Capri 3

4. Capri

capri

. . .

I sat on the porch and stared into thin air, not knowing if I was coming or going these days. Anytime I thought about the horror that went down in that house, I got chills and couldn’t think straight. I was able to push things to the back of my mind and pretend it never happened, because I had always been good at pretending things weren’t what they seemed. It was one thing for me to do it, and another thing to have Blair involved in this. She caught a body – for me.

Blair protected me when she didn’t have to, and I would forever be grateful for her. I felt guilty putting my friends in the middle of my shit, and neither of them seemed to mind. Why the fuck would Jesse invite us over to do something to us? All I kept thinking about was how she kept texting asking for just us to get together.

Had I went ahead and gone alone, who knew what would have happened to me? The only reason I went was because Zoya and Blair told me that she invited them, too. Core told me they cleared the board with everyone’s picture, and Core went through all the devices in the house before destroying them.

Since there weren’t any human remains found in the house, investigators were scrambling to figure out what was going on, and if Jesse and David were even home when the fire happened. Alaia pulled into the driveway, and she and Erin got out.

Nine times out of ten they went shopping. I was working from home today since I didn’t have court. When they noticed me, they quickly abandoned whatever plan they had and crossed the street.

“Hey Pri… you alright?” Erin asked, as she hugged and kissed my forehead.

Alaia followed behind her, before sitting down beside me. “You alright?”

“I’m just thinking about everything that is going on within our family… so fucking much.” I sighed and closed my laptop.

“I’m just thankful that you, Aimee, and Rory are alright. I can’t believe she invited you over to try and hurt you…. had I gone, I would have shot that bitch right in her head.” Alaia rolled her eyes, pissed that someone would ever try to harm me.

Me and Erin both looked at Alaia. “Yeah, you just as crazy as your damn husband… he rubbing the fuck off on you.”

Alaia shrugged. “My baby just taught me how not to be defenseless anymore… got tired of always depending on him to protect me, now I can protect him, too.”

Alaia and Erin were hood ass bitches disguised as couponing serial shoppers. When you saw them, you assumed they were housewives and moms, but in that diaper bag they were always packing. Alaia handled a Desert Eagle better than me these days.

“Me and Jesse weren’t best friends, but we were friends… I know she was selfish and had her shit with her, but to line me up the way she tried to hurts me.”

“Blair stabbing her in the head really surprised me… my girl ain’t as innocent as we thought.”

Erin shuttered at the thought of a knife in Jesse’s head. “Jesse was never a friend, babe. She was the friend that kept you around to make herself feel better. I love you, Capri, but you always have blinders on when it comes to having friends. Remember Ella and Tasha?” she rolled her eyes. “Those bitches weren’t friends either.”

“I don’t even know the whole situation with them both, but it’s always gonna be fuck them.” Alaia rolled her eyes. “Even though we’re married to your brothers, we love you and we’re more than friends… sisters.”

I smiled at them. “The best sisters someone could ask for.”

Since the first time I met Erin, she had always been adamant on me knowing that she was my friend, and it had nothing to do with Capone. She had always stood ten toes behind me as a friend, never mixing the lines of her marriage to my brother and friendship to me. Then Alaia came into the mix, and with the two of them they restored my faith when it came to having genuine friendships.

“We’re family now, but Blair and Zoya have proven that they are down for you, too. I don’t know too many people who would do what Blair did… you have a sisterhood around you now.”

“What about Aimee?”

Erin looked over at my parents’ house. “Mommy said she’s in that room all the time, never wanting to come out.”

“She’s embarrassed.” Alaia shrugged.

“We should go over there and talk to her.” I stood up and held my laptop in my arm, as I looked at them.

“Now?” Alaia asked.

“Yes… we need to talk to her. Especially coming from the two of you, who married into the family. Coming from me ain’t gonna mean much.”

Erin snorted. “Aimee worships the ground you walk on… she thinks you’re the coolest thing walking since Capone Delgato,” she fanned herself.

“Or Cappadonna Delgato… that man,” Alaia held the edge of her hijab and fanned herself.

I always worried about my brothers finding the right women who would love them beyond who they were in the streets and what was in their bank accounts. Alaia and Erin loved the hell out of my brothers, and they took care of my brothers just like my brothers took care of them.

“Pipe it the fuck down both of you.” I laughed, as I watched Meer’s truck pull into the driveway.

