Chapter 17
17
Then…
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this meeting. Was I excited? Annoyed? Angry that I’d been left on read for so long? Did I still have a crush on 11C22? Was it crazy to have a crush on a man I only knew as a set of numbers and a letter?
Probably.
At any rate, I arrived at the restaurant early to find he’d done the same.
“Yes,” the hostess chirped after I inquired about the reservation, “right this way.”
With my eyes surveying the sparse crowd occupying the space, I followed her to a private room in the back, but the man sitting at the table wasn’t 11C22.
I stopped short of him, eyeing him suspiciously. He gave off this vibe, this sinister aura, and I wasn’t sure if it intrigued me or alarmed me.
Both?
One thing was for sure; he made me feel something , something completely different from the flighty feeling I experienced when I was with the man who recruited me. My cheeks didn’t feel warm and there were no butterflies in my belly. From the moment I rested my gaze on this stranger, his smoldering eyes and energy made my heart race as all the blood in my body rushed to my pussy.
I didn’t like this feeling.
At all.
His attention was on me, surveying me in silence as I did the same to him.
Oblivious to our exchange, the hostess placed a menu on the table before the empty seat and sang, “Enjoy!” before leaving us alone.
“Who are you?” I demanded once she was gone.
He smiled. “Who are you ?”
In response, I turned to leave because if he didn’t know who the fuck I was, I had no business being there with him.
“Miss King, have a seat,” he said.
I spun around to face him. He was okay looking—glasses, neat appearance. Nothing special, but it felt like I was in the room with the damn president or something. He gave off this authoritative ambiance that was almost irresistible. Tightly clutching the strap of my purse, I didn’t move.
“Got some pepper spray in there? Gonna get me like you did my brother?”
Brother?
This man was 11C22’s brother?
I frowned but remained stationary.
“Or maybe you’re going to use some of the moves you learned in my father’s self-defense classes.”
Father? Now I knew he was playing with me. This nigga was a fed or something.
“I think you have me confused with someone else,” I stated, my voice even.
He sighed. “Please have a seat so we can talk. This place has been swept for bugs, but I’d like to be able to lower my voice when speaking to you.”
I still didn’t move.
“Look, I ain’t no damn fed. Sit your sexy ass down!” he grunted.
Against my better judgment, I dropped my stupidly-flattered ass into the chair across from him, my eyes never leaving him.
He nodded. “Alert, cautious…my brother said you were good, a true asset to the company. Glad to see he was right.”
“Where is he? Why are you here?” I asked.
“Abrupt, callous…I like that, too. No wonder he was so enamored with you.”
I blinked, trying not to let his words sidetrack me. “ Where is he ?”
He leaned back in his chair. “There have been some changes in our organization. New management. Me.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m the new management.”
“So…11C22 is fired?”
“No, he’s been reassigned. He was getting too personally involved when it came to you. That’s bad for business. Although, I see why he did it.” He lifted an eyebrow and licked his lips. “So, I’ll be your contact from now on.”
“You’re in management and you’re dealing with the help? Why?”
He shrugged. “Because I want to.”
“Why contact me now after all this time? Because you were reorganizing or something?”
“That, and I thought it timely to meet you since you decided to kill that doctor.”
I froze, my heart throttling my chest. “W-what?” How the fuck did he know about that? I was careful.
“You belong to The Agency. We know your every move. There are always eyes on you.”
My mouth opened, but no sound escaped it.
“And I knew this was coming. You don’t train to kill without eventually having the desire to kill. It was only a matter of time before you acted on that desire. You did a stellar job, by the way.”
“Uh…th-thank you?”
“BUT, let that be the first and last time you do some shit like that. Going rogue could jeopardize our entire operation.”
“O…kay.”
“Now, let’s get down to business. I know you graduated. Congratulations on that. Are you planning to live here?”
“Yes. My family is here, and…thank you again.”
“That’s fine, but you need a cover.”
“Like a job? I’ve been looking for one.”
“We’ll set you up with something that looks legit for tax purposes, but in reality, you’ll be working for us. We pay through offshore accounts.”
