Chapter 20
—AZANI
My eyes flew open when I woke up. Devyn was still on top of me, fingers laced in my locs, sleeping peacefully.
I’d probably slept three hours in total.
I kept waking up from the same nightmare of Mariah bleeding out in front of me.
The nightmare only came once in a blue moon, but it never changed.
It was the same sequence. Her screaming my name.
A bullet going through her temple. Then, my daughter moved in her stomach until she eventually stopped.
There was so much blood. Asad left me there with her body for hours, torturing me.
Told me that if I had done what I was supposed to do, none of it would’ve ever happened.
The older I got, the more I removed myself from him.
But the shit G told me sat in my head and my heart.
He was plotting to hurt Devyn. He had to know that shit wouldn’t go his way.
Those mothafuckas who shot up that building had to see me.
Vic had already caught up with them and took care of it.
Shadow had to go. He was behind the shit, and he was the one who had to pay for it. I looked down at Devyn, and she was still knocked out. She wouldn’t be sleeping much longer once she noticed I was gone. I lifted her off my chest and laid her on the pillow.
In the bathroom, I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
One side of me wanted to be a husband and a father.
All the shit I’d been wanting. On the other side, I was calculated, always observing, a trained killing machine.
I did it naturally. I’d taken so many lives that I lost count of the bodies.
But the side of me that Devyn needed in that moment was the one who would have her tea ready when she came downstairs.
She needed me to reassure her and love on her because this wasn’t her life.
I knew she was terrified—I felt it as soon as my hands touched her when I got home last night.
“How many more bodies?” I mumbled, washing my face.
That was always the question I asked myself when I knew how bloody my hands would get. I looked at myself one more time, then slid out of the bathroom. Devyn was still asleep in the same spot I left her when I slipped out the bedroom door.
Once I made it downstairs, Vic nodded at me.
Neither of us had anything to say. We were both in that mode.
I could tell by the way he paced in front of the door.
The rest of the security was placed all around the house, but they moved out of my way as I walked through.
I didn’t think they were scared, but they knew what kind of mood I was in.
I moved around the kitchen, filling Dev’s tea kettle, and started my pot of coffee. Vic left me a blunt on the island, so I picked it up and sparked it. The first hit was always the best. Once the smoke had settled in my lungs, I closed my eyes, feeling the high kick in.
Before I could get halfway through my blunt, the tea kettle started screaming.
I pulled it off the fire, then grabbed Dev’s cup, filled it with water, and added the shit she liked in it.
I only had about five more minutes before she came looking for me, telling me she was cold and she needed my heat.
I covered her tea to let it steep, then poured myself a cup of coffee. While I waited for Dev, I lit my blunt again and checked my emails. When I opened my text messages, Slum had sent me a picture of him and Naomi’s daughter, Nia. She was beautiful.
What I would give to have a pretty little girl who looked like Dev…
I sat there stuck, smiling at the picture like a damn fool.
“My man is smiling at something that ain’t me? It better be a puppy or a baby,” Dev sassed, walking toward me.
When I looked up, she was smirking. She stood between my legs and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Show me what got you all misty-eyed,” she said softly, pressing her lips against mine.
She reached for my phone and turned it toward her. The smile on her face made me want to give her a baby right then.
“Oh, my goodness! Look at her chubby little cheeks, baby. Whose baby is this? What’s her name? She’s gorgeous!” she squealed.
It could be ours, but you wanna be on birth control.
“Slum and Naomi’s. Her name is Nia. We missed the baby shower. I didn’t wanna show up without you.”
“Ohhh, Zani. We gotta send her something. Naomi too. She did all the work,” she cooed, staring down at the picture of Nia.
“You excited like you want one, Dev. Tell me when, and we can do it.”
She looked up at me slowly, then locked the phone. “Do you want one? It’s not just about me.”
I dropped my blunt, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her closer. “Yeah, but not until I make you my wife. I wanna do everything right with you. The ring, the wedding, then the baby.”
“You’re serious?” she whispered.
I ain’t know why she thought I was ever playing about her. The way she was looking up at me was all the proof I needed. I was just waiting for her to tell me yes, and I was with it.
“As fuck, baby. You think I did all that begging to get you back and don’t wanna do this shit for real? I’m tryna have you walking around here looking beautiful, carrying my junior or my baby girl. My last name, too.”
She buried her face in my chest, smiling hard as hell. “I love you,” she mumbled, peeking up at me.
“I know. I love you more. Come on, hit this blunt with me while you drink your tea. We gon’ chill today.”
She grabbed her tea, then I picked her up and sat her on the counter in front of me.
I hit the blunt, then passed it to her. When she hit it, she closed her eyes like she needed it more than me.
When she passed it back to me, she sipped her tea, but she was staring at me like she had something to tell me.
“Nanna’s coming by here today. She said to make sure you’re here.”
“Did she say why? That lady gave me PTSD. Something about Vivian doesn’t sit right with me,” I said, shaking my head.
Dev’s head fell back, laughing hard as hell. Wasn’t shit funny about Vivian. She’ll talk to you softly and threaten you in the same breath. Seventy-something years old, and she made grown men think twice about acting up around her.
“Nanna is sweet. A little stern, but she’s not that bad.” Dev was giggling, but she ain’t know Vivian like that.
“Whatever you say, baby. What time did she say she was coming?”
“Probably soon. She does everything early.” Dev pulled her phone out of her robe pocket, glanced at it, then looked back at me. “Thirty minutes ago, she said she was on her way. So, any minute now.”
