"Aight," he said finally. "But if something's going on, you tell me. You understand? I need to know what's happening with my wife."
"I know," I said. "And I will. I promise."
But we both knew I was lying.
He left the office after that, I heard him making a call, telling the judge to check his email. I sat back down at my desk with my hands shaking.
Demontae Sullivan was alive. Demontae Sullivan was the enemy. Demontae Sullivan was Nari— I couldn’t even think the shit.
And I had no idea how I was going to tell my husband any of that.
I'd been walking circles around the bedroom for the past hour. In and out of the bathroom. To the window. Back to the bed. My mind was moving faster than my body could keep up with.
I had to tell him. I KNEW I had to tell him.
Kaseem was downstairs with Namier. They were handling business, talking about the judge situation, celebrating the fact that Zaire was about to be home. And I was up here losing my mind because I couldn't keep lying to this man.
He'd looked at me with so much pride earlier. When I showed him everything I'd pulled from the judge's computer. When I explained what Demontae had done. He'd kissed me like I wasthe smartest woman in the world. And the whole time, I was sitting there knowing that my past had walked directly into his present.
Demontae Sullivan was Brick Boyz.
Demontae Sullivan was the rat feeding information to the DA, and he was also someone I was connected to. That shit had to look bad when Kaseem found out. I needed to break everything to him now.
I knew that sooner or later, my secrets would be exposed whether I told him or not.
I decided right then. I was going to go downstairs. I was going to wait until Namier left. And I was going to sit my husband down and tell him everything. About my past life and past decisions. All of it.
He deserved to know. And maybe, just maybe, he'd understand that I'd been trapped and crossed by the people that I loved the most.
I took a deep breath and walked toward the door. I was about to do this now. I could only hope for the best.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I stared at it for a second, then answered because my gut was telling me something was wrong.
"Tattiana." My aunt's voice came through sharp and cold. "You need to get to my house right now. And I don't want to hear nothing about what you got going on. This is urgent. You need to get here NOW. Because some things need to get straightbetween us. And if you want me to keep holding for you like I've been holding, you better not make me wait long either."
The line went dead. She can’t keep doing this shit. It had been old, but now I was finally tired and over it.
This was my mother’s sister, the woman who use to be my favorite auntie when I was growing up. But now, she’d let greed and her triflin ways make me despise her ass.
My blood went ice cold, and in my mind, I’d made the decision to put an end to all of this tonight.
She knew something new, or she wanted something. Either way, she was threatening to expose me and that was the one thing I couldn't allow.
I ran downstairs without even thinking about what I was doing.
Kaseem was sitting on the couch with Namier, both of them looking relaxed for the first time in days. They were laughing about something, and Kaseem looked up at me with that smile that made me feel safe.
"Baby, I’ll be back and I need to talk to you later.” I said quickly, trying to keep my voice steady. "I need to make a run. It's important but I’ll be back soon."
Kaseem's expression shifted immediately. He could read me better than I could read myself lately.
"Where you going?" he asked, sitting up slightly.
"I'll be back," I said, kissing him quick before he could ask more questions. "Just wait up for me."
