Page 107 of Omar

I stepped over him and kicked the door at the end of the hall.

It crashed inward. The room was small, bare, lit by a fluorescent light that made everything look washed out. A table in the center with two chairs. Supreme was sitting on one side. Asha was on the other.

He was holding her hand.

Their heads both turned when the door went in. Supreme's eyes went wide for half a second when he saw me standing in the doorway. Then the mask came back.

"Baptiste," he said. His voice was calm but his body was already calculating. "You making a big mistake."

"Asha." My voice came out flat, controlled. "Get up and walk to Kadeem. He's in the hallway."

She stood. Her legs were unsteady but she moved. She pulled her hand free from Supreme's grip, pushed back the chair, and walked around the table toward me. When she passed me in the doorway her fingers brushed my arm. Then she was through and Kadeem's hand was on her shoulder, guiding her toward the exit.

I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me.

Supreme stood up slowly from his chair. He was wearing the grey suit from earlier, sleeves still rolled. His composure was cracking at the edges but his voice stayed level.

"Let's talk about this, Baptiste." He put his hands on the table, palms down, like a man conducting a meeting. "You and me, we can work something out. We always have before."

"We ain't working nothing out."

"You hit my locations." His voice was tight now, the composure barely holding. "Two hundred grand from Flatbush, more from East New York. My financial records, my laptop, my counting machines. You took everything." He leaned forward. "What did she tell you? What did Asha give you?"

"Everything."

"Everything." He repeated the word like it tasted wrong. "My account numbers? My locations? My guard schedules? Three years she's in my house, eating my food, sleeping in my bed, and the whole time she's memorizing my operation so she can hand it to you on a fuckin' platter?"

"Sounds like you should've treated her better."

"I treated her like a queen!" His fist came down on the table. The sound cracked through the room. "I gave her everything. The salon, the clothes, the apartment, the life. And she was sitting there taking notes like a goddamn informant?"

"She was your prisoner, Supreme. Prisoners pay attention to the locks."

Supreme's breathing was ragged now. He paced behind the table, his hands moving, touching his face, his neck, the back of his head. The controlled businessman was gone. What was left was a man watching his empire collapse in real time.

"My financial pipeline." He stopped pacing. "You gave it to the Associates. Devon's been inside my shell companies. Greyline, the sister entities, the distribution accounts. You've got all of it."

"All of it."

"And TK. You know about TK."

"We know TK's your proxy. We know you've been funding attacks on our territory through his operation for three years while sitting across from Kadeem at meetings pretending to negotiate in good faith."

Supreme stared at me. His right hand was drifting toward the edge of the table again. "The Associates sanctioned this? All of them? Cos I got relationships with half the men in that room that go back longer than yours. Andre Mitchell and I built the Crown Heights corridor together. Bishop owes me for the Canarsie deal. You think they'll just let this stand?"

"The Associates voted unanimous. Every one of them."

That landed. His face changed, the confidence flickering. He adjusted his weight, his right hand still drifting.

"Aight." He adjusted his tone, softer now, more personal. "Then let's talk about Asha. I know you got feelings for her, I ain't blind. But you gotta understand, she was with me for three years. Three years of me taking care of her, providing for her, keeping her safe. Whatever she told you about our relationship, she was part of my life. Part of my household."

"She was your prisoner."

"She was my woman." His voice hardened. "I loved her. I gave her everything."

"You gave her a cage. You bought her from her father like livestock and you kept her locked up for three years pretending it was romance."

"That ain't how it was."