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“Just remember the little people when you’re all famous.”

“You will never be little to me. You really are the reason I didn’t lose my mind, Aubrey. You wrote to me in prison. You put money on my books. When I got out, you helped me with employment. I really can’t thank you enough,” I said.

“Girl, stop.” Tears pooled at the bottom of her eyes. Seeing her cry turned my internal faucet on.

“We cannot be in here crying together,” I laughed.

“I know, right? But I’m just so happy for you. You’ve been through so much. That man tried to break you but here you are. Living lavishly with a new baby on the way. And a new book.” She winked.

“I just wish Golden was here for it. I wish she could’ve lived to see her mother get stronger. Lived to laugh and play and one day go to prom. I miss her so much.” The dam had broken and my face was flooded with salty tears.

Aubrey extended her arms and brought me in for a hug. “I know, but she’s here with us right now. She’s always here with us,” she replied.

When we broke apart, I got up to get some tissues to wipe my eyes. I handed her some as well.

“Do you want something to drink? I don’t have any alcohol but we can order you something,” I offered.

“Nah, water will do. I’m on Ozempic and liquor makes me feel terrible.”

I poured us both glasses of water and just then my phone vibrated.

There was a Google Alert that mentioned Roman Harlow’s name. I had been following the alert ever since he went “missing.”

The headline read, “Real Estate Developers Murdered by Mob.”

A wave of relief washed over me. After some digging, Justice and his brothers found out that Julian and Roman owed money to the mob to the tune of millions. These guys had been hounding them for the past six months.

When Justice realized this, it gave him his perfect way to stage the bodies. He set a fire in a Baltimore warehouse that was mob territory. Their bodies burned so badly that there was nothing left but bone.

With the bodies available and a death confirmed, my sister could file for insurance. That bitch didn’t deserve it, but making her suffer wouldn’t bring my daughter or my parents back. You can’t win them all. I had Keenan now, and that’s all that mattered.

I went back to my best friend, who was drinking water and scrolling her phone. When I sat back down, we talked some more about my book and potential crimes to follow for future books.

It was done. The only thing left was to get rid of Storie. Justice promised this weekend would be the weekend.

53

Storie

Ahead of me was Melody’s son Keenan. He was walking a few students ahead of me to get to class. He knew my father but he never said a word to me. In fact, whenever I came around he left the room.

Coward. Bitch ass nigga. What’s he afraid of a little girl for?

Melody probably warned him to stay away from me. Even worse, Justice probably told him to stay away from me.

It pissed me off that he wouldn’t look me in the eye. I wanted to retaliate but I had to stuff those burning urges deep inside my chest.

It would be such a shame if Melody were to lose another child. I might just make that happen. It would be better to kill Justice and then her son, leaving her all alone once again. If I could frame her for it, it would be a bonus. Send her stupid man-stealing ass back to prison.

Today, I’ll talk to my real father all about it. We’ve been emailing back and forth. I can only message him on my secret phone because I’m sure Justice is watching me like a hawk.

Stupid kids bumped into me on the way to class. If this was any other day, I’d be making a list to decide how to deal with them but I was too happy. I was over the moon excited about meeting my real father.

Finally, there would be someone in my life who I could relate to. Someone who could understand and know me.

I kept walking when I reached my classroom. Everybody else filed inside, but I wasn’t sitting through another lesson while my real father was waiting to meet me.

Justice’s driver would be there after school. If I waited until then, I’d have somebody watching where I went and reporting everything back to him. I skipped class and left early instead. He could be mad about it later.