this?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“I don’t know what to think right now.”
“Then start with the person who’s been keeping your kids while you run around handling whatever mess you got yourself into.”
“Nesha—”
“No. You came in barking orders, strange men are pulling up outside, and now you’re looking at me like I’m the enemy.”
“Somebody took a picture of my children through your window.”
The anger left her face.
“What?”
“Less than ten minutes ago.”
She looked toward the mouth of the alley.
“I didn’t see anybody.”
“That’s the problem.”
I opened the passenger door.
“Get in.”
Nesha hesitated, then climbed inside.
I drove three blocks before calling Tasha.
She answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Is anybody with you?”
“No. What’s wrong?”
“I’m bringing the kids.”
“Keyshia, tell me what happened.”
“I’ll tell you when I get there.”
“Did you meet Dre?”
“No.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. I hadn’t met him yet.
But I was going to.
Tasha lived in a quiet neighborhood fifteen minutes outside the city. She had a regular job, paid taxes on every dollar she made, and spent most of her free time judging the way I lived.
We were only thirteen months apart, but she acted like she helped raise me.
She was waiting on the porch when we arrived.
“What happened?” she asked as I stepped out.
“Take the kids inside.”
“Not until you tell me—”
“Tasha!”
Jayce flinched.
I lowered my voice. “Please. Take them inside and lock the doors.”
She reached for Amaya’s hand.
“Come on, babies.”
Jayce didn’t move.
“Momma, are you coming?”
“In a minute.”
“You promise?”
The fear in his eyes nearly broke me. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed the top of his head.
“I promise.”
He followed Tasha inside.
Nesha stayed in the passenger seat.
“You want me to go inside too?” she asked.
“No. I need you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“Call Dre.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Why?”
“Because he won’t answer if I call.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Tell him you’re at the store alone and need to talk.”
“Talk about what?”
“Tell him Key knows.”
“Knows what?”
“Just say it exactly like that.”
Nesha stared at me.
“You’re using me as bait.”
“I’m trying to get the truth.”
“And if he knows something, what makes you think he won’t hurt me?”
“I won’t let him.”
“That’s what you always say.”
The words cut deeper than she realized.
“You don’t have to do it.”
She glanced toward Tasha’s house, then pulled out her phone.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t doing it.”
Dre answered on the second ring. Nesha put the call on speaker.
“What’s up?” he said.
“Where you at?”
“Why?”
“I’m at the store. I need you to come see me.”
“I’m busy.”
“It’s about Key.”
Silence.
“What about her?”
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
“Everything.”
The line went dead.
Before I could answer Nesha’s question, her phone rang again.
Unknown number.
“Answer it,” I said.
“Hello?”
A man spoke in a calm voice.
“Tell Keyshia that if she wants to speak with Dre, she has twenty minutes to get to the old basketball court on Thirty-Second.”
The call ended.
Nesha’s face went pale.
“They knew you were with me.”
“They know everything.”
I went to the trunk and removed the folder from the duffel bag. I wasn’t riding around with the cocaine and money any longer than necessary.
“What are you doing?” Nesha asked.
“I’m leaving the bag here.”
“At your sister’s house?”
“In her garage. Nobody knows I brought the kids here.”
“They knew I was with you.”
I stopped.
She was right. Whoever called might already know exactly where we were.
Tasha stood behind the living room curtains, watching us.
I couldn’t leave the bag anywhere near my children.
“I gotta take it home.”
“You need to get rid of it.”
“I can’t. They’ll hurt my kids.”
“And if the police catch you with it?”
I stared down at the folder.
“That might be the whole point.”
I placed it inside my purse and closed the trunk.
“Nesha, stay here with Tasha.”
“You’re going to that court alone?”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You might need somebody you can trust.”
I looked at her.
She raised one eyebrow.
“You do trust me, right?”
“I want to.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I sighed.
“Yes. I trust you.”
“Then let’s go.”
???
The old basketball court had been abandoned for years. The city removed the rims after a teenager was shot during a game, but people still used the cracked pavement to drink, gamble, and handle business.
Dre’s car was parked near the fence.
I pulled in behind him, leaving enough space to escape.
“Stay in the car,” I told Nesha.
“You just said—”
“I said you could come. I didn’t say you could get out.”
I tucked my gun beneath my jacket and walked toward Dre. He sat on the hood of his car, smoking.
“You came fast,” he said.
“You gave them my name.”
He flicked ash onto the pavement.
