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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CURIOSS sat in stunned silence, her mind spinning from the weight of everything Saint had left her. The money, the properties, the coded messages, the flash drive—everything he had kept hidden, everything people had been willing to kill for, was now in her hands. She could feel the enormity of it pressing down on her, the temptation to just run, to leave it all behind like Saint had wanted. But the streets didn't work that way. You couldn't just leave, not without consequence.
Her phone buzzed, pulling her back to reality. She glanced at the screen—it was Ma'Gem. The older woman's name felt like a lifeline, something familiar in the middle of the chaos. Curioss hesitated, then answered.
"Ma'Gem," she said, her voice raw.
"Baby, you alright?" Ma'Gem's voice was steady, but Curioss could hear the undercurrent of concern.
"No," Curioss whispered. "I found it."
A pause. Then, Ma'Gem's voice dropped. "Found what?"
"The code. Everything. Saint's notebooks, the properties, the money... he left it all behind, Ma'Gem. Everything."
Ma'Gem was silent for a long time, and Curioss could hear her breathing on the other end of the line, the weight of the revelation sinking in. "I knew he was hiding something big, but I didn't know it was this deep."
"Neither did I. He... he had a plan to get us out. He was going to sell everything off and walk away. But now, I don't know what to do. People are going to come for me, for the kids, for everything he left behind."
Ma'Gem's voice was firm when she spoke again. "You need to be smart, Curioss. That money, those properties, all of it... it's blood money. And there are people out there who will do whatever it takes to get their hands on it. You can't trust anyone."
Curioss swallowed hard, fear gnawing at her insides. "What do I do? Do I burn it, like Saint said?"
Another pause. When Ma'Gem spoke again, her voice was lower, colder. "Burning it sounds easy, but it won't stop them from coming after you. They know you were close to Saint. They'll think you know more than you letting on whether you have the code or not. The only way out of this is to make a choice. Either you walk away now, or you step up and take control of what Saint left behind. But either way, you have to protect yours."
Curioss leaned back in her chair, staring at the pile of notebooks, the flash drive still glowing in the dim light of the room.
Could she really just walk away? Saint had built this empire, brick by brick, to protect them, to secure a future for their family. But now that he was gone, all that remained were enemies lurking in every shadow.
"Do you think they'll ever stop coming for me?" Curioss asked softly.
"No," Ma'Gem said bluntly. "Not until they get what they want. Saint knew this game inside and out. The minute he became too powerful, they marked him. And now they'll come for you, thinking you hold the key to his empire. But you can turn that to your advantage if you smart."
