I figured that with Den gone, I wouldy in bed until I starved to death or withered up and died from a broken heart. I couldn’t function the same without her there. Suddenly my house felt like a big, drafty cave devoid of love and hope and all the things that overflowed through the windows when she was here.

    The first morning that King came into my bedroom asking for Ms. Devy with Evie on his heels, shut down all of my ns of feeling sorry for myself for the rest of my life. I had to get up and take care of the kids.

    It was hard for me to exin that Den was busy and had something to take care of, but I pulled it off. The kids were small, so they didn’t give a damn where she went or what she had to do. They just wanted her back. So did I.

    They were inconsble for the first two days, but eventually my time and attention were enough to fill the void. The kids gave me so much purpose that I couldn’t see myself letting them go when the time came.

    Prayerfully, my sister would change her mind about taking them back home. As I sat across the booth from her and her little ones listening to her promising how everything was going to be so much better when they made it back home, I realized that the odds weren’t in my favor.

    “Why can’t we stay with Uncle Steel? I like staying at his house,” King whined.

    “We have a house of our own and I have to go back to work,” my sister repeated what I’d already heard her exin.

    I didn’t have the bandwidth to beg my sister and her kids to stay in my life when I had no idea how to get through to the woman I loved. I’d been able to locate Den. She wasn’t far from where I’d found her in the first ce.

    For the past few weeks, she had been working at a daycare and ording to my people she lived in a little spot that was walking distance from her job. Every day I wanted to go to her, but she’d made her choice. Even after vowing that she would never leave me, she did just what I knew she would do. She did exactly what everyone else does, she left. I couldn’t expect any better. My own sister was nning to leave me again, even after I forgave her treachery and deception.

    “My job is letting mee back, and King is starting school in the fall. I don’t want to uproot our whole lives. You understand that don’t you?”

    “I’m finding it hard to, but it’s your life, Angie.”

    “I don’t want to feel like I’m mooching off of you again. I owe you enough. I want to stand on my own two feet for a change.”

    “Do what you gotta do,” I said, standing from my seat and walking over to King. “I’ll miss you, buddy. Just know if you ever need somebody to beat up Batman, I got you.”

    “Can youe see us one day and bring Ms. Devy too?” he asked.

    “I can’t make any promises, man. I’ll see you soon, but Ms. Devy might not be able toe.”

    “Aww.” He pouted and folded his arms over his chest.

    Kneeling until I was eye to eye with him, I put my hand on his shoulder and waited for him to look at me. “We can’t always get what we want, but we have to make the best out of what we get. You be good and don’t give your mom a hard time. I’ll make sure Ie see you after your mom gets y’all settled. OK?”

    “OK,” he agreed, nodding slowly but never uncrossing his arms.

    I stood, kissing the top of his head as I rose to my full height.

    “Bye, sweet face,” I said, tickling Evie as I headed toward the door. I knew if I stayed any longer, I was likely to shed a tear. Who would have known how hard I would fall for those kids? Turning back to face them, I addressed my sister, “Angie, call me as soon as you even think you might need me. Don’t let it get toote. No matter what it is, I’ming.”

    She smiled softly. “I love you, baby brother.”

    “Love you too, sis.”

    Once I was out of the restaurant, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Four. “You there yet?”

    “Right behind him.”

    “I’m on my way.”hr

    The blood running down Brendan’s face and chest from the multiple injuries he sustained at the hands of my men was little constion for the way I felt. The cybersecurity team had been able to trace several of his wire transactions and retrieve a million of the three million plus dors that he’d stolen over the course of a year.

    That didn’t mean that I no longer wanted blood. The price for his level of betrayal was always death. I’d let him get away with enough when I never even spoke on him backdooring me for Den, but today he would meet his fate.

    The sound of the hard bottoms of my shoes must have brought him out of whatever daze he was in because as I walked deeper into the room, he lifted his head. His hands were bound and suspended over his head with two meat hooks.

    As I walked deeper into the abandoned meat processing nt where my search and rescue squad sometimes liked to do business, the stench of rotting flesh made my stomach turn. I was sure that no amount of cleaning and sterilizing could get that smell out. The smell of dead animals was probably in the paint and soaked into every crack and crevice in the building. I knew that I wouldn’t be there long. I didn’t want to hear an exnation or know what was going through his mind when he took from me. There was just one piece of business I needed to take care of.

    Using the barrel of my gun, I lifted his chin. His swollen eyes fluttered open, and it was like he saw his life sh before him once they focused on me.

    “Bro, listen,” he blurted.

    Shoving my gun in his mouth, I cut him off before he could try to make up someme excuse. I knew him well enough to know that he would try to talk his way out of his impending death but there was no use.

    “Save that shit. I deserve better than one of your bullshit stories. There’s nothing you can say to save your ass. I just have one question for you. It’s the only reason my men let you live. Listen to me carefully and use your head to indicate yes or no. Do you understand?”

    His eyes were as big as his head as he quickly nodded.

    “Did she know?”

    “Who?” he asked, voice muffled by the barrel of the gun.

    I sighed as I removed the gun from his mouth. He was more pathetic than I remembered. If he honestly didn’t remember her, I would kill him twice. “Den.”

    “The girl from the bet? Come on, bro. You know I don’t let a bitch in my business. Is that what this is about? That stupid ass bet?”

    “Nah, it’s about loyalty,” I said, shoving my pistol between his eyes and pulling the trigger.