Chapter 9 Euri
Euri
Who the fuck was this nigga? See, this was the reason you needed to tell people that you cared about what you had going on. What if the nigga had popped up on my doorstep before Bruqlyn told me about her background? Her uncle, whom she didn’t know, was on my doorstep.
“No, that can’t be right. My father was an only child,” Bruqlyn said to him with conviction in her voice. She shook her head.
That was an observation, but I had a question. “Yo, how the fuck did you find out where my baby was? That shit is creepy.”
“To address your statement, Bruqlyn, your father was not an only child. He was my older brother. We’ve been estranged for over twenty-five years,” her long-lost uncle said. “I found this address at your father’s house in a file.”
Yeah, I didn’t like that shit at all. When he asked to come inside, my baby looked at me for the answer.
I lifted my gun and turned the switch on.
I wanted the nigga to know that I would light his ass up with no remorse if he was on some funny shit.
His eyes popped at my action. “Yeah, we can go inside. You know what it is.”
I nodded my head to Bruqlyn so she could unlock the door. Once it was unlocked, I moved her to let him enter first. Once he was inside, my baby directed him toward the living room. I took out my phone to send a chat in the Westin group chat.
Me: Aye, I need y’all to be on ya Ps and Qs. We got home and some nigga claiming to be my girl’s uncle was on the porch. She said her daddy was an only child.
Pops: FUM son! WOTW.
My father shorthanded extra letters when he texted. He’d shorthand a whole sentence and leave us to figure the shit out. It was comical, but I would let him have it today. His response was what I expected.
Derrick: I’m about to walk the fuck in.
Aaron: I see you, Bro.
Right before the door opened, I heard Casper on one. “Casper, calm down,” Bruqlyn commanded. “Sit down.”
I turned to the side to see my front door open, and my brothers walked in. “What’s up, Bro?” I dapped both.
Richard looked scared, so that told me he more than likely wasn’t a real threat. He stood there frozen for a second before he snapped out of it. He walked toward us, then extended his hand. “Good evening, gentlemen. My name is Richard Sampson. I came to have a word with my niece.”
Aaron shook his hand, then said, “Oh, that’s cool. We’re all vested to hear what you have to say.”
I sat next to my baby, then patted the seat next to me. Casper jumped up and lay down. My brothers sat in the single armchairs. Richard sat on the loveseat.
“Okay, can you explain to me why I’ve never known about you?” Bruq came right out of the gate with her question.
Richard shifted. “That’s a valid question.
As you know, our family’s textile business was passed down to us after our parents passed.
For years, things went as they should have.
When I found out about Carter’s other operation, I confronted him, and we had a blowout.
From that point on, I wanted nothing to do with the business connected to him, so we split it.
I changed the name of my business to create separation from his.
That was easy since my mills are in Alabama,” he explained.
I sat forward and put my forearms on my thighs. “Why didn’t you go to the authorities about that sick shit? The nigga was selling people.”
“He was still my brother. I know it sounds crazy, but I just wanted to get away from the shit.” His explanation made sense, but in the same breath, it didn’t because of the severity of the thing.
It paralleled to when you were at the family reunion, and all the kids were told not to go around funny Uncle Joe. The whole family knew that Uncle Joe was a fucking molester. Instead of reporting or killing his ass, they just told people to stay the fuck away. I never understood that concept.
Bruqlyn shifted in her seat. “Um, did you know about how he treated me and my mother? Did you know that he basically held us hostage and beat us into submission? Why did my father have this address?”
“No, I didn’t know at all. Had I known, I would have intervened. I need you to believe that,” he said with conviction. “When my brother and I stopped communicating, you were almost three, I believe. From what I saw, he loved you and your mother immensely.”
I put my hand on Bruqlyn’s thigh. I wasn’t sure if she believed him. For some reason, I did. My baby restated her last question. She added on to the question of why he was there.
