Chapter 24
Bleek
“Ifeel like you showed me every shop in the city, Mr. Browne.”
After getting to the bottom of this robbery, it was time to stop thinking about it and actually address it.
Tahari followed behind me while I walked up to the closed establishment.
After unlocking the brand-new front door, I held it open for him, looking closely as he stepped inside.
There was a slight hesitation in his movements, something small enough that most people would overlook it.
Still, I noticed everything when it came to situations like this.
“This is smaller than the other spots,” he said while looking around.
“Yeah, way smaller.”
I let the door close behind me, and when it did, it made that loud thud that echoed through the shop. The sound caused him to jump slightly before he turned around to face me, and for a moment, neither of us spoke.
“It’s a new door,” I said casually. “It makes that weird noise when it closes.”
I walked past him and moved behind the counter like I had done a hundred times before, but I could feel his eyes on me the entire time.
And he should have been watching me. Because I had been watching him for a while now.
The crazy part about all of this was that I had really started to warm up to him.
Somewhere along the way, between him showing up for my daughter, standing ten toes when it mattered, and actually taking an interest in something real with that shop, I had started to see him differently.
He wasn’t just some young boy around my house.
He was starting to become somebody who could actually become a part of it.
I had opened doors for him that I didn’t open just to anybody.
I let him into spaces that were built off years of blood, sweat, and decisions most people wouldn’t survive making.
I had started teaching him, showing him things, and giving him opportunities that most people would have had to earn over time.
And the whole time…he was playing in my face.
He was playing in my family’s face. I could feel my blood boiling as I looked at him.
Moving without emotion is how I had always done things, but this one was different.
It felt different. This one actually hurt.
I rested my hands on the counter and looked at him for a moment without saying anything.
I let the silence stretch just enough to make him feel it.
Because I knew he felt it. Yeah, nigga I know. I thought as I stared him down.
TRIGGA
Something felt off the moment that door closed.
I couldn’t explain it and couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but the way the sound of the door closing echoed through the shop made everything feel different.
Still, I tried not to read too much into it.
Mr. Browne moved like everything was normal.
He walked around me and went behind the counter like this was just another one of his shops.
I followed him with my eyes while trying to keep my expression neutral, even though something in my chest had started to tighten up.
“This shop is special or something?” I asked.
My voice came out steadier than I felt. Mr. Browne looked at me for a second before answering.
“Yeah, it is.”
There was a pause before he continued, and the way he carried it made me focus a little harder.
“The reason I wanted to show you this shop is that it’s kind of special.”
I nodded slowly, waiting for him to keep going.
“Months ago, this place was robbed.”
My brows pulled together slightly.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were robbed, Mr. Browne.”
“Mmhmm,” he responded, his tone was calm, almost too calm. “The place was trashed. Whoever did it knew what they were looking for, too… They went straight to that supply closet and took something out of there.”
My stomach dropped when he nodded toward the closet that was behind him, but I forced myself to hold eye contact with him, even though my mind and heart were racing.
“I’ve been trying for the longest to figure out who was behind it,” he continued.
Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten even more, like the answer had been sitting in front of him this whole time.
And honestly, it was because the answer was my ass.
Before I could say anything, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
The sound was just enough to pull my attention away for a second.
I reached into my pocket, pulled it out, and quickly glanced down at the screen.
Mali: I can’t wait to see you
For a split second, everything else faded.
Then I looked back up from my phone and froze.
The spit in my mouth became thick, so I gulped a bit to swallow it down.
Mr. Browne was standing there with his arm extended and a gun pointed directly at me.
It had to be a dessert eagle because the nose on that bitch was long.
His face wasn’t angry. It was calm. Too calm, like he had been doing shit like this all his life.
Maybe because he had been, and here my stupid ass was on the other side of the barrel.
His eyes were fixed on me. He didn’t even fucking blink before he opened his mouth.
“Where’s my bricks, little nigga?”
It felt like time froze for a moment, and suddenly the temperature in the room had risen.
I could have sworn that I was feeling beads of sweat drip down my damn forehead.
I could see Mr. Browne’s patience waiting for my response leave his eyes.
Everything had come full circle. For months, I thought that this shit was over with.
I looked at it as a mistake from my past that I had indeed learned from.
Honestly, I didn’t think that I would see this day.
At this point, it was bigger than the act of me robbing him.
I had been spending so much time with Mr. Browne that I knew how this must have looked.
I needed him to understand that the robbery had happened before I even knew him.
Before we had even met. Still, none of that mattered because I had taken something from him.
With the way my pops had died, I should have known better.
“Well?” he asked with no emotion in his tone.
I tried opening my mouth to respond, but I felt like I was going to vomit instead.
TO BE CONTINUED…