“You got us lawyers,” Chuck stated, but his expression was far from happy. “So, we get bailed out and then what do we do? I didn’t take any kind of vacation until y’all forced me to since they don’t roll over to next year.”
“That’s because everyone should take a break,” Jai protested, once again glad he had instituted that policy. Getting the men to take time off had been an uphill battle—something he had not anticipated.
“But where am I gonna go?” he shot back.
Hiram nodded. “Our people are going to be all up in our grill about this. You know the police are going to blow this up. It’ll hit social media. We’re not gonna be able to leave the house or anything like that without some reporter all up in our face.”
“And you know once people find out we’re ex-cons,” Mike added with a pointed look at Jai. “We’re gonna be guilty without being given the benefit of anybody’s doubt.”
A sudden pall of sadness fell over the room, and it was almost tangible. That, too, was his biggest fear—these men, who had worked so hard to pull their lives together, would be tried in the court of public opinion. None of the things they’d done since leaving prison would be taken into account.
“And you know how it goes,” Hiram said. “The police are gonna find a way to pin it on us. They want us to be guilty.”
“Not going to happen on my watch,” Jai shot back, but he understood that the wheels of Chicago justice often became stuck and mired in all kinds of underhanded political dealings. “As soon as the police process you or do whatever it is they’re going to do, I want you all to go home, give your folks a heads up, get a good night’s sleep, then come to this place. Every day.” He held up a card, then gestured toward the notepads and pens stacked up near the teleconference phone in the center of the table. They each grabbed one, and he rattled off the address for them to jot down.
“You won’t be allowed back into the center until this all blows over. So, you’ll meet me here.”
“And do what?” Hiram said, frowning at what he had written on the paper. “Sit around and look at their ugly mugs?”
A few chuckles released the tension in the room.
“No, you’re going to be here every day, nine-to-five like you’re coming to work, and you’re still going to receive a paycheck.”
Falcon’s gray eyes widened to the size of saucers as he said, “Word?”
“Word.”
All the men perked up and Jai made eye contact with them. “We’re going to filter through every document, every video, everything we can get our hands on.”
“Why?”
“If we can’t trust law enforcement to do their jobs, we’re going to do it for them,” he answered. “Between all of us, we’ll figure out who violated Temple Devaughn. The police don’t have their lives or livelihood hanging in the balance. We do.”
“What do you mean we White man?” Hiram joked.
Jai smiled at the reference to the Lone Ranger and Tonto from an old television series. The crime-fighting pair once found themselves surrounded by hostile Indians. The Lone Ranger asked Tonto, who was an Indian, “What are we going to do, Tonto?” To which Tonto replied, “What do you mean we, White man?” The Lone Ranger was the one most likely in trouble because of his pale skin, and the Indians were less likely to take out one of their own.
Jai hated to point out that in the challenge they now faced, he and the male employees of the center were all underdogs. The enemies coming their way wouldn’t differentiate between him or them.
“First of all, I’m not White, I’m East Indian,” he corrected. “What I mean by ‘we’ is—you, me, and everyone who is caught up in this.”
“But this isn’t going to hit you as hard as it hits us,” Hiram said, swiveling in the chair.
“Chetan is my center—our center. I have my nuts in a sling just like you do.”
“Facts, fellas,” Falcon said, tapping the edge of his notepad. “Let’s get this done.”
Hiram stood, moved to the head of the boardroom table. “You all know enough that together we can figure this out.” He was silent a moment. “Someone violated our patient. We should be pissed because they did it on our turf and our watch. And they did it to someone who trusted us to protect her.”
Kevin gave a head nod. “Word.”
Jai glanced at his watch. “I’ll have Kelly bring copies of the same things that the police are given—visitor logs, employee swipes, video. We, and I mean the nurses and doctors, too, missed something seven months ago. We won’t miss it now.”
“Wait a minute,” Hiram said, getting to his feet. “I mean, when the child is born, DNA will tell them all they need to know.”
“By the time that happens, all the patients will be moved, the place will be virtually shut down. There won’t be a center or a job to come back to.”
That admission from Jai was met with a lengthy silence.
“You are well aware that those who are proponents of traditional medicine and Big Pharma have been after this place from day one. And I’m about to expand, too?” He shook his head. “That will give them a swift kick in the rubber parts. Our methods and holistic practices have proven far more effective than modern medicine. That’s not good for Big Pharma and for the industry. The fact that we have an eighty percent success rate is hitting hard and making people question all the ways that doctors are feeding into the system and pumping patients full of one drug after another, causing them to need more drugs, and masking the issues instead of pinpointing the cause.”
“Jai, all of them have arrived,” Kelly said, sliding halfway into the room and tapping her watch. “You have to go. Now.”
