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“Who is Ghost?”

There was another pause.

“The nigga who shot my pops.”

I stopped breathing for a second as my eyes went back to the monitor. The man in that elevator had shot MJ’s father. The same man had followed me onto my floor.

“Your father?” I asked, even though I had heard him perfectly.

“Yeah.”

“You think he saw me at your house?”

“He had to.”

I closed my eyes. Suddenly I could see the entire night differently. The man hadn’t randomly ended up in my building. He hadn’t accidentally gotten off on my floor. And he hadn’t walked past my apartment because he was looking for somebody else. He had been watching me.

“MJ, what are you about to do?”

He exhaled.

“Penelope, I need you to stay with your daddy. That’s all I need you to do.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I gotta figure out why the fuck he followed you. You scared?”

The question caught me off guard. I looked at the frozen image again.

“Yes,” I admitted.

His voice softened.

“I got you.”

My eyes burned.

“You can’t say that and then go do something crazy.”

“I said I got you.”

Before I could respond, he continued.

“Stay with your daddy. Don’t go nowhere by yourself. I’ma call you back.”

The line disconnected. I slowly lowered the phone. Daddy had been watching me the entire time.

“Who is he?” he asked.

I swallowed.

“His name is Ghost. He shot MJ’s father.”

The warmth disappeared from Daddy’s face, and Marcus looked toward the monitor. Daddy stared at the image for a few seconds before turning to Marcus.

“I want everything.”

Marcus nodded.