“Yeah. How could I forget?” she replied, but her tone remained careful.
I shook my head slowly. “It was him. He’s also the same person who threatened me the day I remembered when I met Booda.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re this scared. Was he after you just now?” Giani stepped back to the window, glancing out as if looking for a threat.
“No. I remembered what I did to him. That’s what scared me.” I leaned forward, lowering my voice, as if the walls could hear me. “Or at least part of it.”
Giani turned, her curiosity piqued. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t just know Rich,” I continued, forcing my expression to remain steady. “Me and Booda followed him to his home in Dallas, broke in, and tied him up. I remember him bleeding. Him begging. Then I remember pulling the trigger.”
Giani blinked at me, her mouth falling open in disbelief.
“I shot him. More than once. I thought I killed him.” I looked down at the gun resting on my lap. “I left him there to die.”
“Koko…” she whispered, the concern in her voice heightening.
“But he lived.” I laughed again. “That nigga lived, and now he’s hunting me.”
“Are you sure your memory isn’t mixing things up?” she asked quickly, concern blossoming in her eyes. “You’ve been remembering stuff in pieces. Maybe it didn’t happen the way you think.”
“No,” I shook my head, my tone firm. “I know what I saw, and that’s what happened. I’m sure of that.”
The image surged through my mind again—Rich choking on his own blood, his body jerking against the floor, the gun kicking in my hand every time I fired.
“What I couldn’t remember was why I would do something like that.” I went still, my expression hardening into stone. “You wanna know what’s funny?”
“What?”
“I probably still wouldn’t have known had I not been fucking up shit around the city. I had to get him before he got me. I didn’t get a second chance in life only for me to let a muthafucka like Rich take me out.”
“What do you mean you’ve been fucking shit up around the city?”
“Just what I said,” I replied with a smile as I crossed one leg over the other and leaned back against the sofa pillows. “I’ve done a few things.”
“Such as?” Her voice quivered as she asked.
“Such as, the night I left your little celebration, I chased a man on the highway until he crashed. Unfortunately for him, his girlfriend died in the wreck. But… fortunately, he lived. God had to be on my side that night,” I said with a shake of my head. “Because if not, I wouldn’t have learned the few things I did before I killed him.”
Giani’s lips parted slightly.
“You killed him?” she whispered, tears clouding her vision.
“I killed a few people,” I corrected calmly. “Or at least I think I did. Some of this shit’s still blurry.”
The color started draining from her face.
I noticed and smiled wider.
“The crazy part is I don’t even feel bad about it,” I admitted, rubbing my thumb along the side of the gun. “That’s what’s been fucking with me the most. I thought remembering my past would make me feel human again, but all it did was remind me that I’ve always been capable of.”
“Koko…” Giani laughed nervously. “Maybe you should calm down before you say too much.”
“Too much?” I tilted my head. “Girl, I haven’t even started.”
She shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
“I found out Rich wasn’t the only person looking for me either.” My eyes stayed locked on hers. “Everybody connected to that night started surfacing one by one after I grabbed that man from the wreck.”
