Page 97 of Love & Vendettas

“That’s what’s up, young genius,” Kim shouts.

“I always knew that nigga had a big head for some reason,” Malik jokes.

Zechariah puts up both middle fingers to Malik and then shakes his head. Everyone congratulates my firstborn, hugs, or daps him up, and then returns their gaze to me.

I press the button in the middle of the table, and the doors behind me to my private inner office open.

Bayleigh steps forward as I make another announcement. “Meet your new VP of Operations, Bayleigh Reed.”

“Oh, my God! Lady Knight! Yes, wear your crown, sis!” Kim screams.

“I think it’s a sword that dubs you a knight, Kim,” Aris corrects.

Janel jumps from her seat and throws her arms around Bayleigh, and all the men nod their approval or say, “That’s what’s up,” before they rise and hug her.

It takes a minute before their congratulations are completed. When they finally are, Bayleigh takes a seat beside me to my right. Looking at her, I declare, “I couldn’t ask for a better partner to be my right hand.”

“Thank you,” she replies graciously.

It took a lot of convincing for her to agree to step into this role. When she agreed to accept it, I encouraged her to take all the time she needed to settle into it. She’d said that she needed to get to work right away to keep her mind off things. The weekleading up to and immediately after Riley’s funeral was rough on my baby.

Once everyone settles down again, I reply, “Now, this next announcement won’t be easy for any of you. It wasn’t for me either when I learned what I did. It was necessary, though.”

I press the intercom and speak into it. “Marisa, I’m ready.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Knight.”

Everyone mumbles around the table and then leans into each other to whisper. They’re all staring at me, including Noble.

The doors open, and Marisa steps in and steps aside.

“Sir,” she states, nodding.

Ghalen walks into the room to gasps and screams.

“Oh shit!” Kim shrieks, slumping to the floor and just sitting there breathing hard.

“Your big ass better not faint. All that twerking you do, your ass better not faint now,” Malik warns.

“What the fuck?” Jamal mutters.

“Man, you’ve done my heart a lot of good,” Janel cries as she walks up and hugs him.

“Big Poppa! You're alive!” Kim shouts, popping up from the floor, jumping up, and wrapping her legs around him after Janel releases him.

Bayleigh clears her throat. Kim jumps down again and straightens her shirt. “My bad, Big Poppa. I forgot you got a whole wifey, with yo’ fine ass. Thanks, Ms. Bayleigh, for keeping me in check.”

“No problem, Kim,” Bayleigh comments sweetly beside me.

“What the fuck yo! Why didn’t y’all tell us this nigga was still alive?” Malik asks.

“It was necessary for the investigation. Parker was being followed in his last days, unbeknownst to me. So, someone sawwhen he rigged my SUV. Remember when we had that meeting here the day the car exploded?” I ask the team.

They all mutter “yes.”

“Was it when he said he needed to make an emergency call and stepped out for like twenty minutes during the middle of the meeting?” Janel asks.

“Yeah. That’s what he was out there doing. The way that my SUV was parked, you really couldn’t see him from the street unless you knew what to look for. An off-duty officer was watching him the entire time and phoned Ghalen to let him know what was up,” I explain, referring to Damascus.

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