Page 87 of Hold Him Like Gravity

“In the Bronx?” I asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Curious if he might be an Esposito.”

“Is that another crime family?” she asked.

“Yeah. They run that borough. Can’t believe that fuck lived when you got him in the throat.”

“I know,” she said. “Believe me, he had things to say about that when he showed up again.”

“Well, you’re not gonna need to hear shit from him again,” I told her, then looked around her place. “Alright, listen,” I said, “I need to go talk to Renzo and… everyone else,” I told her.

“Okay,” she agreed, nodding. “What should I do? Do you need me to tell them everything?”

“No, I can do it. You’ve dealt with enough tonight, I think. But I don’t want to leave you alone here,” I told her. “He got in here once already, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. I’m taking you to my place,” I told her. “Wanna go pack some shit?”

“You… want me to go to your place?”

“Need to know you’re safe with this clusterfuck of a situation. And if I stationed guards here, if someone is watching you, it might tip them off. I don’t want them to know that I know.”

“You don’t have to take me to your place. I’ll be okay,” she insisted.

“No, you’re not staying here.”

“Rico, you don’t owe me anything,” she said, shaking her head. “After what I did.”

“Alright, let’s get this shit out of the way,” I said, waiting for her to look at me again. “Knowing what I know, I’m not mad at you. I get why you did what you did. So, the stealing, that doesn’t change shit between us, okay?”

“It has to.”

“It doesn’t. Look, babe, in my world, there’s a lot of gray area. This is just more of that. But we can talk about it more some other time. Right now, I want to get you somewhere safe. Then I gotta put this up the chain. Talk about the plan.”

“Okay,” she agreed, but was still tense.

“You got a carrier for Evander?” I asked.

“No. I, well, I wasn’t sure he was mine, so I didn’t buy that kind of thing.”

“Got any old delivery boxes he will fit in?” I asked.

“My end tables?” she said, waving toward the cardboard boxes that had been serving that purpose.

She was living like this, busting her ass at work, while her shithead of an ex took as much as he could from her.

“That’ll do,” I said, tamping down the anger that rose up again. I’d get to take it out on Kyle eventually. But right now, I needed to handle this shit. “Go on. Get some of your shit.”

“How much?” she asked.

“Enough for a few days. I’ll grab stuff for Evander,” I told her, then watched as she gave me a nod and walked off toward the bedroom.

Alone, I reached for my phone, shooting off a text to my cousin, telling him to grab one of the family’s cars and meet me at Kick’s place.

We made our way out a while later, an angry Evander yowling and whacking his body against the sides of the box.

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