Page 50 of Divine II

“All right,” I said before ending the call.

I spent all three of my days off poring over the files Psalm had sent me. He took my request for an extensive dive to heart. Iwasn’t sure if he had gone over everything or not, but knowing him, he already knew what the files contained. I learned early on that he was either curious as hell or nosy as hell.

Either way, he didn’t usually miss anything. With that information, I knew that I didn’t have to tell him what I discovered. I would speak to Zane, though.

Psalm was gracious enough to include a copy of Zane’s daily routine. If he didn’t want me to kill the nigga, I had no idea why he’d given me the man’s schedule. I’d easily found a few perfect opportunities to take him out. I wasn’t going to do anything hasty, though. I guess he trusted me enough to know that I would honor his request.

I might not have planned on killing Zane just yet, but as I sat outside the Whitmore foods warehouse watching him make an exchange with a delivery driver, I damn sure thought about it long and hard. Once he was done conducting his business, I removed my gun from the glove compartment and shoved it in the back of my jeans. Just because I didn’t plan on killing him didn’t mean that I wouldn’t if I had to.

I watched him walk back inside before I stepped out of my truck into the balmy morning air. It was just after eight in the morning, so it wasn’t too hot yet. I could tell that it was going to be a scorcher, though. I hummed the words to theGrowing Painstheme song as I casually strolled up to the side door where Whitmore had just come from.

Raising my hand, I knocked on the door and took a step back to wait for someone to answer. There was a camera right above the door, so I was sure someone had already seen me by now, or they would look before they came out to greet me. That was another reason that I’d tucked my gun in my waistband.

For one, this man despised me. He wanted me dead for ruining his business plan and killing his cash cow. He also felt like I was in the way with him making progress with Divine.The man wasn’t blind or stupid. He knew I felt some kind of way about him and Divine dating. Hell, I was pretty sure he also knew I was aware that shit was fake as hell. That was probably yet another issue that he had with me if not one of the main ones.

The second reason I’d concealed my weapon was that I didn’t want anyone to see it immediately and think I was on the bullshit. Iwas,in fact, on the bullshit, but not in the way that they would expect. There was something that he and I needed to address. Apparently, no one checked the cameras. When the door swung open, Zane’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline like I was Freddy Krueger. In a sense, Iwashis worst nightmare.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he asked me.

To my surprise, he made no attempt at correcting his facial expression. The nigga was genuinely shocked to see me. If it weren’t for the camera, it would have been the perfect time to end him. I couldn’t do that anyway because I needed to know what he had, and better yet, who else knew about it.

“I almost didn’t catch you.” I grinned.

“What the hell does that mean?” He scowled.

“Here I mean,” I clarified.

“I’m here every weekday morning from seven to lunch time. I ain’t hard to find. I hope you don’t think you made some big discovery by locating me at my family’s warehouse.”

“Nice place, by the way. It’s been in the family for what twenty or thirty years?” I asked never dropping my smile.

“What the hell do you want, nigga? My lady sent you here? She misses me, huh?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. What I meant was I almost missed you here since this place is in foreclosure. No wonder you’re so desperate to make it look like you’re connected to the dynasty. Your no business sense having ass messed around and damn near lost the family business. What’s your vice? It’s pussy, ain’tit? Probably a little coke and ecstasy for balance. You’ve been a naughty boy, Whitmore.” I shook my head.

“Nigga, you don’t know shit!” he spat.

In spite of Zane’s claim that I didn’t know what I was talking about, I knew I had struck a chord. He was fuming. It was crazy how a word I had never used came in handy when necessary. That yellow ass nigga was red as he stood in the doorway grilling me like a rabid dog.

“I know Whitmore Foods is forty-five million dollars in debt and climbing. How the hell did you sink the family business in less than a year, Whitmore? All you had to do was follow the blueprint. You gotta be a dumb muthafucka to not be able to follow simple instructions. That investment in Rod the God put the nail in your coffin. How much did he owe you? I’m asking, but you know I already know, right? You must have really thought he was going to be big if you invested twenty million dollars into his pipe dream. Had you ever even heard the boy rap?”

“You wanna stand out here jacking your jaw and throwing out wild accusations, or do you want to come inside so we can sit down and talk civilly like men?”

“That’s really up to you. I’m fine right here.” I shrugged.

I wasn’t a big enough fool to walk into an ambush. I’d been at the warehouse long enough to know that Zane was there alone. He’d come about five minutes after his usual time. So far, no one else had arrived. I also knew the production team usually came in around 9:00 a.m. There was no telling what he had up his sleeves.

“Come in. Let’s talk in my office.”

“On second thought, I’m good out here. I don’t want anyone mistaking my visit for something else and getting any ideas.”

“What did you hope to accomplish by coming here today? You wanted me to know that you did your homework? Wouldyou like an A plus, bodyguard? I’m not going to front. I’m surprised that you can read.” See? This was the kind of shit that usually got people fucked up. I was trying to keep my promise of being on my best behavior, but this clown was pushing it. “Fine. We can do it your way. Since you like to do your research, let me show you what my research team found.”

I stood back and watched as he pulled his phone out of his front pocket. He unlocked it and swiped and scrolled until he found what he was looking for. With that smug ass grin I hated plastered on his ugly mug, he turned the phone screen to me.

I had never considered myself a good actor. I could have gotten an Oscar as I stood there unwavering and holding a stoic expression as I watched a video of me shooting Sherrod and moving his body out of the view of the camera. Every cell in my body screamed, but I didn’t utter a word.

“I think this is even more valuable than my alliance with the Reigns. I admit you have a good team working for you. The cops don’t have any leads. They’ve been spinning their wheels about his known enemies and street beef. They don’t know shit. Hell, Rod’s little camp doesn’t even have a clue about this video footage. All they know is that you two were both in that bar. I’m pretty sure you followed him there to try to intimidate him out of seeing Ms. Gold or whatever you think you’re doing right now. I know how much of a hot head and loose cannon my cousin was, so I can’t blame them for wanting you to get him out of the way.”

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