“Fellas, your lawyers are here,” he said walking to the door. “I’ll be in touch.”
CHAPTER 14
“Something’s about to go down. I want you protected,” Vikkas confessed to Milan.
“Does it have something to do with that bandage that you’ve been trying to hide since you walked through the door?”
He grimaced and adjusted his arm. “I didn’t want you to be concerned, but my father has called in all of his sons to set his house in order. There are some people who don’t care for the fact that they’re about to be displaced.”
“Will you be safe?”
“We will, from this point forward. Daron and Calvin, a security specialist and an inventor, both have the technology to keep everyone on point. Including you.”
Her expression turned somber, and he checked his watch, gauging that he had about two hours to get back north. “On second thought, I need a handwritten note from you. My father is not going to believe I found you.”
“So, you’re in the habit of lying?”
“Not at all, but this was so important he delayed his surgery to tell me to get my wife.”
“He meant me?”
Vikkas nodded. “Damn straight.”
“I always liked that man.”
“Seems like the feeling is mutual.” He gestured to her planner. “Where’s that picture of your dream house?”
“How do you even know that I would …”
“Some things never change,” he countered, causing Toni to sigh loudly. “You were always a visual person. You’d keep that image in your mind until you have it.”
Milan navigated to her photos and handed him her phone this time.
“Oh, it went from a house to a condo?”
Then he whipped out his phone and swiped across a set of images. “Will this do?”
“Dayuuuuuuuuuum,” Toni crooned as everyone crowded around, peering over Milan’s shoulder.
“Near the water?” Milan asked.
“Wilmette. Right on the lake.”
She swiped a finger across her screen and made the image of her dream place disappear.
“No,” he said, placing a hand over hers. “We can still have that spot. We’ll need a place in the city.”
“My God, does he have a brother for this sister right here?” Toni said, i
gnoring Milan’s warning glare.
“Let my father tell the story, I have several,” Vikkas confessed.
Toni scratched her head at that admission, but there was also a salacious grin that signaled she would eat a man alive with all that lusciousness.
Milan placed a hand over his, saying, “I want to believe that this can work. But there was so much working against us.” She then explained what happened the day she and her mother were at odds.
“Do not let your mother’s words take root in your soul,” he warned, placing a hand over hers. “Not a single one. You hear me?”
She nodded, and he pulled her into the wall of his chest.
“Maybe I wasn’t strong enough to see what was going on,” he said. “And maybe we wouldn’t have made it at such a young age. So life might’ve had the right idea even if we didn’t understand it.” He lifted her hand to his lips, placed a gentle kiss on the fingertips. “But we’re grown-ass people now, and family doesn’t get to have a say.”
“I am not going to turn into a blubbering idiot,” she said, her voice wavering.
“Girl, gon’ and cry,” Toni encouraged with a dramatic flourish of her fleshy hand. “And give that man some ass while you’re at it. I’d like to watch.”
He turned his focus to the director. “Where do you get these freaky employees?”
Dani gave him a sheepish smile and a shrug along with a comedic lift of her eyebrows.
Vikkas playfully slapped a palm on his forehead. “Oh Lord, not you too.” He steered Milan away from Toni and her boss. “I’m getting you out of here before they corrupt you.”
“Too late,” Milan confessed. “And I want to come to the hospital with you,” she said, tucking her tablet and planner in the leather tote and glancing over her shoulder at Dani. “I’ll be back, but I need to do this.”
“Actually, let’s gather up some of your things and let me get you settled in first,” Vikkas said with a glance at his watch.
“Go. Go,” Dani said, shooing both of them toward the exit. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“Take good care of our girl,” Toni yelled after them. “She’s got a tribe that’ll put up bail money.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And we want an invite to the wedding,” Dani said.
CHAPTER 15
Kaleb placed his cell on the wooden table and braced himself, his mind filtering through what the officer had said.
“What happened?” Zephyr questioned.
“The house I told you about is now the focus of an arson investigation. Chicago’s not-quite-finest want me to come in for a chat.” Kaleb’s mouth went dry as he gave the report.
Zephyr shook his head and wiped a hand over his face. “Wow … that escalated quickly.”
Rubbing his temple, Kaleb watched other guests smiling at their children running the yard. He wasn’t sure if he should mention the tragoc events of his last visit to Chicago, or that he had been in the vicinity of where a crime had been committed at all. Before last night, he hadn’t seen Khalil or Vikkas since his hurried exit from Macro Prep and the subsequent middle-of-the-night exodus from his hometown.
“Z, man, I guess we have enough business to handle for now,” Kaleb declared, not fully expressing his real concern for returning to his birthplace.