All of a sudden, all the drool accumulated in my mouth as I watched him jump out the truck wearing his bike week tank top, his tatted arms exposed, and his hair held back with his lucky rubber band. I saw the PetSmart bags he was grabbing out the back and shook my head.

He then returned to the driver’s side and picked up the little cotton ball of a puppy. I still didn’t know where this man got a damn dog from, and from the way Peach loved this dog, I knew she wasn’t going away.

I never saw myself having a dog, and now we were about to have a baby and a damn dog at the same time. “Ladies… what up?” He headed straight for me and held Beretta in my face. “Look at Mommy looking so damn fine.”

“Quameer, move that damn dog out of my face,” I rolled my eyes, smiling in the process because he kissed me on the lips, pulling my bottom lip with his teeth.

Erin snorted. “You talking about us and you both freakier than I don’t know what.”

Quameer turned around and flashed his ring in Erin’s face. “I’m a married man, Erin… respect that.”

Erin slapped his hand out of her face. “Quameer… get your damn hand out of my face,” she laughed.

Quameer was proud to be a husband. I always used to laugh when Capone and Cappadonna would gloat about being married and wonder how it would feel to have a man feel so proud that he screamed he was married from the hill tops. Now, I had a husband who didn’t hesitate to whip his damn ring out and show that he belonged to me.

“Where did you even get that damn dog from?”

“Say hey to your auntie, Beretta,” he shoved her in Alaia’s face, who folded and took her into her arms.

“She’s so cute and small… will she get any bigger?”

“The vet says she may get a little bit bigger, but nothing too crazy. I went and got her a few things… look at this biker vest I got her.”

“Meer, are you serious?”

“Dead fucking serious… Beretta a fucking Inferno, too… everybody up under that roof except for Gams is an Inferno… and she honorary.”

“She’s so good,” Erin said as she took her from Alaia.

Beretta sat in their arms like she knew she was the shit, and that was how she acted. Whenever Quameer came around, she was at his feet and listened to him. “Alright, Baby, we’re going to talk to Aimee.”

“Oh, lil’ dummy.”

“Meer!” I pinched him.

“The fuck you want me to say, Sug? She was dumb as shit for the way she moved… I wish one of you would ever do some shit like that having husbands that will lay everything out behind y’all.”

“How the hell did this turn into a lecture with us?” Alaia laughed.

Quameer grabbed me close to him and kissed me before grabbing Beretta and going into the house. We headed over toward my parents’ house and I hit the code and let us into the house.

“Mommy? Daddy?” I called out to them, and it was quiet.

Rory was over Erin’s house, so I knew he wasn’t here. I heard a door creak and slippers across the wooden floors. My mother came around the corner, her shirt all twisted and her lipstick smeared.

“Princess, what…what are you girls doing here?” she stammered, once she realized that it was all three of us.

I wanted to burn my eyeballs while both Alaia and Erin were tickled. Stevie Wonder could see what was happening before we came over. “To what do we owe this visit, Loves?”

My father came around the corner looking calm and cool, as if he wasn’t turning my mama every way but loose. “That is my mother, Daddy!” I shrieked, wanting to rip my hair out because of the way my mother was looking at her husband.

“She was my wife before your mama,” he kissed her temple. “I’m gonna go finish watching TV in the front room.”

He kissed us all on our heads and continued on like we hadn’t interrupted something between them. “Why didn’t you ring the bell like a normal person, Capri?”

“Cause she assumed her parents wasn’t still getting it on,” Erin muttered, clearly tickled by all of what was going on. “They don’t have four kids from playing spades.”

I ignored my sister and looked at my mother. “Aimee here?”

She sighed, fixing her shirt. “In that room… she only comes out when Rory is here. It’s like she’s scared to be his mother now… sad situation.”

“I don’t understand why she didn’t tell Capella,” Erin replied.

My mother shrugged. “As women, we all react differently to things. While you three wouldn’t hesitate to tell your husbands something, Aimee isn’t there. I’m angry with her for putting Rory in that situation… that should have never happened. I also understand that she doesn’t have anyone.”

“Bullshit,” Erin rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Mommy, but she has someone. She has us, and we’ve been here. I know we’re not perfect and shit happens, but we’ve all been here. Capp more than anything has softened on her and protects her. You can tell how much he cares about her because she’s still alive. Aimee should have come to someone, and she hid it… no sympathy from me.”

“Well, damn,” Alaia laughed.

