Page 59 of The Prodigy 2: Rise of a Queen

But just to drive the point home, I leaned forward and said, “I wasn’t the only one. And we both know it.”

He closed his eyes and nodded.

“But nobody has to know about that,” Jakari said with the assist. “Your choice.”

He let out a sigh. “I’ll call my guy tomorrow and get the ball rolling.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Kari stood and walked over to Gray, slapping him on the back. “Our families go way back, Gray. This partnership was important to Pop, and it’s important to me.”

Gray looked up cautiously. “Yes. I agree. I feel the same way.”

“Good.” Kari looked at me. “Welp, we have a party to host. Right, babe?”

“Right.” I stood. “Come on, Gray. There’s food.”

We all made our way back to the living room, although Gray was walking a lot slower now. He had no idea his son was a dead man walking.

Thepowerthat has…whew. A chill went through me.

With him out of the way, I could focus on Gab now. I found her easily in the crowd; she was the only one who looked she’d been forced to come here at gunpoint.

I walked right up to her. “Gab. Glad you could make it.”

Her eyes were cold. “Malika.”

“Do you like the new place?”

“I’d like it better if I had a room here, but yeah. It’s nice.”

We both pushed out fake laughs, and we both knew her ass wasn’t joking.

“I was hoping I’d get to talk to you tonight.”

“Is that right?” She sounded bored.

“Yeah. Can we go sit on the balcony?”

“Yep. After you.”

I led her to the balcony. We sat on the patio chairs and stared out toward the river for a while. It was peaceful out there, but only from afar. The Oconee didn’t run very fast, but it was deep and murky, so it was still dangerous. But it was beautiful at night with the lights bouncing off of it.

“So…” I decided to just rip the bandaid off. “You killed my mother.”

Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, she didn’t react at all. Not even a blink or a twitch.

“Knight told you?”

I nodded.

“I didn’t know who she was. Only that she was fucking my husband in my house.”

I stared at her and waited.

“I could apologize, but it ain’t gon’ mean shit to you, and it ain’t gon’ bring her back. And also, to be honest, I’m not sorry for what I did.” She stared down at her hands. “But Iamsorry you lost your mother.”

That was a surprise.

We sat in a heavy silence. I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t wanna steer the conversation. I wanted to hear her thoughts as she had them, so I could get at her true feelings.

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