Still nothing.
She reversed and circled the property one more time, her frustration evident even through the camera feed. I stood there watching her like I was watching my prey.
Then she parked the Tesla at the far end of the property where the fence was closest to the road. Where the security cameras had less coverage. Where she thought she couldn't be seen.
But I could see her.
And she was getting out of the car.
My hand was still holding the Demontae letter. My mind was still processing the impossibility of it all. Zuri's secret son. Kaseem's biological half-brother. The man Kaseem was supposed to be at war with.
Mallory was now standing at the fence, trying to figure out if she could climb it.
I called Kaseem’s phone again and this time he answered.
“I’ll talk to you when I get home Tattiana. I’m about to pick Zaire up. He’s being released in a few minutes. Now, ain’t the time.” he dismissed me.
“I’m happy for Zaire. But I’m calling to let you know, your whore Mallory is on the property trying to climb the gate. If she gets over it, I’m going to smoke this bitch. I’ll see you soon!” I said as I ended the call, and went to his safe. I didn’t know the combination, but I damn sure was about to figure it out.I knew he was still mad about what happened at my aunt’s house, but his ass didn’t need to be dry with me.
Today was just full of damn surprises.
Everything I'd kept hidden. Everything Zuri had kept hidden. Everything was about to collide.
I watched Mallory test the gate. Watched her pull at it. Watched her realize she couldn't climb it without getting caught on the barbed wire at the top.
She stood there for a moment, staring at the barrier between her and what she wanted.
Then she pulled out her phone again and made a call.
She was standing there, phone to her ear, staring at the compound like she was supposed to be here.
And I had no idea which bomb was going to explode first. What I did know was that this time, nobody would be able to keep me from fucking this bitch up for popping up to my shit. And yes, now, this was MY SHIT. I was already having a fucked up day and all I needed was a reason.
The paperwork was signed.
Every document, every motion, every piece of legal shit that had been holding my brother in a cage for all this time was finally processed and filed away. The judge kept his word, and he was a smart ass man to do so. The DA backed down like they should have from the beginning. Zaire was officially a free man and all we had to do now was wait for him to walk through those prison gates and back into the world that had been waiting on his release. This was the day I’d been working hard for since they tried to railroad my little brother. One thing I had never played about was my role as the oldest son. There was nothing that I wouldn’t do for Zaire and Namier. Even though sometimesthose niggas thought I did too much, or was too hard on them, everything I ever did was to protect them.
But I couldn't focus on that right now.
My mind kept going back to my wife's aunt's house. To whatever the hell that situation was that I walked in on. My mind was going back to Tatti's face when I asked about her having a daughter, to the way her entire body went still when she realized I'd heard everything from outside that front door. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it. I’d put her so high on a pedestal that I didn’t think she was capable of lying to me. I'd been standing there listening to her tell her aunt that she was going to take her own child, and when I stepped inside ready to handle that shit, she flipped the whole script and made me look like I was the muthafucka who was in the wrong. That was the shit that I couldn’t shake out my head. It made my chest hurt, on some shit.
She threatened to leave me, all cause I wanted to help her lying ass, when in actuality I should have been pissed off and ready to leave her secret keeping ass. See, Tatti was the type of woman that I’d always been scared of meeting. She had a nigga doing shit and putting up with shit that I wouldn’t do for no other muthafucka. I was used to not giving a fuck, but her ass had the power to really hurt and disappoint a nigga.
Although I overheard her telling her bitch ass aunt that she wasn’t giving her another dime and that she would take her own child. I guess she was bluffing. The feeling of her going against me, that shit ain’t feel good and I didn’t know how to describe it, but it made me feel a way. She was gonna have to explain and really make me understand what this woman was holding overher head to make her switch up on what she said she’d do in seconds like that.
The scared look on her face when I told Namier to just grab the kid, that let me know that there was some more heavier shit that she been hiding too. Her ass was genuinely scared to go against her aunt in that moment. Now, I’m eager to hear what she has to say. And the shit better be good, especially for how she played in my face today. Thinking about it had me damn near sick. How could she be sitting up in my face everyday, keeping secrets, when I’ve laid everything out about me. She knew every fucking thing! The good, the bad, and the ugly. But, that’s what I get for being a real ass nigga. I actually thought that I was supposed to keep it 100 with my wife and have no secrets. I guess I’m the fool around this bitch.
My wife had a whole human being that she'd been keeping hidden, while lying to me while I held her at night and we made plans about having our first child together. How the fuck could she have her first child with me, when she already had one? She made a real ass fool of me. That shit was fucked up on a level I couldn't even process right now, and the fact that she'd threatened to leave me too, that was adding another layer of betrayal that I wasn't ready to deal with.
I was pissed the fuck off right now. Not just angry—pissed in a way that made it hard to breathe, pissed in a way that made me want to break some shit or hurt somebody, and I had nowhere to put all that rage except deep inside my chest because right now, it wasn’t the time. Tonight was about my brother.
But damn.
I kept running my hand over my head as we stood outside the prison gates waiting on Zaire to come out. I was shifting my weight from one leg to the other, trying to think of my next move and what I'd say when I got home to Tatti, trying to figure out if there was even anything to say at this point because I wasn't sure if I knew the woman I'd married at all anymore. Hell, was the muthafucka name even Tattiana? I ain’t know what to think or believe.
"Kaseem."
My mother's voice pulled me out of my head.
