Wren
I’m not sure what’s going on, but I did know that instead of me heading home like I intended when I got off work, I ended up going to my daddy’s house. The call Maniac made to me about killing my daddy sent chills all over my body. From the tone of his voice, I knew he was serious. He also told me about how Daddy was a kingpin. Like the ones I be reading about in my books. That’s insane. He seemed so innocent.
I needed to get to the bottom of this before Maniac kills him for real. There’s no way I’d be able to stop him when he did try. That man loves me to death, but when it comes down to business like that, I don’t think all the love in the world would matter.
Daddy shouldn’t have had any business trying to come for Maniac and his family the way he was. It was old beef between them. That should’ve been squashed years ago. It was enough for him to walk away from his children. I don’t understand this man.
Hopping in my truck, I headed to Daddy’s house. When I pulled in the driveway, I saw him coming out the door. He’s dressed in a black suit with a white button-down shirt. I’m not sure where he was heading, but he wasn’t about to leave this house without speaking to me first.
“Daddy?” I called out his name as I got out the truck.
His head whipped in my direction, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He should’ve known I was gon’ show up here after his run in with Maniac.
“What are you doing here, baby girl?” I rounded the truck and headed up the walkway toward the porch. That’s when I noticed the suitcases behind him sitting in the corner.
“Going somewhere?”
Sighing, he replied, “Yeah. I gotta leave town for a bit.”
“Would that have something to do with you messing with my family?”
“You’re family?” His left brow rose.
“Yeah. Did you forget that I’m a Saint-Mercier now? Maniac called me. Why are you messing with their business?”
“It’s complicated, baby girl,” he said and picked up his suitcases. Daddy stepped around me and headed for his truck.
“But it’s not. You’re only making it complicated,” I said as I followed behind him.
“You know nothing about this life. Why don’t you stay out of it?”
“Stay out of it?” I caught him by the forearm. Clearly, he didn’t know how serious this was right now. “Maniac wants to kill you.”
“He can try,” was his response as he placed his suitcases into the trunk and shut it.
“This is serious.” I tilted my head backward and shot my eyes toward the sky. “I don’t think you know just how serious this is. I shouldn’t even be over here trying to save your ass. You decided that the street life was more important than your children. I should’ve known the story you were trying to feed me was bullshit. I wanted to believe anything that came out of your mouth because I missed you. I wanted you to be in my life, but I shouldn’t even want someone like you to be around my child.”
I stormed off toward the truck and stopped in my tracks. “You know what, I don’t even want this truck anymore. I accepted it under false pretenses.” I removed the truck key from my keyring and tossed it at him. “Here.”
Daddy’s head slightly tilted to the right as he eyed me. “You really about to do this right now? You’re choosing them over me?”
“I’m not choosing nobody over anyone. I’m hurt, Daddy.” Tears filled the brims of my eyes as I poked myself in the chest. “You’re nothing like I thought you would’ve been.” I didn’t want to be around him anymore. Spinning on my heels, I marched toward the sidewalk and went down it.
“Wren!” Daddy called out behind me, but I didn’t stop walking. I kept going ’til I put enough distance between us.
I made it to the Chevron store and stopped in front of it. This wasn’t the best place for me to be, but I needed to find me a ride home. Ain’t no way I was walking all the way home.
The first person I called was Maniac. The phone didn’t even ring completely before he was on the line. “I’m gon’ wring that fuck nigga’s neck. I’m telling you…”
With the way I felt at the moment, I didn’t really care what he did to Daddy. He’s a liar and manipulator. He’d do and say anything to make him seem like the victim, and I really fell for the bullshit.
“I need a ride home.”
“Why? Don’t tell me that truck broke down on you.”
“No. I gave it back to Daddy.”
“Why?”
