Chapter 20 Abeni Mensah #2
They had all told me the same thing, and each time I went back, I already knew what I was going to hear before they even said it.
The mass they found was stage two breast cancer and it had not changed no matter how many times I asked or how many ways they explained it to me.
I went for a second opinion because I needed to be sure, and then I went again because I refused to accept it the first time, but nothing changed, and no matter how composed I remained while sitting across from them, there was nothing I could say or do to make it different.
I lifted my hand slowly and pressed it against the place I had already memorized…the same place they had pointed out on the screen as if it were something distant, even though I could feel the reality of it in my own body now.
My thoughts shifted then, not toward myself, but toward my family, because that was where my mind kept going no matter how much I tried to hold it somewhere else.
I thought about my husband just outside this room, about my son who still looked at me as if I could never be anything less than what I had always been, and about my grandchildren whose laughter had just filled my home only moments ago.
I closed my eyes and let the water fall over my face, but the truth stayed right where it was, and the weight of it settled deeper the longer I stood here, because the only thing I could think about was the possibility of leaving them, and that was something I was not ready to face.
When I felt Kojo step in behind me, his arms came around me without hesitation, strong and pulling me back into him as the water continued to fall around us.
His lips pressed softly against my shoulder, then again, and I leaned into him without thinking.
I turned in his arms slowly, lifting my gaze to meet his, and the tears came before I could stop them.
“I have stage two breast cancer,” I said, my voice lower than I intended, but steady enough to be understood.
Kojo didn’t say anything right away. He just looked at me, his hands tightening on my arms while he tried to take the sudden news in.
Then his gaze dropped, briefly, to my breasts as if he were trying to understand without asking.
“I went back,” I continued, my voice trembling now despite my effort to control it. “More than once. They all said the same thing.”
His jaw shifted as he looked back at me, and I saw the crack in the man who rarely showed anything.
“How long?” he asked, his voice low.
“A couple of weeks,” I answered.
He swallowed, his hands moving up and down my arms as if grounding himself.
“I was going to tell you,” I said softly. “I just… I needed to be ready.”
His eyes closed for a brief moment before opening again, and when he spoke, there was no hesitation in his tone.
“You’re not dying, baby,” he said, firm and unwavering. “Not while I’m still here.”
A small breath left me, uneven.
“I’m scared,” I admitted.
“I know,” he replied, pulling me into him fully now, his arms wrapping around me as he held me against his chest. “But we’re going to handle this shit. We’re going to get better doctors, the best ones. I know people. We’re not stopping at what they told you. We keep going until we beat this.”
I pressed my face into him, letting the tears fall without holding them back this time.
“We’re going to get through this,” he said again, his hand moving along my back in slow, steady motions. “You hear me? I’m not letting you go.”
And for the first time since I had heard those words spoken to me in the office, I allowed myself to believe, even if just for a moment, that I would not be facing this alone.
All night, while candles burned around us, my husband made the sweetest love to me. There was nothing rushed about the way he moved. Every touch felt intentional, as if he were reminding me of something I had started to forget.
The room stayed quiet except for the soft flicker of the flames and the slow rhythm we created together. Kojo hovered over me, his body strong and grounded, the sheet resting low across his back while his hands moved along my skin with patience.
I held onto him, my hands sliding over his back as he leaned down to me. He kissed along my face, slow and careful, catching the tears I could not hold back. He did not ignore them. He did not rush past them. He kissed me through them, like he was meeting me exactly where I was.
“I love you,” I answered, holding onto him tighter. That was the one thing that had not shifted. That was the one thing that still felt solid.
He moved with me slowly, keeping that connection between us, and when his hands came to my breasts, he did not hesitate or treat me like I was fragile or broken. He held me the same way he always had, firm but gentle, his hands moving with care that felt familiar.
“There is nothing wrong with you,” he said, lifting his head to look at me. His eyes did not waver. “Do you hear me?”
