Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Saniya.
My heart clenched but I managed to pull myself together enough to block Raiden’s view of what was happening around him. I lifted him into my arms and carried him back to the bedroom where I closed us in.
“Hey, you’re up.”
He smiled lazily and nodded. “Is my daddy going to get breakfast?”
I blinked at the small frown on his face. From where he stood, all he could see was the door open. I was grateful for his innocence. What the hell was I supposed to say if he fully understood what was happening to his father?
His sleep-hazed mind didn’t fully grasp the severity of the situation. “He uhhh… he had to go somewhere but he’ll be back. How about you get dressed, then you can wash your face and brush your teeth. When you’re done, I’ll take you to get breakfast while your dad’s gone. Would that be okay?”
He frowned slightly. “But when is he coming back?”
Shit.
“Soon, and he said that you can order anything you want for breakfast. I think we should get huge stacks of pancakes loaded with whipped cream and sprinkles. How’s that sound?”
“Can I have chocolate syrup on them too?”
“You sure can. Get dressed. When you’re done, you can wash your face and brush your teeth. Do you know where your clothes are?”
“Yep, in my bag over there. My nana packed it for me.” Already distracted by the thought of a sugar-induced breakfast, he beamed, pointing to a kid-sized backpack sitting on the dresser.
“I’ll be right back. Wait here for me, okay? If you get dressed before I return, find something to watch on your iPad until I’m done. I have to speak to someone before we leave.”
“Okay.” He crossed the room and lifted his backpack. I left Raiden, closing him inside, panicked about what I would find. As soon as I was in the living room, fury flooded my body. The officers were gone and Grand was nowhere in sight. The apartment still showed signs of their careless handling of his things and the door was left wide open. When I stepped outside, the only people left were Raiden’s grandfather and the guy who was tossing shit around in the apartment.
“Where did they take him?”
“Downtown.”
My eyes narrowed. “They arrested him.”
Raiden’s grandfather turned his expression on me in annoyance. “What did you expect dealing with a thug like him?”
“I expected you not to be such a vindictive asshole but my expectations are futile.”
He snorted arrogantly. “That man is going back where he belongs.” His eyes swept me from head to toe like I was beneath him. “You might want to do a better job of selecting the company you keep.”
“Fuck you. I don’t want or need your advice.”
I turned away from him and addressed the other guy before I ended up catching a charge too. “What’s the charge?”
“Assault,” the guy responded robotically.
Raiden’s grandfather smiled smugly. “Which is a parole violation. You won’t be seeing him for a while. Five years to be exact which isn’t long enough but it’s better than knowing he’s living his life while my daughter can’t.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you? These are people’s lives you’re playing with. You don’t have to care about Grand, or even Raiden, who by the way is your own flesh and blood. But at the very least you can move on with your life and leave them the hell alone. Do you really believe this is what your daughter would want for them? That kid is her son. She loved him, even if you don’t. What would she expect from you ?”
He moved so quickly I almost stumbled backwards from the way he crowded my space but I managed to stand my ground. “You don’t know a damn thing about my daughter. I lost her. That man ruined her life and took her from me…”
“And you’re taking Grand from his son. Seems to me like you would be more understanding of what it means to lose someone you love, you fucking dick.”
“You might want to watch how you talk to me, little girl. You don’t know who I am.”
I edged closer. “I don’t give a shit who you are but trust when I say you’re going to care who I am. Whatever strings you pulled today to make this happen can’t be legal. I will call every news outlet in this city to tell them what happened and they will eat that shit up. If I have to fuck up your life, and his…” I swung my arm to the side, pointing at the other guy he was with. “I will not blink twice before doing so.”
“All of this is cute but doesn’t matter. Grand Sinclair is a murderer. He is going right back to prison. You should be grateful. I’m saving you and that bas …”
My mind spazzed, knowing exactly what he was about to say. I balled my fist as tightly as I could and punched him in the mouth with all the force I could muster. The second he recovered from the stun of being hit, he lunged at me but the other guy stepped in front of him.
“Johnson, that’s enough. You’re already pushing things with us being here. Leave the woman alone.”
“You work for me.”
The man moved closer and got in his face. “I work for the state. I don’t work for you and you might want to be careful about pissing me off, all things considered. Again, you’re pushing it with shit. Go home. You got what you wanted,” he warned and after one last death stare, Raiden’s grandfather turned to leave. The guy jerked a hand down his face, glared at me, then followed.
“You know this is wrong, but you let him do it. Grand didn’t violate his parole.”
The guy swung his eyes at me one last time. “Actually, he did, and considering his charges, assaulting someone is the biggest infraction he could have committed.”
“He was provoked,” I yelled as he walked away. The guy didn’t bother granting me a response. He simply got in his car and left.
I headed back inside, found my phone, and sent my sister a text requesting Tali’s number. Once it delivered I struggled to lift the sofa and quickly moved the cushions back in place. Luckily it was small enough for me to handle. I was going to get Raiden out of here and hopefully Tali could help me figure out what to do about Grand.
After breakfast, I took Raiden to Target and let him grab a few things to keep him busy. We ended up with a Lego set that took me an hour to assemble because of the intricate details and only took him ten minutes to destroy after he decided the two pickup trucks would have a crash landing off the coffee table.
