Page 23 of Dom 4
I felt it in my stomach before I processed it. The street didn’t feel the same and that feeling was in the pit of my stomach right before shit went down. O’Shynn stopped mid step and her whole vibe changed as well. Meanwhile Malik stopped talking simplygoing off of our vibe. Keondra moved Amour on her hip to the other hip, confused but paying attention. Amour was looking around probably wondering why everyone had gotten quiet.
Another one of our people stepped forward with his hand resting near his hip. Their work was to see it before everyone else did. That same black sedan rolled by again with the same tint and same slow roll and you could barely hear the engine. A second car followed behind it, but it was a little farther back with the windows up. Nobody in our crowd panicked, we just watched.
Rell’s voice growled again. “Yeah. That’s the same one from ten minutes ago.”
We all felt it now. O’Shynn slid her purse higher under her arm and I already knew what was in there. I shifted my weight, letting my jacket fall just enough to free my right hand, placing it where it needed to be so I could be ready. Keondra’s eyes got wide, but she kept Amour held close with her arm locked strong around her daughter.
The sedan circled the block a third time. This time it didn’t glide, it was coming at a slightly faster speed. Rell spoke again without shouting but demanding.
“Move behind the cars. Now!”
The second his voice hit our ears, the passenger window of that sedan dropped halfway, and a dark gloved hand came up with a pistol. Before they could let off the first shot, gunfire blasted through the block. One of our people shoved me and O’Shynn behind the nearest car. My palms hit metal and burned hot from the sun. Keondra dropped to her knees and shielded Amour’s head with her own body, cursing under her breath but keeping her daughter safe.
Rell and the other shadows fired back instantly without hesitation controlling their shots as the sedan sped through. Glass shattered from a store window across the street. A fewbullets ripped through cars and popped tires along the block as the rubber squealed. People in the restaurant ducked behind tables. Somebody screamed behind us, but it sounded far away, like we were under water or something.
O’Shynn pulled her gun from her purse and angled her body over Keondra and Amour without blocking Rell’s line of fire. I drew mine too, but Rell caught my eye and shook his head. He needed us toguard,not join the shootout and I understood. The sedan jerked, then swerved, then tried to peel off. The second car tried to move in deeper too, but Rell hit the side mirror off one of them. Another one of our people took out a headlight. They were marking their exit, not chasing because their job was to protect us first.
Amour was crying hard now with her face buried in Keondra’s shoulder, and Keondra was whispering to her, “breathe, just breathe, mommy got you.” Her voice was shaking but her arms were still locked in. The block got quiet once again just as quickly as it exploded. The cars sped off, with the tires burning, engines rumbling in the distance. Although everything happened in less than thirty seconds it felt like much longer.
Rell didn’t lower his gun yet. He scanned slow and high from one side of the street to the other. Only when everything was secure did he speak again. “Ya’ll alright?!” he asked wiping blood from across his face where a piece of glass cut him.
Keondra nodded while trying to calm Amour, but she didn’t say shit. Meanwhile O’Shynn spoke up. “I’m straight,” O’Shynn said in a sharp but steady tone with her adrenaline pumping looking like she was ready to kill somebody.
I nodded too, but I could feel my heart banging against my ribs and a little cramping in my stomach. Rell spoke into his earpiece in a calm tone like nothing had happened. “Need an escort pickup at Jackson’s. Bring two trucks! We moving!” He looked at us with an unreadable expression. “We leaving…Now.”
Ididn’t even hear myself breathing. All I heard was gunfire cracking off brick and metal, loud enough to shake my fucking bones. I was crouched behind the front fender of a long black Chevy with one hand on my weapon, the other on Keondra’s back while she shielded Amour. Carmen was beside me, steady and locked in, while focused. The whole street was screaming and scattering, with chairs flipping inside the restaurant, doors slamming, and people running like roaches when the light flicked on. But we were calm because chaos was something we’d been raised in.