More tears fell, but I nodded. I needed to hear him say it, even if I was still trying to believe it.
“You are still my wife,” he continued. “You are still the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on. That does not change.”
His mouth moved over me again, slower now. He kissed along my chest and over my breasts, taking his time, letting his lips stay there. It did not feel like comfort out of pity. It felt like love. It felt like he was reminding me with every touch that nothing about me had changed in his eyes.
I closed my eyes and let myself feel it. When I wrapped my arms around him again, it was not out of fear.
Kojo stayed with me. He kept his movements slow, his hands returning to me again and again, his mouth finding mine as he kissed me with a quiet intensity that settled something inside me.
“You are not facing this alone,” he said against my lips. “I am right here. I am not going anywhere.”
I felt it in everything he did, in how he held me, how close he kept me, and how he never pulled away.
Time passed without either of us paying attention to it, but it did not matter.
As the night went on, I held onto my husband just as tightly. I loved on him the same way he was loving on me, my hands moving over his back, my lips finding his shoulder and his jaw because even in the middle of everything, I knew this was something I still had.
This was something that had not been taken from me and something, that even now, felt unbreakable.
RENZA MENSAH
The Chop Shop
I ain’t even gon’ lie… the way me and Kelli was around this bitch solvin’ shit, you’d think a nigga done went and got a badge and a pension the way we was crackin’ cases open.
The crazy part about it was, none of this shit had nothin’ to do with no law or no rules.
This was all family, and when it come to my family, I ain’t play that shit at all.
Everything lined up exactly how we needed it to.
After Kelli tapped into Roderick’s phone and synced that shit up with them burners, it was like we was sittin’ right there in every conversation that crooked muthafucka was havin’.
We ain’t have to guess no more. We ain’t have to piece shit together off assumptions.
We was watchin’ it happen in real time, readin’ messages that wasn’t meant for nobody but the people involved, and that’s how we found out about Marcus Hale.
Soon as Kelli showed me that name and what he had, I already knew how this shit was gon’ go. Niggas like that always thought they was smarter than everybody else until somebody stepped in front of them that ain’t play by no rules.
Kelli ain’t rush through none of this shit either.
That nigga sat there cool as hell with his thumb movin’ over the burners while he texted Marcus from Roderick’s number like it was nothin’.
I was watchin’ him the whole time, watchin’ how calm he was while he was basically speakin’ as another man, and I ain’t say shit ’cause I knew to let him cook.
Marcus ain’t question it either, which let me know right there that he was used to takin’ orders from Roderick without thinkin’ twice.
Kelli told him the footage needed to be moved ’cause shit was gettin’ hot, and that dumb ass nigga fell right in line, askin’ what the next move was like he ain’t even consider the possibility that somethin’ was off.
Kelli sent that fake location, kept it clean, kept it simple, and we waited.
And sure enough, Marcus showed up right where we told him to.
That nigga ain’t even get a full sentence out before Kelli cracked his ass.
It was one clean hit and it was lights out, his body droppin’ right there like he forgot how to stand.
I ain’t even bother sayin’ nothin’. I just grabbed him with Kelli, and we tossed his ass in the back like he was luggage.
From there, it was only one place for him to go.
My Chop Shop…
The room itself was cold, and it ain’t have shit to do with temperature.
It was quiet, solid, and built for one purpose, and that was to make sure a nigga understood exactly where he was and what time it was.
I had my ways of gettin’ rid of bodies when it came to protectin’ my family, and that space held all of it.
When Marcus finally came to, he ain’t even realize where he was at first. He literally had the same expression on his face as his bitch ass son before I sent his ass right where he at now… laid out and quiet.
He blinked a couple times, lookin’ around like he was tryna piece it together, and by the time his eyes landed on me, I was already standin’ over him with a smile on my face.
“You dirty muthafucka,” I said, holdin’ up that USB like it was a trophy. “We got yo’ ass.”
