Page 3 of City of Gods

I’d just pulled out the trickiest one and decided to seal up his lacerations when my watch came to life with Maasai’s voice.

“Yo, Breeze, what the fuck is going on at The Temple? Why am I getting a phone call from Sanai Sinclair about Junior Baptiste?”

My brother, Maasai Godwin, was a force to be reckoned with. I was a nationally renowned trauma surgeon, one of the best in my field but Maasai? He was a world-renowned neurosurgeon. He sat on several boards and was the only surgeon I knew who was able to effortlessly float between specialties. He’d done plastic surgery, trauma, ortho, you name it. He’d excelled in it. I grew up worshipping his workmanship and skill. For a while, I wanted to be Maasai Godwin.

Hell, I still looked up to him. That was why hearing the deep concern in his voice turned me into a little boy again. I swallowed the rapidly growing knot in my throat and lifted my wrist closer to my mouth.

“She told me to let him die. I told her to get the fuck out.” I tried to make the explanation simple and to the point because Maasai hated when anyone beat around the bush.

“She said he was planning a takeover that would destabilize our neutrality. Any truth to that?”

“I don’t fucking know, and I can’t sit here and figure that shit out when I have a patient in danger of bleeding out from a bullet wound that she gave him.” My voice jumped up an octave. “She busted in my goddamn OR with hearsay and you’re asking me if there’s any truth to what she was saying? Man, get the fuck out of here with that bullshit, Sai.”

“Watch your tone, Bakari. I’m on my way. I don’t take news like that lightly.” With that, he ended the call and I let out a string of curse words while I went back to stitching up Baptiste. I’d managed to stabilize him when Rob came in, shaking his head.

“She called Maasai.”

“How was she even able to get her phone past Dice?” The Temple had a strict no-phone policy that was always adhered to. Evidently, that policy was null and void when Sanai came through.

“I don’t know where she pulled that shit from. I took it from her and gave Dice the phone, which he smashed. Fucking crazy ass.” He glanced at Baptiste on the table and said, “Is he good?”

“He’ll make it through the night. He needs to be monitored, though. I’m going to tell Dice to call more security to watch him since he has a price on his head.” I walked over to the sink and stripped my gloves and mask off. “Keep an eye on his vitals while I go deal with Sanai.”

“She’s in recovery.”

A frustrated grunt was my only response as I pushed through the doors. When I found her in the recovery room, which used to be a Sunday school classroom, I glared at her. Rob had put her arm in a sling and from the looks of things, patched her up nicely.

“When Maasai gets here, I’m sure he’ll revoke your Temple membership.” I folded my arms across my chest and her eyes followed my movements.

“Okay?” She shrugged then rolled her eyes at me. “I’m trying to help y'all out by letting you in on classified information that I didn’t have to tell you. You don’t want to listen, then fine. I don’t want to be here when this shit gets taken over by Junior and his men anyway. It won’t be the same.”

“You really think I’m going to believe a word that comes out of your mouth?” I lifted an eyebrow and took another step toward her. “I’m sure that mouth does a lot of things but telling the truth ain’t one of them, sweetheart. I know how you Sinclair’s work.”

“Say another motherfucking thing about my family and you’ll be picking your teeth up off the floor.”

“Fuck the Sinclair’s,” I sneered, moving closer to allow her to do whatever she thought she was going to do to me. With one hand, she reared a fist back and hit me right in the fucking jaw. The sting pulsed through my jawbone. I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek then pinned her to the wall by her throat while she thrashed at me with her good arm.

I hated violence. I was a trauma surgeon. I saw the results of it all the time. I valued life in all forms but when it came to this woman, whose throat was caught in my grip, violence didn’t seem so bad.

“Breeze, let her go,” Maasai’s voice sounded from the door. My fingers reflexively straightened, letting Sanai free. She gasped for air and then lunged at me right before I blocked her second attempt at punching me in the face. Maasai wedged his body between us, staring down at both me and Sanai like we were children getting on his nerves.

You know how most of the time, the little brother is bigger than the big brother? That wasn’t the case with Sai. He was a good few inches over my head and I wasn’t short by any definition. He was just…big as fuck. That was why our mom named him Maasai. He was tall and strong like the Maasai tribe in Africa.

He had the same smooth dark skin and bright white smile. He didn’t smile often, though. I was more familiar with his scowl than anything.

“Sanai, you better start talking. Your membership is on the line. I hope you know you can’t just walk in here pulling a stunt like this without consequences.” He folded his arms across his chest and leveled a glare at her while I did the same from beside him.

She had a lot of explaining to do.

Two

Standing in front of two of the three illustrious Godwin brothers wasn’t on my list of shit to do tonight, but it was happening. I ignored the pulsing burn in my upper arm and tipped my chin up to meet Maasai’s onyx eyes. I didn’t want to look at Bakari because if I did, I’d probably hit his ass again.

“What else is there to explain? Kill Junior Baptiste or lose The Temple to him and his men. I’ve already compromised everything by telling you that I’m the one who shot him. That alone should be enough for you to believe me.”

“Unfortunately, it’s not,” Maasai grunted. “You have any clear-cut evidence? I can’t just take your word for it. If you were supposed to hit him and he survived, how the fuck do we know you’re not trying to use us to finish the job? You and your entire family do whatever you have to in order to secure your marks.”

Frustration slithered across my shoulders, making me pull them straight. I swear to God, if I had to hear one more snide-ass remark about my family, I was going to shoot someone. I didn’t have my pistol on me but the Godwin brothers weren’t hard to track down. They walked around Bellmore like royalty. Like they owned the entire fucking city.

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