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Miss Veda knew what that night meant to me. Hell, she was the only person who knew everything I had planned.

“Oh, yes. It is Halloween,” she murmured. “Six years.”

“Six long-ass fuckin’ years,” I confirmed.

She nodded before studying me more closely. “You ready?”

I exhaled. “Yeah.”

One of her eyebrows rose. “That doesn’t sound too convincing. Tell me, what’s bothering you?”

I turned toward the window.

The sun had started setting, and in a few hours, my mansion would be full of people, music, drinks, costumes, everybody laughing and having a good time without knowing the real reason they had been invited… especially certain mothafuckas.

“What if shit don’t go as planned?” I asked.

“What you mean?”

“What if the people I need here don’t show up?”

“They will.”

I shook my head. “And what if they do show up, but Lakelyn makes them leave? Miss Veda, you don’t know my woman.”

She chuckled. “I know enough. She’s a little firecracker.”

“Right. She already slapped the shit out of a nigga for talking about me. You think she about to let that nigga and his boys come party in my house?”

Miss Veda smiled. “That’s where I come in.”

I faced her. “How?”

“A little convincing spell.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “A convincing spell? I need details about that shit, because the last time I asked you for something, you started talking about spells and temporary bodies and all types of shit.”

She grinned. “And you enjoyed every damn minute of that temporary body, didn’t you?”

I smirked. “That’s beside the point.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I’m serious. What kind of spell?”

“One that encourages certain people to come where they’re supposed to be and keeps your woman from sending them away before you get the chance to do what you need to do.”

I nodded slowly. “Aight.”

Miss Veda started to turn away.

“Hold on.”

She looked back, almost irritated. “What now?”

“Only a convincing spell? None of that love shit.”

She waved me off with a smile. “Child, ain’t nobody trying to make that woman fall in love with nobody else besides you. Hell, I think even if I put a love spell on her, the shit wouldn’t work. That woman has loved your behind through six years of silence, unanswered questions, and not knowing whether you were dead, alive, or somewhere choosing not to come home. You don’t put a spell on love like that; you just stay out the way and let it be what it already is.”