Beacon Grove Chronicles #1: Hassan & Sylvia

Sylvia

MY GRANDDADDY ALWAYS taught me to let no one play you for a fool.

My grandmama’s best advice was to believe people the first time.

Despite all the knowledge that was running through my bloodline, I’d done the opposite.

I’d been dumb enough to fall in love with the wrong man at an early age and let him drag me down.

I thought the emotional strain was a lot, the cheating just about gutted me.

But this? This right here was downright disrespectful.

I played the video back again trying to silence the rage that was building inside of me but I knew it was futile.

It took a lot for me to get angry. Months of suspicion had culminated in proof.

But to see it in living color this way made something snap in me.

I needed to purge it just like I was going to have to purge this nigga from my house and my life.

As calmly as I could, I toggled out of the email that had the video attached and hit the first picture in my favorite’s contact. Damn shame that spot was reserved for the person I could count on most and it wasn’t my husband of over twelve years.

“Hey, Sylvie.” The brightness in his tone was a testament to the joy he felt at hearing my voice. Something that the men in my family had always given me but my husband hadn’t lately. That realization was enough to break me.

“Daddy—” My voice cracked and I could hear him shuffling around in the background immediately. I looked around my office knowing this might be the last time I see this place from this side of my desk.

“Where and when baby? I told you when you married that nigga that all you had to say was where and when.”

The vehemence in his voice brought a smile to my face. I knew if anyone would look out for me it was my daddy. It was a shame I needed it as grown as I was. I tucked my pain away as I let my anger give me the strength to continue on with my mission.

“I need the locks changed at the house, but don’t change them until you see him leave.” I wiped the tear that had fallen happy that my daddy wasn’t asking me any questions. My voice came out steadier than expected and I was proud that I was able to hold it together.

I’d seen my husband pull up to our shared home an hour before and I’d wondered why the hell he was already home.

Instead of doing something productive, or even romantic since it was Valentine’s Day, he was lying around the house just lounging.

It irritated me even more than normal that he just seemed so checked out on us.

Maybe it was my ancestors letting me know that our time was coming to an end for real this time and giving him a second chance wasn’t in the cards.

“Is this temporary or is it permanent?”

I couldn’t be angry at the question because I made the mistake of telling my family when Dave cheated.

I didn’t have blinders on to the problems in our relationship but I thought they were just the normal ebbs and flows of marriage.

But a trip to my GYN that resulted in an irregular Pap smear and a positive test for chlamydia last fall meant I needed their support.

They were ready to fuck him up then but I’d agreed to take him back.

I don’t know if I was trying to save face or not look like a failure but I shouldn’t have wasted my time.

“Permanent. Very permanent.” I didn’t hesitate to tell my daddy what was on my mind because there was no coming back from this.

“He didn’t put his hands on you did he?” My daddy’s voice had gotten darker and I knew he was already plotting on revenge that was rightfully mine.

He might have been an attorney and now a judge but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a southern man.

Our town of Beacon Grove had needed to organize and protect itself from threats so every family here had what could be considered an arsenal in their homes.

“I’d be calling you to help dissolve a body, not change my locks.”

He chuckled but he also knew I was being completely serious. “My girl. Close up the office for the day. Hell, the rest of the week. I’m sure your brothers will understand.”

And that was a whole other issue I was going to have to deal with.

My brothers, all four of them, were going to drag Dave’s ass from hither to yon and for the first time in our life together I wasn’t going to interfere.

I’d saved him from that fate ten times too many and that was why he felt like he could play me the way he had.

That should’ve been enough for me to be mad but then the video came through from a random email and I almost deleted it. If it wasn’t for the words SYLVIA WATCH THIS and my spirit not being able to let me delete the email, I would’ve never known what was going on in my life.

It was ridiculous how a complete stranger had come into my life and fucked it up.

I wasn’t even going to be angry about it because they were doing me a favor.

All the times I’d turned a blind eye to what I suspected was going on.

It had come to a head when Dave brought me home some shit and even still I had tried to work things out because of my kids.

But now? Now this was something I couldn’t ignore.

“Thank you, daddy. I won’t raise too much hell.”

“If you don’t I’m finna cut you out my will. Get that shit off your chest and walk away with your head held high, Sylvie.”

I nodded and allowed his words to fuel me despite the way they were tugging at my heart. We got off the phone to let my father start laying the groundwork for my new life while I closed the chapter on this one.

I stood up as the video of my husband fucking a bitch that he’d brought over to our home continued to play in my mind.

They had gotten caught at the school they both worked at.

The school our daughter currently attended.

I couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to not only fuck where he made his money, but to do it in an area that surely had cameras.

I can’t believe I procreated with a dumb ass.

My husband had to be part of the reason kids were getting dumber because the blind was clearly teaching the blind.

As a man, he should’ve known that he could be brought up on severe charges for getting caught fucking at an elementary school.

As a husband, he should’ve known better and kept his fucking dick in his pants.

All his promises about going to therapy and being better were nothing but lies.

It wasn’t like I believed them to begin with but damn, at least fake it for longer than a few weeks.

It had been months since we’d slept together because I no longer trusted him.

He hadn’t taken the necessary steps to right his wrongs and judging by the timestamp on this video being just a few days ago, he’d never planned to.

I closed my laptop ready to do exactly like my daddy said and shut down the office.

I grabbed my gym bag thankful that I had my workout clothes with me.

I worked as a paralegal in my family’s law firm and I was the only one here.

My brothers were working remotely and I was only here to finish some research.

My office had a bathroom because despite not being a lawyer my family never played that only a paralegal shit.

I snatched out of my business clothes as quickly as possible and changed with the determination of a woman who might end up in jail tonight.

Like daddy or grandaddy would let that happen.

I shoved my clothes into my gym bag before I raced out of the bathroom.

We didn’t have any clients for the rest of the day and walk-ins knew how to get in contact with the family.

I locked up the office and hit the locks on my blue SUV that was parked right in front of the building.

Downtown Beacon Grove was filled with old brick storefronts that were holdovers from decades ago.

The building we worked in was the same storefront our family worked out of for generations.

Our great-great-grandfather was a farmer but he worked hard to put my great grandfather through school.

That farmer was the one who’d purchased this building and we’d proudly operated out of it since then.

“Don’t go over there acting crazy, Sylvie.”

I cranked up my car trying to give myself a pep talk to be rational.

Which was ridiculous because I hadn’t done all this prep work to be calm.

I glanced in the passenger seat and saw my Timbs sitting there from where I’d changed out of them over the weekend.

That seemed to be a sign that destruction was the way to go and I changed out of my sneakers and into my boots.

I reached into the center console and took out the petroleum jelly I kept there so my kids weren’t ashy.

I rubbed some on my face and I felt like I was battle ready.

I was going to fuck shit up and I needed to get to the school before the kids were let out for the day.

I glanced at the clock and realized I had a good thirty minutes before the bell rang so I didn’t have to rush. I did anyway.

The school was only about ten miles from the center of town and I was there within eight minutes.

I’d broken every traffic law to get here because I didn’t know where that bitch lived and I was going to get my lick back.

It wasn’t about fighting over Dave, it was the fact that she’d sat in my home and eaten my food knowing she was fucking my husband.

That type of disrespect wasn’t about to be tolerated.