Page 28 of Justice II

“Ugh. Fine we’ll focus on the business.”

I could picture Dream reaching for somebody she knew. She would have recognized Kyle. So would Storie. That was what made me lean across the table and grab his ass by the collar.

“Tell me you haven’t said that shit to anybody else.”

“Nope. I brought it to you first.” He forcefully threw my hands off of him.

“Don’t ever go there again.”

“What about Rita, then?”

“What about you getting the fuck out of my house?”

“Would you calm down?”

“You just moved from the children to their sick great-grandmother, and I’m supposed to calm down?”

“I’m trying to get us somewhere.”

“Keep going and you gon’ get us into a fight.”

He pushed his chair back. I stood before he could.

For a few seconds, we stared at each other over my laptop.

Justice had already told me I wasn’t those girls’ godmother anymore.

“Storie and Dream are off-limits,” I said. “So is Rita. You tell whoever you’re talking to.”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“All right.”

“I need you to mean that.”

“I said all right, Kira. Damn.”

I moved my hand from his phone and sat down.

“This is about Justice and Skye. They can deal with what they started.”

“We don’t even know where she is.”

“I’m working on it.”

He pulled his chair back to the table. I opened another page, then closed it without reading anything.

The last time I had seen her at that house, she had been helping Rita. Justice had defended her while I stood there trying to get him to listen to me. He had gone on about everything she did for his family, all the reasons she belonged there.

She belonged there. But how did she get there? And then it dawned on me.

“The staffing agency.”

Kyle looked up. “What?”

“Ellis Care Staffing. That’s who the Banks family used to find somebody to care for Rita.”

“You think they gon’ tell you where their employee is?”