Epilogue
Messiah and I waited in the visitation room for my father to come out. It had been nine months since I laid eyes on my father. He told us not to visit him, but this meeting needed to happen.
My father knew the Crawfords had something to do with Uncle Lamont’s demise, and I needed him to let go of the malice.
I understood that what happened would always be a scar we couldn’t remove, but he had to understand that it was bound to happen, whether it was by them or someone else.
Uncle Lamont was familiar with the game, but he didn’t know how to play it.
That ended up costing him his life, and I no longer wanted to hold space for what happened.
My father finally walked inside the visitation room as I sat upright, waiting for him to approach. I stood to greet him, and he paused his steps. His eyes went from my face to my stomach, and then over to Messiah before shifting back to me.
“Hi, Daddy.” I hugged him around his neck, and he reciprocated.
“Baby girl… How are you?”
I released him as we sat down. “I’m good. This is Messiah?—”
“I know who he is. Why he’s here is what I want to know?”
“He’s my fiancé, Daddy. We’re about to have a baby.”
“Oh yeah? That’s what you do, Arie? Get engaged to and pregnant by the nigga that killed my brother?”
“I didn’t kill your brother,” Messiah replied.
Daddy scoffed. “My nigga, don’t play with me.”
“Daddy…”
“It’s okay, baby.” Messiah took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I get that you’re hurting, Mr. Logan, and I do apologize for the part I played in your brother’s untimely demise. As a man who lives by the rules, you should understand why this happened this way.
“Imagine agreeing to a truce and minding your own business.
For years, everything is quiet, calm—neutral.
Then, boom! You get six point five million dollars stolen from you.
No rhyme or reason behind it, aside from you disagreeing to up a percentage because the neutral party gets greedy and takes what he wants.
“Of course you get upset… It’s six point five million dollars of your hard-earned money that you pay a tax on all year-round. Hypothetically, what would you have done, Mr. Logan?”
Daddy looked away, eyes scanning the room before coming back to Messiah.
He sighed deeply. “Look. That was my blood, my only sibling. No, he didn’t make the right call on this, but he didn’t deserve to die.
However,” he said, holding up his hand. “It’s how the game is played.
I don’t fucking like it, but I respect it. ”
“And I’m sorry for your loss. Arieana and I are about to bring your grandchild earth-side… We want you there physically to welcome her.”
Both my father and I frowned in confusion. “Well, that’s physically impossible to do, and I wouldn’t want you to bring her anywhere near here.”
“The shower is this weekend. You’ll be out by tomorrow evening.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
Messiah stood, holding out his hand for my father to shake. Daddy looked at his hand and skeptically took it with shock and confusion on his face.
“See you tomorrow, Mr. Logan. Come on, Juice.” I took my father’s hand, giving it a squeeze, before standing for Messiah to escort me out of the prison to his car.
“Messiah!” I called out, stopping him before he opened my door. “What just happened back there?”
“Your father is being released tomorrow, Juicy. I had a talk with an old friend who happens to be a judge and got him a pardon. Shit cost me a lot, but I was serious about promising you a soft, care-free life.”
“Oh my God!” I screamed and jumped into his arms. Tears made their way down my face as I held on to him tightly. “Oh my God…” I repeated, crying audibly. “I love you so much.”
“You better.” He placed me on my feet as I tongued him down. “I love you more, baby mama.”
Any doubt that I had about our love before had now been completely erased. I was bound to this man and eternally grateful to him. And if anybody had a problem with that, they could meet me in the field about mine.
March 2023
I walked into Crawford Realty and up to the front desk. Nina looked up from some paperwork she was reading over and smiled at me.
“Hi, Ms. Arie. You are glowing!”
I gave her a soft smile. “Thank you, Nina. Is she in?”
“Yes, ma’am. In her office.”
“Thank you. You can take your lunch, if you need to.”
“Okay. Thank you!” She beamed as I headed down the hall to the office of Corina Evans.
I didn’t bother knocking as I pushed the door open and walked inside. Her funky ass had her feet kicked up on the desk, twirling the phone cord with her finger, and smiling way too fucking hard on the phone. She didn’t even notice me come in.
I pushed my finger on the phone button to end her call.
“What the he—” She paused her words when she saw me, and fear seeped onto her face.
“What’s up, bitch? Miss me?”
“A-AP… No, I um… I was just waiting for you to call me.”
“Shut the fuck up, dummy. You thought I forgot about our little arrangement, didn’t you? Nope, I still remember.” I giggled. “Right now, I want you to pack your shit and get out of this office. You’re officially fired.”
“Wait… Y-you can’t do that. You don’t have the right to do that.”
“Bitch, I have every right. I’m fucking the boss and carrying his child. We’re getting married in October, and he has made me a part-owner of both of his companies. You, bitch, are fired. Get out of this office!”
“AP, please. I need this job. Please, I’ll do anything you ask of me.”
“Your time is up, Corina. Your work ethic is poor, you haven’t sold a house in months, and your colleagues have been complaining about you feeling yourself too fucking much. In here caking on the phone, instead of being out there trying to turn a profit.”
“That’s a lie! I just closed on the Wicker home yesterday. That house sold for two point two million dollars!”
“Oh, really? And what about before that?”
