Treasure looked at Lennox with glossy eyes. “Well, let’s just hope you can swing your ass off.”
I stepped back, and she moved beside me as we walked toward the door. My heart felt like fire in my chest, yet I kept my posture straight because my wife needed my strength.
Right before I stepped out, I looked back at Lennox. His expression hadn’t changed. He still sat with that calm, controlled anger.
“We will not stop fighting,” I told him.
He replied, “Neither will I.”
Treasure squeezed my hand the moment the door closed behind us.
If my son didn’t make it out of this, Roderick Lennox would have more than his sons to grieve.
The Lotus Mind Center
One week later…
Kay’Lo was still locked up without a bond and I ain’t had no real sleep since the day they took him. Every time that jail number popped up on my phone, my heart damn near dropped ‘cause I could hear it in his voice, even when he tried to sound tough. He wasn’t tough right now. He wasn’t even mad. He was numb, like he couldn’t believe this was real and he was tryna breathe through it so he didn’t fall apart on the phone with me.
They had already gone to his shop and grabbed the cameras, and the news wouldn’t let that shit rest. Every time I scrolled, there was Kay’Lo shootin’ two dudes who ain’t have no weapons in they hands. But they wasn’t showin’ how the niggas pulled upon him. They wasn’t showin’ how they tried to rush him. They wasn’t showin’ how it was two against one. They only showed the part that made him look like a monster, like he woke up that day tryna kill somebody.
And then there was that stupid bitch Echo online, postin’ like she was the victim of the century, tellin’ everybody how Kay’Lo murdered her brothers in cold blood and how he cheated on me and been obsessed with her since the day they met. She had that shit goin’ viral ‘cause people love drama and they love jumpin’ on a story even when they didn’t know shit about the people in it. Every time I saw her name my teeth hurt ‘cause I wanted to drag her ass so bad, but I had to swallow that and think about the bigger picture. My husband was fightin’ for his life. I ain’t have time to argue with a hoe who wanted attention more than air.
But what really fucked me up was seein’ her daddy everywhere too.
Every time I turned on the news or scrolled past another headline, there he was, Roderick Lennox, the goddamn Attorney General of Trill-Land, speakin’ on camera with his face all hard and full of rage. He wasn’t mournin’ quiet or tryna be professional like how officials usually act when shit happens. No, he was lettin’ the whole island know he wanted the max. He looked straight into them cameras and said he was gonna push for full prosecution, and he wasn’t holdin’ back on what that meant. He was talkin’ about needles and justice and makin’ sure the man who killed his sons never saw the outside of a cell again.
And that’s when everything inside me dropped.
It wasn’t ’cause I ain’t think Kay’Lo couldn’t fight this, but ‘cause I ain’t know Echo’s family came like this. I thought she was just some girl he fucked, some messy bitch who didn’t know how to move on. I ain’t know she came from power, and that she had a father who could shake the whole damn world with oneinterview. I ain’t know the two niggas Kay’Lo shot belonged to the one man you ain’t supposed to piss off in Trill-Land.
The more I watched him talk, the sicker I felt ‘cause now it wasn’t just Echo bein’ petty online.
Her father wanted my husband dead, and he had the authority to make that shit happen.
And the whole time I’m watchin’ him on TV, threatenin’ the worst, promising punishment, sittin’ there actin’ like Kay’Lo just woke up and shot his kids for fun… my heart felt like it was bein’ held underwater.
But while all that was goin’ on, somethin’ else kept twistin’ in my stomach.
Somethin’ that never made sense from the jump.
Kay’Lo’s diagnosis…
When he was takin’ medicine, it worked. He was calmer. He wasn’t so quick to snap or shut down or fight with me over little shit. Then his therapist switched up outta nowhere and said he wasn’t schizophrenic no more. Kay’Lo believed it, but I never did. I knew somethin’ was off that day ‘cause her whole damn vibe felt wrong. She looked nervous, like she was sayin’ what she was told to say.
Now that my husband was sittin’ in jail facin’ death, I couldn’t ignore that feelin’ no more. If he really was schizophrenic and somebody lied about it, then that could save his life. That could prove he wasn’t in his right mind when all this shit happened.
I made an appointment with Dr. Ellington ‘cause my spirit wouldn’t calm down until I got answers.
When I walked into Dr. Ellington’s office, my hands was shakin’ and my stomach felt twisted like somebody was wringin’ it.
“Toni,” she said, “how are you holdin’ up?”
“I’m not,” I told her straight up. “My husband facin’ the fuckin’ death penalty. They talkin’ about killin’ him and I’m tryna keep myself together long enough so he don’t hear me fall apart on the phone.”
She nodded slow. “I’ve been following the case. I’m very sorry.”
I stared straight at her. “So, you know why I’m here.”
