Page 144 of Can't Get Enough

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we’ve been shut down.”

“Shut down?” I laugh disbelievingly. “What do you mean shut down?”

“Aspire. We’re being sued for racial discrimination.”

CHAPTER 45

MAVERICK

You’re gonna want to see this.”

Bolt wrongly assumes that I want to see anything after the day of marathon meetings I’ve just finished. And it’s day one of a two-week trip in Tokyo. A company here is developing some incredibly cool technology for the health-care system. I’m specifically interested in how it might be applied to improve maternal mortality. LaTanya heard about it first and urged me to investigate further. The US needs all the help it can get with that, especially in marginalized communities.

I lean back, dropping my head to the couch and stretching my arms out, glad to finally be back in my hotel suite.

“Unless it’s about my daughter, my dad, or Hendrix,” I say with a yawn, “it can wait.”

“Yeah.” Bolt glances up, his eyes somber. “Like I said, you’re gonna want to see it.”

“What’s up?” I sit forward, my body already tensing.

“The Aspire Fund is being sued.”

“The fuck did you just say?” I snatch his phone and read the headline plastered across the screen.Court Blocks Atlanta-Based Venture Capital Grants to Black Businesswomen.

I blink at the screen, certain I can’t be reading this bullshit right, but the more I read, the more my blood boils. An Atlanta circuit court has issued a temporary injunction on all Aspire Fund’s grants, claiming racial discrimination.

“This group, Citizens for Equality, is claiming Aspire violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866.” I clench my teeth and keep reading. “They’re targeting the small grants Aspire issues. It’s not the venture capital investments. And these grants aren’t even that large in the grand scheme of things, but it could make a huge difference to a small business just getting started.”

“So why target such a small fund like Aspire?” Bolt asks.

“It’s not about the money or the size of the fund. It’s a broader agenda.” I check the time on my phone. “It’s like seven o’clock in the morning there. I’m gonna call Hendrix.”

“You haven’t eaten.”

“Huh?” I ask absently, pulling up Hendrix’s contact.

“Food, Mav.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

She answers on the first ring.

“Mav, hey.”

I’m instantly on alert at the soberness of her tone. I stand and prowl over to the windows overlooking the city.

“Hey.” I focus my tired eyes on Tokyo’s skyline, a palette of steel and glass, light and glitter. “I just heard about the lawsuit.”

“Sorry I didn’t call.” She sighs heavily. “I knew you had important meetings there and the time difference is—”

“Nothing’s more important and you can call anytime. I hope you believe me when I say that.”

“I know. I’m not used to being—”

“My priority?”

“I was going to say ‘in a relationship.’” She manages a truncated chuckle. “But okay, that then.”

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