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“What happened between them?”

She pursed her lips. “Shouldn’t you be asking your fiancée this?”

“Belle’s been dodgy for weeks. I think we’re better…or starting to get better, but I still don’t trust her to be transparent with me. You helped her, so I’m assuming you know the details.”

She crossed one leg over the other. “Belle’s always been able to get a good amount of money on her own. She only tags me in when she’s trying to move large amounts. She took about fifty thousand from Gideon by herself. I moved two hundred thousand over two years because the nigga funnels his dirty money through shell companies.”

That matched what Priest had found.

“Why’d it end between them?” I asked.

“Gideon got suspicious and started asking questions she couldn’t outright lie about. So, she did what she does best. She ignored him until he gave up trying to reach her. And since most of it came from his shells, he wasn’t going to go to the police.”

I went to ask another question, but she shook her head. “That’s as much as I’m telling you. You need to talk to Belle. I haven’t talked to her since all this went down, but I know this whole thing has been eating her up inside.”

“She thinks you hate her.”

Jody rolled her eyes. “I’m mad as hell at her, but that’s my cousin, and at the end of the day, I played a part in all of this too.”

I cracked a smile. “Will you reach out to her? I know she’d appreciate that.”

“I’ll think about it.”

The stubborn streak was clearly a family trait.

“Take care of my cousin, Cardez,” she said as she walked me out.

“I will if she’ll let me.”

⁠1I came home to an empty penthouse, but the door to the roof deck was propped open, letting the evening air drift inside. I found her out there, sitting on one of the lounge chairs, staring out at the city skyline. She didn’t turn around as I approached and sat in the chair next to hers.

“Hi,” she said, looking over her shoulder at me. “I was waiting for you.”

“Yeah?”

She looked back towards the view. “I need to tell you something, and I need you to just listen before you say anything. Can you do that?”

I’d come home ready to talk to her about Gideon, but I just nodded. “Sure.”

“I told you my mother’s been married four times. She’s been in survival mode ever since my sperm donor abandoned us. Her main focus was to make sure I had everything, and I mean everything. She taught me we had to use these niggas before they used us.” She exhaled. “Except I didn’t want to do it her way. I wasn’t about to get married to maintain a lifestyle. I wanted my own so no one would be able to hold their net worth over me. I started with small stuff, like writing bad checks. Then technology improved and I learned how to swap SIM cards. When Jody became a forensic accountant, everything clicked because her skills meant I could get more money.”

She pulled her knees up to her chest.

“I didn’t steal every single time. But the arrogant ones who weren’t paying attention?” She gave a half shrug. “I told myself it’s what I deserved for dealing with their bullshit.”

“How many?” I asked.

She looked at me. “You said you’d listen.”

“I’m listening, but I also want to know how many.”

She chewed her bottom lip. “Fifteen. Over about ten years. Different amounts and not all of them in New York.”

I whistled. It was impressive when you thought about it. She’d been able to amass a comfortable amount of money and get away with it… until now.

“Including Gideon,” I said.

Her head turned sharply. “How⁠—”