Royal #2
“Yeah,” I muttered quietly to myself before flushing the toilet. “Figures man.” I exhaled sharply.
I could already feel that today would come with a lot. I had this nagging feeling that some shit wasn’t right but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.
Nothing stayed calm long in me and Luca’s world for a long period of time.
Shit wasn’t chaotic, but it wasn’t peaceful either.
I quickly showered and handled the rest of my hygiene then got dressed.
By the time I made it downstairs the house didn’t feel like mine anymore.
You could always tell when Bonetti energy entered a space before you even saw them.
By the soft floral smell that I inhaled, this family member wasn’t welcomed here. I’d been avoiding her for more reasons than one.
Lulu.
My stomach turned the second her scent got stronger.
My body reacted before my brain caught up.
My hand moved straight for the gun tucked against my back.
If she was here, it damn sure wasn’t for no breakfast. The hallway stretched longer than usual as I walked it.
I already knew where she was, and I refused to acknowledge her being inside of my living room without an invitation.
My chest tightened as I got closer because my body remembered her differently than my mind did.
When I was a kid sitting at the Bonetti’s dinner table, she used to always suggest I sit still while she fixed the collar on my shirt.
Her fingers would brush through my kinky hair, and she’d stare at me for long periods of time like she was trying to memorize all of my features.
Lucille used to preach to me and Luca about having each other backs and how blood wouldn’t make us any closer.
Her sick ass told us we were brothers from another mother.
She told me how I was the third son she always wished she had.
The problem was, since a kid I grew to love Lucille deeply as a second mother.
I also believed that she loved me as a third son thoroughly.
I missed the fuck out of Luca when he was locked down.
My bond with her grew stronger through those years in my bro’s absence.
The day that I got the call about Di Lucas Sr. being killed and Luca later finding out that it was her who killed him…
I mentally held several funerals in my mind for Lucille just to condition myself to accept her fate and not waste tears on a soul who truly didn’t give a fuck about nobody but themselves.
Lucille wasn’t worth it… but it didn’t delete the mere fact of me still loving her.
My chest started to hurt. I stopped before I got to the end of the hall leading into my living room. Because the same woman that said all that fraud shit to me was the same woman who killed Di Lucas, and the same woman who I just found out this year was my biological mother.
I swallowed down my emotions, pushed my chin up then stepped into the living room.
Lucille sat perfectly still like a statue in the center chair like the house belonged to her instead of me.
Her legs were crossed at the ankle. Back straight.
Chin lifted like she had never done anything wrong a day in her life.
She wore all white, clad in a silk blouse with pearls dripped around her neck and ears.
Her pressed down the middle slacks covered her white stilettos, and her red painted toes drummed slowly against the sole of her heels.
A gold-plated gun rested across her lap, and she stroked that shit like it was a baby kitten.
Two guards stood behind her with their eyes concealed with dark shades in all black clothing.
Her smile curved into a knowing, crooked shit-eating grin.
This bitch didn’t look like a woman who buried two husbands.
She sure in the fuck didn’t look like the woman who put the last Bonetti patriarch in the ground.
It didn’t look like she was grieving shit.
She looked calm, beautiful, and well rested.
My hand tightened around my gun. Soon as I lifted it, her men followed suit, lifting theirs and aiming it in my direction.
Too many things inside me were moving at once.
Love, anger, confusion, hurt, and memory.
I loved Lucille so much but hated her just as much now.
I never imagined ever feeling hate and disgust toward her.
Luca said she was on borrowed time; he mentioned her only reason for still breathing was for my closure. He vowed to be the one to take her life, but how I was feeling right now… I’d die trying to take hers.
Now is not the time to be a fuck up, Roy… I told myself, mentally checking my emotions.
“Son.” Lucille frowned. “Why do you have gun—”
“The fuck you just call me?” I cut her off in disbelief.
She had to be smoking on the devil’s dick, sitting in my home with men I didn’t know, unannounced then finding the nerve to refer to me as—
“I said son.” She shrugged one shoulder then looked down at her sharp red painted witch nails.
“The cat is out of the bag. I pushed you out my pussy then willingly handed you over since I didn’t connect with you while carrying you.
