Page 60 of Justice

He pulled me into a hug on our way out the door and I hugged him back just as tight. Then I got in my car and sat there a minute before I even started the engine, watching him cross the parking lot toward his own truck.

I drove back with the radio off, thinking about the mess that I was in. I had to put some distance between Justice and me. Besides, can I really trust him? He was richer and more powerful than Roman was. He could hurt me in worse ways. Those Banks had a reputation.

I needed to get to my son and get the hell out of here.

31

JUSTICE

Skye had been getting good at avoiding me and it was starting to irk me. But life was dragging me in different directions. We were making headway with the Freetown construction and would soon have a ground-breaking party.

Even though things were picking up with the business, I couldn’t keep her off of my mind. And damn I wanted her gone. I hadn’t felt these kinds of feelings since Monica. I hated the way that woman got under my skin and stayed there.

In an effort to bridge the gap between me and Storie, I decided to let her in on what we were building. She hadn’t seen Freetown yet, but she needed to since she was my legacy.

“I’m so excited to see it! I tell my friends all the time that you’re building a new city,” she said as we eased down the highway.

“Yeah, I’m doing this for you and Dream. I don’t want you to ever struggle or want for anything. Freetown will set you up for generational wealth.”

“How many buildings will they’ll be?”

“Right now, we’re starting with two high-rises, 50 single family homes and five garden-style apartments. Then there is the downtown district, we’re rehabbing. They’ll be a bank, grocery store, pharmacy, office buildings, restaurants and boutiques. But the land is huge and will continue to grow over the years. It’ll become its own little enclave.”

“Can I be the mayor?” She laughed.

“One day,” I winked. “You know, Rita is at the heart of this. She and my grandfather’s business is why we’re able to do this. It started as bootlegging and numbers running. Then grew into Banks Reserve and now look at us. Banks Reserve is international. The casino is booming.”

“Wow. I’m apart of that legacy, huh.”

“Yep. And you need to know something. Family looks out for one another. If you don’t take care of family, you fail. You fall. So always look out for Dream. Look out for your lil cousins. And always protect the Banks name because it’ll protect you,” I said to her.

The site itself hit different once we turned off the main road. Chain-link fencing wrapped the perimeter, and every twenty feet a banner hung off it with HARLOW CONSTRUCTION stamped across it in bold black letters, the same logo stitched onto every hard hat lined up on the folding table near the entrance. Seeing our name and his name both up on that fence at the same time did something to my chest I hadn’t expected. Freetown wasn’t a dream anymore. It was steel and permits and a man’s name standing right next to ours, which meant it was real.

Quest and Prime were already out there when we walked up, both of them in hard hats that looked ridiculous on men who usually wore tailored everything, laughing about something between themselves before they caught sight of us.

“There he is.” Quest clapped my hand and pulled me in for a shoulder bump. “And look who he brought.”

“Hey uncle Quest.” Storie gave him a hug.

That’s when Roman Harlow came around the front of his crew, hand already extended before he even reached me.

“Justice. It’s a big day.”

“Been a long time coming.” I turned Storie toward him. “This is my oldest, Storie.”

“Pleasure.” Roman shook her hand too, warm about it, nothing off in his face at all. “You have a good father. I see that you got his ways.”

Storie smiled up at him, polite, said thank you, nothing more than any well-raised kid would say to a grown man being kind to her at her father’s job site. I felt my chest swell watching it, a man I respected complimenting my daughter without a single ounce of the slick, oily energy I’d learned young to watch for in men who came around family. Roman didn’t have a drop of that in him. Just good business, good manners, a partner worth having.

Quest had three shovels leaned up against the site trailer already, still wrapped in plastic, and he handed one to me and one to Prime.

“Storie can do the honors,” Prime said, holding the third one out to her. “Somebody under thirty ought to be the one to break this ground.”

She took it, a little unsure what to do with it, and I found myself grinning wider than I had in longer than I wanted to admit, watching my oldest child stand on ground her great-grandmother’s moonshine and numbers money had bought us the right to build on.

“Grandma Rita would want you to do it,” I told her. “Go on.”

She dug the shovel in, turned over one clean scoop of dirt, and looked up at the three of us like she wasn’t sure if she’d done it right. Quest let out a laugh and clapped once. Prime shook his head, smiling.