Chapter 46 Quest
Quest
The meeting with the Kings went better than I expected.
Creed, Cannon and Riot were in on Freetown from the jump, which didn’t surprise me because they had capital and were forward thinking.
We spent three hours in the conference room with Justice running projections on the whiteboard while Prime sat in the corner contributing exactly two sentences the entire time, both of which were “I’m in” and “when do we start.” That was Prime. All action, zero meetings.
The plan was aggressive but doable. The land had been acquired.
There was a lot of farmland around and there was an abandoned historic district.
It was dubbed the Golden Quarter way back in the day.
It had the bones of a place that used to matter.
Brick streets. The buildings had tall windows and iron balconies.
It all needed a lot of work but we could do it.
We’d set it up and have it looking beautiful.
It was going to be a town where people couldn’t wait to buy into. The district would be bustling and around would be several new home developments. This was my legacy. This was the Banks-Kings legacy.
“Aight, so I’ll get in touch with some property development firms I know. We’ll get them to submit proposals and we’ll decide who gets to build what,” I said as we all stood.
“Sounds good. I got a few contractor suggestions,” Riot added.
Everybody dapped up and headed out around eleven.
The Kings had a late flight back on a private jet.
Prime and Justice headed back to their families.
And I couldn’t wait to get back to Mehar.
This drive out to the estate was killing me though.
I couldn’t wait until the move closed. I sold the penthouse that Camille and Lyric were staying in.
I could’ve moved back in after they left but I didn’t wanna deal with the stagnant energy.
Mehar and I needed to start new. And the penthouses near the casino were a fresh new build. No one had ever lived in those before.
I headed to the parking garage alone. The casino was poppin’ off this time of night, but my work day was done. I’d arrived at 7:00 am which meant I left my baby in bed before she even opened her eyes. I hadn’t seen her all day, aside from the nudes she sent me throughout the day.
My footsteps echoed on the concrete and I was thinking about Mehar and how good it felt to come home to somebody who actually wanted me there. Not for the money, not for the name, not for what I could do for her. Just me.
I was halfway to the Maybach when I heard heels clicking behind me. They were deliberate and my senses started to tingle. Getting closer at a pace that told me whoever was wearing them wanted me to hear them before I saw them.
I turned fast and had my gun out and aimed before my brain finished processing the sound. The garage lights cast long shadows across the concrete and standing about fifteen feet away with her hands raised and a smirk on her face was someone I hadn’t seen since Prime sent her packing.
It was Farah.
Hair swept to the left, covering the side of her head where her ear used to be. Thinner than I remembered. Dressed in all black like she’d come from a funeral or was planning one. Those same sharp eyes that her father had, the ones that calculated everything and gave away nothing.
“Hey, big bro,” she said.
“I thought Prime told you to stay yo’ ass out the country.”
“He did. And I’ve been very obedient.” She lowered her hands slowly, eyes on my gun the whole time. “But my grandmother died and I’m not missing the funeral. Even outcasts get to bury their dead.”
I didn’t lower the gun. “So you came all the way back to DC to pay your respects and just happened to end up in my parking garage at midnight.”
“I came to pay my respects. And to give you something. Consider it a courtesy.” She took a step closer. “Your mother contacted me.”
That got my attention. I kept the gun where it was but my ears were fully open now.
“Vivica reached out through Dante about a month ago. She wanted my help taking you and your brothers down. Said she had information about the business, about the trucks, about the money. She wanted me to connect her with people who could use that information to do damage. Federal people. The kind who show up with warrants and freeze accounts.”
“And?”
“And I said no.” She crossed her arms. “I’m a lot of things, Quest. I’ve done a lot of shit I’m not proud of.
But I’m not getting in bed with a woman who’s willing to burn down her own children to keep warm.
That’s a level of crazy I can’t work with anymore.
I’ve changed. And now that I know we share blood through Rashid…
” She paused. “Well. Let’s just say I’m choosing differently these days. ”
I studied her face. Farah was a lot of things.
She was Rashid’s daughter, which meant manipulation was in her DNA.
She’d stalked Prime for years, orchestrated attacks on Zainab, and had her ear sawed off as a consequence.
She wasn’t somebody I trusted. But she also had no reason to lie about this.
If she wanted to help Vivica destroy me, she would’ve done it quietly.
She wouldn’t be standing in my garage warning me about it.
“She’s unhinged,” Farah continued. “Her trial is coming up and she’s panicking because there’s a chance she loses. She’s making desperate moves. If I were you, I’d get my affairs in order before she makes that phone call.”
“She ain’t got shit to be worried about at trial,” I said. Which was true. The case was weak. No body, all circumstantial. Gerald was confident. But I kept my plans for Vivica, because Farah didn’t need to know what I had planned for my mother. Nobody did.
“Maybe not. But a cornered woman with nothing to lose is the most dangerous thing on this planet. And your mother has a lot of information and very little left to lose.” She tilted her head. “Just watch your back. That’s all I’m saying.”
“I appreciate the heads up.”
“Of course.” She smiled and it was the first time I’d seen anything on Farah’s face that wasn’t hostility or obsession. It was almost warm. Almost human. “But the heads-up ain’t free.”
She turned and walked away, heels clicking on the concrete, disappearing into the shadows of the parking garage like she’d materialized from them in the first place. I stood there with my gun still out watching the space where she’d been and processing what just happened.
My mother was trying to have my businesses raided from inside a prison cell.
She was reaching out to enemies, pulling strings, making moves.
Even locked up, even facing trial, even abandoned by every member of her family, Vivica was still playing chess.
Still scheming. Still convinced she could burn the board and win from the ashes.
I lowered the gun and got in the car and sat in the dark for a minute. Farah said the heads-up wasn’t free. That meant she’d be back to collect. And when she did, I’d have to decide whether my half-sister was an ally or just another problem wearing a different face.
But that was tomorrow’s math. Tonight I was going home to my fiancée. And that was enough.