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“We will handle everything, including tax stuff. So don’t worry about that. Second, you’ll need to move out of your father’s house. Find a place, and we’ll take care of the rent.”
All I could do was nod.
“Good. On your burner, you’ll find the information about your Agency email account and how to access it via the Tor browser. Once you read it, delete the message. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s it.” He stood to leave, and I kind of panicked.
“Wait! Aren’t you going to tell me who you are?”
“I’m 001A.”
Then…
She walked into that room in that restaurant and birds started chirping and shit. I’d seen pictures and footage of her, so I knew she was fine and pretty as hell, but got damn! In person, the shit was disarming. Those eyes, those lips, those hips?
Jesus Jerome Christ!
This woman was perfection, and when she turned to leave, that ass in those jeans almost made me slide from my chair to my knees. I totally got why Zaccai liked her, but she was too big of an asset for me to let him fuck up her potential. He would’ve wifed her and taken her off the job, and well, fuck that. We needed someone like her on our roster. Me? I’d wife her and not interfere with her new career.
Damn, was I really thinking about getting with this woman?
Nah, no way I could do that. I had too much going on, too much on my plate to start something with her…
But I wanted to.
Zaccai was pissed when I removed him as her handler, but whatever. He worked better with the guys anyway. Plus, it was my call to make now, since our father was killed.
Fuck.
That hurt. I mean, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get over it. One day he’s down in his hometown of Romey, Tennessee, doing his professor and self-defense coach thing while still heading up The Agency, and the next, he’s shot dead outside his dojo. My mom was taking it hard, which was crazy since they hadn’t lived in the same house in years. I guess love wasn’t all that cut and dry.
Now, I was the boss instead of just an agent in my father’s company. I’d lived in Parkton for a few years, having relocated after visiting my mom here one Christmas. This was her hometown and where she fled when their relationship started crumbling. I missed Chicago, though, where I’d been staying in my childhood home.
“You want her. That’s it. First, Ma gives you The Agency, and now you tryna take my woman? I can’t have shit!” Zaccai was saying. Hell, I’d zoned out so bad that I forgot we were having a family meeting.
“Zaccai, calm down! You know Bo is already promised to Layla. Plus, that girl is off limits to both of you. She’s an employee!” our mother fussed.
Promised to Layla.
That statement fucked my mood completely up.
“Don’t look at me like that,” my mother directed to me.
I had no idea how I was looking at her, but I assumed my frustration with the whole Layla situation was written all over my face.
“Your father made this agreement to end the war between our family and hers. You know that! You have to follow through with this!” she continued.
Leaning forward at her dining room table, I locked eyes with her. “A war that had nothing to do with me or Layla. That was between my father and hers long before either of us were born. She’s a beautiful woman. I’m sure she can marry whoever she wants. She doesn’t need this arrangement, and neither do I. I’m not marrying a woman because of some old Chicago street shit.”
“I’ll marry her,” Zaccai offered. “She fine as hell! Bo, you crazy.”
“It was more than Chicago street shit, as you put it. That truce kept your father alive, which allowed him and I to create you, and Zaccai, you know the terms. A son and daughter from opposing families are to marry. Layla’s father only had one child. Your father chose Bo,” my mother said.
“But I’m the oldest!” Zaccai whined. This nigga was always whining!
“Her father is old and sick, right? I bet he ain’t messed up about that agreement now. That was years ago,” I pointed out.
She shook her head. “To men like him and your father, a man’s word and honor are everything. He most definitely expects you to marry his daughter, or there will be hell to pay.”
I shifted my eyes to the wall behind my mother, scratching my forehead. “Look, this ain’t what we’re here for, Ma. We covered all the business, so I think this meeting is over.”
“Fine, but you will marry Layla within the next two years, Bo. What you do between now and then is up to you, but no children. Save that for your marriage,” she said.
“I don’t even want no damn kids,” I told her.
“But you will have children… with your wife .”
I shook my head before leaving the table and my mother’s house.