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“I know,” I said, rubbing my temples. “But what else am I supposed to do?”

“Liquidate the full seven fifty! You have the money, La’Belle. If Cardez finds out, what do you think he’ll do to you? To me?”

“So, he gets to be a billionaire and I gotta hustle my ass off again? That’s not fair, Jody!”

“We’re fucking thieves, La’Belle! None of this shit is fair! You kept skating by with no exit plan, and now your clownery has come back to bite us in the ass.” Jody ran a hand through her locs. “I’ve never moved that much at one time. I’m still shook over the hundred fifty we took from him.”

“The shell company has twenty five million in it. This won’t⁠—”

“I don’t care how you try to dress it up.” She pointed at me. “I told you that nigga wasn’t nobody to play with.”

“I know what he’s capable of.”

Cardez didn’t know that I knew about the gun he kept in his glove compartment, or the one that he kept on him anytime we went out. A man of his wealth and stature didn’t carry a gun for shits and giggles.

She stood and walked to my living room window. “Cousin, I have a career. A good one. Yeah, I liked the money you broke me off, but I have clients who trust me with their financial lives. If this gets flagged—and two fifty is the kind of number that gets flagged—this is on me. ”

“I wouldn’t ask you to do this much if I wasn’t desperate, Jo.”

“Tell him about Gideon,” she suggested.

“Jody—”

“I’m deadass. Tell Cardez that nigga is extorting you. You’re his girl, right? Let him handle this shit.”

“He can’t find out about Gideon. Period,” I snapped. “It’s not an option.”

She stared at me with a deep frown. I could see the fear and frustration in her eyes, but something shifted in her face. “You’re doing this to protect what you have with him.”

I looked at my hands.

“Belle.”

“Are you going to help me or not, Jody?”

She blew out a hard breath through her nose and joined me at the island. She picked up one of the papers and looked over it.

“I’ll do it through the ghost vendor, two separate transactions to make it as inconspicuous as possible. It’ll take up to forty-eight hours to clear.” She grabbed my arm. “And then I’m done. With all of it. Whatever you still owe Gideon is your problem to solve. Say it.”

“After this we’re done.”

“For real this time.”

“Promise.” I stuck out my pinky.

“Pinky promise? You serious?”

“Yes. When have I ever broken a pinky promise?”

She looked at me hard for a second and hooked her pinky in mine. She stood and grabbed her bag. At the door, she stopped and looked around my apartment again.

“Make sure you eat and try to get some sleep. You look like crap.”

I nodded and hugged her, closing the door behind her.

A heavy feeling sat on my chest as Dez’s words floated in my head.

“You sound different.”