Thoughts of Reno swirled in Kaleb’s mind, the only friend he had managed to stay in touch with since leaving Chicago, a friend who was never a part of his gang life and had never judged him. Kaleb was supposed to forsake everyone who wasn’t affiliated with The Sovereign Kings, even siblings if they didn’t want to join, but Mariano DeLuca was the secret he kept. If not for the death of Kaleb’s father to a rival set, they would’ve started living their dream of building up South Chicago way before now. To Kaleb, now was as good a time as any.
“K, you good?” Zephyr asked, rocking Amir whose young aunt dropped off the fussy infant.
Kaleb offered a slight smile as he took a turn to hold the chubby-cheeked baby. “I get it, Z,” he relented, memories of his own father flashing through his mind. “I have to get on the road. Duty calls.”
“Where?”
“Back in Chicago. I have to have a sit down with the detective.”
“You know what? Just take my jet again,” Zephyr offered. “I don’t want you in Chicago any longer than you have to be.”
Kaleb took a moment to absorb the beauty of his cousin’s generosity, and he pushed back on the memory of the previous visit and the questions that darkened the optimism of future plans. “First, I don’t set foot in the Windy City for nearly fifteen years. Now I’ve hit the place twice in two days. What are the odds of that?”
Zephyr shook his head. “Cousin, you’re courting trouble.” He clapped a hand over Kaleb’s shoulder. “C’mon, Special K. At least stay long enough to get a plate or two,” Zephyr suggested. “We need someone with a huge appetite to help us eat all of this food.”
Zephyr and Kaleb laughed, but Kaleb couldn’t shake the worry his cousin had thrown out there. He wasn’t wrong. Possibly, one member from the rival set who might still be looking for him.
That fire might have more implications than the CPD could know.
CHAPTER 16
“Excuse me, Nurse …” Grant read her name tag. “Mary. Isn’t there anything you can tell me about Khalil Germaine’s condition? He’s my father.”
“Your father,” she repeated, her left eyebrow raised, skepticism front and center.
“Yes, I’m his son, and I need to know his condition.” Grant’s voice raised an octave, then he heaved a sigh. “My apologies, I’m just worried about my father.”
“I understand. Let me see what I can find out.” She stood. “Excuse me for a moment.”
“Thank you.” Grant turned and leaned against the nurses’ station. He glanced up and his gaze collided with the greenest eyes this side of the Chicago River.
They were on the face of the most beautiful woman he’d ever had the pleasure to observe. She was about a foot shorter than him, physically fit, and the pantsuit she wore showcased her curves. When she smiled, showing off a perfect set of white teeth, his heart did a few cartwheels. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, and Grant’s hands itched to run through what he could only guess were the kind of dark silky strands a man could get lost in. Her demeanor and outfit screamed sophistication.
Grant was worried about his mentor, but there was something about the stunning woman mere feet away from where he stood had captured his attention. Before he could close the distance between them, he heard, “Mr. Khambrel …”
He smiled and nodded at the gorgeous stranger before turning his attention back to Nurse Mary at a desk that housed several women in brightly colored uniforms. “Yes.”
“This way, please.”
Grant glanced over his shoulder in time to see his mystery woman being led out of the reception area by an older man. “Of course, but what can you tell me about my father’s condition?” He followed her down the hall, where signs indicated they were headed toward the ICU. They stopped in front of a set of double doors. “Please…”
“All I can tell you is when Mr. Germaine arrived, he was in critical condition. They stabilized him, but the specialist hasn’t made it into Chicago.” She swiped her badge across a scanner, and the doors opened. “Follow me.”
Grant felt as if he’d been hit in the chest. He flexed his whole body to stay upright.
“Mr. Khambrel, are you coming?” He looked up to see Nurse Mary was already through the door, standing, waiting for him.
“Yes.” Grant quickly made it to her side, and she led him to a waiting room down from the ICU.
“You can wait here. The doctor will come to find you when it’s time.”
“Thank you,” he said as he watched Nurse Mary leave the room.
Grant stood in the middle of the empty room, fighting his fears. He took a seat in one of the low chairs, allowing his mind to flashback to the beautiful stra
nger he never got to meet.
CHAPTER 17
The brightly lit path dimmed as Kaleb continued down the hospital hallway toward the voices of men—some that were vaguely familiar to him.
“Who could’ve done this?” one voice whispered.
“I need some answers,” another voice quietly demanded.
Kaleb arrived to see a small group of well-dressed men who he had crossed paths with on occasion while hanging with Reno when at Macro along with two investigating officers who looked like they’d had a few donuts too many. All of their expressions reading somewhere between stress, wariness, and anger.
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