Page 95 of Maceo

“I’m your wife,” I whispered. “I’m never gonna justletyou take the heat. We’re a team too.”

“We are… but let me take it this time because I knew better. I will never put you in harm’s way like this again, Shar. When it comes to this business, you just have to let me do what I do, okay?”

I sighed. “Okay.”

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “I’m sorry. What was that?”

“I said, okay.”

“No back talk?”

“No back talk.”

He grinned. “If marrying you was all I had to do for you to listen, I would have done it a long time ago.”

I playfully punched him in the rib. “Fuck you, asshole.”

“I’m playing, I’m playing. Give me those lips, mama.”

I tilted my chin, and he gave me the sweetest press of his lips. Behind us, Mr. Dillinger cleared his throat.

“Are we interrupting something by discussing business?” he asked.

Maceo grinned. “Sorry, Pops.”

He gave us a side-eye before tuning back in.

Beside me, Deuce shook his head.

“Yeah… y’all niggas are gonna give yourselves away, sure as shit.”

I satat the head of the table, sipping my wine as I stared at the men around me in disgust. They were fucking useless. All of them, including Blane’s big ass, made me sick.

“I’m trying to figure out why y’all have been around here bullshitting instead of doing what you’ve been paid to do. Shipments haven’t been picked up. Bodies are rotting, and I’m losing money because, what the fuck can I do with a dead organ!” I threw my glass across the room, causing it to shatter against a wall. “What the fuck is wrong with y’all?”

They all looked away from me and kept quiet. Blane sat at the other end of the table, shaking his head.

“Am I not speaking?” I asked, standing to my feet. “Y’all don’t hear me talking to you? I see I’m gonna have to show my ass to get some fucking respect around here.”

I pulled out my gun and put a bullet in the heads of the niggas to my right and my left.

“Y’all hear me now?” I asked, as their bodies slumped to the floor.

Blane laughed. “Are you done throwing your temper tantrum?”

I pointed my gun at him. “Do you want to be next? There is nothing holding me back from shooting you too.”

He sat back in his chair and exhaled deeply. “Give us the room.”

The men stood and started to leave until I spoke up.

“Don’t just leave them here,” I snapped, pointing at the bodies. “Take them out of here.”

They doubled back to grab the bodies of their counterparts. I strolled into the kitchen to grab myself another glass of wine. My nerves were shot, and I wanted nothing more than to finish what I started and get the fuck out of this place. As I sipped my wine, I stared out the kitchen window at the bushy land behind the house. I heard Blane’s heavy footsteps come up behind me.

His arms snaked around my waist as he pressed himself against my back.

“You gotta chill.”

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