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“Get up,” I said.

Ty blinked a few times before sitting straighter and looking around the room.

“What happened?”

Sha nodded toward Tahari.

“Little homie got something to tell us.”

The sleep slowly disappeared from Ty’s face. I looked back at Tahari, and the room went quiet.

“What’s going on?”

TRIGGA

I should’ve figured this conversation would be uncomfortable. What I hadn’t expected was to be standing in the middle of Mr. Browne’s hospital suite before the sun had fully come up, trying to figure out how to explain that the same nigga who helped me rob his business was also my biological brother, had the FBI on his ass, and had more than likely just tried to kill his daughter. Oh… and that he was the same nigga that shot him. Ty was awake now, although he still looked pissed about it. Sha had straightened up in his chair, and Mr. Browne was watching me from the hospital bed. Three sets of eyes were all waiting on me to spit this shit out.

I dragged a hand over my face.

“The nigga that was with me when MB’s got hit…”

I stopped speaking when Mr. Browne’s expression changed slightly. We were still working through that shit, and I’m sure the simple fact that I was a walking reminder of how he let someone get away with robbing him did not sit well with him.

Back then, when I had gotten caught for the shit, he’d asked me who helped me take those bricks. I’d told him everything except the one thing he’d wanted most. A name. A piece of me couldn’t help but think that none of this would have happened had I given him Ghost’s name then. But back then I was loyal. Loyal to a muthafucka that was trying to cause me so much grief. I was protecting him. I wasn’t protecting shit anymore.

“His name Giovanni, but everybody calls him Ghost.”

Mr. Browne stared at me.

“He the one you wouldn’t name?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

Sha leaned forward slightly. I nodded before continuing.

“He got wrapped up with the feds after that. There’s an agent on his ass.”

Ty’s eyes narrowed.

“How?” Mr. Browne asked.

“He sold some of the bricks.”

Mr. Browne’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt me.

“The nigga he sold them to ended up being federal. The agent has been pressing him about where he got the work from. He thinks Ghost got a supplier, so he’s been trying to get Ghost to set up a sit-down between him and whoever supplied the bricks.”

“A supplier that don’t exist,” Sha said as he shook his head.

“Exactly,” I agreed.

Ty leaned forward in his chair.

“What’s the agent’s name?” he asked.

“Ryan.”

I reached into my pocket. I had held onto the card that Ms. Gia had given me. I pulled it out and handed it to Ty. He took it and looked at the front. For a second, his expression didn’t change.