“Where is the girl, bro?”

    “She’s asleep. What the hell does that have to do with anything?” I questioned.

    For the past hour, Four and I had been going over the next phase in our mission to find Brendan. He’d eluded my people in Italy, and now he was in the wind. But I finally had a clue about where he was. Our sources showed that he was back stateside. Four had been insisting for the past two days that we pull up to the location where he’d been tracked to. I didn’t want to risk flying across the country and leaving Den and the kids behind for a nk trip.

    “You’re too wrapped up in this chick, man. You’re losing sight of what’s important,” Four cautioned me.

    “I’m not fueling up my jet to fly to Utah on a humbug. It has nothing to do with the girl. The men I put you in charge of are supposed to deliver him to me.”

    “What about the girl?” he asked.

    “What about her? Why the fuck you keep asking me that?” I snapped.

    “I need to know that you have a n, my guy. When you get to him what are you going to do with her? Are you going to kill her too?” he questioned.

    “That’s not up for discussion right now.”

    “She’s getting in your head, bro. How do you know that she wasn’t in on that shit?”

    “I don’t know.”

    It pissed me off that my oldest friend felt like I wasn’t thinking straight. I couldn’t tell him that my heart was telling me that my princess wasn’t in on it. We both knew my heart had a history of misleading me.

    “Initially, I was hoping that Brendan would try toe back for her, but he never did. Fuck ass nigga ruined twelve years of friendship over a fucking bet to get her and didn’t even care enough to try to protect her from the fallout of his bullshit. He just left her in his house.”

    “You shouldn’t have made the fucking bet, my guy. You know that nigga needs to be in gamblers anonymous.”

    “Fuck the bet. I want his fucking head. If I have to keep waiting around on y’all to produce him, bodies are going to start dropping. I’m going to start thinking niggas are ying with me. If they’re in on the shit with him, they can get it too. I’m starting with the man in line behind you and working my way down because right now you’re the only fucking person I can trust.”

    “I hear you. Give me a couple more days to put the press on these niggas. I got my ear to the streets since you’re hidden up here in the side of a mountain and shit.”

    “Hm, I’m not hiding, but I’m never going to put myself in a position where I can’t rest my head at night without worrying about if a nigga gon’ try to creep. You know how many niggas want to earn their stripes off my head. I’m not making that shit easy for them. I’m retired, but I’m not stupid.”

    “I feel you,” he said.

    “I’m going to see what’s going on with Ang in the morning. I haven’t told the kids that I was going to see her. The kids have been asking about her again. I found awyer out there that’s a beast. I’m bringing her home.”

    “You ready for that?”

    “Even if she doesn’te here, the kids need her. I want her to move into the house up the road. The tenants moved out a couple of weeks ago. It’s ready for her.”

    “I’m praying for you. I know you miss her.”

    “Thank you, bro,” I said, opening the top drawer on my desk and putting the files Four brought me inside. I put my hand on the small ck box in the drawer, knowing that if I told him what was inside, he would finish having memitted. I knew what I was doing. My mind had never been so clear.

    “All right, man. I’m out.”

    I closed the drawer and stood to follow Four out of the office. After letting him out and making sure my guys were on post outside, I headed to bed. It was almost one in the morning, and I was ready to get back to my girl.

    Kicking off my slippers, I tore my shirt over my head and tossed it over a chair as I made a beeline for the bed. Slipping into bed behind Den after a long day was probably the best feeling in the world next to sliding between her thighs. Kissing the back of her head, I gotfortable in my rightful ce. With my baby in my arms, I was down for the count.hr

    It was just after ten in the morning when my flight touched down in bama. Ang’swyer was supposed to meet me outside the jail before I went to visitation. He felt like there was a good chance of him getting her charges dropped so I was waiting to see what he had to say. I saw him standing out front as the driver pulled up to the front of the building. I climbed out and walked over to introduce myself to him.

    “Steel Gray,” I said, extending my hand for him to shake.

    “Vincent Gamble, nice to meet you in person.”

    “Level with me. What are we looking at? I’ve had my sister’s children for two months now. I need to know if I need to make long-term arrangements. Her son needs to be starting school in the fall.”

    “ording to your sister, she was living with a gentleman friend that she’s been seeing for the past year when the police raided him. She states that she was aware of his illegal business but never took part in it. I’m going to leave that part out. I have a strategy that will bring her home to those kids by the start of the school term.”

    “I’m holding you to that, man.”

    “I’m headed over to file some paperwork with the D.A.’s office. I’ll give you a call when I hear back from them. It might take a couple of days.”

    “All right. Let me know how it goes,” I said before heading into the building.

    After damn near being stripped searched, I was cleared to go to the back where me and a group of people were herded into the visitation room. I strolled into the dingy room filled with stale air circting through the vents and flopped down in the tiny stic chair.

    It was disheartening to see the mothers with crying children sitting in theirps on either side of the tables. It must have been hard for these women to let their children see them locked behind bars, but it had to be even harder to be away from them. I had mixed feelings about bringing King and Evie to see their mama. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to be away from them much longer.

    My heart stopped when the prettiest girl came wandering into the room, looking around apprehensively. She had put on a little weight since I’dst seen her, which was a good thing. Her hair was in tiny little locs that fell to her shoulders. Ang looked so much like our mom when she was healthy that it caused a lump to form in my throat. I stood to my feet, tempted to meet her halfway. I didn’t want to yoke anyone up for putting their hands on me, so I refrained from moving out of my spot. Instead of running to my sister, I stayed in ce until she was standing in front of me.