I ignored both my sisters and went upstairs to the guest room where she had been staying. As I walked down the hall, I bypassed my high school graduation picture and smiled. It seemed like a lifetime ago that I was in high school and had the entire world in my hands. I remember crying the morning of my graduation when Cappy called me.

Cappy had been strong during his entire bid, even being stronger than all of us, and he was the one in prison. That morning, I heard the emotion in his voice as he spoke life into me and told me how proud he was of me.

Whenever I saw my brother living his life, loving on his wife, and not behind that wall, my heart swelled. That was the reason I was going so hard and would do whatever to keep him and Capone from going to prison.

Tapping lightly on the door, I waited until I heard her giving me permission to open the door. When I didn’t hear it, I knocked louder this time and still nothing. I respected everyone’s privacy, but I didn’t have much patience when it came to Aimee and her dramatics today.

When I opened the door, she was sitting in the window seat with headphones on, on her laptop. She turned and saw me, removing the headphones from her ears. “Were you knocking?”

“Um, yeah.” I sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling my feet under me. “Aim, what is really going on? You cannot hide out in this room for the rest of your life.”

“I don’t plan on doing that… trying to find an apartment that I can afford, and then I will be out of everyone’s hair.”

I remember when I was as dramatic as Aimee was. Always feeling like the world was against me, and always feeling like I had to hide or protect myself. “With what job, Aimee? The internship with Morgan isn’t paid, so where are you getting money from?”

“Landon said he could put me onto a few things which will help me out for a few months. I don’t know what my plan is, but you guys are Capella’s family, and I don’t want to feel like I’m freeloading anymore.”

“Aimee?”

“Hmm?”

“Shut the fuck up, please.” My patience for her little survivor and victim shit was wearing thin, and I was tired of hearing her act like this family didn’t love her or consider her to be just as much family as Capella.

She turned to look at me shocked by my choice of words. “I’m tired of not being able to do anything right… I’m a fuck up. Rory is better off without me, Capri… I could have got us both killed.”

“You fucked up, Aimee. It was stupid… very fucking stupid to think you could handle this without getting Capella involved. Even if you didn’t want him to know, Cappy would have helped you. Wasn’t he the one who first found out what Ace did to you? He never said anything then, so why would you think he would now? This could have fucking ended badly for you and Rory.”

“I know, Capri,” she hung her head.

“Yeah, you need to fucking know because I don’t know why the fuck you would do something like this. It’s not even about the money, there’s more where that came from… it’s the fact you allowed that man near you. Anything could have fucking happened to you. I’ve never been the kind of woman that walks around and thinks everyone is jealous of me, but they are. The names that I have attached to me… Delgato and now Inferno, everyone wants that name. They hate what those two names mean. A jealous nigga is a dangerous nigga.”

She shrugged her shoulders and loosened her sweatshirt. “Cappadonna and Capella hate me.” I saw the red marks around her neck. “He tried to choke the hell out of me and won’t even speak to me. The look in his eyes, Pri… that man hates me.”

I examined her neck and shook my head because now I had to get into my nephew’s ass. “If Cappadonna Delgato hated you, you wouldn’t even be able to feel the hate because you would be dead.”

She gulped.

“He’s fucking disappointed in you. It’s really giving that you wanna remain the victim and I don’t like that for you. This family has been here, and you keep giving us your ass to kiss.”

Aimee looked at me with tears streaming down her face. “I can’t be like you, Capri… I’m not fucking per?—”

“Do you know how bad I wanna slap the hell out of you?”

“Why?”

“Cause when in the hell have I ever been perfect? I spent the last few years fucking spiraling because I was confused. I’ve been where you are, Aimee. Not knowing what was next. The only reason I have grace to extend to you is because I didn’t have to do it with a baby… thank God. I was able to figure it out without having to be someone’s mama. Stop looking at me, Alaia, and Erin and thinking we’re perfect because we’re not.”

“Capella wants that housewife, and I can’t be that for him. I don’t want to have more kids right now… I feel like I barely recovered after Rory, and now I’m feeling a little bit normal, and we find out that he’s autistic… another baby is so much. I should have been honest with him and told him, but I know him. He has this way about him that would convince me to keep the baby.”