“Come here. Kiss your man before she gets here. Let me rub on you for a minute.” I smirked, dragging her down onto my lap.
She tried to peck my lips all fast, but I grabbed the front of her robe, making her kiss me for real. Since she wanted to be stingy, I put my tongue in her mouth. It didn’t take her long to wrap her arms around me.
“Am I interrupting something?”
I didn’t even need to open my eyes to see who it was. I knew that voice anywhere.
Dev pulled away from me, smiling, but looking guilty as hell. She slid off my lap and went right over to Vivian, hugging her. Vivian cut her eyes at me, but she smiled instead of frowning like she usually did.
“Good morning, Zuri,” she said, softly kissing Dev’s cheek. “Good morning, Azani. My apologies for the intrusion.”
Devyn walked back over to me and stood between my legs with her back turned to me. Vivian sat on the stool beside us and put her purse down. She was moving so slowly that it put me on edge.
“I’ve been doing some digging,” she said, scrolling through her phone. “Now that I have proof, I can say for certain that my gut feeling was right.”
She glanced at me, then looked at Devyn and shook her head. “Syncere’s death never sat well with me. It was too clean. He wasn’t robbed, and his body was moved from where he originally was.”
Devyn’s body tensed against mine. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close to me once I felt her body shaking.
“While I was in London, I met up with an old friend. You know the Marqués family, right, Azani?” she asked.
“Yeah… Good people. Bradley Marqués just got his hat. There’s a new Sector II training center there after what happened in Amsterdam.”
“Yes…” She paused, tapping across her screen. “Well, his father, the late Bradley Sr., was good friends with your father. His wife, however, is loyal to the High Table and Sector II. I mean, she should be. Her family is three generations in.
“While she was preparing to bury Bradley Sr., she found something she thought I might want to see—correspondence between Bradley and Asad. The Marqués lived in the DC area eight years ago. Asad had Syncere followed… And on November twelfth, eight years ago, Asad killed him.”
“Nanna… no. Why?” Devyn’s whole body trembled.
My stomach dropped when Devyn stepped out of my arms. Then, she turned around and looked at me like I had the answers. But I didn’t. I didn’t know he killed Syncere. I had my own shit and my own grief I was trying to sort through. The last thing I was worried about was Devyn and Syncere.
“Azani,” she said, standing up straight, hands trembling as she wiped her eyes. “I’m only going to ask you this one time. Did you know he killed Syncere?”
“Dev… hell no, baby. I told you if I knew, I would tell you. I wouldn’t keep that shit from you.”
“He didn’t know. Asad acted on his own. Covered his tracks pretty good, but a snake always sheds and grows new skin,” Vivian said, grabbing her hand. “Breathe, Zuri.”
While Devyn stood in front of me, hyperventilating, I was still. My ears buzzed the more I watched her. Tears streaming down her face, knees buckling.
How many more bodies? How many more do I need to catch until they get the picture?
Before Devyn’s legs could give out, I grabbed her, pulled her into my arms, and held her tight. When her chest touched mine, she finally broke. Sobbing so loud that it made Vic pop in on alert.
I just shook my head, and he backed out. My anger boiled over when her sobs turned into moans. Asad had to see me about this shit. He put me in a fucked up position when I just got her back. My father took something from her, and she lost her daughter right after. All I could do was hold her.
Vivian locked eyes with me and shook her head. “Don’t, Azani. Let it play out. Let me get the evidence I need to have him sanctioned. He’s done more.”
“Let it play out?” I snapped. “What? And wait for him to do something else? G told me what he’s on. You know, too, so you know I’m not letting nothing play out.”
“I’m just asking for a little more time. We can do this the right way?—”
I cut her off. “There is no right way,” I said, teeth grinding, holding Devyn up.
Vivian just closed her eyes, because she knew.
I tried to be rational, let shit play out, and stay the fuck out of Asad’s way.
He was jeopardizing my relationship with Devyn.
This was the kind of shit that would have her leaving me again.
It was like he wanted me to suffer. He wanted a reason to kill Devyn.
He knew I wouldn’t do it, so he wanted to kill me too.
Devyn finally stopped crying so hard, but her breath was still catching. Her face was still buried in my chest, and her body hadn’t settled.
“Dev, baby… come on. Let me get you upstairs.”
“Nooo, just hold me, please,” she cried, holding onto me tighter.
Vivian kissed Devyn’s head. “I love you, Zuri,” she whispered, then looked back at me. “Chairman Stone… Move smart and make it back here to my baby. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
Vivian grabbed her purse and walked out of the kitchen. My chest was so tight I felt like my heart would burst. Devyn didn’t even want me to let her go. She clung to me, tears still wetting my chest.
I picked Devyn up, and her legs wrapped around my waist. As I moved through the house, all I could think about was getting Asad’s blood on my hands.
Dev’s face wouldn’t move from my neck; she held me so tight, I wanted to break down.
This shit hurt her. How much more pain did he want her to feel? How much more did he want to hurt me?
When I got to the bedroom, I tried to put Devyn down, but she wouldn’t let me. I just climbed back into bed with her attached to me. I pulled the blankets over us and rubbed her back, slow and steady, praying her heart would stop racing.
After an hour of rubbing her, she finally fell asleep. I lay there, staring at the ceiling, knowing that I was leaving tonight. I’d be back, but Asad better be enjoying his day. When nightfall came, I was on his ass.