Page 81 of Science Project

Mom clutched her hand. “I did it because her parents hadn’t taught her respect.”

“So, you almost killed them?”

“No,” she said, jaw clenched. “I gave them a warning.”

Fury rushed through me, and for a moment, the thought of killing Mom crossed my mind. She was a threat to Imani and Nicole … except if I did that, I would have an even bigger target on my back. Rick would try to kill me. Everyone in the mob would have it out for me.

Plus, Mom had connections. She had information.

“If you think Imani will back down because you hurt her parents, you’re wrong,” I said, thinking about the pure anger I had seen on her face every single day since that night. “Believe me, I’ve tried to talk her down from hating you for what you did.”

After a pause, Mom walked to the kitchen and turned on the sink. She washed her knuckles underneath the water. I followed after her and stood at the door so I could find an easy escape if she tried anything else.

“Imani has some balls, talking back to me,” Mom said. “I wish you had the same.”

I flared my nostrils and took the jab. “We need to talk about?—”

“She would be a good leader,” Mom continued. “Much better than you would be.”

“For what?” I snapped. “To lead your stupid mob?”

She tightened her hand into a fist underneath the flowing water. “Yes.”

“She won’t be interested in it.”

“Maybe not now,” Mom murmured. “But I can be quite convincing.”

After I bit back a sour response because Imani would never be interested in any shit that Mom had to offer, she turned off the water and grabbed a towel from the drawer beside the sink to wipe off her hands.

“Do you know anyone nicknamed Pick?” I asked, not wanting to draw this out any longer.

Mom peered over at me, one brow arched. “Why?”

“Do you?”

“Is this about your little girlfriend?”

“No,” I exclaimed. “It’s not about Nicole.”

Even though it one hundred percent was. But I didn’t want her thinking that I cared about Nicole. She would use Nicole against me. She’d hurt her to hurt me, to force me into doing shit for her. And I couldn’t let that happen.

“Then, why do you wanna know?”

“Because I need to talk to him.”

Mom placed down the towel and grabbed her gun on the counter. “About what?”

I gritted my teeth and turned around to leave. “Forget it.”

“How about I make you a deal?” she said, stuffing her gun into the waistband of her pants and stalking toward me the way she always did to try to intimidate me. “You do a job for me, and I’ll give you information on Pick.”

I clenched my jaw and glared at her, knowing that this was a shit idea. “Deal.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-FIVE

AKIO

---