    “I’m so sorry,” she cried as I pulled her into my arms.

    I held her and kissed the top of her head as she wept silently. “You named your daughter after mom,” I mentioned.

    “She’s so sweet right. Nothing like me at all.” Sheughed as she backed up and took her seat. I got asfortable as I could in the toddler chair across from her.

    “She’s a firecracker like you.”

    “How are my babies?” Ang asked.

    “Better than I expected to be. I have someone to help with them. I don’t know shit about taking care of kids.”

    “You never had kids?” she asked.

    “Nah, never figured it was for me.”

    “Monique—”

    “Never came back.”

    “I always figured she woulde to her senses and realize that she gave up the best thing she ever had.”

    “Even if she did, I wouldn’t have taken her back. Not only did she leave me, she killed my child. She’s lucky she’s still alive,” I vowed.

    “I get that. Sometimes I feel the same way about myself.”

    “No matter how angry or hurt I was, I could never bring myself to hurt you,” I told her what she already knew.

    “I fucked up brother. I was in such a dark ce when I did that shit. I let Carlos drag me into his world and get my head all messed up. I left him about two years after we left. I was doing so good and getting my life together. I went into a rehab program and got clean. That’s where I met King’s daddy. Things were good for us until he started back using. He overdosed and that sent me into a spiral of depression and suicidal thoughts. I was sleeping around with anybody with a bottle of liquor or some pills. I don’t even know who Evie’s dad is for sure. None of the men I dealt with at the time are worth searching for. I just want to get better for my kids,” Ang exined.

    “I’m going to make sure you do.”

    “Just take care of my babies until I can get back to them.”

    “I got you awyer, Angie. I’m bringing you home. I want you toe back.”

    “After what I did?” she questioned.

    “Even if I was still pissed about what happened, I’m too attached to the kids to let them go too far. I have a house not too far from mine that I want y’all to live in.”

    “I don’t know what to say.”

    “Don’t say anything, just get better for your kids and keep your head up until my guy brings you home,” I instructed.

    “I can do that,” she said, jumping up and throwing her arms around me.

    “Let me get out of here. Take care of yourself, sis. You’ll be out of here soon.”

    After saying goodbye to my sister and getting the hell out of those people’s county jail, I was grateful to be on my way home. It only took a couple of hours before I was back in my car on the way to see the kids and the woman I loved.

    When I got everything settled with my sister and the kids, I was going to ask Den to marry me. I already had the ring. I just needed the timing to be right. I didn’t need anything distracting us from living happily ever after. Then again there was no time like the present. Time didn’t wait for anyone. I knew that just as well as anyone else.

    Soon Ang would be out of jail and ready to take care of her own kids. There was no guarantee that Den would stay once the kids were no longer in the picture. I needed to make her understand how important she was to me. I didn’t just want her in my life to take care of the kids. I needed her.

    I needed to n something special for us to let her know exactly how I felt. When I made it home, I practically sprinted in the house. I missed my little family after being gone almost the whole day.

    “Hey, Mr. Gray. Where’s Den? I figured she was with you,” Sicily greeted me.

    “What do you mean?” I asked, frowning as I crossed the living room heading for my office.

    “I just thought the two of you were out together since she left a note for me to keep an eye on the kids.”

    “She was in bed when I left this morning at six. What time was that?” I quizzed.

    “She was gone when I came in at eight.”

    Sicily’s words weren’t registering. What did she mean she thought Den was with me?

    I walked down the hall to my bedroom and found an empty bed. It was even made. Just to make sure she wasn’t in the bathroom, I pushed the door open and walked inside. She wasn’t there either.

    I left my bedroom and went straight to the kids’ room where both King and Evie were on the floor building stuff with stackable blocks. I didn’t have time to acknowledge them or let them know that I’d seen their mom. I was still on the fence about mentioning her at all. It was hard enough to get them to stop crying for her every minute of the day. Now that they had settled in, I wanted to keep the confusion limited.

    Moving past Sicily, I went straight to the stairs. I didn’t stop until I was in Den’s deserted bedroom. Nothing was out of ce. There was no sign that she’d left against her will. It was next to impossible for that to happen anyway since either Simon or Gerry were usually on post outside.

    When I walked out of the bedroom, I noticed the watch that I’d given her on the coffee table. I’d finally convinced her to wear it, but now it had been discarded. What the hell was she up to?

    After searching every inch of her apartment, I jogged back downstairs and straight outside. Pulling my gun from its ce at the small of my back, I hit Simon in the back of his head with it causing him to fall to his knees while I held the gun in Gerry’s face. His eyes doubled in size as he held his hands up beside his face. Although his back was to me, Simon knew to do the same.

    “Where the fuck is my wife?” I roared.

    “She left right after you this morning, boss. I figured she was following you to thending strip,” Gerry exined.

    Lifting my brows, I asked. “Do I pay you to figure shit?”

    “No, but she left less than five minutes after you pulled out. I didn’t think anything of it.”

    “Did you or did you not have strict instructions to keep her here?”

    “Boss, you said that at first, but then you said she could take the little car out when she wanted to,” Simon sniveled.

    “Not when I’m not fucking here!” I bellowed.

    “How was we supposed to know that?”

    “Clear shit with me that’s how! The only fucking reason y’all are not hopscotching together in hell right now is because I don’t want those fucking kids in there to see your brains sttered all over the concrete. If I were you, I would be praying that she’s out somewhere shopping, because if I don’t find her, the unemployment line is the least of your worries.”