Chapter 17
When Tatti stormed out like her life was on the line, Namier joked about following her ass. He was playing and shit, but I wasn’t. I grabbed my keys and told him to come on. I was on a mission before she got too far away.
We got in my car and I was able to trail her without being seen.
At first I wondered if maybe that bitch ass nigga Savion had found a way to contact her.
I was damn near hoping that I got to beat his ass again.
Part of me also hoped that Tattiana knew better.
Once I realized we were headed out of town, I knew that we were going to the aunts house in Temple.
I needed to know what was going on in that damn house and why Tattiana couldn’t stay away.
I pulled up after her, with my lights off.
I got out the car before Namier. His ass was on the phone with Nyla, not paying attention.
I wasn’t about to let them two muthafuckas stress me out.
Nyla forgave him too damn easily and I wasn’t shocked about the shit.
He was an asshole, but I could tell he was felling the girl.
He just needed to learn how to control his emotions better when life gets hectic.
I walked up and was standing outside the aunt's house when I heard Tatti's voice come through clear as day.
"I'm not doing that. And I'm not giving you another dime. So what we're going to do is, I'm going to take my own daughter, and I'm going to deal with the consequences."
My whole body went still.
Daughter. What the fuck did she mean by that?
I didn't move. Couldn't move. Just stood there trying to process what the fuck I'd just heard.
My wife had a daughter.
And I didn't know shit about it. Nah. This couldn’t be right. I had to have heard her wrong.
I heard a man inside of the house start yelling, heard him getting aggressive. Heard him get in her face about money and keeping quiet.
That's when I moved. I didn’t think about shit other than not letting no muthafuckin body play with her.
I pushed through the door with my gun already drawn.
"Stand the fuck down, bitch ass nigga. Touch her and watch how I blow yo shit," I said low. Because quiet was more dangerous than yelling.
But my eyes were on Tatti.
She looked at me like she'd seen a ghost. Like she'd known this moment was coming but wasn't ready for it anyway.
"What the fuck do you mean by 'daughter,' Tattiana?" I asked, and my voice was colder than ice.
She had tears in her eyes. Real tears. Not manipulation. Real fear and I knew that whatever secrets she’d been keeping, she didn’t want me to find out like this.
What happened next was a blur, my heart was pounding and I could hear it ringing in my ears. Namier was pistol whipping this lady husband while Tatti was begging me to leave. Saying she'd explain everything. Saying not here, not like this. I told Namier to go get the girl from the back.
And Tatti lost it.
"No! Namier! I'm telling you, we can't take her!
If you go in that room, she's gonna be confused. She don't know about any of this. She doesn’t know she’s my daughter.
My father doesn't even know about her. If you all take her while I'm begging you not to, I will leave and never come back. I mean this!"
So I stopped moving. Just nodded at Namier to stand down.
"Let's go," I said, my voice dead. "We're leaving."
I didn't look at Tatti. Couldn't look at her. Just turned and walked back out the door with Namier following behind me.
We got in the car and I drove. Didn't say nothing. Just drove.
An hour into it, Namier broke the silence.
"Did you know she had a daughter?" he asked carefully.
"Hell no," I said flatly. "And right now, I don't even know if I know her ass at all."
"What you gonna do?" Namier asked.
I gripped the steering wheel so tight I thought it might break.
"I don't even know, bro," I said. "I'm so fucking mad right now.
I want to know what they got on her that's got her this scared.
Because if it's more than just a baby, I need the whole truth.
Because right now it doesn't seem like I know anything about the muthafucka I just gave my last name to.
But she knows everything about me. Everything. "
Namier was quiet for a minute.
"Calm down," he said finally. "Just wait till you get all the facts. Tatti looked real scared in there. Real scared. You need to hear her out before you do something you can't take back."
I didn't respond. Just kept driving.
We were about twenty minutes from the compound when my phone rang.
Judge Atkinson.
I answered.
"Mr. Carter," the judge said, and his voice was different.
Not scared. Not careful. Just professional.
"I have good news for you. The District Attorney has agreed to file a nolle prosequi, complete dismissal of all charges against your brother.
He's being released unconditionally. We'll have the paperwork processed within two hours.
Tomorrow, the court will issue a formal apology and the DA's office will make a public statement regarding the mishandling of this case. "
I couldn't speak.
"Your brother will be a free man," the judge continued. "All charges dropped. Complete exoneration. And Mr. Carter, please forget anything we’ve previously discussed. All this will be fixed.”
I hung up without saying anything. I knew his last sentence meant that he wanted me to lose the file that I had on his triflin ass. None of that shit mattered to me no more.
Zaire was coming home.
I pulled over on the side of the highway and got out of the car. Just stood there for a second, letting it hit me. The weight lifted. The worry about my brother. The pressure of the courtroom. All of it shifted.
I looked up at the sky and let it out. A sound that came from deep in my chest, something between a laugh and a cry and pure relief.
Namier got out and came to stand beside me. He didn't say nothing. Just stood there with me. He’d heard the whole call, and I saw a weight be lifted from him.
We hugged. My little brother and me, standing on the side of the highway, holding onto each other like we'd just won the war.
We got back in the car and I called my mother.
"Zaire is about to be free," I told her. "Case dismissed. All charges dropped. He's walking out within two hours. I told you to let me handle this! You see what I’m saying?”
My mother started crying. I could hear my father in the background. When I told them what happened, he said something I'd never heard before.
"Tell Kaseem I said thank you. Tell him he did good. Tell him he did DAMN GOOD!”
I nodded even though he couldn't see me.
"Meet us at the compound in an hour and we can ride together," I told my mother. Then I hung up.
I looked at Namier.
"We got him back," Namier said.
"Yeah," I said. "We got him back."
But as I pulled back onto the highway, heading home, all I could think about was Tatti. About the little girl in the back room. About the fact that my wife had been lying to me this whole time.
I'd just won the biggest battle of my life.
But it felt like I may have lost everything else in the process.