She wasn’t wrong. I had overheard Capella talking about a sibling for Rory a few times. It was like he hadn’t even spoken to Aimee about it. He said it like it was something that would happen. I loved my nephew, but he wanted to be like his father. Cappadonna ran his house a certain way, so Capella wanted to do it the same way, but never admitted that was what he wanted. If Capone told Erin he wanted another baby, she would give him one because she loved her husband and loved giving him babies.

Alaia got up early with her husband to make sure everything he needed was done. Not because he demanded that, but because that was how she showed she loved her man. Aimee wasn’t like either woman. That was what caused the disconnect between the two of them.

I have to admit, I thought about the kind of wife I would be to Meer. I’ve been down this road before; however, I was too young to really know what kind of wife I wanted to be. Now, as a grown woman, I knew what kind of wife I wanted to be and it was the kind that poured into my home, husband, and children, but also pouring back into me. With Meer, I would be barefoot and pregnant for him any day.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She sighed. “I don’t know… I didn’t think you would understand. Then when Naheim revealed you had one, I realized I should have told you. A part of me felt like I had to keep it from everyone because at the end of the day, Capella is blood, not me.”

“You were doing real good with not getting slapped.”

She smiled. “Sorry… force of habit.”

“You don’t have to be blood for us to protect you and love you. I’m only gonna say this again, and then I’m not saying the shit no more… you are fucking family. When Cappy’s freedom was in jeopardy, you didn’t hesitate to come in and help pull this together… don’t get fucking soft on me.” I stood up.

“Pri, I just wanna be like you… you walk with this confidence and shut shit down. You’re not scared and handle business. I love being Rory’s mom, but I don’t only wanna be his mom.”

“Love, it took me a minute to believe in that confidence, and I allowed a goofy to convince me otherwise… now that it’s here… I got it and I’m not letting it go. Be like Aimee, that’s who you need to be. That smart ass chick that can get into a system and switch a prison schedule. The Aimee that suspended the tolls and cameras in the Holland fucking tunnel. I need that one with me… the one making sure my back is clear… I need that Aimee that will make sure Mrs. Inferno is good.”

She stood up and met me in the middle of the room and held her hand out. “I’m always gonna have your back.”

“Alright now… let’s show ‘em that you don’t fuck with our family.”

“Got you.”

I hugged her and she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me for a second longer, and I allowed her. “Do something like this again, and I can promise that Cappy will have you in a grave… okay?”

She gulped. “Okay.”

When I walked into my house, I should have known something when I saw the Lexus parked in my driveway. It was a random car because I knew everyone’s make and model of their car. After a long day in court and handling cases that were giving me damn whiplash, I drove to the lake house because that was where Meer was.

He told me that he would come pick me up, but I needed the quiet ride. Well, it didn’t get any quieter than the bikes that surrounded my car on the highway as I made it back to the lake house. Meer didn’t play about my protection, so if he couldn’t be there, then he was sending some IG’s to make sure his wife was protected at all times.

Gams was in the living room watching Grey’s Anatomy while eating popcorn. I loved watching her be able to enjoy things she loved. Gams was the glue that held this family together, so I was making sure she was a priority too.

“Hey Gams, who is all here?” I asked, as she kissed my cheek and did a little rub of my stomach.

“The whole gang is back there… waiting on you.” She smiled and looked up at me. “Sit down and eat something… they can wait.”

I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit down and eat without knowing what the hell was going on. “I can’t relax until I know what this meeting is about… keep my food warm?” I smiled.

She rubbed my face. “Of course, Suga Pie.”

As I walked to the back door, I removed my work badge and loosened my ponytail before slipping out the backdoor.

“Only 2 percent of Black women are lawyers, and my wife is included in that 2 percent. Your sister is included in that, your aunt, your sister-in-law, and shit… your ex-wife.” Meer took a swig of his beer as he continued on his rant. “I’m always gonna clap and support her because that shit pressure to me… she got Peach wanting to be a lawyer now. If everybody could do the shit, they fucking would. My biggest flex is being married to a big steppa, feel me? She inspires the fuck out of me,” I heard my husband and smiled to myself as he came into my view, holding a beer in one hand, and a spliff in the other, while all three of my brothers, Forty, Naheim, Capella, and Quasim sat in the back and nodded in agreement.

Cappadonna turned from Meer’s speech and spotted me. “Speaking of the big steppa… Baby Doll, how was work?”

Cappadonna didn’t like this, and I could tell every time he looked at me. He felt guilty, and if he had his way, he would make sure that I wouldn’t have had to get involved. I needed him to understand that I had a choice and I chose to hold them down. We were a family, and I knew they would do it for me.

