Page 57 of Love & Vendettas
Essence spins around and smirks at me.
“Hey, TC, I have to go, but I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
I walk further into her office and stop just inches in front of her.
“Well, well, well. It’s been a while, Zaire Knight. I was wondering what took you so long.”
“Where the fuck is she?”
“Who?” she asks with confusion etched across her face.
“Don’t fucking play games with me, Essence. I thought after you broke our family down by sending my father to prison that you’d be done with us. Are you intimidated? Threatened by our presence?”
Essence walks around me and heads to her desk, sitting down.
“Don’t you dare push a button or make a call,” I say, walking around her desk and spinning her chair around.
She frowns at me and then replies. “You may run the underground element here in Chicora Falls, Zaire, but you do not run me.”
“I’m not interested in running you. I want answers, and I know that you have them.”
She replies with a shrug. “If you say so.”
“Your former bodyguard, Theron James, was involved in an assault and kidnapping today.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” she replies, laughing at my comment.
“I don’t give a fuck if you believe it or not. I’m telling you what happened, and I want some answers.”
“What answers do you think you’re deserving of, and who did he supposedly assault and kidnap?”
“I didn’t come here to answer your questions, Essence, but to get answers.”
“I suggest that you visit your local police department. I have nothing to do with anything. After all, that’s what our taxpayer dollars are for. To get them to protect and to serve. Unless, of course, you have something to hide, and you’re worried about them finding out,” she teases.
I don’t believe in hitting women, but I swear the smirk on her lips makes me want to smack her lips off.
“I’m going to ask you this question and nothing else,” I say.
Ghalen grunts behind me, warning me that I’d better tread carefully. There’s only so much that I can do to Essence with her in the public eye right now.
When I do make my move, it has to be stealthy and timed to perfection.
“Where can I find Theron James?”
Essence laughs and waves her hand. “Oh, that’s easy. You can find him at the corners of Old Wabash Avenue and Kingston Street.”
Frowning, I say, “There’s nothing there but a cemetery.”
“Exactly. He died of kidney failure last year.”
“Then who the fuck is walking around looking like him?”
“His twin brother, Terran.”
“And where would he be?”
“Not that I give a damn why you’re asking and not that I owe you anything but considering that I did fuck your dad over and never had a chance to fuck you, which I would have loved to do,” she confesses, dropping her gaze to my crotch as she licks her lips. “I owe you. He works over at Ocean Town Studios on Piedmont Boulevard.”
