Chapter 21
Eboni Keep in Nzuri Hall
Holding my grandson gave me this proud feeling I couldn’t quite describe.
His little hand rested against my shoulder while I rocked him, and for a moment, everything felt still.
I could feel God’s grace in the room, and the way peace always found its way to me whenever my child or grandchildren were near.
Prestyn was so perfect, and every time I looked at him, I saw pieces of Pressure I used to pray I’d see one day.
It was the softer side that only came out when his heart was full.
I heard the front door open, and that familiar, deep voice followed. “Ma.”
I smiled before I even turned around. “In here, baby.”
Pressure walked into the room, dressed down in all black. Even with everything he’d been through, he still carried himself like he was untouchable. But I could always see through it because that was my son.
He came closer, kissing my cheek before scooping Prestyn into his arms. The way he looked at his child made me want to cry. “You alright?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, Ma. I’m good.”
I studied him for a moment because I could tell when something was sitting heavy on his spirit. “You sure?”
He nodded again, but his eyes said otherwise. “Yeah. Just been processin’ some things.”
I smiled faintly. “I can imagine. You’ve had a lot going on, but I’m proud of you, Pressure. Truly.”
He looked at me like he wasn’t expecting that. “For what?”
“For growing into the man I always knew you would be,” I told him. “You’ve done a lot of things I may not have agreed with, but I can’t deny the way you’ve turned things around. You’re being a father, a provider, and now you’re about to be a husband. That’s something to be proud of.”
He lowered his gaze for a second, his lips curving just slightly. “It feel good, Ma. I feel like I’m aligned, for real, like everything finally fallin’ where it’s supposed to.”
I nodded. “That’s what happens when you start walking in purpose instead of pride.”
He laughed under his breath. “You always gotta give a lil’ sermon, huh?”
I smirked. “That’s my job, son. And as long as I’m breathing, you’re never too old for one.”
He sat down beside me, holding Prestyn close. For a while, we just sat there in silence.
“I found her.”
Pressure’s head lifted slowly, and I could see the tension in his eyes before he even opened his mouth. “Found who?” he asked, though we both knew.
“Kashmere,” I said calmly. “She’s in Halo Key.”
He didn’t speak right away. His fingers rubbed over his beard, and he looked away like he needed a second to process what I said. “You serious?”
“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t,” I replied softly. “She’s been there for a while. Hiding under another name.”
He exhaled, sitting back on the couch. “Ma…” He paused for a moment, his voice low. “I don’t want you to kill her.”
I looked at him carefully, not surprised by his words. “I figured that,” I said.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “She did what she did, and yeah, I’ll never forget that. But I don’t wanna carry that hate no more. I’m tired of it. I got Pluto, I got my kids, and I’m finally happy. I just wanna move forward. I don’t want this hangin’ over me no more.”
I nodded slowly, studying his face. “You have a good heart, Pressure. Maybe too good sometimes, but that’s what makes you my son.”
He glanced at me again, his voice lower now. “I just want it to be done, Ma. No more blood. No more revenge.”
I could feel the weight of his words, the way they came from somewhere deep. I wasn’t angry with him for feeling that way. In fact, I understood it. My son had seen enough darkness for a lifetime, and if forgiveness brought him peace, then I couldn’t stand in his way.
Still, the woman in me hadn’t forgotten. Kashmere had done something unforgivable. As Pressure’s mother, I refused to let her be that very thing hanging over his head.
“I hear you,” I told him softly. “And I’m not mad at you for feeling that way. It just reminds me that I raised you with compassion.”
He stood up, leaning over to kiss my forehead. “I love you, Ma.”
“I love you too, baby,” I said, giving him a smile. “You go on and get those babies home, and call me when you get there.”
He nodded and turned to leave, Prestyn resting against his shoulder while Zurie trailed behind him. The sound of the door closing left the house quiet again.
I sat there for a long time after he left, thinking about everything he’d said.
I was proud of him, and proud that he had learned to lead with love.
But pride didn’t erase my own pain. Kashmere might have escaped once, but I wasn’t a woman who forgot, and playing with my blood was something I would never forget.
The Seraphine Suites
When I reached the building of The Seraphine Suites, I stepped out of the car and adjusted my gloves before entering.
The marble floors glistened beneath the soft golden lighting, and the faint scent of orchids floated through the air.
My security trailed behind me, silent but attentive as I made my way to the private elevator.
I had not seen Sterling in over a week, but the updates I received daily told me everything I needed to know.
He wasn’t eating enough to survive, drinking more than he should, and doing nothing with the women I had arranged for him.
It amused me at first because a man who had spent years drowning himself in women’s bodies, was now unable to touch one.
Guilt had a way of rotting the spirit long before the body followed.
When the elevator doors opened, the guards at his floor stood straighter. I gave a single nod and continued down the hallway until I reached his door. The guard opened it for me, and I stepped inside.
The suite was immaculate, as always. The maids I hired knew better than to slack off, but even with the room’s perfection, the stench of Sterling’s decay lingered. It wasn’t a physical smell, but something spiritual. It was the energy of a man crumbling after being confined for months.
