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“What do you want me to say, Meek? I wasn’t expecting you to break this type of news to me. Like, why the fuck would you not walk away? Killing her was extreme. Do you know how many bitches have gotten disrespectful? Shit, Raya is the perfect example.”

“Things transpired so fast. She was calm, and then things changed. I didn’t have time to think.”

I didn’t have anything else to say. I was ready to go home so I could process what he had just laid on me.

“Now that she’s gone, it can be me and you. You said that if I got rid of her, you would stop giving Lloyd so much of your time.”

“Shameek, you killed that girl. You’re standing here trying to move forward with you and me. We still got to deal with your family. This is not some shit that just happens. We have a lot to consider, and now you have this hanging over your head. Don’t stand here with that girl barely cold and turn her death into a relationship opening for us. And what the fuck, do you expect her family to just be okay that she’s possibly missing?”

“They can think what they want. There are no traces of me in the vicinity.”

“This is crazy. You need to grieve what the fuck you’ve done. You haven’t slept and need to get some rest. When your head is clear, we will talk about it. When you come down off the liquor, the shit is going to hit you hard. Then you’ve got to perform when they come and ask whether you seen her. If you think that is not going to fuck with your head, then I don’t know you very well,” I told him.

“You’re right. I just had to tell someone, and you’re the only one I can trust now that my brother is gone.”

“Your secret is safe with me. Get some rest, Meek.”

I left him standing there as I headed out the door. Did I think Meek would ever hurt me? Probably not. I was sure Nikki’s ass thought the same thing. I made the short drive back to my house, replaying everything Shameek had said. The situation was heavy because I knew he loved that girl. Maybe not enough to give her what she wanted, but there was love there—years of it. For him to pull a gun and end all of that over an argument told me there was a side of Shameek I still hadn't fully seen.

By the time I pulled through my gate, my mind had gone right back to Rah’s office. I parked, went inside, and headed right back to the office. This time the smell of his cologne didn’t slow me down. I sat at the desk, powered the computer back on, and opened the pages I had bookmarked before Shameek called. There were a few investments, real estate buildings, and transportation businesses. The typical shit most of these niggas did to clean their money. He had a few community events he showed up at. Then I dug deeper. I searched WR Capital against every company name I could make out from the old King records.

That took me longer than I wanted. Most of it led nowhere. There was at least one company that kept coming up. Legacy Transportation Holdings. I clicked through the filing history. WR Capital had been one of the investors. King Family Holdings had been another. There were two more LLCs I didn’t recognize. I opened the first one, and there was nothing. As I clicked the second one and the name popped up, D12 Entertainment, I paused, trying to figure out where I knew the name from. I clicked the registered owner to see Quincey Harris. I leaned closer to the screen like the name was going to change.

“Muthafucka.”

I printed all the pages. D12 Entertainment had invested in Legacy Transportation years ago, back when King’s distribution structure was being reorganized. That didn’t mean that Q killed Rah. I had to keep telling myself that. It meant Q had money tied into the same operation Rah was trying to pull himself out of. That was enough to make me uncomfortable. I grabbed some paper from the printer and started writing down the connections. After I finished, I sat back. Averie crossed my mind.

Averie had finally started allowing herself to live outside of work and motherhood. Now, Q’s name was sitting in front of me, connected to old King distribution money. I didn’t want this for her. Hell, I didn’t even know if there was anything to want yet. An investment was not murder. Q owning a piece of some old transportation company didn’t mean he knew what happened to Rah. I grabbed my phone and thought about calling Averie. What the hell was I going to say?

I opened Rah’s email and typed in D12; the only thing that came up was a promotional flyer and a receipt. When I typed in Q’s last name, a lot of emails popped up. One email I opened caught my attention. D12 money clears Friday. Once it does, east route is fully funded. This wasn’t some passive investment into a transportation company. D12 money was connected to a route. I printed that email out. I typed in east route, and more emails popped up. I printed them all.

“Rah, you really left shit in a mess. You always leave something for me to clean up,” I said as I shut the computer down.

I was no longer chasing a ghost. I had some direction, and the direction was leading straight towards a man sleeping with Averie. Tomorrow, I planned to find out exactly how deep Q’s money ran through the King’s distribution. Until I knew more, nobody was getting a warning.

CHAPTER 34

AVERIE

For the first time in a long time, my Saturday did not start with me having somewhere to be. I didn’t even wake up to an alarm. I woke up because somebody downstairs was laughing too damn loud. I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. It was a little after nine, which was late for me. Usually, my body had me up before seven, whether I had somewhere to be or not. I sat on the edge of the bed for a minute, trying to figure out who the hell was in my house making all that noise. Then I remembered that Q stayed over. I slid into my robe and headed downstairs. The closer I got to the kitchen, the louder Kaiden got.

“I’m telling you, Coach is only doing that because Malik’s daddy donated money to the team,” Kaiden said.

“Boy, everything ain't a conspiracy,” Q told him, laughing.

“It is when Malik is trash.”

“Damn, that’s your teammate.”

“He’s still trash.”

I stopped near the kitchen entrance. Q was standing at my stove in basketball shorts and a T-shirt. I don’t know how Kaiden got him to cook, but he was turning bacon while Kaiden was watching football highlights on his phone. Khari was on the other end, coloring with markers she was absolutely not supposed to have on my white countertops.

“When did my house become a barbershop where you gossip about sports?” I asked.

“Ma, Q said Malik wasn’t trash,” Kaiden said.

“I said the boy probably got something Coach sees in practice that you don’t,” Q said.