The car reeked of rotting flesh. When Derrick looked down, Julius’s muscles were stiff, his color fading while his blood clung to the mat that sat below his feet, emitting the strongest smell of copper—a strong, salty metallic odor that clung to his lips.

  For the first time in his life, Derrick envisioned his death. There was no more rolling the dice, manipulating others to get out of situations, then backtracking. Malakie had seen it all—of course he did, he was always right next to Derrick—watching, learning, calculating every action. Derrick always taught Malakie never to get too attached to the streets and the people in it. But Malakie was a brother to Derrick. Sure, he used him to his benefit, but who wouldn’t want an ace up their sleeve? But it went past that; Derrick had lost sight of everything. He had said he got into bed with Afra for the benefit of the team—for the next step—but he saw Afra as an opportunity, an opportunity to one day take his place.

  But as Afra piled up the bodies, and with enough dirt on people he could open his own bank, that door closed—and fast. You see—that’s the problem with going in blind; you can never check if there was an exit or just how deep one might end up. Because when Derrick finally opened his eyes to Afra and got a real taste of what that monster was, he looked for that exit, and that exit came at the cost of his life. A contract he never knew he signed. But in this life there are no exits, no loopholes; the contract is ironclad. The invisible rule of the streets, a code all follow not realizing until they’re in too deep.

  The streets didn’t love him—they made sure his mother got her drugs, they made him blind to what was right in front of him the whole time, and they turned him desensitized to violence and death that would send any man insane. And now they’re done with him, they tossed him to the side and replaced him with the next man.

  The next three hours felt like death to Derrick. No matter how hard he tried to gain control, he couldn’t. It was simply out of his hands. Malakie took a sharp left, cutting across the lane and receiving the middle finger from a bald-headed man as he drove off. Derrick looked shaken up as he watched it all unfold, but he had deeper things to worry about. As Malakie continued to drive, Derrick's eyes were still looking out from the right-hand side of the road and that’s when he saw it: the green sign with white writing. Welcome to New York. A sign that, every time he passed it, his face lit up with a smile—his stomping ground—the King of New York, many called him. But no more; he’d been usurped and was on his way to his execution.

  His heart began beating like a drum the closer they got. Like a drum calling soldiers to a war they wanted no part of.

  “Malakie. Listen to me. You may not like me, hell, if you won’t do it for me, do it for Mavis—do it for the kids. Think how this will affect them.”

  Malakie’s eyes closed and a belly full of air rose to his chest. As he released it, his eyes shot open and the air flooded out. “You’ve got a nerve to talk about family—kids. What—you want me to forget what Mavis did for you, pretend it never happened? She looked out for you, cooked for you—treated you like family.”

  “And I treated her like family too—I’ve always treated her and the kids like family. Mavis will always have my respect and I’ll always have her back should she ever need it.”

  “Have her back?” Derrick laughed. “How is it having her back by stabbing her in it?”

  “Watch your mouth, Derrick, because I figured out the game you’re playing hours back. You think because Afra wants you I can’t touch you—news flash, Derrick, there are plenty of stories I can feed to Afra as to why I had to gun you down. I’m sure Afra would prefer that fate for you rather than you running away and living to tell the tale.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Relax, Malakie. I don’t want you to burst a blood vessel. It’s like I hit a nerve.”

  “You hold no control over me anymore, Derrick. I severed those ties.”

  “Then why get offended by the truth? You know exactly what Afra intends to do; we all know what it means when Afra wants to talk and I received my one and only warning already, so that’s my fate sealed. But yet you're gift-wrapping me to Afra knowing nothing good will come of this, yet you will be a shoulder to cry on for her at my funeral knowing you were the one that sealed it. Now what would you call that if it’s not stabbing her in the back—you tell me so I can label it?”

  “And what about those men you condemned to their deaths, Derrick? You know—the ones you paid for their funerals then allowed their widows to cry on your shoulder. Where was the stabbing in the back then, Derrick? They were your own men. But of course failure wasn’t an option to you, now was it? Disobedience had to be addressed, didn’t it? Your codes—your rules. But now the shoe's on the other foot, old man. I’m the bad guy?”

  Derrick's hand rose to his mouth and as his finger rested on his lips he began to bite his nails as panic took over his entire body. His eyes began to shift around frantically.

  “I’ll tell you what you told me, Derrick,” Malakie said as he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, weaving in and out of cars knowing no officer would stop him even if they wanted to. “Never love anyone in this game—never get too attached and never love the streets. You see, Derrick, I had to learn that the hard way. I heard everything you said—wise words from the man who had everything. Oh—that’s right isn’t it, I should correct myself. Oh, so I thought,” Malakie chuckled. “You had everything but a soul. You sold that to the streets the second the cash flow came in. You told me to always keep my eyes on the next man above me and I did, but unlike you I had heart for those I grew with. But you showed me there was no room for a heart when you gave my position you promised me to someone who didn’t deserve it—all to save your ass at the cost of me. So I smashed that heart and this is what’s left of it,” said Malakie as he took one hand off the wheel and began to stab a finger into his chest.

  Derrick's finger slid out from within his mouth and down to his lap. His fingers began to twiddle as he stared down at them helpless, hopeless as the car ate up miles. “You were a friend—a brother and I didn’t treat you right.”

  “This again, Derrick?” Malakie’s eyes hit the mirror above and reflected back at Derrick, streaks of red lines flooded his eyes. A man’s face who spoke nothing but tiredness and just wanting this to be over.

  “Nah, Malakie. Not this time. I may have been a shit—a shit friend and a shit brother—but you were a brother to me. A brother that I failed too many times and didn’t bat an eyelid. It’s not on you to protect Mavis or watch out for the kids, that’s on me. I knew what this life brought and yet I still wanted more, until I woke up in a tangle of blood, lies, and treachery but it was late. I may want to live but I know I don’t deserve it. I didn’t just fail you, I failed everyone that was under me and I’m sorry—I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry, that’s all.”

  The tires below began to bump under the gravelly path. They had arrived. To the left of them was an abandoned building. Derelict, some windows missing, the others half-smashed and crumbling from the outside—the perfect setting for a meeting no one wanted eyes on.

  A river that separated the left side from the right that had a small connecting bridge to allow passage over. Malakie stopped the car before he got to the bridge—strict instructions from Afra, no vehicles in front of the building. His hand slipped down towards the center console and shut off the car. The silence was deafening—so quiet that if you listened hard enough you could hear Derrick's heart hammering against his ribs.

  As the driver's side opened and Malakie stepped out, Derrick’s body began to shake as Malakie’s body passed by and opened up his side of the car.

  “I’m going to trust you to walk now, Derrick. Running is only going to make it worse.”

  Derrick looked up at Malakie in a frantic mess and nodded his head. His attention then quickly turned to the abandoned building, casting a quick side-eye as Malakie reached down and uncuffed him. The pair then began to walk over the bridge and towards Derrick's impending fate.