And confinement wasn’t the worst of his punishment.
I had dismantled him piece by piece. His empire, his status, his pride were all gone.
The press had ripped through his name like wolves.
The financial boards had stripped him of every title he once boasted about.
The investors who used to worship him would not even return a call.
He had been one of those men who thought money could erase sin, but not from me.
I made sure every corner of his life reflected the rot he tried to hide.
His company was under federal investigation.
His board members were subpoenaed. And as for his secret, the seventeen-year-old girl he had gotten pregnant and later discarded like trash, that case had been reopened.
It only took one message to the right people, one nudge through my political channels, to turn a buried scandal into a national headline. I had made sure the public saw him for what he truly was. Not a visionary, not a leader, but a predator.
The police were still looking for him, plastering his face across every network, convinced he had fled the country.
I found it amusing, really. They had no idea he was right here, housed in luxury, eating from imported plates and sleeping under silk sheets.
I had given him everything he used to value, yet stripped him of the freedom that made it matter.
Every few days, I let him see the updates, the warrants, the breaking news clips and the leaked audio from his former associates turning on him.
I wanted him to know exactly what I had done.
I wanted him to understand that I had not just punished him.
I had erased him the same way his daughter tried to erase my son.
Sterling was by the window with his back to me, staring out at the city lights that painted the night sky.
His posture was heavy, his shoulders slumped, and his hands gripping the sill as if he was holding on to something that could ground him.
His reflection in the glass showed the toll of his confinement.
His beard had grown uneven, his face was thinner, and his once-perfect posture reduced to something hollow.
I took slow steps toward him. “You would be pleased to know,” I said softly, my voice filling the quiet room, “that you are about to be a grandfather.”
He didn’t turn around immediately. His head lifted slightly, and his reflection blinked. When he finally turned, the shadows under his eyes were deeper than I remembered. “What did you say?”
I clasped my hands in front of me and tilted my head slightly. “Your daughter is pregnant.”
The silence stretched between us. I watched him inhale sharply, then press his lips together like the words had just cut through him.
“How do you know?” he asked finally, his voice low and gravelly.
“I received confirmation from the clinic,” I said calmly. “My team runs daily scans across a family-owned system, flagging any time her real name is entered into a government or medical database. The moment she used her real name and your home address, her location populated in the network.”
His eyes glimmered with a flicker of pain that quickly turned into something bitter. “So what now?” he asked coldly. “You’re going to kill her?”
I let his question hang there as I studied him. He looked so small now, a far cry from the arrogant man who once walked into rooms like he owned the world. His arrogance had died in here and was replaced by the panic of someone facing everything he once ran from.
“My son doesn’t want me to,” I replied, keeping my tone even. “So for now, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with her, but one thing is certain—she will face the consequences of her choices.”
He scoffed and took a step toward me. “You think you can keep playing God, Abeni? You think you can destroy people and walk away clean? Karma doesn’t sleep. You’ll never get away with all this.”
I took another step forward, closing the space between us.
My eyes stayed on his, unflinching. He had the audacity to talk to me about karma.
This man who had impregnated a seventeen-year-old girl and buried the evidence.
A man who cheated on his wife like it was a sport.
And his daughter, who shot my son, stole from him, and ran like a coward.
“I am well aware of karma, Mr. Charm,” I said finally. “And if she exists, she and I are on familiar terms.”
Sterling’s mouth opened like he wanted to speak, but he stopped when he realized I wasn’t done.
“You talk about morality as if you ever had any. You talk about consequences as if you ever faced yours. The only difference between you and me is that I finish what I start.”
His eyes flickered. The confidence he tried to cling to was slipping again, and I could see the exhaustion in his face.
“As far as I’m concerned,” I continued. “I am doing the world a favor by keeping you here. You destroyed lives for pleasure and profit. You called it business. I call it greed.”
He said nothing. His mouth twitched slightly, but he didn’t have the strength to argue anymore. He looked like he wanted to sit, but his pride wouldn’t let him. I almost admired that.
I gave him one last glance, letting him feel the weight of my presence. “You should try to rest,” I said. “The chef will send up dinner in an hour. Try to eat this time.”
I turned toward the door, my heels clicking lightly across the marble. Before I reached it, I stopped and looked back at him. “Oh, and Mr. Charm,” I said softly, my voice sweet but edged with sharpness. “I’ll be paying your wife, Silky, a visit soon.”
His shoulders stiffened. That was the only reaction I needed.
I walked out, unbothered, leaving the guards to close the door behind me. As I passed them in the hall, I gave a single nod of instruction. They would continue watching him around the clock. Sterling was a man who had finally learned that freedom was never real when someone like me held the keys.
Inside the elevator, I adjusted the sleeve of my suit and glanced at my reflection in the polished steel.
Sterling was a broken man, and his daughter’s fate hung in my hands, and I felt no guilt about it. Some people believed in redemption. I believed in consequence.