Chapter 24 #3
He sat there in the quiet, the city moving around him, but inside that car—inside his chest—was stillness. Fury. Pain.
And a vow that wouldn’t break. He was going to get his baby back. Or die trying.
The longer he sat there staring at Sevyn’s penthouse window, the harder it became to pretend she was still up there.
The lie no longer brought him peace—it only fueled his rage.
He couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t fucking breathe knowing Sevyn wasn’t inside.
His jaw clenched as he pulled up the address Von sent of Ariel’s house.
Four in the morning, sky black and cold, matching the storm inside him.
He couldn’t sit on his ass another minute.
If Ariel had anything to do with Sevyn’s disappearance, he was getting answers tonight.
Just as he threw the Ferrari in drive, his door yanked open. Dorian slid in, her eyes already daring him to say something.
“Dorian, what the fuck are you doing? How the hell you get out the house?” Hassan barked, ready to chew Von and Bully out for slipping.
“Took a fucking Uber.”
“You brought a stranger to my property?” His voice dropped, sharp with fury.
“No. Walked down the block. Drugged everybody at the house with melatonin. They sleep like babies.” She buckled her seatbelt like she belonged in that seat. “Told you I wasn’t waiting in some house while my cousin’s somewhere hurt and alone. So drive, nigga .”
Hassan stared at her, trying to figure out how she even knew where he was. But the fire in her eyes matched his own. He saw himself in her. Cold. Hurt. Ruthless. There wasn’t a single threat he could make that would scare her off.
“Aight,” he muttered, pulling off toward Ariel’s.
“You been to Ariel’s place before?” he asked as they hit the highway.
“Yeah. Collierville. House. Why?” Her voice was flat, venom rising beneath every word.
“She’s involved.”
Dorian’s entire body tensed. “Good. Let me kill that bitch after you get what you need.”
Hassan let out a low, dark chuckle. She really was him. No wonder Sevyn understood him—she grew up with the female version of him.
“I gotchu.”
“You need to know anything about her place?” she asked.
“Any security?”
“Just gate guards. They know me. We good.”
He nodded. Maybe it was a blessing she showed up. He didn’t know how he was gonna get inside without her—but he damn sure would’ve tried.
“Wait. Ain’t you the one who beat her ass at her daddy’s bank? You probably banned,” Hassan smirked, glancing over.
“Yeah, we had a little family sit-down after that. They think it’s squashed now. I still go to the bank. Just haven’t laid hands on her… yet.”
Hassan shook his head, remembering the day Sevyn told him Ariel was pregnant by Braxton. The rage he felt then didn’t hold a candle to the inferno burning in him now. He was seconds away from unleashing hell.
And Ariel Caldwell was about to open her front door to the devil.
Once they got close to Ariel’s gate, Hassan pulled over and parked a good distance back, killing the engine so Dorian could slide into the driver’s seat.
The darkness outside and the deep tint of Hassan’s Ferrari would keep him hidden in the passenger side.
“Don’t scratch my shit, Dori,” he muttered, eyes on the road ahead.
“Boy, hush.” She waved him off, already adjusting the mirror as she pulled off toward the gate.
Sure enough, the so-called security guard was slumped inside the booth, half-asleep and completely useless. Dorian squinted at hi m, disgusted. “Sorry ass,” she mumbled. The flash of Hassan’s headlights jolted him awake, and the second he saw her face, he hit the button without hesitation.
“Damn, that easy?” Dorian smirked, shaking her head. She figured she’d need to spin a whole story, the way her and Harper had with Celine’s security—but clearly, Henry wasn’t paying his people enough for real protection.
She cut the lights and coasted silently up the long driveway, easing the car behind Ariel’s white Jeep. The house, modern and cold with sharp edges and soft-glow lighting, looked too damn peaceful for the snake that lived inside.
“I’ll knock on the front like I’m here to talk. Her gullible ass’ll fall for it, she scared of me and dying to get back in Sevyn’s good graces,” Dorian said, already plotting like she’d rehearsed this in her head. “Once I’m inside, I’ll unlock the back for you.”
“Dogs?” Hassan asked, scanning the yard. He didn’t need no barking, no alert.
“Bitch scared of ‘em,” Dorian scoffed.
“Good. I need her ass knocked out. We not doing no messy shit in here.”
“Been waiting to knock her ass out,” she muttered darkly.
“Put these on.” Hassan handed her a pair of gloves as he slipped his own on. There was no room for error—Ariel wasn’t walking out of this, and they weren’t leaving anything behind.
He paused, brows furrowed. “You drugged the hacker too. What about the cameras?”
Dorian tried not to laugh but failed. “I had to get outta there. Had to be slick with it.”
