Page 31 of Kairo

“Huh? Why would my dad kill your dad? They probably don’t even know each other. You sound stupid as fuck. Put the fucking gun down,” Junior said.

“Who is your father, young blood?” Belt asked from behind me.

“Kumar Woods… Legend of the Iron Knights.”

Prez’s eyes widened. I could hear Belt swear behind me.

“Junior, take your sister out of the room,” Belt instructed.

“Nah, Unc. This nigga an Iron Knight by blood. He finna kill my daddy,” Junior protested.

“Take your sister and leave. Right now,” Prez said.

“Daddy,” Junie called.

“Leave, baby girl.”

After a few more seconds of Junie protesting, Junior grabbed Junie and left out of the room. Belt walked to my side. He had a look of empathy sketched on his face, but I didn’t trust it. I kept my gun trained on Prez.

“You were undercover this whole time? Setting me up?” Prez asked.

“Fuck you! I’m running shit now. I’m asking all the questions.”

Belt let out a deep sigh. “What you want to know?”

“Nah. I don’t need to hear shit from you. I want to know from Prez who pulled the motherfucking trigger. Who the fuck killed my dad?”

Belt stepped back. “Answer him, Josiah.”

Prez dropped his head and sighed. “The Iron Knights are responsible for my wife’s death...”

“How the fuck do you know that? You assumed that. You don’t have proof!”

“Who else would’ve done it?” he asked. He shook his head. He rubbed his temple with his thumb. “The proof was that my wife was in love with your uncle and your uncle was in love with my wife.”

It felt like a train had run over me. This was news to me. Unc acted as if he didn’t know much about Prez’s wife. Whole time they were in love.

“I loved my wife. She was the best thing that happened to me, but I could never compete with your uncle, no matter how hard I tried. I wined and dined her, but there was something about your uncle that kept her running back to him each time. They didn’t think I knew about their affair. I would follow them out to that stupid ass white house by that dumb ass lake she made me buy, saying it was an oasis for her and Junebug. The entire time she would go meet up with your uncle.”

“Why not take that shit up with my uncle? My daddy had a woman at home!”

Prez leaned forward and grabbed the glass cup that had brown liquid in it. I figured it was liquor by the way he scrunched his face after drinking it.

“I tried. I followed them out to the lake one night. I must of fell asleep. By the time I woke up the lights were out. The plan was to go in and shoot him and leave. Make things look like a robbery. I didn’t know he left in the middle of the night.” He cleared his voice. “It was dark… and um—I swear I saw him. I emptied the clip on my wife.”

Tears fell down his face. I glanced over at Belt. He looked pissed but sad at the same time.

“You knew?” I asked Belt.

“I ain’t find out about it ’til after the deed was done. Was the shit wrong to crash out over some pussy? Yes. But I’m a Savage Saint ’til the day I die, and I had to stick beside him.”

I sucked my teeth at him and turned my attention back to Prez. Belt was the least of my concerns. He was a coward and followed everything Prez did and said.

“You killed your wife but blamed the Iron Knights, for what?”

He shrugged. “They were to blame, goddamn it! If your uncle would’ve kept his dick elsewhere and out of my wife, I wouldn’t have gotten to that point. It was his fault!” He screamed.

“That’s why you killed my father?” I asked.

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