Page 78 of Riot

I put the kid down gently and grabbed a towel, wiping my face.

“There’s an open house coming up at the vineyard,” I said. “I’m thinking I should hit it. I’ll make a big public statement. It’ll hurt the business, and kill them.”

She squinted at me. “With who? Your imaginary army?”

I stayed quiet. She was right, I couldn’t pull that shit off alone.

She threw her hands up. “Exactly. You don’t even have a team, Havoc. You talk big, but every time it’s time to actually move, you freeze up. You think Creed and Riot got where they are by freestyling shit like this?”

“I just need more time?—”

“You’ve had time,” she snapped. “And you know why they don’t bring you in on the big plays? Because you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. You act like you’re still some kid trying to prove he’s tough enough to hang with the big dogs, but you ain't.”

I clenched my jaw. She knew exactly how to hit where it hurt.

She kept going. “You got a son now. That boy right there? He needs a future. Not some half-baked revenge fantasy.”

I didn’t say anything at first. I walked over to the kitchen, poured myself a glass of water, and stared out the window while I downed it.

“I’m not backing down,” I finally said. “I don’t care how long it takes. Creed and Riot act like I’m just some side piece in this family. Like I didn’t bleed the same blood the same as them. But I’m done being sidelined. I’m coming for what’s mine.”

Mimi picked up our son, kissed his cheek, then turned back to me.

“You better get it together then. Fast. Because if you keep talking instead of moving, you're not gonna be feared. You're gonna be forgotten.”

“I know baby.”

“Good. I love you and if you don’t get revenge for my sister’s death, you’ll lose the both of us.”

Her words hit me harder than any weight I could press.You’ll lose the both of us.

Mimi wasn’t one for idle threats. If she said she’d walk, she meant it. And that would ruin me. I could stomach being iced out by Creed and Riot. Could stomach being the brother always put on the bench. But losing Mimi? Losing my son?

Nah. That’d break something in me that couldn’t be fixed.

After she walked off down the hall to lay him down, I leaned on the counter, my palms flat against the cool marble, and let my thoughts drift.

I met Mimi a couple years back at a club in Brooklyn. She wasn’t like the other women there. While everybody else was busy posing for attention, she was just... standing there. Calm. Cool. Not trying to be seen, but impossible to miss. Long braids down her back, tight jeans, and this energy about her—like she was watching the room instead of trying to be part of it. I clocked her instantly. I recognized her as Malia’s little sister. She wasthe baby sis of the girl that Riot used to be in love with. I remembered the face, the eyes.

I approached her and we hit off immediately. She knew that I was different from my brothers and took to me quickly.

At first, I thought she was just using me for proximity. To get close to Riot. To get revenge for her sister’s death. I didn’t blame her. Riot killed that girl and our Pops helped cover it up.

When she realized that I hated them as much as she did, it made her fall even harder. We have a common enemy and sometimes hatred can bring people together closer than love.

Thankfully, we weren’t a phase. We were a reckoning. She saw something in me, anger, maybe. Or emptiness. Whatever it was, it matched the thing inside her, and it stuck. We stuck.

And now here we were. Plotting to burn the King legacy to the ground with a damn baby sleeping in the next room.

The sound of her feet returning pulled me out of my thoughts. She came back into the living room, arms crossed, face unreadable.

“Alright,” she said. “We’re never going to get revenge for my sister—or get power—if you can’t step up to the plate.”

“Iamstepping up.”

“Talking ain’t stepping.”

I exhaled through my nose, then straightened. “I know someone who wants them dead as much as we do. Someone who can help pull off this shoot out.”

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