“He wants to marry her as payment.”
“Kinda sick shit is that? She just turned eighteen.”
“Just know he gotta die off that alone. He might be twenty-five, and she might be of age, but the fact that he’s had his eyes on her makes him good as dead.”
“Get that nigga, then, baby. Just be smart about it.”
Glimmer had lost her appetite, and she didn’t want to hear anymore of her parents’ conversation. She tiptoed back down to her room with tears in her eyes as she got into bed. She wiped her tears quickly, though, because she knew while her daddy hadbreath in his body, Juke Delacroix wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
Sixteen years later . . .
A vision cloudedby tears was never how Glimmer envisioned this day. Carelessly, she allowed the tears to fall as she looked at herself in the mirror.
The glam team did their big one, for sure. She looked like a glamorous Black Barbie doll. One of those timeless ones that could be put up on a shelf and collected because they were worth a lot of money.
The white wedding dress cinched at her waist, making it look practically invisible since it was naturally tiny. Her short legs looked shiny and endless somehow through the deep slit in the bunches of satin fabric. Her breasts sat full and on display withthe deep V cut down to her belly button. That was a request of her groom. He wanted Glimmer to look as sexy as possible on the day he officially claimed her as his.
“Girl, now why the hell you cryin’ for? Those better be happy tears,” her mother fussed as she walked into the bridal suite.
Glimmer fought the urge to roll her eyes. One thing Camille was good for was a good smack to the back of the head. It didn’t matter that Glimmer was thirty-four now.
Glimmer cleared her throat and used the back of her hand to dry her tears, not caring that she smudged her makeup, before she turned to her mother. “You know these aren’t happy tears, Mama.”
Camille scoffed as she sauntered over to her daughter in a formfitting cream-colored dress that was too close to white for normal people to wear to a wedding. Camille Delacroix couldn’t find a fuck to give though. She had always been that way and wouldn’t change any time soon.
Camille used a tissue she produced from a small gold clutch and dabbed at Glimmer’s cheeks. “You always have to be so dramatic, Glimmer. I don’t get it. Why aren’t you happy to marry that fine ass man?”
Glimmer looked at her mother like she had grown three heads out of her ass. She shouldn’t be surprised that her mother acted this way, but she was. Glimmer never understood why she and her mother were never on the same page. It had only gotten worse the older they got.
Glimmer shook her head. “Daddy doesn’t want this . . .”
Camille looked around dramatically. “I don’t see ya daddy here. Do you?”
The amount of restraint it took to not slap her mother at that moment was immense. Fresh tears clouded her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She snatched away from her mother and glared at her. “You’re just mad he divorced you.”
Camille scoffed. “Nah, I’m mad that nigga had the audacity to give me the world and then let that shit fall apart before he got sent upstate andthendivorced me. I stuck by his side through all that, and forwhat?”
You deserved it.You deserved that shit and so much more,Glimmer thought.
Camille had always been insufferable, but when Juke’s empire started declining, she became a damn monster. The amount of pressure Camille put Juke under was entirely too much. So much, in fact, Glimmer believed it was the reason her father was locked up.
She blamed two people, actually: Trick and Camille.
The night Glimmer overheard her parents talking about Trick and learning that not only did he want her, but also that he was part of the reason her uncle Henry was dead, things had gone downhill. It wasn’t all at once. It happened slowly through the years.
Her father made the monthly payments to bide his time, but while he did that, Trick’s empire grew stronger. After only a few months, Trick took over Juke’s blocks. An all-out war started and lasted for many years. It caused the Delacroix family to severely downsize and basically go into hiding.
It drove Camille insane, and she applied pressure on Juke to end the shit. He finally snapped and got an army together to kill Trick. The issue was, Trick had been ten steps ahead of Juke, unfortunately.
It was an ambush. Not only that, it was a setup. After every one of Juke’s men had been killed, Trick handed Juke over to the police. A bitch move, but he had ulterior motives. None of this had ever been about money. It had been about a takeover, but it had also been about Glimmer. Trick was obsessed.
Like every other nigga in The Bay, Trick had his eye on Glimmer. The difference between Trick and other niggas washe’d had his eyes on her since before she was eighteen. She was the most beautiful woman in town, and nobody could get close to her because of who her daddy was. Trick wanted to change that, and he had.
With Juke out of the way, Glimmer was officially all his. Juke got knocked six months ago, and Trick sent word that the rest of his debt would be paid in the form of his daughter. Juke’s entire crew was demolished, so there was nobody on the outside who could handle this situation for him. Glimmer hated to think of her father, who had been her idol since she was knee high, in such a powerless position.
Camille, on the other hand, was more than ready for Glimmer and Trick to get married. Their marriage solidified Camille getting back to living her lavish lifestyle. Trick promised to take care of them both once their union was sealed, and Camille had been eager to make it happen. The only reason they hadn’t gone to the courthouse was because Trick wanted the wedding to be a damn spectacle. He was cocky that way. He wanted everyone to know that he had knocked two OGs down and taken one of their daughters.
Glimmer turned back toward the mirror, her expression cold as she stared at her mother through the reflective glass. “I need to finish getting ready.”