We watched videos on his iPad, then ordered subs for lunch. I was running out of ideas to keep his mind occupied and distracted from his father not being there with us. He assumed Grand was working and I didn’t tell him any differently. A lie by default which I felt terrible for but I refused to bring adult problems into a child’s world. I also didn’t feel it was my place.
Our day worked out to be pretty fun, but by the time Raiden curled up next to me and crashed midway through the movie he selected after dinner, I exhaled a sigh of relief. I had a newfound respect for single parents because who the hell would think spending the day with a six year old would be so mentally and physically exhausting. I hadn’t realized how much until I was startled at the soft click of the front door closing. I sluggishly peeled my eyes open to find Tali crossing the room.
He settled onto the coffee table and dropped his elbows to his thighs, peering at me with exhausted eyes, but he smiled at the visual of Raiden curled up next to me.
“I wasn’t sure which one of you would be the first to tap out.”
I glanced at the tiny body next to me and grinned. “We had a long day.” I shifted Raiden and gently lifted him into my arms but Tali stood and intercepted his body by carefully taking him from my hold.
“I’ve got him. He’s heavy as hell when he’s asleep like that.”
I didn’t argue and while he got Raiden situated in the bed, I collected the plates and cups from our dinner and took them into the kitchen. Tali returned shortly after and hopped on the counter. I turned to face him, leaning against the one on the opposite side.
“You find out anything?”
“Not much about what’s going on with the charge but I talked to him,” Tali stated cautiously, turning his eyes on me.
“He called you?”
Tali nodded and gripped the counter. “He’s been working hard as fuck to keep his past detached from not just you but Raidy too. He’s pissed that they pulled up while y’all were here. You have to give him time to work through that.”
His ego and pride suffered a blow.
“If you talk to him again, can you tell him to call me?”
“I can tell him but he won’t do it.”
I frowned and Tali exhaled a sigh. “He’s not going to talk to you while he’s in there, Saniya. When all that shit went down years ago, he cut everybody off. He did five years and I didn’t see or talk to him once. He only talked to his mom because she refused to let him stay disconnected from what was going on with his son but even that was limited. I was pissed because we’re not just cousins. He’s my best friend but I accepted that he needed the distance to deal with being locked down. It’s the same now…”
“He’s not getting out?” I panicked.
Tali’s eyes landed on me intensely. “I don’t know. The system isn’t fair. In their eyes, he fucked up. The hows and whys don’t matter. He violated parole.”
I didn’t want to accept that this was it. I refused to accept he wasn’t coming home. “What…what did he say?”
“That he fucked up. Should have been able to keep his cool and for that he apologizes.”
Grand was apologizing to me when this wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t wrong.
“I opened my mouth to argue that point but Tali added, “He also wants you to leave this shit alone.”
The glare I delivered brought a smirk to Tali’s handsome face. “That look right there is why he wants you to leave it alone. You can’t fight his battles, Saniya. If you try and fuck up your own life in the process it’s only going to make things harder for him to deal with knowing he can’t do a damn thing about it. Let this shit be what it’s gonna be.”
“Which means what? Letting him sit there while nobody does anything.”
“He has a plan. The lawyer that handled his first case is going to see what he can do. What happened was bullshit, and if he can prove the situation was planned and Grand was provoked, he might be able to get him out of there. That’s going to take time.”
“I know people who will be willing to…”
“To what, Saniya? Intervene on behalf of a felon who on paper violated parole by assaulting the man of the daughter who was drugged and died on his watch. Nobody fucking cares. They’re not going to risk their necks for him. He’s asking you to fall back and let him handle it.”
Once again an argument was on the tip of my tongue but he gently shook his head. “If you get involved, you’re going to make it worse. Grand doesn’t need that shit on his shoulders. He’s carrying enough already without the added pressure of worrying about whether or not you’re good out here while he’s in there.”
He hopped off the counter. “I let my aunt know what was going on and she wanted you to bring Raiden home. I told her he was cool with you for the night and that he can stay here. I think that’s best. I’ll swing by in the morning and get him to school…”
“I can do it.”
He stared at me for a minute then nodded stiffly. “She sent what he needs. It’s in my car.”
“Okay.”
Tali stepped out of the kitchen, then paused, turning back to me. “It hasn’t been a day and you’re falling apart, Saniya. I don’t know how this shit is gonna play out but you might want to think about what that means to you.”
“Are you telling me I can’t handle this?”
“Nah, not telling you that you can’t. Only asking you to be sure you understand what handling this looks like. What happened today might cost him another five inside. Away from you and his son. You need to decide if you’re willing to stand by him. You’re either in or out and if you’re out, nobody will judge. I won’t, and he damn sure won’t considering the circumstances, but bottom line is that’s my people. Don’t give him false hope for some shit that you’re going to eventually bail on. It will fucking destroy him.”
He didn’t give me a chance to respond. Tali left the apartment and returned shortly after with a duffle bag holding clothes for Raiden and his backpack for school. He promised to be there in the morning just in case, then he was gone.
After he left, I stripped out of my clothes, dressed in sweat bottoms and one of Grand’s T-shirts and climbed in bed with Raiden. No matter how I felt about things, the devastation of Grand not being here would be ten times worse for his son. The thought broke my heart so I pushed it to the back of my mind and did my best to get some sleep, praying things would work out for all of us.