Chapter 34 Prime
PRIME
Monday morning and I was sitting in my car across from the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown, watching a building like my life depended on it.
Because it did.
Two days I’d been on Dante’s ass. Following him around DC like I was some hired PI instead of a man launching my own empire.
Watching his boring-ass lunch meetings. Sitting outside his gym.
Tracking his movements like a damn stalker.
This was the kind of work I did when I was hitman, waiting on the perfect time to hit my mark.
But this was all because Vivica had me by the throat.
My phone buzzed. Her name on the screen made my jaw clench.
Vivica: I need those photos by tonight. Meeting with my divorce attorney tomorrow at 9 AM. No more delays.
Me: I’m working on it.
Vivica: Work faster. Or I make that call to the DA about Rashid. Your choice.
I stared at the message. Felt my grip tighten on the phone until the case cracked slightly under my thumb.
This bitch.
This cold, calculating bitch was really threatening the only father I’d ever had because she wanted ammunition for a divorce from a man she’d chosen to marry.
I had until tonight. Which meant Dante’s ass better show up soon.
I tossed the phone in the passenger seat and went back to watching the hotel entrance.
Hour three.
My phone kept buzzing. I’d been ignoring it. But the messages kept coming.
I finally checked.
Quest: Yo, need you at the distillery to sign some papers making you official in the casino.
Justice: Casino permits still stuck? What’s goin’ on with the Vivica shit.
Zahara: Yusef came home from school quiet again. Won’t talk to me. I’m worried about him.
Each message was another person needing me. Another fire I couldn’t put out because I was stuck in this fucking car doing Vivica’s dirty work.
I texted back quick responses. Told Quest I’ll be there tomorrow. Told Justice I was working on it right now. Told Zahara I’d check on Yusef tomorrow.
But it sat wrong in my chest. Heavy.
I was letting everyone down. Putting them on hold because Vivica had me by the balls.
The anger that had been simmering all morning started to burn hotter.
Hour six.
Still nothing.
Dante hadn’t shown. The hotel lobby stayed empty except for guests checking in and out, tourists taking selfies, valets parking cars.
I’d been sitting here since seven this morning. Back aching. Bladder full. Stomach growling because I’d skipped breakfast.
But I couldn’t leave. Not even for five minutes. Not when Dante could walk out any second with whoever he was fucking on the side.
My phone buzzed again. And it was my boy Dreux, who worked in computer forensics.
Tech: Update on Dante’s financials. This nigga’s finances are LAYERED. Shell companies, offshore accounts, money moving through the Caymans. He’s hiding a lot.
Me: How much we talking?
Tech: Millions. Maybe tens of millions. And he’s been moving it recently. Like in the past week. Like he knows someone’s digging.
I read the message twice. Let it sink in.
Dante was covering his tracks. Which meant either he suspected Vivica was coming for him, or someone had tipped him off.
Either way, it meant this surveillance was critical. If I missed him today, if he went underground after this, I’d have nothing.
And Vivica would follow through on her threats.
Rashid would go back to prison and I couldn’t let that happen. The man who’d saved my life would lose his freedom because I couldn’t deliver photos of my stepfather cheating. The anger burned hotter. Deeper.
Hour eight.
I was getting even more agitated. I needed to check on Zahara and Yusef. I knew she was still feeling anxiety about the whole Larry situation, but it was handled. His body would never be recovered. His body no longer existed.
Hour ten.
Finally.
The hotel doors opened and Dante walked out.
But he wasn’t alone.
A woman was with him. Light-skinned. Beautiful. Early thirties. Professional-looking in a pencil skirt and blouse. Perhaps she worked with him at the liquor company?
But it was the way she touched him that told me everything.
Familiar. Intimate. Possessive.
She laughed at something he said, her hand lingering on his chest. Then she leaned up and kissed him. Not a friendly peck. A real kiss. The kind you gave someone you were fucking.
Dante’s hand slid to her waist, pulling her closer. His wedding ring catching the light as he touched another woman the way he was supposed to touch Vivica.
