"My father had dirt on your father," Kaseem said. "Real dirt. The kind of dirt that puts a man in prison for the rest of his life."
I felt my chest get tight.
"Your father didn't just have an affair," he said. "He killed the man. He killed his own business partner. The man who was married to Lashara. When your father’s partner found out about the affair and what was going on, your father made a choice. He decided to handle it permanently. When he killed that man, she was already pregnant with your father’s baby."
The room started spinning.
"My father has proof," Kaseem continued. "Evidence. Everything he needs to put your father away for murder. And your father knew that. So when my father approached him about this arrangement, your father didn't have a choice. Give us you, keep his secret buried, or go to prison and lose it all.”
I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe right.
"Your father chose you," Kaseem said. "He gave you to us so that his secret would stay safe. We needed political ties so that we could run legit businesses as well as have cover ups. Being married to you made sense. He did this so his other family wouldn't be affected. So your mother would never find out what he did."
I just stared at him.
"And I knew," he said. "When I came to get you. When I kidnapped you off that driveway. I knew exactly why your father let it happen. I knew what he'd done. My father told me everything."
"You knew?" My voice came out small. Broken. "You knew and you still... you still did this?"
I stood up. Started pacing. Tried to make sense of it all but my mind couldn't hold it together.
"So what?" I asked. "What does this mean? This marriage is just... what? Just a cover for blackmail?"
"No," Kaseem said, and his voice was firm. "This marriage started that way. But it stopped being about that when I met you. The moment I realized you were nothing like anybody I ever met.”
"How long have you known?" I asked. "About my father? About what he did?"
"When he agreed to the arrangement about six or seven months ago," Kaseem said. "My mother has known the whole time. So has my father. I just was the one who didn’t know.”
Everything was making sense now but in a way that destroyed me.
My father was a murderer. Kaseem's father was blackmailing him. My entire life was a lie. My marriage was built on a crime cover-up. And somehow, through all of this, Kaseem still wanted me. And he was all I wanted.
He got up, hugged me tight and whispered in my ear telling me that if he could fix this, he would.
I had this information about my father, too much to process. And I didn’t know what I was going to do with it. Not to mention that tomorrow, I had to marry this man while my head was somewhere completely different. As much as I wanted to run again, and try to leave, I realized that Kaseem was the only person in my life who was keeping it real with me.
Iwalked through the door laughing at my big brother like he'd lost his damn mind.
Mane was out here picking out rings like he was about to propose to the president's daughter or some shit. And not just doing what needed to be done. He was all in, talking about three carats and custom cuts and all this romantic bullshit.
He was the same nigga who used to tell me that love was a weakness. The same nigga who wouldn't let a bitch stay in his bed for more than two hours without forcing her to leave.
And now look at him.
Now he was planning a whole proposal dinner and all that extra shit. Had our chef preparing special meals and all that. I wasn’tmad at the fool. He was growing up, and I guess that was all part of being in position.
Every time I thought about the look on his face when he was talking about the ring, I'd shake my head. My big brother had fallen hard and he didn't even want to admit it out loud yet, but everybody could see it, even my mom saw it, and that’s why she was going so hard on the damn girl.
The way he looked at Tattiana. The way he moved different when she was around. The way he'd go out in the field, handle business, and then rush home just to be near her.
That nigga was in love and ain’t even know. The kind that made you do crazy things and not give a fuck who knew about it.
I got to my room and had to let out a long sigh after the day that I’d had. My phone was already buzzing on my nightstand but I didn't check it right away. I was too busy replaying the look on those niggas faces today when we popped up and popped they asses.
About three hours later, after I'd showered and was laying in bed just chilling, my phone buzzed again. This time it was a text from Kaseem with a phone number and a message: "Nyla number. Don’t do nothing stupid nigga.”
I looked at that number for a hot minute, thinking about what had happened at the compound when Nyla and River showed up. That moment when our eyes locked and everything else went quiet. That handshake that lasted too long. That feeling I couldn't shake.
