Page 159 of Chemistry: The Chemist

“Who?”

Rome. The name circled in my head. I prepared to flip the fucking table if her name came from his lips. She was a baby. Though she was nineteen, she was still a baby and there wasn’t a nigga in The Triad of Ara who deserved her or her innocence. I’d never forgive myself if she became a casualty of circumstances.

“Rather.”

“Why not Roaman? Why not Range? Or Royce?”

“You know how this works, Chem. Youngest or the closest to her. They’re both of age, but your father wasn’t willing to give the youngest of your siblings away.”

“Who will she– fuck.”

“The youngest of our flock. In addition to the arranged nuptials, she will receive full protection.”

“I understand.”

I digested what he was telling me one word at a time. Though we’d kept the girls out of our dealings with The Triad of Ara, we were certain they’d cross paths one day. This wasn’t how we’d expected the acquaintance to come to fruition, but we could only play the cards we were dealt at this point.

“They’re good girls, Priest. Every one of them is just mixed up in this crazy world we created for them. Rather is special. Make sure your people treat her well.”

“You have my word.”

“They won’t return until their freedom is solidified.”

“We understand. Upon their return, introductions will be made and we will move forward.”

“Is that all?”

I was ready to put an end to this meeting and take the rest of the day to decompress. So much was being dumped on me at once. There hadn’t been a single piece of information I was happy to hear but Rather’s protection order.

“It isn’t.”

“Fuck. I can’t suffer through another round of bullshit.”

“Tell me, Chem, how else will you get the information I have for you in this meeting.”

“Talk,” I huffed. His accuracy was disarming.

“Egypt Johanson.”

He had my full attention. My spine straightened like a rod. My eyebrows hiked on my forehead. My thoughts immediately became fuzzy. There were so many unresolved feelings there that I still needed to work through. Today wouldn’t be the day. Most likely, it wouldn’t be tomorrow either.

“We had no idea what she knew. How much she knew. What she planned to do with the information she had access to. What she’d already said… did… She needed to be taken care o–”

My teeth grinded against each other. I bit into my bottom lip, extracting blood from two different places.

“If any-fucking-body touches a fucking hair on Egypt’s head, when I touch soil, I will wage a war that will end every fucking lineage of The Triad of Ara. Bloodlines won’t survive a week of my freedom. And that is on my fucking father and my mother. May they both rest peacefully in hell.”

Taking a breath, I continued.

“She’s proved the exact belief The Triad of Ara has tried to dismantle from day one. Women are capable! Even with feelings involved, the job will still get done. I have eleven siblings, seven of which are women and offsprings of a founder. At least three of them are beyond capable. They have what it takes to sit at that table when and if I can’t.”

“Eden–”

“We don’t have shit to talk about when it comes to her.”

“Your anxiousness is off-putting. I’ve never known you to be a man of little patience.”

“Stop blowing smoke up my ass.”

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