Confusion hit him first, then fear slid right in behind it when he started rememberin’ what happened. He tried to push himself up, tryna get his bearings like that shit was gon’ help him, but I ain’t even give him time to think.
I lifted the gun and shot him in both his damn kneecaps.
“AHHH! FUCK!” He screamed like a lil’ bitch.
The sound rang out twice, loud as hell, and his screams filled the whole room while his body dropped back down, his hands grabbin’ at his legs like he could stop that kind of pain.
Blood started spreadin’ under him, and he was cryin’ out, yellin’, beggin’ and all that shit that ain’t mean nothin’ to me.
“Yeah, scream,” I muttered, lookin’ down at him. “You wasn’t thinkin’ ‘bout none of this when you was playin’ with my cousin though, was you?”
Kelli ain’t react to none of it. That nigga was already movin’ with the laptop in his hand like this was just another step in the process. I handed him the USB, and he plugged it in without sayin’ a word, his eyes focused while the screen lit up.
Marcus kept talkin’, tryna explain, tryna lie, tryna do whatever he thought was gon’ save him, but I wasn’t listenin’ to none of that shit. My attention was on the screen, waitin’ on that file to load.
And when it did…
I ain’t even realize I leaned forward until I caught myself.
There it was, Kay’Lo’s shop sittin’ right there on the screen, clear as day with every second of it playin’ back like how it really went down.
You could see Rioh and Jaqwon in that muthafucka, runnin’ they mouths, movin’ reckless and pressin’ up on Kay’Lo like they was untouchable. You could hear everything too—every word, every threat and every moment that led up to that shit goin’ left.
Kay’Lo was tellin’ them to get the fuck away from his shop, his voice calm but firm in that way I knew too well, and them niggas kept pushin’ it like they wanted somethin’ to happen. Echo was right there too, instigatin’, and addin’ fuel to that shit instead of stoppin’ it.
“This the shit they tried to hide?” I said, shakin’ my head while I watched it play out.
Kelli leaned back just a lil’, his eyes still on the screen. “Yep,” he said.
The footage showed everything the prosecution tried to twist. It showed who started it, who escalated it, and why Kay’Lo had to do what he did. That whole narrative about him shootin’ them in the back unprovoked was bullshit, and this right here proved it without a doubt.
I let out a low laugh, lookin’ back down at Marcus bitch ass. “Damn… you done fucked up bad.”
He was still groanin’, tryna talk through the pain, but his voice ain’t carry no weight no more.
I looked back at Kelli, then at the screen again, and I ain’t even try to hide the grin on my face.
“Man, I need a job as a detective or some shit,” I said, laughin’. “The way I’m crackin’ cases wide open right now, I’m feelin’ real different around this muthafucka.”
Kelli smirked at that but ain’t say much, which was just how he was.
I was startin’ to realize what all this shit meant. This wasn’t just about the footage no more.
This was about exposin’ every crooked muthafucka tied to Roderick Lennox and the shit he been doin’ behind closed doors. The lies, the setups, the way they tried to bury Kay’Lo under all that fake evidence and push for the death penalty like he ain’t have a right to defend himself… all that shit.
But nah...
That shit was done now.
I looked back at Marcus one more time, shakin’ my head like he wasn’t even worth the energy no more.
I let my eyes sit on him for a second, really lookin’ at him like I wanted him to understand exactly where he was at and how this was finna end for him.
Before he could even think to say another word, I lifted the gun and shot him right between his eyebrows.
His body dropped back, already lifeless, like his time had been up, and I just clocked him out.
“All that playin’ both sides shit?” I muttered, standin’ over his dead body. “Yeah… it caught up to you.”
Then I turned back toward Kelli, noddin’ once while I looked at the screen again.
“Let’s get this shit out there,” I said. “Time to show these muthafuckas what really happened.”
’Cause at this point, it wasn’t just about clearin’ Kay’Lo’s name…
It was about tearin’ all that corruption down with it.