Chapter 19
Cashmere put her finger up to her lips as she looked at Twizz. They had just gotten into the house and were about to walk past the living room when she heard Savio’s and Ivoree’s voices.
Her brows pulled in as she listened to Ivoree question Savio on why he wasn’t nice to her and then she confessed his love for him, something Cashmere hadn’t even had the balls to do yet.
“What the fuck?” she whispered so quietly she doubted Twizz even heard her.
Her mind reeled. The feminine voice didn’t even sound like it belonged to her sister.
The jealousy that dripped from her tone when she spoke of Cashmere hurt.
Never in a million years would Cashmere have thought Ivoree would be jealous of her.
Ivoree was the one who had a chance at a normal life.
She was the one who had only ever had to sit back and exist. As far as Cashmere was concerned, Ivoree never had to work a day in her life.
She never had to do anything but be pretty and swipe her damn credit card.
There would never be a time when Cashmere would understand the jealousy.
If anything, she should be jealous of Ivoree.
Ivoree was the one who had the brains and the goals to help people in the world.
All Cashmere had ever been good at was stealing from people and spotting an expensive diamond.
Cashmere would have traded her life for Ivoree’s in a heartbeat.
Anger flashed within Cashmere, and suddenly, everything everyone had been trying to tell her about Ivoree over the last few weeks clicked for her. Ivoree sounded unstable. She sounded unwell. She sounded downright ungrateful.
Tears formed in Cashmere’s eyes as the anger slipped, and guilt overtook her. She immediately blamed herself. How could I have missed this?
She was so lost in her spiraling thoughts that she missed the sound of movement in the room before she heard Savio’s deep voice capture her attention.
“Put the gun down, Ivoree.”
Gun?
“Precious. Call me Precious like you call her,” Ivoree demanded.
“What the fuck?” Cashmere said for the second time in less than a minute. She made a move to step into the living room, but Twizz had already pushed her aside and made his entrance.
His gun was drawn, and Cashmere’s breath caught in her throat. The situation had gone from confusing to deadly way too quickly.
“Put the gun down,” Twizz said in a firm tone.
Cashmere was relieved that he took the time to try to talk Ivoree down. She understood that went against everything he was trained to do. There was no doubt in her mind that Savio had trained him to shoot first and ask questions later.
Cashmere watched in horror as Ivoree gasped in surprise and then gunshots rang out. Twizz dropped as blood pooled at his feet. Cashmere screamed and dropped to his side. He didn’t deserve this.
“What did you do, Vee? What did you do?” Cashmere screamed.
Savio’s jaw clenched, but he remained still, though Cashmere knew he wanted to see about Twizz. Cashmere’s eyes fell back on Twizz, and her hands found the hole in his side. She put pressure on it as her heart beat rapidly.
Ivoree placed both her hands on her head as she shook it, the gun still gripped tightly in her hand. “What did I do? You did this.”
Cashmere chanced a glance up at Ivoree, and this time, the gun was pointed right at her.
“The fuck are you doing, Vee? I’m your fuckin’ sister. The fuck is going on?” Cashmere cried out. She wanted to lunge at Ivoree and beat the shit out of her, but she refrained. Something told her if she did that, she would be on the floor leaking right next to Twizz.
“Fuck being sisters. Fuck you,” Ivoree screeched.
Cashmere’s blood boiled. The audacity Ivoree had needed to be studied. As badly as she wanted to get up and face her sister properly, something told her that if she stopped putting pressure on Twizz’s wound, he would die. The gurgling sounds coming from him really weren’t a good sign.
With her eyes on Twizz, she said, “Fuck me? Bitch, do you know what I’ve done for you? All this shit is for you!”
Cashmere whirled her head around the space to indicate the damn mansion they lived in.
Ivoree scoffed. “You think you saved me? Huh? You didn’t.
You left me. You left me with our crazy ass drugged out parents.
Do you really think that was the first time Daddy tried to sell me?
Bitch, he been did that shit. The moment you left was the moment they decided my young ass pussy was worth somethin’. ”
Every one of Ivoree’s words hit Cashmere right in the heart with an electric stab. Her head dropped as she shook it sadly. “You never told me.”
“For what? What would telling you fix? You think you did all this for me to save me? No, bitch, you did it because you fuckin’ owe me.
You left me there with them. Everything that happened was your fault.
I deserved all this shit, and I deserve Sav.
” Ivoree stomped her foot like a child as she gestured the gun in Savio’s direction.
“Everyone needs to calm the fuck down. Lower your gun, Ivoree, so we can all talk,” Savio tried to reason.
Cashmere heard the rage just under his tone. She could see the storm brewing within him. Their gazes met, and she pleaded her apologies to him with her eyes. He nodded slightly, which let her know he forgave her.
Her heart only had one second to feel a slice of relief.
“See what I’m talking about? You always get everything good! I deserve good things too!” Ivoree screeched as she jumped up and down like a toddler who couldn’t get a treat after finishing their dinner.
Cashmere’s eyes grew wide as she watched her sister in confusion.
“Vee—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Ivoree snapped, and she fired a shot that just barely missed Cashmere.
Cashmere flinched and fell on top of Twizz, who still gurgled. Blood came out of his mouth, and Cashmere murmured a pained sorry to him before she focused on Ivoree. Only her sister wasn’t where she had just been seconds ago.
Ivoree was now on the ground as Savio wrestled with her for the gun. Ivoree kneed Savio in the groin, and he grunted before he grabbed her by the hair and smashed her head into the carpeted floor. Although she was dazed, Ivoree kept an iron-tight grip on the gun, and she now had it aimed at Savio.
“Stop!” Cashmere screeched.
She hadn’t meant to stop tending to Twizz, but her feet carried her to Savio, who now stood in front of Ivoree. Cashmere wedged her way between the two and wrapped her legs around Savio’s waist as a shield.
“I love him, Vee. I love him,” Cashmere said through tears as he buried her head into his neck.
The words tumbled out of her as she clung to him.
She had never spoken anything truer than those words.
She loved Savio, and the depth of her love was bottomless.
She proved that with Ivoree. There wasn’t a thing she wouldn’t do for him.
Her heart ached that it took this situation to pull that up out of her.
Savio kissed her cheek before he started to turn them so his back would be facing Ivoree and Cashmere would be protected from the gun.
“You bitch.”
A second of silence followed Ivoree’s declaration before gunshots rang out. She and Savio were visible to Ivoree at that point, since he had only managed to turn halfway, and Cashmere’s heart dropped down to the bottom of her feet. Her eyes clenched, preparing for the worst.
When she realized she didn’t feel any pain and Savio hadn’t dropped her, she opened her eyes.
The sight before her devastated her. Savio quickly put her down and rushed toward Twizz, who had a gun in his hand. The gun that had shot her sister. Cashmere’s knees gave out, and she landed right next to her sister, who lay there in a pool of blood with a hole right between her eyes.
“No,” Cashmere whispered. Her mind refused to process what she saw as she grabbed Ivoree’s hand.
Ivoree’s eyes stared straight forward at nothing as Cashmere rocked back on her butt.
“Come on, man. You gonna be aight,” Savio coached. Cashmere knew Savio was having his own crisis right now, but she couldn’t bring herself to tend to him. How could she when her entire life had just been altered.
What was life for Cashmere without Ivoree?
“No,” Cashmere whispered again, but she realized she needed to form new words. Words that could actually help the situation. With the last bit of her strength, she looked behind her at Savio with tears in her eyes and said, “Call Cell.”
After that, Cashmere buried her head in her hands and let out a soul-stirring cry.