I was trained from the moment I told Lenny that he had gotten me pregnant again that you would go to one of his close friends as a business deal and connect…
Wait—” She held one index finger in the air then tilted her head.
She hummed lowly like she was trying to process something important. I stood frozen, my face felt tight as I digested her words.
“You’re not affected by this are you?” She squinted her eyes at me with a fake look of confusion mixed with concern creasing her thin arched brows.
“No,” I stated flatly.
“Ohhh. O-kay… If I wasn’t mistaken… I thought I saw some form of sentiment on your face.” She flicked imaginary dirt from underneath her nail bed with her free hand.
“The only emotion I’m fighting right now is killing you, Lucille,” I gritted out.
“Awwww, that sounds so assertive.” She shook her head and shoulders as if she was chilled.
“You just like the rest of these niggas.” The light in her eyes disappeared, replaced with darkness. “Dumb as fuck,” she spat out in disgust.
“I drove all the way from my estate that was rightfully left to me… because as you and Luca know, I don’t hide nor run from shit.”
My arms burned from keeping the gun trained on her, so I lowered it and decided to entertain her… for now. She smirked sinisterly before nodding her head as if I surrendered.
“Good choice.” She shook her head disappointedly. “Lord have mercy.” She exhaled dramatically. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d lift a gun to me, Royal Bonetti.”
“That’s not what my birth certificate says,” I corrected her.
“Oh, it does, I have the real one along with the playbook that I took from Di Lucas Sr. before I put two bullets between his fucking eyes.” She picked her gun up then leaned forward with it casually in her hand.
She waved it calmly as she talked.
“The old man was good at keeping and tucking away all of the Bonetti secrets. I did tell him before I killed him how I equally loved both of his sons. It was me.” She stabbed her chest with the tip of the gun.
“Me, who kept the Bonetti name flourishing. My connects, my thinking, and my fuckin’ sacrifices! ” Her voice rose.
“What does this have to do with me?” I stated flatly.
“It has everything to do with you now… I picked the wrong son, and that was a minor fuck up on my behalf, Royal… Let me make something very fucking clear.” She squinted her eyes.
“I never wanted a happily-ever-after type of ending for myself. I wanted power and control since I grew up having shit taken from me all my life. God cursed me with boys instead of girls. Nevertheless, I never wanted kids, just had them to please my Donny in between getting boned by Lenny. It was the best of both worlds that I’m not ashamed of.
” She smiled before snapping her fingers.
I remained stoic as I watched one of her men lean down as she talked lowly into his ear. She placed her eyes on me unblinkingly as she gave him orders. Seconds later, he nodded then turned to walk away from behind her.
“I couldn’t stand Kentrell.” She frowned.
“He was a crybaby from the time I gave birth. Dontrell was able to handle him better than me, and as he got older, he bonded with his real father. Luca was my favorite; he was quiet, very observant… he always listened and respected me and his father. I knew right then, he would be the one I could control once the time came for him to step into his father’s shoes,” she reasoned.
“Even through his betrayal now, I still love him dearly, but he has to go sadly.” She lifted her brows.
My grip tightened on my gun, her eyes caught the motion. She chuckled dryly then dared me with her eyes to make the first move.
“I want to have dinner with my boys.” She smiled. “Sort of like the last super… There will be no guards in place. I want us to eat as a—” She frowned, clearing her throat.
“You haven’t loosened the grip on your gun, which is… very disrespectful.” She licked her thin lips then tucked her bottom lip inside her mouth.
“Just to clear the air… I killed Di Lucas Sr. because he would have stopped at nothing when it came time to avenge his son’s death. If it was Lennox, he wouldn’t have gave a shit,” she spat out in disgust.
“Since it was his Donny, he left Thailand immediately and put all the pieces to the puzzle before his body could change forms.” She sat back, placed her gun in her lap as we continued to stare each other down.
“You gave me to a beautiful mother who was able to love me.” I shut my eyes for a couple of seconds, imagining my momma’s angelic facial features.
“I don’t fault her for the man she married.
” I shrugged. “That nigga was abusive as fuck. She did her very best to protect me, and she sometimes encouraged me to spend as much time at the Bonetti estate…” My words trailed.