I didn’t notice Malik at first until a flash of movement hit my peripheral view. He wasn’t ducking and he wasn’t scrambling nor was he frozen. Instead, he had pulled out his piece from inside his hoodie and was positioned over me with his bodyguard next to him. He wasn’t in front of me and not blocking me butcovering like he understood this shit.
I looked up at him with my eyes wide, but he was too busy scanning the street to look back at me. “What the fuck is this?” he mumbled, breathing steady. “Who the fuck are y’all?” He wasn’t yelling and he wasn’t panicking. He was pissed and confused and protecting me anyway.
The sedan peeled off around the corner. The second car followed with two tires screeching. Carmen and Keondra’s shadows were already clearing the angles with their guns still raised and eyes still tracking. Nobody holstered a thing yet because you never holster too soon because that was the easiest way to get caught slipping.
I stayed crouched down with my gun down but ready. My chest was tight, and I could feel my jaws burning from clenching too damn hard. Malik finally looked at me. “Nah, for real, O’Shynn,” he said, in a rough tone. “Don’t lie. What the fuck did I just witness?”
I swallowed hard and my heart was beating loud enough to feel it. I had always kept my worlds separated and clean. Business stayed with business and pleasure had its own place. Family was sacred and the cartel side lived behind doors most people never even saw… the underworld. Everything was in its own lane, its own box, never touching but right now those boxes weren’t boxes anymore. They were cracked wide open in the middle of a Miami sidewalk with gun shells still warm on the concrete, and Malik had just seen every truth I never intended for him to see. Fuck!
I looked him dead in his eyes because there was no use in running from it, and I had no cute girl act, and it wasn’t no laughing it off. “You wanna know who I am?” I asked, trying to control my adrenaline rush. “Fine… I’m not just the girl who runs a club. I’m O’Shynn Royal. My family runs this city whether folks want to admit it out loud or not. My brother is Dom. Yeah, that Dom. The one people whisper about when they don’t wantto say his name too loud. Dique the great, yeah, that’s my twin brother and Carmen Royal is indeed my sister-in-law. This is our empire.”
Malik stared at me like he was processing memory and every night we’d spent together along with every conversation and every quiet moment trying to re-understand me through this new lens. He wasn’t scared and he wasn’t backing up either. If anything, he looked more present, and more aware.
“So that’s why you always had walls?” he asked.
I nodded. “I wasn’t ever gonna bring nobody into this unless they knew the weight of it for real.”
Before he could respond, the black trucks came roaring up with powerful engines vibrating along the road, the shadows moved into position without a single word spoken. Carmen was already helping Keondra get Amour into one of the SUVs. The toddler was still crying, Keondra was cussing under her breath, Carmen was trying to calm both of them down, and the street smelled like burnt gunpowder now. We had to go before the police arrived, but of course we would leave two or three shadows behind for media control.
Malik finally looked away from me long enough to take all that in and when he looked back at me, his voice had changed. “So, I’ve been messin’ with a queen this whole time, one of the Royal cartel queens at that,” he said, quiet but intense.
I didn’t smile. “Something like that.”
One of our people opened the back door of the SUV, waiting. Carmen called my name one time in that firm but urgent tone. I lightly touched Malik’s chest, just so he’d feel me more than understand me.
“I’ll call you later,” I told him.
“You better,” he replied with tight jaws, but eyes never left mine. “Don’t disappear on me.”
I didn’t answer because I didn’t need to. He watched me climb inside that truck like he was memorizing every movement. The truck pulled off fast but steady. Amour was still crying in Keondra’s arms with her little fingers gripping her hoodie tight and her tiny face all wet and flushed. Keondra kept rocking her, but her mouth was still running because she was pissed and I knew this couldn’t have been the first time she witnessed a shootout because she grew up in one of the roughest hoods in Miami. However, this was most likely the first time she’d been directly in one.