I walked down the steps to where they were sitting. “Long.”

Quameer abandoned his beer and handed his spliff off before coming toward me, kissing me on the lips. “I’m not liking how you looking.”

I think I was more surprised when I saw Quasim take a pull and lean back in his chair.

I sucked on his lips and then sealed it with a small kiss. “I miss smoking with you… and I miss a beer… and I didn’t even drink beer unless I was drunk.”

He pulled back and looked down at me. “Sug, you kissed me like that to taste the weed and fucking beer.”

I smiled as he kissed my forehead. “I promise after you drop our baby, I’m gonna roll you the fattest spliff and we gonna get drunk and make baby number three.”

“Promise?”

I’ve always said that children weren’t in the cards for me. That was until I met Quameer and witnessed him as a father. Meer mastered being Peach’s best friend and her father at the same time. She knew when not to push him, and she remained respectful. He had the perfect amount of fun and disciplinary when it came to being her father.

Added with the fact that he was a good ass man in general. A man as good as him deserved to have as many babies as he wanted, and I had no problem giving it to him. If he wanted more after this one, I would gladly have one because I wanted all of this with Meer. For so long I had dreamed about this, and now it was finally happening.

I watched as he stared at me before taking my hand and walking me where everyone was sitting. The minute he felt like this was too much, he would end it without a question.

“Hey everyone,” I greeted and sat on the edge of the chair that Meer had sat in. “Forty…what the fuck?”

We hadn’t spoken to Forty since everything went down at Jesse’s house. The next morning, I watched the fire department fight to put the fire out in their home. They said the fire was electrical, and there were no human remains.

Meer didn’t tell me what happened, and I didn’t ask because I knew him and Sim took care of it. “I can see you’re tired from growing a little human, so I won’t keep this long… I’ve been promoted. Special Agent Johnson.”

Cappadonna smirked, standing up and hugging his best friend. “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about… couldn’t think of a better person.”

“Yeah… it was given because David’s ass is now fucking gone.” Forty looked over at Quameer.

Meer smirked. “Welcome.”

“I wanted to check in with you, I know you have that gala with Morgan coming up… how you feel about that?”

“He creeps me out so bad, Forty. Like my skin fucking crawls when he’s near me, but other than that I am good.”

Meer rested his head on my back with his hand on my stomach as he slowly rubbed it. “Fuck a plan… if he fucking make a move on my wife, I’m killing his ass.”

“Forty, this man has so many sexual assault cases that have been tossed out because of the judge. It’s like they don’t fucking exist and no one is speaking about them. How is it that the man he’s running against hasn’t found them and released it to the media during his campaign?” I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. “He’s running for mayor. Today, I had to go to court and ask for a case to be dismissed… the victim’s face was broken in pieces as I sat there saying everything against her.” Tears fell down my face, and I wiped them away, annoyed with all this damn crying I had been doing.

“I can see where that would be rough and I’m sorry, Baby Doll,” Forty said, as he reached over and squeezed my hand.

“All because I have to play the game… it makes me sick. Taking him down isn’t enough… he needs to die in Monaco, and everything needs to come to light. I have a friend who works for the paper, and I want to give her everything I have on him. Dying isn’t enough, people need to fucking know, and his victims need to be heard and validated.”

“A few times when working late in his office he has felt me up… then disguised it as a joke.” We turned to see Aimee walking into the backyard. She wore a sweatsuit, with the hood pulled up over her head.

She must have walked through the yards. “Why the fuck you didn’t say anything, Grasshopper?” Core was the first one to speak.

“We all have a role to play, right?” she shrugged. “I know I fucked up, and I’m sorry. I can’t take it back, but I have to do this… I need to do this. Morgan texted me and told me that I will be coming with him on the jet to Monaco?—”

“Which me and Skyler will be on,” I finished her sentence.

“Hi, Capp.” She looked down at her feet, as she avoided looking at Capella, and everyone else.

“I’m Capp now… what happened to Pops?”

She looked up. “I figured tha?—”

Her words were cut off when he stood up and held his arms out. “Come ‘ere.”

Aimee rushed into his arms as he hugged and kissed the top of her head. “I’m so sorry… I swear I am so sorry.”

“Don’t ever do no stupid shit like that again. We not fucking perfect, but we ride for you… I know you got a lot of shit to work out within your head, but you have a family, Aimee, so I need you to stop acting like you don’t. If something happened to you, I would be just as fucked up as if it was my own son or grandson.”

