# Read the first page of King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby Read the opening of King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby free, no signup. A son comes home to a brother deep in debt. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/king-of-ashes-s-a-cosby - Genre: Crime - Year: 2025 - ISBN: 9781250832078 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781250832078&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781250832078 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781250832078 ## The opening He dreams of his mother. Her mahogany skin is deeper and darker in the sepia-tone filter that diffuses the cinematography of his dream. Her eyes, deep and wide, sparkle at him like fireflies. Her hair, cut short in the back and curly on the top, seems to glisten as well. She is wearing the nurse scrubs he last saw her in that day. The cuff of her left pants leg has minute drops of blood like an abstract henna tattoo. In his dream he reaches out his hand, not the hand with the twelve-thousand-dollar watch but his sixteen-year-old self's hand. And before he can touch her, she fades away like an instant photo moving in reverse. And then he wakes up with her name on his lips. The taste of the woman lying next to him waits there too. Waits for his tongue and shame to find her flavor. She turns and throws one finely muscled light brown thigh over his own and murmurs his name. "Roman." It comes out with the solemnity of a prayer. He rolls over, away from her. He knows her stage name, but it escapes him at the moment. "Hmmm?" "We getting breakfast?" she asks. They shift in the bed, changing positions until her back is against his chest and her legs are drawn up nearly to her chest. Roman closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Hmm," he murmurs. He puts his hand on the small of her back and makes light circles with his fingertips. "Can we go to Mammy's? I'm starving," she whispers. Her name escapes him, but he can see it in his mind. The letters are jumbled, like one of the puzzles in the paper his mother used to like to solve. She turns to him and he sees the delicate curve of her chin and fullness of her lips. She smiles, and her bright blue eyes seem to sparkle at him. He’d asked her if they were contacts and she’d playfully punched him. Her eyes were as bright as ... Saffire. Her name is Saffire. Her friend’s name was Genesis. She was in his guest room with his friend Khalil. All of them had been guests at a release party for Lil Glock 9’s new single. A party put together by his label to gin up interest for his new song that was debuting on all major streaming platforms. Roman knew the party was more a formality for Lil Glock’s fans. An excuse for them to prostrate themselves at the feet of their idol. There wasn’t really any money in streaming. It was the concerts and tours where he really cleaned up, and even that wasn’t the gold ring it used to be. Roman’s wealth management firm had helped Lil Glock 9, whose real name was Franklin Parrish, maximize his earnings while keeping him out of the crosshairs of the IRS. That maximization required more and more creative accounting over the years as record labels took more and more of the pie from recording artists, and recording artists like Lil Glock went to great lengths to pretend they were still at the head of the table. Roman vaguely remembered Khalil introducing Saffire before they were zooming down Decatur in Roman’s Porsche heading for his condo. My 2012 Porsche, he thought. He preached fiscal responsibility to his clients, but not many of them wanted to drive a ten-year-old Porsche or use rented jewelry for social engagements or video shoots. Roman knew he had to present a certain persona as a money manager in one of the richest cities in America, but he didn’t intend to put himself in the poorhouse in service to that image. “I ain’t renting a damn thing. I wanna own my shit,” Lil Glock had said, even as Roman tried to explain the concept of depreciation. ## Books with a similar feel - [We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker](https://uncovered.ink/read/we-begin-at-the-end-chris-whitaker.md) - [Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister](https://uncovered.ink/read/famous-last-words-gillian-mcallister.md) - [The Country Road Murders by James Patterson & Mike Lupica](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-country-road-murders-james-patterson-and-mike-lupica.md) - [The Crossing by Michael Connelly](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-crossing-michael-connelly.md) - [London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe](https://uncovered.ink/read/london-falling-patrick-radden-keefe.md) - [All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson](https://uncovered.ink/read/all-the-beautiful-lies-peter-swanson.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.