She looked me dead in my face.
"Until my dying day," she said flat. "I've been protecting you. Keeping your secrets. Stepping up more than any other auntie would. You gonna pay me like you weigh. You had a choice back then. You always had a choice. And you chose wrong. I'm protecting you, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you'll stop asking me about money. You should know by now, this is how it's gonna be."
The room went quiet.
"I'm not a kid anymore," I said slowly. "And I'm thinking maybe I should just deal with my consequences. Life happens. Mistakes happen. Maybe I'm ready to own up to everything."
She laughed and it was harder and louder this time.
Then she stood up and got in my face. Spoke through clenched teeth.
"It ain't that easy, baby girl," she said. "If you think you're gonna fuck up what we got going on and this money rolling in, they'll be looking for your ass on the 10 o'clock news. You understand me?"
I nodded because I did understand. I understood perfectly. I knew exactly what I had to do now, and it wasn’t going to be to keep letting this bitch extort me.
As soon as Sam saw the tension, he burst through the front door.
"You good?" he asked me.
I looked down at my aunt.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm good."
Then I looked back at her.
"You gonna be seeing me again real soon," I said. "And it ain't gonna be to make no payment."
---
I left that house shaking. Angry. My hands were literally trembling.
My past was about to catch up with me. I could feel it coming. And I wanted to deal with it head on. I wanted to own it.
But first, I needed to talk to my father.
I gave the driver his office address. He was at work right now and I needed my daddy. I needed to vent and maybe even come clean to him first. This is the longest I had ever went without talking to him, he was my best friend up until the day that he gave me away to Kaseem. While I had a little taste of freedom, I was going to go and see if he could fix everything for me.
Two and a half hours later, I pulled up to his building.
I walked past his receptionist April without stopping. She tried to say something and keep me from going into his office, but I was already moving. Today had been fucked up and I needed his wisdom and hoped he’d apologize and maybe he’d really tell me why he’d given me away to this crazy ass Carter family.
When I walked into his office, I saw him.
With Lashara on his lap. She was kissing him and rubbing on him like this was a normal thing for them two.
And a little girl was in the corner coloring. She looked to be around four years old.
When my eyes locked on her, I realized she looked just like my father. I remembered Lashara being pregnant years ago, but I never saw her or the baby after everything happened.
Lashara and my father froze. Looking like deer caught in headlights. He pushed her off of him, and he jumped up to come to me.
"Baby, let me explain," my father started.
But I couldn't hear him. My ears were ringing. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was gonna come out my chest.
My father was cheating on my mother. Had a whole baby. And this woman, Lashara — was his business partner's wife.
His business partner Ali. The one who was brutally murdered four and a half years ago. Why would he do that?
