Page 13 of Collateral Love
“You overpay one supplier and undercut yourself on the back end,” she continued. “You think volume fixes it. It doesn’t.”
My jaw tightened.
“You don’t know my suppliers,” I said.
She opened the folder.
Names stared back at me.
Real ones.
My stomach dropped just a fraction, not enough for anyone else to notice, but enough for me to feel it.
“You did business with Mateo Ruiz,” she said. “Dropped him when his cousin caught a case. Smart. But you replaced him with an East Ridge connect that’s already being watched.”
I leaned forward. “You don’t know that.”
She tapped the paper. “I do.”
Xavier frowned. “How do you know all this?”
Kenya didn’t look at him.
“Because people talk,” she said. “And because money leaves footprints.”
That pissed me the fuck off.
“You ever think knowing too much gets people killed?” I asked.
She finally met my eyes.
“You ever think not knowing enough gets them buried?” she shot back.
Silence fell heavily over the table.
The waitress dropped our sandwiches and hurried away as if she could feel it, too.
“You're playing a dangerous game,” I said.
She nodded. “So are you.”
Xavier shifted beside me, suddenly less relaxed.
“You saying you can fix this?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she replied. “If y’all listen.”
“And if we don’t?” he pressed.
She looked at both of us then.
“Then this grows messy,” she said calmly. “And messy attracts attention.”
I leaned back, studying her.
She wasn’t bluffing.
She wasn’t begging.
