I kept laughing with them, but my eyes never left Dre. My hand never stopped digging. This wasn’t about fun, this was my redemption, my final chapter in this game.
I pulled my phone out, thumb hovering like I was about to call God Himself. But it wasn’t Him I needed. It was Stormi. I could give her everything money could buy, every diamond, every key to every country. I could give her love that left me full of life. But what she needed now wasn’t me saving her, it was her power back. She needed to remember who the fuck she was.
The line clicked. Her voice came soft, half asleep, half awake.
“Hello?”
“Meet me somewhere. Josh outside waiting on you.”
“Bae… what?” Confusion laced her tone, that groggy sweetness I hated disturbing.
“Come to me,” I said, firm.
There was a pause, then the sound of sheets moving, her steps quick. “I’m coming,” she whispered before ending the call.
Rich blew smoke in the air, eyes cutting toward me. “What’s next?”
“I want her to take her power back,” I said, sinking into a chair, flicking the lighter, and pulling the smoke deep into my lungs. Waiting for my wife.
Josh got the text bring her straight to me. No detours. Me, Rich, and Southside sat there in the blood haze, weed burning slow. Dre was still hanging on, breath hitching like every second wasa punishment. He’d been cut open, patched up, shocked, torn apart. All that was left was that last trip to hell, but it wasn’t supposed to be by my hand.
Twenty minutes passed before I felt her. Before I even saw her. That energy of hers. Then she walked in, and the whole room shifted. Black shorts gripping her hips like they were made for her, crop top showing off her snapback, the kind of bounce back women prayed for. Baby making hips, stomach flat again but God, I missed her with the bump, carrying my son. Her curls framed her face, wild and soft.
Her eyes found mine. “I don’t want to see you kill him, Seth.”
I stood, slow smile spreading across my face. “Good. Because I’m not gonna end this nigga. You are.”
Her breath caught. “What?”
I stepped closer, brushed my fingers against her chin, forcing her to look at me. “He took something from you. Now I want you to return the favor.”
Her voice trembled. “Seth, I don’t want to.”
“You need to,” I pressed, my words heavy, slicing through her excuses. “You need to take your power back. Let a nigga know they can never play with Stormi and think they gon’ live to tell the story.”
I grabbed her hand, warm, small in mine, and pulled her forward. She followed like she always did. Stormi didn’t know it yet, but she ran all this. Shit didn’t move unless she said so. She had the kind of control that could break me into pieces if she wanted to. But she never would. That’s why I loved her.
I yanked Dre upright, his body dangling from the chain, and pressed the gun into her hand.
“End this nigga. Just like Daddy taught you.” My lips brushed her neck, my voice sinking into her ear. “I’m right here.”
Stormi turned her face toward me, kissed me back. And then she smiled, the kind of smile I swore I’d protect until the day I stopped breathing.
Before I could blink, before I could even stay lost in her, she raised the gun and emptied the whole clip into Dre like she was born for it. No hesitation.
“Stormi Knight Greene,” I thought, chest heavy, pride and love tangling until I could barely stand it. My wife. My heart. My everything.
I smacked her ass, pulled her close, her body still shaking with adrenaline, mine with hunger for her.
“Yeah, you getting that goddaughter,” I said to Rich over my shoulder, smirking.
Then I scooped her up like she weighed nothing, carried her out of that warehouse, out of the blood, out of the smoke. Back home with my wife. Back home to my sons. Back to everything that kept me human.
Chapter
Fifteen
NOAH
