“Who else is getting picked up? Me? I need to set up a plan for Whoop and the kids. That’s why you’re telling me this bullshit,” Shabu guessed, and Relic wagged his head.
“You pulled out in time, so they aren’t looking at you. How quick do you think you can get some type of custody over Navy?”
“What?”
Shabu cocked his head and then staggered back as if someone punched a hole through his chest once it hit him what Relic was insinuating. His eyes closed before he lost it—sending a hook clean across his brother’s jaw, causing them to stumble and crash into the grill.
“My fucking wife, nigga!”
He slammed his fist into Relic’s nose at the same time that Relic elbowed him in the mouth. The taste of metallic turned him up more, and he braced his weight to lock his brother in place while sending jab after jab at Relic like he was a nigga off the street.
“You knew about this shit and didn’t tell me! That’s my fucking...”
His sentence faltered as they tussled to gain control, sliding across the sleek floor before he charged Relic and struck him with a hit that made his brother’s head clang against the grill hood.
“Wife!” he finished, swinging a two-piece and then a blow to his brother’s gut for every time he’d craved doing it but didn’t have the heart.
Relic grunted and hunched over, taking that blow in stride like he’d done the rest since he knew he was in the wrong. When another hit landed at his temple and caused his fucking ears to ring, he realized Shabu wasn’t about to let up. He side-steppedthe next hit and slung his brother to the floor, pressing a knee into his chest while he dug his forearm into the nigga’s throat to pin him down.
“Hit me one more time, and I’m gon’ black out,” he warned, catching that familiar flicker of fear sweep across Shabu’s face. “You gon’ think Joseph possessed my body with how bad I’m gon’ beat your ass, nigga. You got your shit off enough to say you won. I let you have that, but try me again, and watch I show you why I’m top dog around this muthafucka. When I let you up, you better remember who the hell your big brother is, Shabu. You couldn’t fuck with me, not even on your best day, unless I let you.”
He patted him twice on the cheek for added measure and then removed his knee and arm before sitting beside him. Shabu sat up and scooted over like a kid mad at their parent—shaking his disheveled locs while Relic brushed a hand over his attire and touched his thrumming forehead, noting the blood on his finger from a small gash. He rolled the tension from his neck to restrain from jumping on his brother for fucking up his face.
“If Whoop didn’t leave me about that shit with Navy, she will after this. I might as well cancel our ceremony. If I don’t, it ain’t like she’ll have anyone to walk her down the aisle now.”
Relic peered at his brother with his throat constricting so tight; it helped him to not blurt out false hope or empty promises he couldn’t keep. It wasn’t in his nature to cosset Shabu with lies.
“Los can walk her. She likes him. As far as her leaving you, you underestimate your wife. She’s stronger than she was when y’all met. The only thing that can break Savvy is the kids. I need to make sure you don’t lose them, and that the Feds can’t use them as a tactic to make her fold ‘cause she’ll be making it worse on herself.”
“On herself or on you?”
“We’re family, Shabu. That shit is one in the same. If I hadn’t let you force some goddamn kids and a wife on me, this wouldn’t even be a fucking problem. I had everything lined up before you reminded me that you don’t have real rights over Navy.”
Shabu scoffed before propping up both knees to brace his arms on. He debated whether to let Relic sweat longer but extended grace for the simple fact that his brother held genuine love for his wife and kids. If it was a year ago, his folks would’ve let Savvy take the fall and probably hadn’t seen Navy as his niece because she wasn’t blood.
A remitting sigh escaped Shabu when it settled in that his brother had carried that pending prison sentence alone for who knew how long, yet came clean for the sake of his family. Relic had done his best not to burden anyone until he was left with no choice, but Shabu wished they were in a place where his brother had trusted him with a secret so heavy. To reopen that door, he revealed one of his own.
“I signed Navy’s birth certificate. Eric didn’t ask, and Whoop wanted me to have the rights over my baby that I deserve. That nigga has to take me to court for Navy, and it’ll be a rude fucking awakening for his ass. We didn’t tell anyone ‘cause if he found out, he wouldn’t be responsible to pay Whoop child support since we’re married.”
“So, I told you this shit and let you beat my ass for no reason, is what you’re telling me?” Relic let out a groan as he scrambled from the floor and held out a hand. “Get up. Chin up and chest out, ti frè. They can’t hold her long, if at all. Her hands aren’t as deep in my pots as you think.”
Shabu stared at his brother’s hand before accepting it. “How deep are your pots?” he wondered aloud once on his feet.
“I have an undisclosed location, which you’re about to see, with millions reserved inside it. Stocks and bonds I purchased in my early twenties. I’m a silent investor for a legit company, and Ihave an offshore account. If I’m gone before forty, it transfers to Jahleel once he’s twenty-one. I made Savvy set up trust funds for my niece and nephew, and my burial planning is done and paid for as well.”
Pride and dread nestled in the depth of Shabu’s gut as he listened to Relic’s pre-planning for each misfortune that could occur. Even with the devastating news, he respected the nest eggs his brother had laid out for their futures.
“At least I know, all the dirt that we’ve done isn’t for nothing. You’ve been playing it smart this whole time.”
“Like I said, I know what and why I was doing it. You saw it as me being greedy, but I was setting us up a legacy for our family. One where our kids will never get exposed to the emotional abuse or struggle we did. Even if the Feds take everything, it ain’t everything. Nowhere near it. Y’all are set.”
“Shit.” Shabu walked over to the couch and plopped down, mind blown. “So, what now?”
“Now, we keep this shit close to the chest. Don’t tell a soul, Shabu. Not Titan, Los, P, Savvy. No one. We gon’ sit on our hands and wait for the Feds to make a move before we make ours. The game isn’t over until it’s over.”
“She’s here! That’s your car Ms. Kennedy took!”
Jahleel launched forward from the back row, craning his body between the front seats as Relic drove his pickup truck down his extended driveway toward his home. Had Jahleel notmentioned her coming, Relic wouldn’t know a thing because Kennedy hadn’t contacted him since he left her parent’s crib, and he’d avoided calling her as well. His short but eye-opening stint there had overstimulated him beyond his limits.
