“That bitch Rellianah took my kids… but honestly? They better off than being here with me.”
Her eyes dropped to the filthy floor.
“Plus, I owe you after what I did to you… If you never forgive me, I’ll respect it, just let me help you out of this.” She whispered.
Despite everything, I felt sorry for her. I just had too much pain of my own to carry.
Shadonna let go of my hands and got to work with the other two women who hadn’t said anything. They filled the kiddie pool with warm water. Then they helped me step inside, the warmth soaked into my bruised body like medicine.
I remained still, allowing them to clean my wounds and wrap them with gauze. Once I was done with my bird bath, Shadonna combed my hair then braided my kinky hair neatly to the back.
For the first time in weeks, I felt human again. Shadonna slipped me a couple muscle relaxers and wrapped my left arm tight. Once they finished, they brought me food.
I ate slowly and thought about Rellianah and couldn’t help but chuckle.
That girl was crazy… but she was real. I didn’t agree with her snatching up Shadonna’s kids, but it showed that she was being a real friend taking desperate measures for me.
I didn’t know how to feel about King anymore. If I survived this… I promised myself I would never get involved with another hood nigga again. I had feelings for King, but his lifestyle didn’t align with mine.
Shadonna left me with fresh sweats and an all-white cotton shirt. I slept weeks away and still managed to feel every bit of drained, physically and mentally. I curled back on my cot, and closed my eyes. For the first time in a long time, I prayed hard to God for delieverance and some form of sanity.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rellianah
Ipaced back and forth across the carpet in my hotel room, my phone clutched tight in my hand while I waited for Cease and Khaos to hit me back with some information. Technically, I should’ve been excited. We were out of state together on a mission again. That old adrenaline I used to live for hummed quietly under my skin. I was ready to get with the action!
Years ago I handed my entire Dynasty over to Cease and Khaos and walked away from the fast life to retire with my husband. I thought stepping away from the streets would change me completely. In some ways it did. But the truth was… the gangsta in me never really died.
I loved my family more than anything. My kids, my husband, our quiet life meant the world to me. I opened businesses, hired people, fired people, celebrated my accomplishments at clubs like a regular successful businesswoman.
I tried to bury the old me under all that. But on quiet nights? When the house was silent and my mind started wandering? I still found myself calling Conflict… or Cease and Khaos… askinghow things were moving in the Dynasty. Cream hated that. My husband had been trying to convince me to stop taking the fifteen percent cut from the Dynasty’s earnings since the money was illegal and we were one hundred percent legit now.
But letting go of that last piece of my empire felt like cutting off a limb. Cease and Khaos used to be my bodyguards. Now they were my equals. They ran my Dynasty with iron fists just like I used to. Truthfully, they were so deep in the game now that they barely had time to kick it with me the way we used to.
Back then they were the only real friends I had besides my brother Joel. Until I met Layloni. The first time we talked it felt like we had known each other our whole lives. Learning about her past showed me I wasn’t the only woman who had survived hell.
Personality-wise? Her and I were nothing alike. Layloni had a soft heart. Me? I was a cold-hearted bitch unapologetically.
When somebody crossed me, I solved my problems with bullets. I bullied people into giving me what the fuck I wanted. Folks bowed down because I was the Queen, and I demanded respect. Still… something about Layloni stuck with me.
So, knowing she had been kidnapped, bothered the fuck out of me. She didn’t deserve that shit. I wasn’t sleeping peacefully until she was home. At this point, it wasn’t even about King anymore. To me, it was some nigga thinking he could kidnap a friend of mine was basically begging me to come kill you.
My phone suddenly rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked down and saw my father’s name flash across the screen.
Mapheal Powers.
I rolled my eyes before answering, already bracing myself. Somehow, I could always feel whether a conversation with my dad was about to go good or bad.
“Yeah, Dad,” I sighed.
Right as he started talking, the hotel door opened and Conflict walked in with Cease and Khaos behind him.
I chuckled seeing Cease’s fat ass sucking the last piece of meat off a chicken bone like it owed him money. This nigga could literally eat somebody out of house and home. I couldn’t wait until he found another woman to settle down with again. I just wanted to see how she survived living with his greedy ass.
“Relli… do you hear me talking?”
“My bad, Dad,” I said quickly. “I was about to have a meeting with my men.”
