Revenge Taste Like Him

CHAPTER FIVE: The Deal

KYLA’S POV

Over the next two years, I basically became Spider’s go-to person, you know? It wasn’t because I was the toughest or the most fearless. Nah, it was because I had this knack for keeping my head cool when everyone else was losing their minds. By the time I hit fifteen, I was already helping Spider make connections all over Birmingham and Leeds. I was learning to read people like a pro, way before they even realized I was onto them. And by sixteen, I could saunter into a room full of sketchy-grown businessmen doing shady deals, grab exactly what Spider needed, MONEY!

People always underestimated me, tag me quiet girl, but that was their first big mistake.

I could remember one mission that came really close to ending it all. I still can’t shake it off, even now. Jerry and I barely managed to escape before the cops busted in from both ends of the building. Someone had ratted us out, and I can still hear the chaos — the yelling, the doors getting busted open, footsteps going crazy.

I hesitated for a split second.

But Jerry? Nah, he was on it. He grabbed my arm, yanked me through a back exit while bullets were whizzing past us through the windows. We hopped over a fence into this grimy alley with trash bags everywhere and rainwater pooling up.

I almost ate it, slipped, and all.

Jerry was quick, though. He pulled me right back up.

“Come on, Kyla, move!”

I’d never heard fear in his voice like that night.

We ran like our lives depended on it, till our lungs were ready to burst.

When we finally made it back to the flat, Spider damn near shattered his glass after seeing the blood on my sleeve. And Jerry? The dude only said one thing.

“She kept her head.”

After that, nobody dared to question if I belonged there, not even Jerry.

**********

“You connected us to the Los Angeles network,” Spider said one evening.

Seven in the evening. He had come home alone, which was strange. Spider never came home alone. He always had at least one of his boys with him and usually a woman whose name I would learn by morning and forget by afternoon because there was always another one of his prostitutes by the end of the day. Everyone could tell the spider loves s*x. He has slept with a different set of ladies. I had stopped keeping track long ago. His room was like seven steps away from mine. At 1 a.m. in the middle of the night, the noise of these ladies kept me awake. Who knows whether she is having pleasure or whether she feels pain? They always scream and moan at the top of their voices.

Sometime ago, I remembered a lady ran out of his room naked, her legs shaking so badly, I had to pretend as if I didn’t see anything.

Just crazy, spider is such a rough guy, but he protected me.

***********

Tonight, the apartment was quiet. Just me and him, sitting at the kitchen table under the soft yellow candlelight. I made tea and sat across from him. Spider shook his head. “Jerry made a few calls. You’re the one who built the connection.” He held his mug with both hands. “That LA deal tripled what we made last year.” I glanced down at my tea. “Which means,” he continued, “I owe you something real this time. Not some tiny birthday cake with the wrong candle on it.” I chuckled before I could stop myself.

Two weeks ago, Marcus got me a cake from a discount store. Dre found a number seven candle and stuck it on top because it was all they had. We didn’t mention it. We still ate the whole thing together in the living room. And for the first time in years, it almost felt like a real birthday. Almost.

“What do you want, Kyla?” Spider suddenly asked, his voice softer and more serious than usual. “Not the smart answer,” he added. “What do you actually want?”

Nobody had asked me that in a long time. I stared at the steam rising from my tea. Then I looked at him. “Two things.” “Tell me.” “First…” I hesitated slightly. “I want school. A real one. The best school you can get me into.” Spider raised an eyebrow. “School?” “I need to learn how their world works,” I said quietly. “The kind of people I’m going after don’t lose because they’re stronger. They lose because somebody smarter beats them.” Spider nodded slowly. “And the second thing?” I swallowed once. “When I finish school…” I said carefully, “I want you to assist me in going to war.”

“War? With whom? Are you kidding me?” I held his gaze. “Revenge.” The room fell silent. Even the city outside suddenly felt distant. “The people who killed my parents,” I continued. “I’m getting closer to them. I know it.” Spider leaned back in his chair without saying anything for a while. Then finally: “You’ve been planning this since I met you.” “No,” I said quietly. “Before that.” Something changed in his expression then. For a moment, he looked tired, somehow older. “Okay. What school do you have in mind?” he asked finally. “St. Augustine’s. Los Angeles.” Spider stared at me. “That school costs more than some houses.” “I know.”

A pause. Then his mouth twitched slightly. “You really are unbelievable.” “Is that a yes?” He let out a heavy sigh. “Yes.” Relief washed over me so suddenly I almost felt dizzy. “But you finished properly,” he added. “No disappearing halfway through. No revenge until school is done. Understand?” “Understood.” Spider gazed at me for a long moment. Then he said softly, “Be careful over there, Kyla.” I almost smiled. After everything I had survived, school didn’t sound dangerous at all. I found out how wrong I was three months later.

**********

St. Augustine’s High School in Los Angeles was clearly made for students who had never suffered a day in their lives. Perfect lawns. Marble floors. Rich kids walking around like they already owned the world. And right in the middle of it all— Him. Then I saw him. Elias Virelli. Tall. Calm. Effortlessly confident. The kind of boy every girl noticed the moment he entered a room. The kind of boy who seemed completely harmless. I remember watching him that first day and thinking he had nothing to do with my life. Nothing to do with my past. Nothing to do with the war I had spent years preparing for. But I was wrong. Because one day, I would fall in love with him. And one day, I would discover that the man who murdered my parents shared his last name.