Page 154 of Shâhzâdeh

“From what I gathered you are further along in your career than most and that lends your choices to be focused on good financial decisions instead of putting money into rent. I didn’t bother looking at your pictures but I didn’t see any information that you were married.”

“I’m not.”

I’m glad he didn’t take offense at my summation of his life. The questionnaire I had all of my clients fill out helped me shape what homes I showed them.

“Okay, so maybe not a full house, but there are plenty of condos that are further out than South Park. But if you’re looking for an area of the city that’s got everything at your fingertips, this would be it. The downside is, it’s far from the facility and traffic can be ridiculous. With the new training facility opening up in Uptown, I still gave you plenty of options for there, University and NoDa.”

“NoDa?”

I understood his confusion so I didn’t mind explaining. “North of Davidson. It’s North Charlotte and kinda artsy. Used to be part of the mill town side of things once slavery tapped out.”

“I’ll have to leave that up to Vincent. He’s the money man and the one who’s been here longer. Like you said, I’m on the end of my career but still too young to sit around bored and retired.” He shrugged like he didn’t care about how much money he spent but it wasn’t boastful. It was the confidence that he would buy what was the best home for him while he was here.

“I mean you have the money to make sure you’re never bored. Why would you ever sit around?”

“Says the woman married to a prince.”

I glared at Navi wondering why she was telling my business. I was at least happy that the gun was on her desk and not in her hand. “I mean… that’s different. That’s his money.”

Navi gasped and I heard her shuffling around. “Oh, let me tell him that so he can transfer some more assets into your name.”

I turned trying to figure out who the hell I actually had in my corner. “Navi, whose side are you on?”

“Yours, hell. You plan a girls’ trip and me and twin tagging along.” Her face was playful but I knew she would really call that man on me.

Vincent’s face perked up again at the thought. “There’s two of you?”

Navi waved her gun with a grin. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“Even though Quentin will have my head for thinking I’m flirting, I’m not. I gotta ask, who are your people?” Mr. Thornton was looking at me with the same intensity and I had to figure out why. My hackles went out and I had to wonder if he knew the Kennedys.

“Trust me, they’re awful and you don’t want to know them.” I had to wonder if they’d approached him about finding him a property before he’d been referred to me.

“He means your biological people, Vanya.” Now Navi was staring at Ahmad strangely and glancing back at me.

“Oh. I was adopted so I don’t know.” I felt less uncomfortable talking about the ghosts of the past and I was sure it was because of my recently expanded circle.

“You look a lot like my mother did.”

I was irritated because that was just a strange thing to lead with when you met someone. “Not all black people look alike.”

“Yeah, but it’s rare you come across them in two different states with the same red hair and freckles. And damn near the same face.” He was still staring at me strangely and I got a weird feeling in my gut.

I blinked slowly and glanced at Quentin who was now also studying Mr. Thornton’s face. “What are you trying to say? Where are you from originally?”

“Virginia. Norfolk.”

“And you’re what, 32 or 33?”

“I’ll be thirty-three this summer. Crazy thing is, I used to have a little sister.”

My throat got tight and I really wished that Xerxes was here with me. Since he wasn’t, I had to pull my confidence from within and ask what we all wanted to know. “What happened to her?”

“Our parents were killed in a home invasion. Way back when I was five so she would’ve only been three.” He pointed to his pocket and Quentin nodded. Mr. Thornton pulled out his wallet and handed it over to me. Inside the flap was a little boy that looked like him, a toddler with carrot red hair and a man and woman. I couldn’t deny the woman looked a lot like me.

I handed his wallet back to him still not sure if he was saying what I thought he was. “But what happened to her?”

He tucked his wallet back in his pocket with a grimace. “She died the same night as my parents did.”

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