“Can you cut the light off?”
I squeezed the bridge of my nose and shook my head ‘cause this was exactly how it went now. Toni ran the whole house, and I was just livin’ in it.
I got up, cut the light off, got back in bed, and laid down, tryna get my mind right.
Then she mumbled again, like she couldn’t sleep without addin’ one more request to my night.
“Kay’Lo.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you hold me?”
I wanted to say no so bad, but my body moved on its own ‘cause this was still my wife, and I still loved her crazy ass. I rolled over and wrapped my arms around her, holdin’ her and holdin’ the belly too.
I stared into the dark and sighed to myself.
I was seein’ a whole different side to Toni. I don’t know why I thought she would get sweeter by the time she hit her third trimester, but I was dead wrong. She was mean and horny all the damn time, and a nigga just had to deal with it, ‘cause if I didn’t, she would probably cuss me out, cry, then call me pathetic, then ask me to rub her feet, and somehow, I’d still end up doin’ it.
Our baby was gon’ come out and already know her mama was the boss, and I was just the nigga tryna survive the ride.
As my driver drove to the private airfield, my thoughts began to circle the one decision I had been avoiding for an entire year. I had handled wars in boardrooms, buried threats, and I made people disappear from rooms with nothing but a look and the right phone call. Still, this felt different. This wasn’t a hostile takeover or a political chess move. This was a child, and no matter how many times I tried to dress it up as justice, it had always been a child.
The Maybach moved smooth over the road, quiet enough that I could hear Preslan’s little sounds behind me. He was one now, and that fact sat heavy because time didn’t care about anger or revenge. Time kept going, and while I was busy building a wall around this secret, that baby had been growing teeth, learning my voice, and reaching for me like he came from my womb.
I turned my head slightly and looked back at him. He was strapped into his car seat, clean and comfortable, dressed like he always was when he was with me. His curls were neat, his skin looked healthy, and his eyes followed me like he was trying to figure out why the energy in the car felt different today. He reached his little hand out in my direction, his fingers opening and closing like he wanted to grab my attention.
My throat tightened, but I kept my face composed. I leaned back and reached toward him anyway, because I wasn’t made of stone, no matter what the world believed. I let my fingertips brush his hand, and he closed his tiny fingers around mine with that surprising strength babies had. Then I leaned farther, just enough to kiss the top of his hand.
“You don’t know what’s happening,” I whispered, so low that even the driver couldn’t hear it. “You only know you’re loved.”
His mouth lifted like he understood the word loved, even if he didn’t understand anything else. That small expression almost cracked me open, and I forced myself to sit upright again. I wouldn’t fall apart today because I wasn’t built for that. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it with dignity.
The rules had already been set. I had contacted Kashmere myself. I told her there would be no middle men on her behalf. She was going to meet me on the island where my people could control every angle, and she was going to follow every instruction, or she would not leave the island at all.
I had made that clear.
My message was direct and cold, and it was a language people understood when they knew they were dealing with me.
You will arrive alone.
You will not bring weapons.
You will not raise your voice.
You will not attempt to record anything.
You will not speak my family’s name to anyone after today.
If you try to set a trap, you will die.
That last line wasn’t a threat for drama. It was a boundary, and boundaries kept people alive when they were dealing with the Mensahs.
Treasure’s voice had been living in the back of my mind since our walk. She hadn’t tried to shame me, and she hadn’t begged me to do anything. She simply told me the truth, and she told it to me like a sister who wasn’t scared of my power.
You regret taking that baby…
At first, I told myself she didn’t understand what it felt like to watch your son bleed out and still have to keep your face calm while the world watched. I told myself she didn’t understand what it felt like to want to tear the sky open with your bare hands because your child was dying, but later that night, when the mansion was quiet, Treasure’s words came back again, and I couldn’t outrun them… Because she was right.
