Page 69 of Omar

"There she is," he said, lifting his arm so I could tuck myself against his side. "My baby."

I smiled.

I performed.

And somewhere inside me, a door closed that I wasn't sure would ever open again.

Chapter 27

Omar

Asha called me from the bathroom. I was parked outside APEX, the engine still running, Devon's latest report open on my phone. Her name came up on the screen and I answered before the second ring.

"He caught me." Her voice was flat, emptied out. "I packed a bag. Made it half a block. His people were waiting."

I gripped the steering wheel with my free hand. "Did he hurt you?"

"He didn't touch me. He put me in the car, drove me home, and unpacked my bag." She paused. "He put everything back where it was, Omar. Every piece of clothing, every toiletry. Folded it all up and put it back in the drawers like I'd never tried to leave."

I listened to her breathe. The engine hummed. Traffic passed on the street outside APEX.

"He kissed my forehead after," she continued. "Told me everything was back where it belongs. Including me."

"Where is he now?"

"Living room. Watching TV like nothing happened."

"Asha."

"Yeah?"

"I'm getting you out of there. Properly this time. With people behind it."

She was quiet for a long moment. "How?"

"Let me handle that. Just sit tight and don't try anything else on your own. Can you do that?"

"Yeah." Her voice was small but steady. "Yeah, I can do that."

"I'll text you when it's set up."

"Okay."

I hung up, turned off the engine, and sat in the car for five minutes working through what I was about to do. Telling Kadeem about Asha meant telling him everything. The affair, the meetings, the texts, the sex in the apartment and the back of my car. It meant admitting I'd been running a personal operation inside Baptiste territory without authorization, fucking the girlfriend of the man we were building a case against, and making decisions with my dick that could compromise everything Devon had been building for months.

Kadeem was going to be furious. But Kadeem was also my brother, and he'd been where I was. Shanay had been inside a dangerous situation herself, and Kadeem had done whatever it took to get her out. He'd understand. He might not like it, but he'd understand.

I drove to his house. Shanay let me in, took one look at my face, and went back upstairs without asking questions. She'd been around Baptiste business long enough to read the energy.

Kadeem was in the office. I sat down across from him and told him everything.

He listened without interrupting. His face didn't change while I talked. I told him about seeing Asha at the warehouse meeting, about finding her on Nostrand, about the park, the coffee shop, the kisses, the apartment. I told him about the car sex behind the warehouse, the conversations about Ray, the connect named Len. I told him she'd tried to run. Supreme caught her, unpacked her bag.

When I finished Kadeem was quiet for a long time. He leaned back in his chair, his hands folded across his stomach, his eyes on the ceiling.

"How long?" he asked.

"Since the warehouse meeting."