“I’m sorry.”

I watched as my brother hugged her and closed his eyes. Cappadonna was this large man that put fear in people’s hearts, but for us – his family, he was soft. He loved us all hard, and from the way he closed his eyes as he held onto Aimee, I could tell he loved her just as much as his own children.

Aimee just needed to believe that she had a family who loved and cared about her. None of us were perfect, and we did fall short at times, but the love was always here. Even if you weren’t in a place to receive it most times.

Forty clapped his hands. “So fucking sweet… can we continue?”

“Give this nigga a promotion and he acting all bossy and shit,” Capone laughed as he sat back and watched Forty.

“Goon will be security at the gala. Main goal is to keep you safe, and he knows once shit doesn’t feel safe to get you out of there.”

“I should be good there, right?”

Forty sighed. “For the most part… yeah. All I care about is making sure that you are safe. Goon knows that and will keep an eye on you all night. Aimee, you have access to his condo keys, right?”

She smiled. “Yeah… I’m due to bring his suit to the condo the day of the gala… I can hide in the condo and pretend to leave.”

Core snapped his fingers. “Grasshopper, we in that bitch.”

She and Core hit a little handshake. “You already know.”

Aimee came alive when it came to her tech things. I saw a different part of her, and I wanted to encourage that because it made her feel important. She felt like she had something to add to our world.

“I need to grab those bugs you planted,” Core said.

“And add that software to his personal laptop… getting my hands on that is hard. I’ve only been given his work laptop, and the one time I’ve had the personal one, his senior administrative assistant snatched it from me so damn fast.”

Aimee sat on the edge of the chair that Cappy was sitting on. “We need to be in and out of there… I already know how I can get into the building.” Core ran down the plan on how he and Aimee were gonna get in and out of Morgan’s condo.

“What up, Aimee?” Capella asked.

She finally looked over at him. “Hey.”

I would take this small interaction over them not speaking at all. Capella watched her as she talked to Core and Forty about their plans to get into Morgan’s condo.

“The renovations look nice, Capri,” Naheim said, and I turned to see him sipping his beer. “That little island vibe you wanted worked out,” he joked.

I laughed. “Tulum... I wanted it to be Tulum, and you clowned the fuck out of me over my vision.”

“Shit, I couldn’t see the vision… my problem, I could never see the vision. I’m glad that it worked out.” His phone buzzed, and he looked down at it. “Congratulations to both of you, for real.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

Meer nodded his head while continuing to rub my stomach and drink his beer. When I came closer, Quasim had clipped the spliff, and was chilling with his own drink. “I’m out, bitches… got somewhere to be.”

He stood up and dapped everybody. “Shorty from that lounge?” Capone questioned.

Naheim smiled. “Something like that… hit me if you need me.”

I remember there was a time when something like that would have sent me in a spiral. I would have watched him leave and felt my chest tighten knowing he was going to meet another woman. As I felt my husband’s hand on my stomach rubbing our baby, I felt nothing for Naheim. I truly did wish him well, and prayed he fixed his shit and found a woman he could love. NJ deserved a happy father, who had learned from his mistakes and give him the life that little boy deserved.

“Menace was in and out to get this tape of David and Morgan abusing one of his women. I know for a fact that the file he had on you was gonna be some shit, but Don has destroyed it.” Core pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Appreciate it. David was always too invested in the shit I was doing. I’m thinking with me being promoted, I’ll know what the fuck is really going on.”

Core leaned forward. “I know one thing… this shit started out with Cappadonna, but it’s deeper than that.”

“If David had files on his computer, imagine the files that Morgan has… obviously, we need to get to Rich’s computer, too… he’s hardly ever in his office,” I said, slipping onto Meer’s lap because the end of the chair was hurting my ass.

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck. “Tell me about it… nigga never holds any real conversations in that shit… Laptop is key, but we need that damn phone… he’s always on that phone, and his ass don’t wash his hands after he uses the bathroom.” Core was disgusted as he looked at all of us.

“Rich Parker is the head of the Vipers… he’s smart and knows how to move, so catching him up isn’t going to be easy.”

“And Tookie?”

“Tookie has always been the face, while Rich is the brain. Able to give the control without getting any blood on his shoes,” his face was tense as he spoke about Rich. “Now that he is in his new position, he and Morgan are getting pull back from the crew because of the promises that aren’t coming through.” He finished the rest of his drink and leaned forward.

