Page 163 of Riot

My stomach dropped.

For a moment, the screen blurred. Not from sleep deprivation, just rage. Old, jagged, unprocessed rage.

That name.

Malia.

I sat back slowly, heartbeat thudding like war drums in my ears. It wasn’t random. This wasn’t just some twisted coincidence.

Mimi wasn’t just Havoc’s girl.

She was Malia’s sister. He had let this bitch get in his head and convinced him to turn his back on his brothers. I was steaming. But fuck! I always knew that shit with Malia would come back to haunt me. Is this why I had been dreaming of her so much lately.

The air shifted around me, like the house knew something had cracked wide open.

Across from me, Creed leaned forward, sensing it. “You find something?”

I nodded, but it took me a second to speak. My mouth was dry, the words tangled in disbelief.

“He’s been planning all of this shit for a very long time,” I said, barely above a whisper.

Creed narrowed his eyes. “Who?”

“Havoc.” I turned the screen so he could read it for himself. “He’s been planning this for years. Mimi… she’s Malia’s little sister. They’ve been plotting. This whole thing…it’s revenge,” I said as I scrolled the messages of them feeding into one another’s anger and rage against me, Creed, my mother and my father.

Creed’s face tightened as he scanned the messages. “Jesus.”

“Yeah,” I said. “He’s been playin’ the long game. She fed his grudge ‘til it bloomed into this full-blown war.”

My hands curled into fists on the tabletop. Everything suddenly made sense. I could always tell Havoc had issues with me. I knew he was jealous but I didn’t know it was this bad. He would’ve gotten his fair share of the empire if he stepped up to the plate. But he was always weak, so we kept him in check.

“We haven’t always treated him fairly,” Creed admitted.

“What more could we have done? He has money. A top position at the company. He has shares. If he showed leadership qualities he could have so much more.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know. He was pissed about not knowing about Silas…” Creed started.

“Nigga, may I remind you I was pissed too. You kept that a secret from me too but I ain’t try to kill you! The fuck. I’m loyal to this family. I would never do something to harm you or anyone in it. Hell, even him.”

“Yeah, but somehow a monster was created.”

“And I’mma kill it.”

I closed the laptop. Reached for the second one.

Just as I leaned in, my phone buzzed.

It was an unknown number.

Creed and I locked eyes. My hand hovered. Gut clenched. I hit answer. Put it on speaker.

Static.

Then a voice.

Silky. Familiar. Venomous.

“Big Bro!” Havoc drawled. “Heard you paid me a visit.”

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