I brushed a thumb over her cheek. “I like you intense, just know you going to need a babysitter tonight, Ms. Greene.”
She kissed me once quick, soft, not enough and then buckled in next to Shiloh, who was already reaching for her like he hadn’t seen her in years.
Family piled into the cars behind us, loud, chaotic, complaining, laughing. But it felt right.
As I got in the driver’s seat, Stormi glanced at me through the mirror. “You ready, Daddy?”
I started the engine, looking at all three of them in the back. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “Let’s go get our baby blessed.”
“Feels good to be celebrating something good for once,” Rich said, exhaling like he finally got to rest.
He and Southside stepped up beside me, shoulder to shoulder. We stood there watching our family spill across the backyard laughing, eating, arguing, kids sprinting everywhere. It felt loud, chaotic, and perfect.
Shiloh’s six-month birthday party. Stormi and Jo’s idea, some mess I’d never heard of a day in my life. But if Stormi wanted it yeah, she was gon’ get it. Hell, we could celebrate our son every two weeks if that’s what she wanted. Watching her smile made everything worth it.
“Jit gon’ be walking before we know it,” Southside said, nodding toward Shiloh.
We all looked over just in time to see Shiloh sliding off his grandma's lap, more like escaping his little hands slapping the grass as he crawled his way toward the other kids. Determined just like his daddy.
“Anything to keep up with S3,” I added, shaking my head as I watched my boys chase each other, knocking over balloons and decorations, driving my mama completely out her damn mind.
Rich laughed. “Man, your mama looks two seconds from clockin’ out this whole event.”
“‘Specially with S3,” Southside added. “Lil man act like he runnin’ drills.”
“Hell, he is,” I said. “Ain’t nothin’ in this world he wants more than to beat his big cousins at everything.”
We watched them, all the kids, but especially ours loud and healthy and happy. For once, the weight on my shoulders felt lighter.
Rich bumped my arm. “You good, bro?”
I nodded, eyes still on my family. “Yeah… I’m real good. Feels like peace.”
Southside chuckled. “Don’t say it too loud. Stormi gon’ put you in charge of next month’s ‘celebration.’”
I smirked. “If it makes her smile? I’ll plan them all.”
And I meant that. Every word.
Southside’s voice cut through my thoughts. “We got a few shipments comin’ in this week. It still a drought on the Westside?”
Just like that, my attention snapped away from my boys and back to business the world that never let me clock out.
“Dre and everybody tied to him. And that hit on my wife? Handled." I took a slow sip of my bourbon, letting the burn sit in my chest. “So yeah… I guess we can go back to feedin’ them niggas.”
“Not everybody,” Rich said quietly.
I looked at him. Didn’t have to ask what he meant. The name sat between us like a loaded gun. Imani. The one thing we hadn’t handled. The one move I hadn’t made. And the one situation that twisted me up in ways the streets never could.
I blew out a breath. “Still figurin’ shit out. Don’t know what to do about Imani.”
The truth tasted bitter on my tongue. Killing her would be easy, too easy. But putting my son’s mother in the ground and leaving S3 motherless? That was a whole different monster. Stormi was the mother he knew, the one who tucked him in, kissed scraped knees, taught him how to be gentle in a world that wasn’t. But Imani… she still had his love. And she still had that connection I couldn’t erase, no matter how much she messed up.
And she messed up real bad. She played a reckless game, one that damn near cost me my wife. I couldn’t trust her. Not with my family, not with my empire, and not with my life.
That was the difference between her, Dre, Ronnie, and all the other bodies we put down. They were enemies, she was blood adjacent and that made her dangerous in a whole different way.
Rich watched me, eyes softened with loyalty only a brother could have. He knew the weight. He knew the fucked-up crossroad I was standing at.