A somber look covered his face. “I’m not sure why your father had this address. From the file that I saw, there was a snippet of a video of you from social media. It looks like he found this address after that.”
Yep, I had to get someone to see Cece. She opened my woman up to unforeseen dangers because her ass wanted to be fucking funny.
She was the kind of bitch that needed to be handled in the worst way.
She didn’t understand the consequences of her actions.
After our settlement, she posted a dumb ass video about it.
Her ass needed to wait until her eye was fixed before she made videos without filters.
Richard continued. What he said next, I didn’t see coming. “I came here to let you know that your father died a couple of weeks ago.”
Bruqlyn’s breath hitched, and her hand flew over her mouth. My brothers mumbled damn under their breath. I wasn’t surprised to see her tears fall. Regardless of how he treated her, that was still her father.
“What, he died? How did he die?” Bruqlyn asked. “This is crazy.”
Richard sat up in his seat. “The coroner said that it was a massive heart attack. He was found in his home by the maid in his bed. I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.”
I pulled my baby into my arms. Her tears wet my shirt as they fell. It was my job to be there for her. “It’s gonna be alright, love.” I glanced at her uncle. “Are you here to give her funeral details or some shit?”
“I didn’t get access to Carter’s house until a few days ago. I didn’t know how to reach you, so I followed his final wishes to be cremated,” he informed us. “I’m so sorry, but I have his ashes for you.”
She lifted her head. “I don’t want them. You can do whatever you want to do with them.” She sat up but didn’t let me go. “Was that all you wanted to tell me?”
“No, I wanted to let you know that everything he had was passed down to you, including the mills. There’s paperwork that you need to complete in Mississippi to take ownership.” Damn.
Bruqlyn let me go and jumped up from her seat. “No! I don’t want any of it. You can have it. I don’t want it.”
Richard sat there quietly, like we all did, while we watched her pace and mumble about not wanting shit from her father.
“Bruqlyn, darling, I know you think you don’t want any of it, but I urge you to reconsider.
This is the very least that your father could do.
From the file he had on you, it said that you’ve lived in a van for years.
From what I remembered about your mother, she wouldn’t have wanted that.
Plus, there are still a lot of her things in the house. ”
“Wow! It sounds like this nigga been keeping up with her for a while.” Aaron spoke up. “I wonder why he never came after her.”
Richard tittered lowly. “If I know anything about my brother, it was more of a hassle to come after you than just let you be. As long as you weren’t talking, he was fine.”
“That makes sense. Why create an additional problem when there wasn’t one?” I mumbled. “Baby, what do you want to do? We can fly down there and see what they’re talking about. If you don’t want anything, you would still have to sign it over. You can go get some of your mom’s things that you want.”
She rushed over to me and sat down. “Will you please come with me?” She looked at my brothers. “Y’all too, please?”
I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her toward me. I pressed her forehead against mine, then replied, “You don’t even have to ask that. We go where you go, love.”
Seconds later, my father came through my front door. I looked down at my watch because it shouldn’t have taken him that long to get there from his house. When I dapped him up, he smelled like my mother. I don’t even want to know.
A Week Later…
Jackson, Mississippi
Not only were my brothers and I serious about going with my baby, but when my father heard about the ordeal, he told my mother. It was a whole family affair. We all went, including Karla. Bruqlyn’s family property was massive. On the low or high, my baby came from money.
We immediately went to the lawyer’s office after we checked into our hotel in Mississippi.
Bruqlyn maintained that she didn’t want shit.
My mother convinced her to keep the house and turn it into a bed and breakfast or something.
As far as the mills, her uncle Richard bought out her portion of the shares since she was adamant about not wanting anything to do with it.
“I can’t believe the shares were worth that much,” Bruqlyn said as we sat in the house she was raised in.
We were packing up things that she wanted shipped back to Charlotte.
Everything else would be sold in an estate sale that she set up for the following weekend with a company that specialized in that kind of thing.
