Page 123 of Collateral Love
Zayden’s hands curled into fists.
“Get me my laptop,” I said. “And tell Xavier I want everything on Cameron Price. Everything.”
Zayden studied me.
“You sure you ready?”
I met his eyes.
“They didn’t take me to break me,” I said. “They took me to remind themselves who I was.”
I leaned back against the pillows, pain humming, mind sharp.
“And they failed.”
I didn’t confront Miles.
That’s how I knew it was real.
Old Zay would’ve already been in his face, voice low, smile wrong, letting him know I smelled something rotten. But Kenya didn’t build this system for instincts alone. She built it so instincts could be proven.
So instead, I watched.
Miles had always been efficient. Too efficient. The kind of man who volunteered solutions before problems finished forming. That used to read as loyalty. Now it read like rehearsal.
I let him stay close.
That was the trap.
He thought proximity meant protection. Thought access still meant trust. Thought because I hadn’t pulled him aside, he was safe.
He was wrong.
Xavier came to me first.
He stepped into my office like he owned the air. “He’s shaving time,” X said.
I didn’t look up. “Explain.”
“Three minutes here. Five minutes there. Delays that don’t trip alarms but shift outcomes.” He dropped a tablet on my desk. “Look at the injunction timeline.”
I did.
The pattern was subtle. That was the point. Court filings hitting just late enough to allow counter-motions. Press leaks were landing hours before we could get ahead of them. Subpoenas served at moments that felt anticipatory but not reactive.
Miles’s fingerprints weren’t obvious.
They were considerate.
“He’s helping,” I said flatly.
Xavier’s mouth twitched. “He’s shaping.”
That word mattered.
I leaned back. “You sure?”
X met my eyes. “Zay. I did nineteen years inside learning how men hide. This ain’t fear. This ain’t panic. This is positioning.”
