“I can’t wait, but your ass is gonna die for that disrespectful shit you said to me. It might not be me who pulls the trigger, but ya bitch ass is gon’ die, and it will be indirectly by my hands,” I promise.
“Get his ass out of here,” Priest orders two prospects who snatch him up from the floor.
“Where are you going?” Priest asks as I saunter toward the door.
“I’m about to bounce,” I reply snippily.
“Chill for a minute. Where are we on the investigation, Digger?” he asks.
“We found the campaign manager, the chief of staff, and his mistress.”
“Is everything in play the way that I set it up?” Priest asks.
Digger nods and looks at me. “Yeah. It’ll be released tonight at midnight.”
Priest turns to me. “Don’t do anything stupid, because you’ve got too much at stake. We’re too close to bringing this baby home for you to fuck up now. It’s your job to secure a future and good legacy for your son. Do what your father could not do.”
“A’ight. Can I leave now?” I ask angrily.
“Yeah. Rage, Ox, Knuckles, Crypt, and Chainz, I need you to ride out with Chaos. That nigga knew too much about Chaos’s link to Charisma. Make sure Chaos is not followed, watched, or assaulted.”
“Let’s roll,” Rage orders.
We all head out together, with Rage taking the lead, Ox riding beside me, Chainz and Knuckles behind me, and Crypt pulling up the rear.
“What’s wrong?” Charisma asks as I step into the apartment.
I tell her everything that happened, and I hate the spooked look on her face.
“Don’t be looking fucking scared. You know I got you.”
“Why do you even care, Chaos?”
“Because.”
“Because isn’t an answer.”
I find it hard to confess my feelings about her. Why can’t she just accept what I’m saying?
I lock my keys away and remove my boots. “It’ll have to be an answer tonight.”
“When you finally mature enough to let go of the past, acknowledge your true feelings about everything, and forgive yourself, then you might find healing. Until then, you won’t be any good for anyone, including our son.”
Her words anger me, but they sink in. I watch as she walks away, but I blow out a breath and jump up, running after her.
“I’m good for our son. Don’t you ever doubt or question that, you feel me?”
“No, you’re not. Look at you, you’re broken. You’re no good for him, and you’re only gonna hurt him the way your daddy hurt you.”
Her words sting, but I know that she is telling the truth.
“So, maybe you’re right, but don’t you think you’ve been hurting him all along? You’re just like me, locked in the past, in a world of hurt and pain your mother caused you and that I compounded when I walked out without an explanation.”
She walks away from me and runs up the stairs with me right behind her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she argues when we reach the bedroom.
“Yes, I do. Your pain might be different than mine, but it’s no less impactful. Someone you trusted and who you were close to broke you, and the same with me. You’re hurting our son because you carry around unresolved hurt. You shut yourself off because you’re afraid that no man can love you, the way your mother said.
“You’re afraid that all you have to offer a man is your body, and you are so much more. Until you realize that, and that sex doesn’t mean that you’re just doing it because you have nothing else to offer, you will never be healed. You cannot give any man a complete family, because you’re too busy running from the truth.
