“Okay. We’re about to call his attorney, and we’ll be there in a few hours,” Mr. James said.
“I’ll wait here for you.”
“No, baby girl, you need to go home.”
“But—”
“Diamond,” his mother cut me off, “there is no sense in you sitting out there. Where is the baby?”
“She’s with me,” I sniffled. “I didn’t want to take her to the daycare and let my coworkers see my face. My eyes are so puffy from me crying. They would have known something was wrong.”
“Take that baby home,” Makhai’s mother instructed. “I’ll have James bring me over there when we get in town. I’ll sit with you until we figure out what’s going on with my son.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I sighed. “I’ll be fine. You guys can just come in town and see about him. I’ll just go home and wait for your call or his.”
“I’m coming, Diamond,” she insisted, “Miles will be the only one that will be able to get to the bottom of this anyhow. Just give us a few hours.”
“Okay,” I replied lowly. “I kind of went off on the man I talked to, so I don’t know if I made it worse for him or not. I’m just so upset, so I apologize if I did.”
“Baby girl, I’m sure that you didn’t say anything nearly as bad as my son has been saying to them,” Mr. James chuckled. “I know my boy, so I know he’s been giving them hell. Just go home and sit tight.”
“Yes sir. Call me if you hear anything please, and I’ll do the same.”
“We will.”
After hanging up with them, I got me and my niece in the car and headed home. I texted Kabria to update her when we parked, then we headed up. When I reached the top of the steps I saw a man in front of my door. I frowned and slowly approached, slipping one of my hands inside of purse to grab my mace just in case.
“Um, can I help you?”
He spun around at the sound of my voice.
“Diamond?” he smiled.
My brows furrowed as I eyed him skeptically. “Yes, who are you?”
“I’m Lance.” He extended his hand and I just looked at it before I focused my gaze back on his. He chuckled and retracted his hand, slipping it inside his pocket. “Gwen sent me.”
My frown deepened. “Gwen?”
He nodded. “She told me that she just gave birth to our daughter a few months ago.” His eyes traveled to Keona’s stroller. “She didn’t even tell me that she was pregnant.”
When he tried to touch the blanket that was covering my niece, I slapped his hand away.
“Don’t touch her,” I gritted.
“But she’s mine.”
“I don’t know that, and I don’t know your ass,” I snapped. “Gwen is… she has a lot going on.”
“I know,” he chuckled. “I’ve been dealing with my own demons, but I’ve gotten clean and am willing to get my baby girl.”
When he said he’d been fighting his own demons, it made me pay attention to his appearance. He didn’t look nearly as bad as my sister did the last time that I saw her, but he still looked bad. His clothing was torn and dirty, but I could tell he at least tried to clean himself up. I didn’t know if he was still actively doingdrugs, but the track marks in his arms and hands were extremely hard to miss, so if he was, he hadn’t been for long.
I didn’t know if he was really Keona’s dad or anything about him at all, but I did know I wasn’t allowing him to take my niece anywhere.
“You’re not taking her anywhere,” I said. “I don’t know a thing about you or what you have going on…”
“You don’t have to,” he frowned. “I’m her father?—”
