The Family Business 3 (The Family Business #3)(68)

“Yo, Daryl! Daryl!” One of Vegas’s guys, Kareem, came running into the kitchen. “Y’all need to come out front and see this right now.” He darted right back out of the kitchen, and I followed, along with Orlando, Vegas, and Junior.

Outside in front of the house, we came face to face with a man in a bowtie and schoolboy glasses headed our way. He was surrounded by seven of our guys pointing their weapons at him.

“That’s the same cat that came into the restaurant that day when I was about to propose to Sonya,” Junior said. “He’s the one who supposedly warned me about Brother X.”

“Well, this fool say he got a message for y’all,” Kareem said.

Junior took quick steps toward the man, and I stayed right behind him in case I needed to rein him in. I didn’t want Junior killing this guy before we found out why he was there.

I could tell by the vein pulsing in his temple that Junior really wanted to strangle this dude, but to his credit, he remained cool. “What are you doing here?” he asked him. “Why are you at my home?”

“Yeah, why are you here?” Paris was now on the top step, gun in hand.

“My name is Brother Elijah. I’m here because I have a message to deliver from Brother Xavier,” he said, looking past Junior and directly at Vegas. He was so intense and serious that you would have thought the message he was about to relay had been spoken to him by Allah Himself.

“Another message, huh?” Junior grunted. “Kind of like the one you delivered to me that night at the restaurant?”

Junior’s shoulders tensed up, and I could tell he was about to start swinging. “Calm down, man,” I whispered. “Let’s hear him out.”

Junior looked to Vegas then me. He nodded, and the raging bull was calmed. For now, anyway.

“No, my friend, this message is a little different,” Elijah said.

“Friend?” This time it was Orlando who was about to snap.

Vegas held out his arm in front of Orlando to cut off anything before it could get started. Everyone was calm again as we gave Elijah our undivided attention. I hated the thought of him feeling as though the ball was in his court. Sadly enough, though, it was.

Elijah stepped past Junior toward Vegas, who came down off the porch.

“We’re listening,” Vegas said.

“As you know from the pictures we sent you, we have Sasha Duncan,” Elijah started.

“Tell us something we don’t know!” Paris shouted. “You got her . . . for now. But we’re going to get her back!”

Elijah cleared his throat and continued. “You’re going to get her back, huh? Well, not without my help.”

This statement had us all confused. Had this man, one of the ones responsible for Sasha’s capture, just suggested that he would help us get her back? If that was true, then why the hell didn’t he just bring her with him in the first place and stop wasting time?

“What do you mean, not without your help?” Vegas asked.

“If I can get back to delivering my message, I think you will understand.”

“Go ahead. Deliver your message,” Vegas told him, remaining calm in the face of this bastard’s arrogance.

“Brother Xavier wants to make an exchange: Sasha Duncan for you, Vegas Duncan,” Elijah said.

“Hell no!” Paris yelled. There was no need to look at her to know what her expression was at that moment. From what Orlando and Vegas had told me, she wasn’t known for negotiating. She was a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later kind of girl. Orlando was closest to her. He’d have to handle her while I kept Junior in check.

“What kind of bullshit are you coming here with? You’re lucky we don’t—”

“Paris!” Vegas’s voice boomed. “Let him finish.”

Elijah continued as if he hadn’t even heard Paris’s threatening rant. “If you want to see Sasha alive again, then I say make the exchange.” A solemn look passed across Elijah’s face, and I swear I saw something like regret in his expression. “Because if we don’t get Sasha away from X, I’m afraid he’s going to do the unthinkable.”

“You’re afraid?” Vegas asked the question that was surely roaming through everyone’s mind. Why did he care whether Sasha was killed? He seemed sincere, but then again, why would he want to help set free the very person he was holding captive? This had to be a trick.

“Why him and not me?” Junior snapped, pushing his way in front of Elijah. “I’m the one he should want. I’m the one with Sonya.”

“If it was up to me, you’d be the one I chose, adulterer, but it’s not my choice. I’m just a messenger, and Xavier wants Vegas.”

“Vegas ain’t going nowhere, so whatever you and your boss are up to, forget it,” Paris said as if she were the one making the final decision. “You come here acting like you ain’t got nothing to do with it. Why should we even trust you?”

Elijah cleared his throat. “Do you have a Quran?”

“What the—?” Orlando asked.

Elijah turned to Vegas. “Do you have a Quran?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” Vegas said. “Upstairs. What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’ll put my hand on the Holy Quran,” Elijah said. He looked directly into the eyes of each of us before he announced, “I may be a killer, but I don’t harm women—and I’m not a liar.”