Page 91 of Justice

“Okay,” she said. “What are you gonna do.”

“Oh, I’mma make her regret this shit.”

I picked the earring up and closed my fist around it again. Kira killed something my kids loved. There was a price for that. And I intended to collect my debt.

46

JUSTICE

Marceline’s was packed for the lunch rush when I walked in.

Kira’s family had three of them across the DMV. The name came from her grandmother in New Orleans. Creole food, good music, a spot where city council members and pastors ate when they wanted to be seen. Her family had been running it for decades, and Kira managed the flagship in Silver Spring with her name on the lease.

I popped up on her without a phone call. I needed her to know I meant business. The hostess opened her mouth to greet me but I was past her before she got a word out. Customers looked up from their plates. A busboy with a tub of dishes stepped out of my path. I didn’t slow down for any of them. I knew where her office was.

Her door was open. She was behind her desk going through invoices with her glasses on and a pen in her hand. She looked up when my shadow filled the doorway, and I watched it happen in real time. Her eyes got wide. Her hand went up to her hair. She took the glasses off fast and sat up straighter. A smile started coming across her face that turned my stomach, because I knew exactly what she was thinking.

She thought I was there to make things right.

“Justice.” She said my name seductively and relieved. “I was hoping you’d come by one day. I’ve been wanting to talk to you. Can you close the door?”

I closed it. But not for the reason she wanted.

I walked to her desk and set the earring down right on top of her invoices. The little gold hoop with the etched design sat there between us under the fluorescent light.

Her face changed. She looked at it and then up at me, confused.

“Oh my God, where’d you find that? I’ve been looking for it everywhere. I thought I lost it at the gym or something.”

“I found it in my stable,” I cut her off cold. “Right next to Midnite. My daughter’s horse. The one that’s dead.”

The smile was gone now.

“What?”

“Dream’s horse is dead, Kira. Do you know how that happened?”

“Justice, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t been near your stable.”

“I caught you behind my house just a few days ago. Now my horse is dead and your jewelry was at the scene. So cut the bullshit and stop playing dumb, because it’s disgusting.”

Her mouth opened and closed. Tears started forming in her eyes.

“I don’t know why you’re accusing me of killing a horse but I didn’t do it. Justice, you know me! You know I’m not capable of that. You know how I feel about you. I’ve fallen in love with you. I would never hurt your or those girls,” she cried.

“Let me be real clear with you, Kira, since you need it spelled out.” My voice dropped low. “We slept together a few times. That’s all it was. I never promised you a thing. I never told you I loved you. I never told you we were building something. You made all of that up in your head, and now you’re taking it out on my children because reality didn’t match whatever story you told yourself. I don’t want you. I don’t love you. At this point I don’t even like you.”

She put her hand over her mouth. The tears were coming for real now.

“I would never hurt those girls,” she said through her fingers. “Justice, they are my goddaughters. I’ve been there for you ever since Monica…”

“Don’t say her name.” I held my hand up. “You lost that right. They were your goddaughters. Past tense. That shit is done done.”

“Justice please…”

“Here’s what happens next.” I stepped back from her desk but I didn’t move toward the door. “If you come near my family again. If anything else happens to my kids, my property, my grandmother. If I hear your name anywhere near my life. I will shut these restaurants down. Every single one. This one, Georgetown, the one your brother just opened in Alexandria. All of them.”

“You can’t do that.” But her voice cracked saying it, because she knew I could.