Page 18 of Forced Matrimony With An Unhinged Menace 4

But it was her.

Tatti.

My own brother, the same nigga I was now at war with, had married the one girl who ever made me feel something real in my fucked up life. The girl I had to leave behind all them years ago cause I knew, even back then, young as I was, that she would’ve been my downfall if I let myself stick around.

The girl I forced myself to forget. I buried memories of her ass so deep I ain’t let myself think about her name in years. It was to the point that I eventually forgot all about her, and now here she was, staring back at me from my enemy’s wedding picture. She married into the exact family that was trying to end my ass. And the same family that I didn’t know I belonged to until today.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Everything in this whole situation had just gotten even more fucked up, and I didn’t even know yet if that photo was about to be the thing that finally made a nigga snap.

I had it all worked out in my head as I drove down that highway.

I was gonna pull up to Tatti’s aunt house, back in the same city I grew up in, the same streets that raised me and broke me before I left for good. I’d find a way to get Tatti out there to her aunts place, and make my move then. I was gonna use whoever I needed to use to make it happen.

I knew exactly how to get to her. I remembered how much she loved her aunt and how close they were all those years back. I knew the exact buttons to push. I knew the people around her who’d fold under enough pressure. This whole night had already gone off track so hard, one more wild move wasn’t about to change the trajectory of nothing.

My phone rang while I was still on that highway.

It was a call from Nisha’s phone.

I answered it fast, figuring it was Kaseem again, calling from her line the same way he’d called from Brit’s phone. This nigga had to be trying to rattle me one more time before all this shit came to a head. This whole ride, I had to convince myself not to think about my pregnant girl. The thought of them taking out both of my kids mothers in the same day, this shit would make me lose my mind.

“Yeah, bitch?” I answered, my voice already hard, already ready for whatever threat was about to come through that speaker.

“Bitch? Nigga, you done lost yo damn mind.” Nisha’s voice snapped back at me, sharp and annoyed. “I missed your call cause I was taking a nap at my aunt’s house. I’m about to head home now.”

My whole body froze up for a second. My mind prepared itself for the bad news of my girl being dead. Hell, I had picture proof that these niggas were outside of her house hours ago. I expected nothing but the worse.

“Wait, Nisha,” I said, forcing myself to slow down, to think straight. “I’m sorry, baby. I thought you was somebody else. You not at home right now? When’s the last time you been there today?”

“Who else could I have been, Demon?” she snapped. “Yo dusty ass baby momma that you won’t stop fuckin? And I ain’t been home since around seven this morning. I been over here doing laundry since my dryer went out and they can’t send nobody to fix it till Tuesday. You forgot already?”

I exhaled hard, part of me wanting to curse her out for that weak ass attitude, but I knew better than to lose my head right now.

“Listen to me,” I said. “Stay right there at your aunt’s house. Don’t go home tonight. Matter fact, don’t go home till I tell you it’s cool to.”

“Nah, that’s not happening,” she said, getting an attitude right back. “I’m exhausted and I need to wash my ass. I’m finna leave here in a minute. Unless you got a real good reason for me not to.”

“The reason,” I said, my voice dropping cold and dead serious, “is that it’s niggas out here that want me dead, and they was just outside yo house not too long ago. You smart mouth muthafucka! I thought they’d already got to yo ass when I tried calling and you ain’t answer. So you can be a fool and not listen to me if you want to. And keep talking slick, bet you gone end up a dead bitch, and I ain’t paying for no funeral behind yo hardheaded ass. Sit the fuck down and don’t move.” I barked at her.

“Wait, what?” Her whole tone shifted instantly. “Okay, damn. Ima stay put, but—”

I hung up before she could finish, tossing that phone into the passenger seat, and kept driving.

Two hours later, I was pulling up outside Tatti’s aunt house, and it looked exactly the way I remembered it. Same porch. Same faded paint on the old house. Same crack running down the side of that driveway that had probably been there since before I even knew this family existed. Hell, before they even moved into this house.

Seeing it brought back all kind of memories, good and bad, mixed up together. I’d vowed years ago I’d never come back this direction again, especially not after everything I’d gotten away with the last time I stood on this same street.

But here I was, driving right back into it, no plan at all, just the raw understanding that I needed to threaten somebody in this family with my gun and make them do exactly what the fuck I said so that I could get Tatti out here on some kind of emergency excuse.

I looked around the block twice before I got out that car, checking for anything that looked off, any sign somebody had followed me or was already watching.

Once I made it up to that door, I made sure my gun was tucked and concealed at my waist, and I put on a fake ass smile that ain’t have nothing real behind it before I knocked on the door a few times.

After a couple minutes, that door came open.

It was a little girl standing there. She looked to be around eight years old.