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“Spotters. If shit pops off, I want to know about it before it gets to the door.” I signaled the server for another round. “Priest, why don’t we know where this nigga is staying at?”
He sighed. He was my ears on the street, and this had been the one thing he kept coming up short on. “This nigga’s basically a ghost. Whoever’s been helping him is really fucking good at keeping him off our radar.”
“There’s no one you know working for him?” I asked.
“There’s a young dude named Dre who’s been spending lots of money he shouldn’t have. He's not connected with the other local crews. Nigga just bought himself a brand new Challenger in cash. Someone put him on and he don’t know how to act. That might be a crack I can work with.”
“Bet.” I looked at Yomi. “Any leads on the number I gave you?”
He swirled his whiskey. “They were burners. He only used them to call you and Orlando, and there’s nothing under his legal name. Like Priest said, he’s moving like a ghost. Since you killed his nephew, everybody connected to him has been tight lipped. He’s clearly been building for this moment for a long time, because it’s running like a well-oiled machine.”
I turned his words over in my mind. Solomon had been three steps ahead of me from jump, and sitting here waiting on the next hit wasn’t a strategy. I needed him to come to me.
“What if I make the wedding public?”
Marco frowned. “Whatchu mean?”
“I’ll have Lorelei put an announcement in Page Six. The gossip blogs. Wherever it reaches the most people.”
“You don’t even have social media,” Priest pointed out.
“Exactly. Solomon’s been watching me for months, which means he knows I’m private. If I turn around and put my wedding in the paper for the whole city to see, what’s that tell him?”
“That you got comfortable,” Yomi said.
“And sloppy.” I finished my drink. “A nigga that patient wouldn’t pass that up.”
“You think Belle’s gonna be cool with this?” Marco asked.
“Hell no. She’s gonna curse my ass out,” I laughed. Belle wanted the wedding to be small and intimate, but I couldn’t think of a more perfect opportunity to lure Solomon out. “The announcement will have enough detail but won’t give the exact venue. He’s gonna have to work for that last little bit.”
“And if he doesn’t take the bait?” Yomi asked.
“Then I marry my wife in peace and deal with him after. Either way the wedding is secure.”
I checked the time on my phone. It was getting late and I wanted to get home to Belle. “We good?”
“Yeah, if you agree to this bachelor party,” Priest said. “Clear your Friday two weeks from now. No questions asked.”
“That’s not ominous at all,” Marco said.
“It’s supposed to be. I’ma holla at you, fellas.” He chucked the deuces. As he walked out, he stopped briefly to wink at the server who was pretending she wasn’t watching him leave.
Yomi left a few minutes later and then it was just me and Marco. The lounge started to fill up around us as conversations and laughter layered over the music.
“You straight?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“For real though.”
I looked down at my drink. “Shit’s crazy. I’m about to marry a woman who scammed me. There’s a sixty-year-old man with a twenty-year grudge. My father still won’t keep it all the way real with me. And I’m trying to figure out how somebody’s gonna ambush my wedding.” I took a sip. “So yeah. I’m straight.”
“Go home to your girl, man.” He stood and dapped me up.
“You about to go see yours?”
He flipped me off as he walked out.