Karla bumped her shoulder. “My sis is a millionaire. Are you going to keep in touch with your uncle? He seems really cool.”
Bruqlyn wore a faint smile. “I mean, I don’t see a reason not to. It’s still going to take some time to get used to, having an uncle and aunt.”
Richard had been married to his wife for twelve years, and they were expecting their first child. There was a six-year age gap between Bruqlyn’s father and uncle. We’d been there for a few days, and the entire time, Richard continued to apologize for not being there for her.
“Look at you as a baby.” My mother gushed when she came into the living room where we sat. She held some pictures in her hand. “Aw, y’all gonna give me beautiful grandbabies.”
My lips turned up at her. “Really, Ma?” When she asked me if she was lying, I rolled my eyes. “Nah, you’re not.”
My dad and brothers came through the back door. “Bruq, are you going to come back here to go through your little house? That shit is nice as hell too,” my dad said.
I forgot she told me about that. She called it her home at home. “No, it’s probably a mess out there. When I left, I had dishes in the sink. I didn’t take the trash out or anything. I know there’s all kinds of bugs.”
Aaron’s chin went side to side. “Nah, it’s clean. It honestly looked like it gets cleaned regularly.”
Her brows furrowed. “Really? That’s weird. I wouldn’t think Carter would do something like that.”
Moments later, we were all out the back door, walking toward the house. It looked like they had purchased one of those large sheds to turn it into a mini house. My brother was right. The space was extremely clean and smelled great.
“It’s just like I left it. I don’t understand,” Bruqlyn said. She picked up a book that lay open on the couch. “This was the book I was reading when I decided to leave. I just set it down and immediately started packing.”
My mother walked over, stood next to her, then wrapped her arm around her shoulder.
“Baby, I’m not giving any pardons. Sometimes, as parents, hell people, we realize our mistakes after everyone has turned their backs on us.
From what was said, your father knew where you were the whole time, regardless of your name change.
Perhaps, losing you and your mother made him realize how much of a fuck ass he was when it came to y’all.
” She looked around the house. “He found a way to immortalize you.”
I kissed Bruqlyn’s temple from where I stood beside her. My eyes bounced at different things in the room. “Do you want anything from out of here?”
She walked over to a counter, then pressed on the underside of it.
She opened the cabinet door, and it looked like there was a secret compartment or something.
What did her and her mama have going on?
She pulled out a stack of pictures, papers, and other shit.
We all watched as she set it on the counter and went through the stuff.
Tears dropped on the paper. With a low voice, she said, “I want everything.”
Bruqlyn stood in our backyard, stuck. I finally convinced her ass to move all the way in with me. Her van was still in the driveway and always would be. I told her we could use it for trips.
“Euri, what the fuck? I can’t believe you did this.” Her eyes were big, and her cheeks were high.
I chuckled. “What, baby? You said you wanted everything. I brought you everything.”
She smacked my chest. “Euri, you know what I meant. I wanted everything in the house, not the house itself! Oh my God!”
Yeah, I did my big one. The day before we left Mississippi, I talked to her uncle and told him that I wanted to have the entire structure brought to Charlotte.
There were way too many memories of my baby and her mother to simply let it go.
He told me it was no problem, and he even footed the bill for it.
It had been a couple of weeks since we returned. The house was delivered while Bruq was at work. I had it placed in our backyard. It was like it was the only thing missing.
She jumped and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you so much! I don’t know how I could ever repay you for this.”
My hands gripped her ass to hold her up. “You know how you can repay me? Keep loving me and never leave a nigga. You went down a lot of roads to get here. This is your final destination, Bruqlyn. I’ll nut the fuck up behind you if you think you leaving a nigga.”
Her head flew back while her giggles filled the air. “You are crazy.” A devious smirk rested on her face when she lifted her head. “I like that shit. You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Westin. I’m not going anywhere. I’m happy I took all those roads because all of them led to you.”
All Scootched In