“I gave a lot of people your name.”
“Don’t play with me.”
“Who said I’m playing?”
I pulled the gun and pressed it against his stomach. His cigarette fell from his hand.
“You gave them my name,” I repeated.
Dre lifted both hands.
“Key, calm down.”
“They have pictures of my kids.”
“I didn’t know they were going to involve your children.”
“So you admit it?”
“I didn’t know what they wanted!”
“You knew enough to send me to that storage unit.”
His face changed.
That was confirmation enough.
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear to God.”
“You don’t believe in God.”
“I believe in bullets, and right now you got one pointed at me.”
“Then start talking.”
Dre glanced toward my car.
“Why you bring Nesha?”
“That ain’t your concern.”
“She involved too?”
“Involved in what?”
He laughed nervously.
“That’s the problem with you, Key. You always think you the smartest person in the room.”
“And you always talk too much when you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared of you.”
I cocked the gun.
“You should be.”
“All right. Lawson came to me about three months ago.”
“What did he want?”
“Information on the Carters.”
“Which Carter?”
“All of y’all.”
My stomach tightened.
“He asked about Rome, Dymond, your uncle, everybody. I told him I didn’t know shit.”
“But you knew me.”
“I never told him about your business.”
“Then how did I end up in this?”
“Because he offered to clear my charges.”
“What charges?”
Dre looked away.
“What charges?”
“They caught me with two kilos in Indiana.”
“When?”
“Four months ago.”
That meant Dre had been working with them every time he sat at my table, hugged my children, and accepted money from my hand.
“You been wearing a wire?”
“No.”
I searched his jacket and shirt anyway. I didn’t find anything.
“Lawson isn’t running this alone,” he continued. “There’s somebody above him. Somebody with money.”
“Who?”
“I never met him.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“All I know is they want that folder.”
“Why?”
“It has names in it. People they paid. People they killed. Accounts with millions of dollars.”
“What does that have to do with my family?”
“Your family started it.”
“Started what?”
Dre glanced around the empty court.
“The Carter Empire.”
Something inside me shifted.
People had always whispered about the Carters. They said our family once controlled half the city—drugs, clubs, politicians, police. If money moved, a Carter had a hand in it.
But that was before my time.
At least, that was what I had been told.
“The empire doesn’t exist,” I said.
Dre laughed.
“That’s what they wanted y’all to believe.”
“Who is they?”
“Ask your mother.”
“My mother is dead.”
His smile disappeared.
“No, Key. She ain’t.”
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
“Say that again.”
“Your mother is alive.”
I struck him across the face with the gun. Blood spilled from his mouth.
“Don’t you ever play with me about my momma.”
“I’m telling you what Lawson told me!”
“My mother died when I was twelve. I saw her in that casket.”
“Did you see her face?”
I froze.
The casket had been closed. They told us the accident had damaged her too badly.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Then why would Lawson tell you she was alive?”
“Because she’s the one who made the folder.”
A car engine roared behind us.
Dre’s eyes widened.
“Get down!”
Gunshots exploded across the court.
I dropped behind his car as the passenger window shattered.
Nesha screamed from inside my vehicle.
Dre tried to run.
A bullet struck him in the back. He fell face-first onto the pavement.
I fired toward the black sedan speeding past the fence, but it disappeared around the corner.
“Dre!”
I crawled toward him and rolled him onto his back.
Blood poured from his mouth.
“Who was that?” I asked.
He struggled to breathe.
“Lawson?”
Dre shook his head.
“Then who?”
He grabbed my wrist.
“Somebody… close.”
“Close to who?”
“You.”
“Who, Dre?”
His fingers tightened around my arm.
“The birthday…”
“What about the birthday?”
“Don’t… go.”
His grip went limp.
“Dre!”
His eyes remained open, but the life had already left them.
Nesha ran toward me.
“We gotta get out of here!”
I searched Dre’s pockets and found his phone. The screen was unlocked.
His last message had been sent twelve minutes earlier.
SHE’S ON HER WAY.
The response made my blood run cold.
GOOD. KEEP HER THERE UNTIL WE ARRIVE.
The number wasn’t saved, but I recognized the last four digits. I had called them hundreds of times.
The number belonged to someone I never thought would betray me.
My cousin Shay.
Shay and I were eleven months and two days apart—the kind of closeness that made her feel more like my twin than my cousin.
She was the woman whose birthday we were supposed to celebrate tomorrow night.