"Yo! What—" Phil started to speak but Sid whirled around hushing him with wild gestures. She was afraid that Kru would hear his voice and somehow reach him; hurt him again from wherever he was. But Kru was already talking and didn't seem to hear Phil at all. She still didn't dare breathe.

"I knew you were trouble but I didn't expect that you'd throw yourself into my shit like this. You want me to kill you, bitch?"

This was different. A tingle ran through Sid's belly. He was mad. She'd never seen him mad. Even when he set her daddy into that train, he was calm and calculated. As much as he wanted his harsh words to scare her it only let her know that she had his ass over a barrel.

"Kill me? For what? I just think they needed a break. Is there a reason you don't want to work with me like you worked with the other business owners?" Sid said finding comfort that all the business owners were far away from this man. She almost breathed a sigh of relief until she remembers the name that popped up on the caller ID when Kru called.

"Where is Ahsan?" Sid's voice trembled against her attempts to keep it steady. Phil pushed himself off the stool, his eyes locked on hers.

"You don't know how to control someone. To get them to do what you want, you have to make it worthwhile."

"Where..." Sid tried not to scream. She was exploding inside because she already knew the answer. If Kru had his phone... if he had gotten ahold of him with as much anger as he was giving her over the phone...

"In order to make it worthwhile, it has to be the most important thing to them."

"Just let him go."

"Maybe the business was the most important thing to Ahmed, but for Ahsan? Nah."

Sid's phone vibrated in her hand. She pulled it away from her face to look at the screen. Chante was trying to call her but she couldn't hang up with Kru. She declined Chante's call and listened as Kru continues his rambling.

"You underestimated how much that little nigga loves school."

"Because he wants to make his own way. Not rely on someone else's talent to get ahead like you." Sid spat into the phone. Just as she finished her phone vibrated again. Chante's number lit up the screen. She angrily declined it again but she couldn't deny that the ball of dread that had formed in her stomach as soon as she heard Kru's voice over the phone had started to grow. Something was wrong. Really wrong.

"What's talent without connections? Without business acumen? Huh? You really think any of those businesses would still be open if it weren't for me? Those white people would've swooped in a long time ago and bought them out." He sounded like he really believed that he was some type of saving grace instead of another vulture circling the corpse of the disenfranchised. Sidney was unswayed.

"Where's Ahsan, Kru? Where is he! " She shouted into the line. She saw Phil freeze out of the corner of her eye. He didn't move a muscle for a moment as his eyes widened looking at her. She slowly started to step away from him because she knew he would try to get a hold of the phone. He started advancing toward her but his body was slowly and would ever allow him to catch her.

Kru had gone quiet on the other line.

"Tell me!" Sidney's anger held the tears pressing against the back of her eyes at bay. Her voice remained strong and icy even though she was becoming undone. She was losing it. Starting from the bottom of her gut and rolling through to the tips of her fingers.

"You know the boy had a drug problem, right?"

Sid faltered because she didn't know for sure but from everything she'd seen from Ahsan it wasn't like him. He wanted to heal people. Heal things. He wouldn't be destructive even to himself. "No, he didn't." She forced through her clenched jaw.

"Yeah, he did. Seems like maybe the stress of exams got to him." Kru was teasing her. Giving her enough to torture her and keep her on the line. Sid's phone buzzed again. She looked at it to see a text message from Chante.

Chante: Ahsan is dead. They're saying he overdosed but that's bullshit! Kru killed him!

Sid choked back the tears that were tearing at the back of her throat. Her legs lost their strength and she fell back into the refrigerator. Phil looked at her wide-eyed and tried to move faster toward her but he maintained the same slow painful pace.

"You killed him."

"Give me my shit. Open every fucking business on my block or more people will die. Because of you more people will die."

"Okay."

"I'll send my people to the shops."

"No. Only you. You meet me or it's not happening. I don't care how much more blood you need to spill. You meet me face to fucking face or it's not happening."

"You are something else. You know that?" She could hear him speaking through clenched teeth. No matter how hard he tried to scare her and be intimidating she knew that she had his ass over a barrel. Dirty money that couldn't be cleaned had extreme limits. "Meet me at the chicken joint."

"No. You know where to meet me." She said glancing at the time on the microwave. 9:13. "Midnight." Sid ended the phone call just as Phil reached her. He grabbed her by the shoulder, his eyes filled with worry.

"What are you doing? What are you doing!" His fear was evident.

"Ending this. I'm ending everything. I have to do this." She shook his hand off of her shoulder and went into the bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. She didn't want to dissolve in front of him. But as soon as the door closed she crumpled to the floor, muffling her cries in her shirt. She shook. She mourned. Terror rolled through her making her want to vomit. She flowed through the hurt. Ahsan was dead. And she was scared. But when she sorted through the feelings what screamed louder than the others was rage. She was enraged. The antique steampunk clock on the wall ticked. 9:18. Less than three more hours. Three hours until she was standing face to face with him again.

If she had it her way, these would be the last three hours ever saw of his life. 

Its your heart rate up? My heart rate is up. JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!!!!😫😫😫

🙏🏾RIP Ahsan. 🙏🏾

Next part drops tomorrow.