“It’s been slow?—”
I put my hand up to stop her from speaking. “Get your ass up and get out of here, or I’m going to make you get out.” I pulled my nine from my bag, pointing it at her.
Corina stood abruptly and began gathering her things with tears in her eyes.
I didn’t give a fuck about her tears. I guess, in a way, this was my due diligence for the late Oliver Green.
That young man didn’t deserve to die, and it fucked with my conscience to continue to allow her to be the CEO of this company. She didn’t deserve it.
While she continued to pack up, there was a tap on the door. I turned to find the person who would be taking over Corina’s position. I smiled at her while putting my gun away.
“Hey, come on in.” She stepped inside. “Corina, meet Talia Green—Oliver’s sister.” Corina’s eyes blew the hell up as I continued, “She is now the new CEO of Crawford Realty. Talia, I have to go, but welcome to the family, and enjoy your new office.”
“Thank you so much. Ollie would have been so proud of me.”
“He sure would have. You can still make him proud by making this company flourish .”
“I will do just that.” I nodded in approval while sneering at Corina. I then made my way out of the office. Corina was a snake, and her being jobless served her funky ass right.
Getting inside of my new Genesis GV80—an early push gift from my fiancé—I headed in the direction of his home that was going to soon be mine as well.
It had been a month since my father had been released from prison, and to say my mom, Paige, and me were ecstatic about his being home was an understatement. He’d been adjusting to being on the outside well, and Sabrina’s ass hadn’t let him up for air yet.
A few weeks ago, all of us, including the Crawfords, sat down and hashed out any problems we had with one another.
I wanted my daughter to grow up with a loving family, so any lingering beefs and malice had to cease.
I’m proud to say that Mr. Crawford and my family had actually been pretty mutual.
They would golf on the weekends and go to my club sometimes to smoke cigars.
Mama didn’t like that because she swore my daddy was dipping off to the gentlemen’s club.
I mean, I wasn’t opposed to my father seeing a little ass shake, but I stayed out of their business.
The man had been down for ten years. I had already put the word out to fire any bitch that tried to take him to the VIP room, though.
Mr. Crawford wasn’t exempt, either, but I was glad to see them getting along.
As far as Messiah and I, we were falling more and more in love each day.
I couldn’t wait to blend our families and welcome Baby Asaria into the fold.
MJ was going to be the best big brother.
He was already spoiling her by buying her gifts for her nursery and sneaking me all the junk I desired behind his daddy’s back.
I knew I was wrong for making him an accomplice, but MJ and I had built a special bond that not even his father could break.
The small Harry Winston bracelet he got her for Christmas had me in tears.
He had it engraved with her name on it, and it had “Big Brother Messiah” under it. It was simply beautiful.
As far as Mooney, I allowed him to rent out my house for as long as he needed to. He had finally found a girlfriend, and I actually liked her for him.
Pulling into the driveway of the home I now shared with Messiah and MJ, I got out and went inside, being met by Heaven, Halo, Hanna, and my fine-ass man with amazing dick.
“Hi, babies!” I exclaimed as they hurried toward me, rubbing their heads against my legs while I rubbed their heads. “Hi, big baby,” I greeted Messiah, puckering my lips.
He smiled and kissed me. “I feel like you been on bullshit today.”
I frowned and laughed. “What are you talking about? Why you accusing me of something I didn’t do?”
“I ain’t accusing you. I’m making an assumption.”
“Well, don’t assume. You’ll make an ass out of you and me.”
He laughed. “Come on. I want to show you something. Triple H, yoko ni naru!”
The three of them went into the sitting room and lay down.
“What the hell is that?” I asked, impressed but confused.
“It means ‘lie down’ in Japanese.”
“So, you’re just going to switch their language like that?”
“Not a switch; an added language for them to understand. They’ll listen to both.”
“Mm, show me what you need to show me.”
He took me by the hand and led me down the hall to a closed door. He opened it, revealing a room that held a bunch of paint materials and magazines.
“What is this?”
“It’s a room I want you to have for yourself. You said you used to want to be an interior designer. Well, I want to see your skills.”
“I told you that was a dream deferred…”
“Nah, it’s a dream transferred. I want you to do everything you love. I want to restore all of your hopes and dreams. This is a part of living your soft life.”
I bit my lip as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I love fucking you. Is that a part of the soft life too?”
“Hell yeah! You get all the dick you desire.”
“Yesss! Praise Gawd!”
“You are hell, girl. But I love it.”
“I know you do… You got to the heart of a savage woman and gave her a different outlook on life. We’ve been through a lot, but it all led to these moments with you. Thank you for saving me.”
“Always, baby.”
I rubbed my nose against his. “I love you.”
“I know you do.”
I smiled widely and kissed his lips.
I didn’t hate the woman I was before, but I didn’t miss her as much as I thought I would.
I was embracing being soft and choosing to be hard when I needed to be.
Before Messiah came into my life, I was just a girl trying to navigate through life after being taught to protect myself and be an independent boss chick.
When I allowed myself to open my heart and let love in, I became a woman who was allowing my person to love me into being gentle… nurturing.
If I had the chance to do life over again, I would have made better choices. I would have allowed my mother to teach me how to be more feminine. But things turned out as they were supposed to.
And I wouldn’t change a thing.
The End.