Page 94 of Trial of Deceit

Another car fell in line behind them.Jediah laid his head back and closed his eyes.

“Your whore called me this morning,” Dimitri added.

“Essence,” Jediah corrected.

“You know what she is.Good.”

“Essy is not my whore,” Jediah said, annoyed.

“Not anymore?”

“Why did she call?”

“A check if yu reach home safe and wan’ she come back.”

Jediah’s eyes fluttered open.He focused on the SUV before them before he turned his head to the side.He pretended not to notice Dimitri’s angry scowl.“What did you tell her?”

“That you’re a married man and she’s a whore.”

“Dimitri.”

“Mi tell her seh yu mix all sorts of liquor at the club last night ’cause yu neva have her fi talk to.It’s a miracle yu wake up this morning,” Dimitri said, then glanced at Jediah.“Don’t scare me like that again.”

Jediah wordlessly nodded.Dimitri shifted his focus back to the road.

“I don’t want her to come back…”

“She won’t.She’s making good money at the new club, and mi wouldn’ allow her fi have yu wrapped back ’round her fingers.Not that yu mek a good choice after her,” Dimitri accused, and Jediah didn’t reply.“About Reine…”

Jediah’s fists clenched atop his thighs.“I have a headache.Mi don’ wan’ think ’bout you a grind mi sister.”

“I’ve never—”

Jediah snapped his head to the side, sneering at Dimitri.“Nothing shouldn’ happen in a the first place!Yu don’ see how that sheg up?Yu older than mi, and know mi sister from she a baby!Don’ talk ’bout Essy when you a the same.”

Dimitri gasped and slammed the brakes.The car skidded to a halt by the open gates.“Don’ compare me to dat gyal!”

“Yu shoulda neva look at Reine, dawg.Especially when she tell mi seh the whole reason unu get close a ’cause yu did up in a yu feelings ova Sashoy.”

Dimitri gulped.“There’s more to it than that… Mi know it seem wrong, but mi wouldn’ even a have this conversation wid yu if mi neva rate Reine.”His grip on the wheel tightened after Jediah scoffed.“We never do anything before, and she a no mi girl despite wa yu think.I can’t do it without your blessing.”

“My blessing?”Jediah repeated through clenched teeth, his voice laced with disgust.His anger surged, bubbling hot in every crevice of his body, as Dimitri nodded before continuing through the gates.Jediah scoffed and looked through the window.

Silence filled the remainder of the journey until they arrived at the warehouse.They made their way through the rows of women and men bagging drugs while guards watched them.The two guards stationed before the back room stepped aside to allow Jediah and Dimitri to enter.

The door closed.Reka spun around in her chair while moving her headphones off her head to settle them around her neck.Her bloodshot eyes settled on Jediah, causing his chest to tighten.

“Reka…” he whispered.

“Don’t,” she said with a sniffle.

“Mi neva have a choice.”

“You had a choice,” Reka hissed.

His jaw clenched.She’d never spoken to him like this before.Reka had always obeyed him and spoke to him with reverence.It was a stark change that he hated more than words could explain.But this tightness in his chest was painful.His heart stopped every time she stared at him through cold eyes.It had happened every time he entered the room since Tyre’s death.

“The search he did was unauthorized,” Jediah explained for the umpteenth time.“It leaked information to the police and made construction halt at two wholesales that weren’t a part of the initial sweep.”

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