Page 139 of When a Soul Cries

My phone vibrated on the table.

Kai.

I glanced toward the hallway before answering.

“What you got?”

“Damn,” Kai said. “Hello to you too.”

“I’m not in the mood.”

His joking tone disappeared.

“Aight. Darius found something.”

I sat forward.

“Hollis?”

“Yeah.”

“What?”

Kai went quiet for a second.

“The company pushing against us for that contract? Darius followed it through a couple different companies.”

“And?”

“Desmond Vance.”

My body went still.

I hadn’t heard that name in years.

Didn’t need to.

Some names carried history all by themselves.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Darius is.”

I leaned back slowly.

Memories moved through my head that I had worked hard to bury.

Money.

Corners.

Enemies.

The kind of life where you looked over your shoulder even when nobody was there.

“What the fuck is Desmond doing involved with Hollis?”

“That’s what Darius is trying to figure out,” Kai answered. “I told him keep digging. If Desmond got dirt attached to any of this, we can use it.”