Hassan sighed, pulling out his phone. “Sloppy ass,” he muttered as he dialed Von, hoping the man had shaken off the effects of the drugged tea. On the fifth ring, he finally picked up, voice raspy.
“Aye… boss?” Von sounded groggy, half-confused, half-panicked.
“Aye, I’m at Ariel’s with Dorian,” Hassan said coolly.
“Dorian?” Von repeated, alertness kicking in. “The fuck?”
“She caught y’all slipping. Let a female drug your ass,” Hassan said, voice laced with both disappointment and lowkey amusement.
“Mane, that tea she made… shit was good though,” Von admitted, making Dorian laugh.
“Sorry, Voni. I had to. I couldn’t sit in that house another minute,” she said unapologetically.
“Whatever,” Von grumbled. “What you need?”
“Hack into Ariel’s security system. Gate and inside. Delete all footage of us arriving. Clean, no traces.”
They could already hear Von’s fingers flying across the keys .
“What about the fat nigga at the gate?” he asked mid-type.
“I’ll handle his ass,” Hassan said bluntly. “Keep your ears open. Call if anything moves.”
He hung up and looked at Dorian. “You ready?”
“Ready to kill this bitch… and get my sister back,” Dorian said, jaw tight, eyes locked.
Hassan gave a nod. Cold. Calculated. Deadly. “Let’s work.”
They stepped out of the car—Dorian heading to the front door, Hassan disappearing around the back.
Von had already hacked into the surveillance system; the only eyes watching were his.
When Dorian rang the bell, it took a minute before the door opened, revealing Ariel in a scarf and oversized tee, her face full of sleep and suspicion.
But the second her eyes landed on Dorian, confusion turned to fear.
“Dorian... wh-what are you doing here?” Ariel asked, glancing over her shoulder like she expected someone else to be behind her.
Dorian forced a sweet smile, every word she spoke scraping against her pride. “I know it’s late. I was in the neighborhood, saw your place... figured it was time we talk.”
Ariel blinked, hesitant. “Oh... okay. Come in.”
Inside, Dorian noticed the damn near empty living room. Boxes stacked high. Wall art wrapped. Furniture covered like it was waiting to be hauled off.
“You moving?” Dorian asked, scanning the space.
“Not just moving. Leaving. There’s nothing left here for me and the baby. Braxton wants us to have a fresh start.”
Dorian clenched her jaw at the mention of his name. “Still with him, huh.”
Ariel nodded, nervous but trying to seem firm. “He’s my child’s father. I know I was wrong... but I love him.”
Dorian bit her tongue before something sharp slipped. Ariel pulled out two wine glasses, as if they were two old friends trying to patch things up.
“You love a man who was your best friend’s first,” Dorian muttered, the venom hard to mask.
Ariel froze but forced a shrug, trying to hold on to her fake peace.“I thought you came to talk, not throw punches. Or... did you really show up at four in the morning to finish what you started at the bank?”
Dorian chuckled coolly, softening her voice. “No. I came to apologize.”
Ariel blinked, clearly not expecting that. “Want some wine?”
“Sure.”
While Ariel turned to pour, Dorian moved calmly to the island .
The minute Ariel stepped away to grab her phone ringing in the other room, Dorian pulled the nearly empty melatonin bottle from her purse and dumped the rest in Ariel’s glass without hesitation. By the time Ariel came back, Dorian was sipping hers like nothing happened.
Ariel’s face looked tenser than before, her brows furrowed with whatever she’d just seen or heard.
“Everything good?” Dorian asked.
“Yeah,” Ariel breathed, then downed the entire glass like she needed it to breathe. “You ever love a man so much you’d do anything for him—even when he keeps showing you he doesn’t love you back?”
Tears welled in her eyes. Dorian watched them fall without blinking.
“No,” she said flatly. “I leave niggas right where they had me fucked up.”
Ariel flinched, like she expected sympathy and got a blade instead.
Good.
Dorian listened as Ariel spilled her heart out—crying over how much she loved Braxton, how much he didn’t love her back. Every word made Dorian’s skin crawl. Her ears burned from the desperation in Ariel’s voice, but she nodded, played the part, let her vent.
So when Ariel yawned wide, her head starting to bob from the heavy hit of melatonin kicking in, Dorian finally felt peace return to her bones.
“Ouu, I’m getting sleepy. It was good seeing you, really, Dorian,” Ariel slurred, her eyes glassy.
Dorian stood and casually walked toward the sink with her empty wine glass in hand. “Yeah... can’t say the same.”
She slipped on her brass knuckles without hesitation.
Ariel squinted at her, confusion painted across her sleepy face. “What are those—”
Before she could finish the sentence, Dorian swung, cracking her across the face with enough force to rattle the cabinets. Blood gushed from Ariel’s nose instantly, her body going limp.