I raised my camera.
Click. Click. Click.
Got it all. The kiss. The touching. Both of them getting into his black Mercedes. And I made sure to get the license plate.
I sent everything to Dreaux immediately.
Me: Run this plate. Find out who she is.
Dreaux: On it.
I sat back in my seat, finally allowing myself to exhale.
It was done. I had what Vivica wanted. Proof that couldn’t be disputed.
But instead of relief, all I felt was rage.
Rage that I’d wasted two days on this bullshit. Rage that Vivica had reduced me to this. Rage that I’d let her control me like I was still that thirteen-year-old boy she’d sent to prison.
I was better than this. Bigger than this. I’d built an empire from nothing. Commanded respect from men who’d kill for me. Protected the people I loved without hesitation.
And yet here I was. Sitting in a car. Taking pictures. Playing private investigator for a woman who’d never been a mother to me.
The phone rang.
Yusef’s name on the screen.
I answered. “What’s up, lil man?”
“Hey…” His voice sounded wrong. Tired. Defeated. “I was just… I thought we had boxing today?”
The guilt hit like a sledgehammer.
Fuck.
I’d completely forgotten. Too caught up in Vivica’s bullshit to remember the one person who actually needed me.
“My bad, Yu. I had to handle some work stuff.”
Silence. Heavy. Disappointed.
“But we can hit the gym tomorrow,” I added. “After school. I promise.”
“It’s cool.” His voice was flat now. Resigned. “I know you’re busy.”
“Nah, don’t do that. Tomorrow. I’m clearing everything. Just you and me.”
“Okay.”
But he didn’t believe me. I could hear it in his voice. That acceptance. That expectation of disappointment.
Like he’d been let down so many times before that he’d stopped hoping people would show up.
“Yu, I’m serious—”
“I gotta go, Prime.”
The line went dead.
I sat there staring at my phone. At his name on the screen. At the call duration: one minute, thirty-eight seconds.
Less than two minutes. That’s all the time I’d given him.
A kid who’d looked at me like I was his hero. Who’d said he wished I was his dad. Who was getting his ass beat at school and wouldn’t tell anyone who was doing it.
And I’d forgotten about him. Put him on hold. Chose surveillance on Vivica’s cheating husband over showing up for a twelve-year-old boy who had nobody else.
The realization cut deep.
I was doing to Yusef what Vivica had done to me.
Making him wait. Making him hope. Then letting him down. Teaching him that people he cared about would always choose something else over him.
The rage that had been building all day finally boiled over.
I slammed my fist into the steering wheel. Once. Twice. Three times. Until my knuckles ached and the horn blared and I didn’t give a fuck who heard it.
This was Vivica’s fault. All of it.
She’d abandoned me as a kid. Let me go to prison at thirteen. Never visited. Never called. Never gave a single fuck until I became useful to her.
And now she was using me. Controlling me. Making me dance like a puppet while she pulled the strings.
Using Rashid—the man who’d actually raised me, who’d actually cared—as leverage to make me do her dirty work.
And I’d let her.
I’d bent. I’d obeyed. I’d put everyone else on hold because she’d threatened the one thing I couldn’t lose.
But enough.
I was done playing her games. Done letting her dictate my life. Done choosing her bullshit over the people who actually mattered.
I had her photos. Had her proof. Had everything she needed to destroy Dante and get her divorce.
But once this was over—once Rashid was safe and those permits were approved—I was cutting her off. Completely.
No more favors. No more blackmail. No more control.
She wanted to treat me like a tool? Fine. But tools got put away when the job was done.
And this job was about to be finished.
I started the car and pulled away from the hotel, my hands still shaking with rage, my jaw clenched so tight my teeth hurt.
Tomorrow I’d make it right with Yusef. Would show up for him. Would be the man he needed instead of the ghost Vivica had turned me into.
But tonight?
Tonight I had to finish this. Had to deliver these photos. Had to secure Rashid’s freedom.
Then I was done being Vivica’s son.
From here on out, she was nothing to me.
Just like I’d always been nothing to her.