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His eyes lingered on mine for a moment before a smile spread across his face.

“Naw, you’re fine. My little brother died a few years ago, and it sent my father into a deep depression. When I came home, I decided it was best to move him back to where he was born so he could be around family.”

“Came home? Where you in the army or something?” I quizzed. I blinked a couple of times because my vision felt blurry.

“Naw, nothing like that. Are you feeling okay?”

My body felt sluggish, and when I looked over at Antonio, he was smirking.

“W-What did you do to me?” My body went limp, and I almost fell over. Antonio caught me, but something told me he wasn’t something told me he knew exactly what was going on.

He lifted me into his arms, and everything faded to black.

THIRTY-ONE

solomon jackson

“These mothafuckas are playin’ with me,” I fumed as I sat there waiting to be released. They told me I would be let go when I got up in the morning, but several hours had gone by, and I still hadn’t been processed out. I was growing more and more anxious by the hour.

“Jackson. You’re free to go. Follow the guards, and they’ll escort you out.”

“Finally,” I mumbled.

They handed me my phone and the rest of my things and led me to the front door. I powered on my phone to call someone, but I saw Yaya’s car parked and headed towards it. We had talked earlier, and she told me she would be coming to pick me up. She sounded weird on the phone, but I tried to push it to the back of my mind.

“Hey, brother. I’m so happy you’re free.” Yaya greeted me and threw her arms around my neck. I didn’t think anything of it until I heard her sniffle.

“Damn, this baby has you all emotional and shit. You act like I was gone for a year.” I laughed to make light of everything.

She reclaimed her seat, but when she looked at me, my stomach dropped.

“What happened? Your eyes are puffy, and I know it’s not from me coming home.” I pressed.

“Solomon.” She closed her eyes and dropped her head. My heart rate sped up as I waited for her to tell me what was going on.

“I promised Messiah, I wouldn’t say anything until I got you to the house, but I—” Yaya began to sob, and it scared the shit out of me.

“Aye, let’s switch because I don’t think you’re in any condition to be driving.”

“I got out on the passenger side and came around to the driver’s side. Yaya was an emotional wreck, and there was no way she was fit to drive. I started the car and drove off because I didn’t want to linger around there any longer. It was obvious whatever she needed to say was important, but I decided to wait until we got to her house to find out what it was.

The moment I pulled into the driveway, I parked the car and hopped out. The driveway was packed with cars, and I wondered if someone had passed away while I was gone. Granny Lula was up there in age, but she was so full of life; I couldn’t imagine her being gone.

I tried to wait for Miyana, but she wasn’t walking fast enough. Under normal circumstances, I would have waited, but something was going on, and I needed to get to the bottom of it.

“We can’t wait around any longer. The longer we wait, the riskier it gets.” Messiah shouted.

“Alright, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for everyone to go. I think you, Dreaux, Free, and Jett should go first, and we can all trail behind if you need backup. We don’t know if anyone is watching, and we don’t want to alert them.”

I heard his Uncle Truth say. The moment I walked into the room, everyone went quiet.

“You know I don’t like small talk. Just give it to me straight.” I said as Messiah and I locked eyes. He was dressed in all black, with two rifles sitting on the table.

“They took her.”

“What did you say?”

Messiah dropped his head in defeat. I shook my head in disbelief because there was no way he was telling me what I thought he was.