Rise of the Street King

Chapter 76 — Friend or Foe

The tape still sat on the table the next morning, its silence louder than any gunshot. Jayden hadn’t slept. His mind replayed the voice over and over until it seemed burned into his skull. Someone from his own circle had promised Razor an opening, and now every face he saw carried suspicion.

By the time the crew assembled in the den, his eyes were bloodshot, but his stance was iron. He paced the room like a caged animal, the Burned Boy perched near the door with restless energy, Malikah leaning in a corner, Amara sitting silent with her arms crossed.

Jayden held up the cassette. “Last night this came to me. A gift. A curse. It’s proof that one of us fed Razor.” His voice was gravel, sharp with fatigue and fury. “This isn’t whispers in the market or Council lies. This is truth recorded.”

A murmur rippled through the crew. Eyes darted, shoulders tensed. Fear mixed with anger.

“I’ll play it,” Jayden said. “And when you hear it, you’ll know why I can’t sleep.”

He slid the tape in, pressed play. The static hissed, then the voice filled the room. The deal stands. Jayden won’t suspect. He trusts me. Razor will have his opening.

When it clicked off, silence smothered the room. No one moved. No one spoke.

Jayden scanned their faces, searching for flinches, for the betrayal in their eyes. Malikah’s stare was steady, though her jaw clenched. The Burned Boy looked furious, eager to tear someone apart. Amara met his gaze calmly, as if daring him to question her.

But the problem was, the voice was muffled, distorted. Familiar yet not distinct enough to nail to one face. That was the cruel trick of it—it sounded like someone close, but close could mean anyone.

Jayden slammed his fist on the table. “From now on, nobody moves without my word. Nobody speaks to outsiders without my nod. If I catch even a whisper, I’ll burn the tongue that carried it.”

The Burned Boy grinned savagely. Malikah’s eyes narrowed, not at Razor but at Jayden himself. Amara stayed silent.

The first test came days later. One of Razor’s hits landed too close to home: a stash house near the border, torched before dawn. The fire gutted not just the drugs but the message someone had drawn Razor a map. A detailed one.

That narrowed the suspects. Only Jayden’s lieutenants had access to maps of stash houses and their shifts. Only the inner circle knew which doors were watched and which corners were safe.

Jayden decided it was time to flush the snake out.

He called a gathering in the square at night. Torches burned along the perimeter, casting flickering light over the tense crowd. His lieutenants stood in a line beside him, the Burned Boy buzzing with anticipation, Malikah grim but present, others shifting nervously.

At Jayden’s command, two of his men dragged a boy forward a thin street kid, no older than sixteen, trembling in oversized rags. His face was battered, his lip split.

Jayden raised his hand, silencing the murmurs. “This boy,” he announced, his voice carrying cold and steady, “was caught with a map in his pocket. A map that led Razor’s men straight to my stash house.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. The boy fell to his knees, sobbing.

“I didn’t I didn’t know what it was!” he wailed. “They gave me money! Said just carry it to the corner, hand it off. I swear, I didn’t know!”

Jayden crouched, his eyes level with the boy’s. “Who gave you the map?”

The boy’s eyes darted, desperate. His breath came in shallow gasps. “I can’t say they’ll kill me

Jayden’s voice hardened, quiet but sharp as a blade. “And what do you think I’ll do if you don’t?”

The boy broke. Tears streamed down his face, his words spilling in a rush. “It wasn’t me! They—they forced it on me. Said if I didn’t pass it, they’d carve me up. It came from… from someone close to you. They they told me to say nothing, but I can’t He choked, the crowd pressing forward in tense silence. “Two names. They gave me two names.”

The crowd held its breath.

“Malikah,” the boy sobbed. “And Elder Kola.”

The air went electric. All eyes snapped to Malikah. She didn’t flinch, though her jaw tightened, her hands curling into fists. Elder Kola the wiry, twitchy information broker who had once vouched for Jayden when no one else would wasn’t present, but his name sent shockwaves through the circle.

The Burned Boy roared. “I knew it! I knew she was dirty!” He lunged forward, but Jayden’s arm shot out, blocking him. His eyes locked on Malikah, searching for cracks, for guilt.

Malikah stared back, fury sparking in her eyes. “You believe this?” she spat. “You believe a boy beaten into saying whatever you wanted?”

The boy shook his head frantically. “I swear it! They said it was Malikah’s writing! Said it was Kola who vouched the map was real!”

The crowd buzzed, fear and suspicion growing.

Jayden straightened, his face a mask of stone. His heart hammered against his ribs. Malikah the one who had stood beside him from the start. Kola the elder who had once pulled him out of a Council trap when he was barely more than a kid.

One of them or both had just been named as the snake in his garden.

The torches flickered, casting long shadows over the faces watching him. The boy sobbed at his feet. Malikah’s eyes burned with defiance.

And Jayden realized the cruelest truth of all: whatever move he made next would decide whether his empire held or tore itself apart.