“I’m supposed to go to lunch with them this week… Morgan says he wants to talk about some upcoming things before the trip,” I revealed.

“Oh, word? I should see you then.” Forty laughed.

I gasped. “You’re going to be there?”

“Morgan doesn’t give a fuck about anyone but himself… David’s house being on fire, and him being assumed dead didn’t stop him. I’m promoted, so I wasn’t surprised when I got a call from him inviting me to lunch. Judge Tanner will be there as well, so this should make for an interesting lunch.”

“Make sure Skyler is with you,” Core told me.

“Got it.”

After we finished getting everything down, I headed in the house to eat and then shower. After the day I had, I wanted to relax and watch movies until they were watching me. Wrapping the towel around me, Meer was leaned in the doorway.

“You okay, Baby?” I asked him.

He looked up at me, his eyes low from smoking the rest of his weed before coming up. “Missed you today, Suga.”

I smiled. “I missed you, too.”

Meer always checked in with me. He could look at me once and know something was wrong with me. I never wanted our marriage to be one-sided where I never did the same when it came to him. I wanted to make sure he was taken care of just like I was when it came to us. This was forever for me, and I couldn’t see no one else besides Quameer Inferno.

“I’m not gonna front like my anxiety don’t fuck with me, Sug. Baby, I’ll fucking kill anybody if you end up hurt in this,” he admitted.

I looked down at my hands. “You trust me?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Then trust that the minute I feel like this is too much that I will tell my husband.” I walked over toward him and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. “Cappadonna has already made me promise that I would tell him the minute that this becomes too much. He doesn’t like this anymore than you do, Meer.”

“I know… we just had a conversation about the shit.”

I kissed his lips. “We need to talk about Brandi, Meer.”

His body tensed. “I don’t want to talk about her right now, Sug.”

Meer only knew about Brandi messing with Tookie now. He didn’t know that she messed with him during college, or the fact that at one point she thought her baby belonged to Tookie. I’ve held back on telling him because no matter how much he was done with Brandi, the realization of knowing someone fucked around behind your back when you were solid to them hurt.

Beretta came running into the closet and Meer looked down at her. “Sit.” The little fluffball sat down at his feet, while he turned his attention back to me. She looked up at him like he was her damn savior. “Good girl… lay down.”

Once again, she laid down and I shook my head. “How did she learn all of this so quickly?”

“Me and Peach been teaching her… little shit is smart as fuck, and Peach loves the fuck out of her.”

We were getting off the topic, so I looked at him, and he already knew we were going to continue our conversation about Brandi. “We need to have this conversation, Quameer.”

I went into the closet to grab some pajamas, and he took his place in the doorway again. “Go on and tell me… don’t beat around the bush now.”

“Brandi was fucking Tookie behind your back in college. I don’t know the logistics of their relationship; however, I know Jesse said there was a time when she thought Tookie was Ryder’s father.”

I slowly turned to see him staring down at the carpet. His eyes slowly rose to meet mine, and he took all of me in. “How the fuck do I explain to Ryder that her mother fucking died in a car accident, Sug?”

“Quameer, you aren’t going to do that.” I walked across the closet to him, and his skin was hot to touch.

He avoided eye contact with me as I held his face. “How much more am I going to keep letting her slide without taking her breath? She did some fuck shit when it came to my daughter, robbed me of seeing her born, and then hid her from me. I tried to be everything to that bitch, and she had the nerve to be sliding with my best friend behind my back? Nah… I can’t ignore that shit.”

“I’m not telling you to ignore anything. Brandi needs to know that you know, but you cannot take that little girl’s mother away from her. Karma is eating her alive already… what more can you do to her? She’s clearly broken because she’s messing with a man that’s in prison when she’s married.”

Meer looked down into my eyes and I could tell he wanted to murder her. “You want her alive… then you can drop Peach to her this weekend… if I see her, I can promise you I will choke the shit out of her.”

“I have no problem keeping the peace between you two.”

“That’s ‘cause you too fucking nice to her,” he called me out, and I went back to grab my pajama pants.

“Not when she hurt my fucking baby. I know that you have been over Brandi for years, but I know how it feels to be hurt by someone you loved. She hurt you which means she hurt me.” I kissed his lips. “You told me that you would handle everything for me… let your wife handle this.”