Page 78 of Memphis

While our husbands huddled in the kitchen talking, I sat with Lilith on the living room sofa while Blaze and Katana played on the floor with their dolls.

“Should they be here for the meeting?” I asked her, my eyes on the cute little girls. Blaze’s mean ass was frowning, as per usual.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, no. Shit, let me take them to Valentina. My head is everywhere,” Lilith rambled before grasping both girls’ hands and leading them out of the room.

When she returned and plopped down beside me, I said, “Yall really lucked out with Valentina. The girls seem to love her.”

Lilith nodded, wringing her hands in her lap. “Yes, she’s a great nanny. Mem, are we going to have to kill Umber? I can’t take that.”

With a furrowed brow, I replied, “We? You make one kill, and you think you’re Colombiana or something?”

“Memphis!”

“No, girl! We are not killing our sister. I told Bo that wasnothappening.”

“Yeah, I told Ray the same thing, but what are we going to do? What if she arrests all of us? Shit, I can’t take that, either.”

“I feel you. She sure took the mayor down. Racketeering, money laundering, shit’s all over the news, although they didn’t show Umber.”

“Thank goodness they didn’t. Daddy would have a stroke. Hey, Mem…do you think everything will be okay?”

I sighed, not wanting to lie, while at the same time, not wanting to alarm her. “I?—”

“Umber’s here. Just let her in the gate,” Ray interrupted me.

Lilith grabbed my hand. “Shit.”

Umber was wearinga black pant suit, and that?Thatmade my stomach plummet into the depths of my ass. The no-nonsense look on her face didn’t help, either. My only solace was that she was alone, but still…fuck!

We were all silent—me and Lilith still on the sofa, our men standing on either side of us, and all our eyes were on Umber perched on an accent chair.

“Well?” Umber finally said. “I take it the family dinner thing was a ruse. So…let’s get this over with.”

“Okay…when you start wearing pant suits?” I spoke up.

She smiled. “That is not what you want to ask.”

I sighed. “To be honest…I’m scared to ask what I really want to ask.”

“You’rescared? Damn. Okay, I’ll make it easy for you,” Umber said, standing and reaching into her pants pocket to unearth an FBI badge and ID, placing both on the coffee table between us. “Now that that’s out of the way, I also know what you do for a living—all of you.”

“Oh, Lord!” Lilith whimpered.

Hell, I felt like putting on some sackcloth and gnashing my teeth because…damnit!

Ray and Bo groaned, “Shit,” almost simultaneously.

“When did this happen? You being an agent, I mean. Why didn’t you tell us?” I probed.

“I’ve been with the bureau in some capacity for thirteen years. I didn’t tell you all because I didn’t want you to worry,” she explained.

“Thirteen years?!” Lilith screeched.

Umber nodded.

“I…why would we be worried? I taught you how to fight. I know you can take care of yourself,” I said.

“I’m your baby sister. You telling me you wouldn’t have worried at all?” she inquired with a smirk.

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