Chapter 1
Sixteen years later . . .
A vision clouded by tears was never how Glimmer envisioned this day. Carelessly, she allowed the tears to fall as she looked at herself in the mirror.
The glam team did their big one, for sure. She looked like a glamorous Black Barbie doll. One of those timeless ones that could be put up on a shelf and collected because they were worth a lot of money.
The white wedding dress cinched at her waist, making it look practically invisible since it was naturally tiny.
Her short legs looked shiny and endless somehow through the deep slit in the bunches of satin fabric.
Her breasts sat full and on display with the deep V cut down to her belly button.
That was a request of her groom. He wanted Glimmer to look as sexy as possible on the day he officially claimed her as his.
“Girl, now why the hell you cryin’ for? Those better be happy tears,” her mother fussed as she walked into the bridal suite.
Glimmer fought the urge to roll her eyes. One thing Camille was good for was a good smack to the back of the head. It didn’t matter that Glimmer was thirty-four now.
Glimmer cleared her throat and used the back of her hand to dry her tears, not caring that she smudged her makeup, before she turned to her mother. “You know these aren’t happy tears, Mama.”
Camille scoffed as she sauntered over to her daughter in a formfitting cream-colored dress that was too close to white for normal people to wear to a wedding. Camille Delacroix couldn’t find a fuck to give though. She had always been that way and wouldn’t change any time soon.
Camille used a tissue she produced from a small gold clutch and dabbed at Glimmer’s cheeks. “You always have to be so dramatic, Glimmer. I don’t get it. Why aren’t you happy to marry that fine ass man?”
Glimmer looked at her mother like she had grown three heads out of her ass. She shouldn’t be surprised that her mother acted this way, but she was. Glimmer never understood why she and her mother were never on the same page. It had only gotten worse the older they got.
Glimmer shook her head. “Daddy doesn’t want this . . .”
Camille looked around dramatically. “I don’t see ya daddy here. Do you?”
The amount of restraint it took to not slap her mother at that moment was immense. Fresh tears clouded her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She snatched away from her mother and glared at her. “You’re just mad he divorced you.”
Camille scoffed. “Nah, I’m mad that nigga had the audacity to give me the world and then let that shit fall apart before he got sent upstate and then divorced me. I stuck by his side through all that, and for what?”
You deserved it. You deserved that shit and so much more, Glimmer thought.
Camille had always been insufferable, but when Juke’s empire started declining, she became a damn monster. The amount of pressure Camille put Juke under was entirely too much. So much, in fact, Glimmer believed it was the reason her father was locked up.
She blamed two people, actually: Trick and Camille.
The night Glimmer overheard her parents talking about Trick and learning that not only did he want her, but also that he was part of the reason her uncle Henry was dead, things had gone downhill. It wasn’t all at once. It happened slowly through the years.
Her father made the monthly payments to bide his time, but while he did that, Trick’s empire grew stronger. After only a few months, Trick took over Juke’s blocks. An all-out war started and lasted for many years. It caused the Delacroix family to severely downsize and basically go into hiding.
It drove Camille insane, and she applied pressure on Juke to end the shit. He finally snapped and got an army together to kill Trick. The issue was, Trick had been ten steps ahead of Juke, unfortunately.
It was an ambush. Not only that, it was a setup.
After every one of Juke’s men had been killed, Trick handed Juke over to the police.
A bitch move, but he had ulterior motives.
None of this had ever been about money. It had been about a takeover, but it had also been about Glimmer. Trick was obsessed.
Like every other nigga in The Bay, Trick had his eye on Glimmer.
The difference between Trick and other niggas was he’d had his eyes on her since before she was eighteen.
She was the most beautiful woman in town, and nobody could get close to her because of who her daddy was.
Trick wanted to change that, and he had.
With Juke out of the way, Glimmer was officially all his.
Juke got knocked six months ago, and Trick sent word that the rest of his debt would be paid in the form of his daughter.
Juke’s entire crew was demolished, so there was nobody on the outside who could handle this situation for him.
Glimmer hated to think of her father, who had been her idol since she was knee high, in such a powerless position.
Camille, on the other hand, was more than ready for Glimmer and Trick to get married.
Their marriage solidified Camille getting back to living her lavish lifestyle.
Trick promised to take care of them both once their union was sealed, and Camille had been eager to make it happen.
The only reason they hadn’t gone to the courthouse was because Trick wanted the wedding to be a damn spectacle.
He was cocky that way. He wanted everyone to know that he had knocked two OGs down and taken one of their daughters.
Glimmer turned back toward the mirror, her expression cold as she stared at her mother through the reflective glass. “I need to finish getting ready.”
Camille looked her daughter up and down in the mirror. “Fix your makeup. You have five minutes. See you out there.”
With that, Camille sauntered out of the bridal suite and left Glimmer alone.
Another thing she couldn’t believe. She was completely alone on her damn wedding day.
Not only did she not have the groom of her choice, but she also didn’t have any friends.
After so many years in isolation, Glimmer was used to feeling lonely, but on a day like today, it hit differently.
She chose to use the next few minutes to do her best to hype herself up into doing this.
She didn’t really have much of a choice.
Trick had promised a slow and painful death to her if she did anything to mess up their union.
He’d gloated about their wedding night and how he couldn’t wait to finally get a taste of her.
She shivered at that thought. Glimmer didn’t have a whole lot of sexual experiences, but the ones she had were her decision.
Trick was completely taking that away from her for the rest of her life.
She felt like she was drowning with the loss of herself, and nobody could see that.
Nausea made her bend at the waist as she grabbed her midsection.
She wished she could tear the dress off and take in a deep breath, but there was no time for that.
With a power that had to come straight from her ancestors, she straightened and wiped her tears once more.
She decided to deliberately not fix her makeup to spite her mother as she took short steps toward the door just as it swung open.
Stacy, the wedding coordinator, popped her head in. “Oh, good. You’re still in here. We’re ready for you, honey. You look beautiful.”
Glimmer tried to muster up a smile, but all she could manage was a neutral face as she followed behind Stacy.
The venue they rented for the occasion was extravagant.
Had this not been forced on her, Glimmer would have genuinely wanted to get married there.
The ceilings were high with paintings of beautiful angels and clouds on them.
The floors were shiny marble that seemed to glitter as people walked on them.
The designs were a mesh of Victorian century and modern-day sleek.
The views of the ocean were photo worthy.
Glimmer had the sudden urge to cry again because the beauty of the place shouldn’t be wasted on such a terrible occasion.
When they reached the closed doors that would lead into the room where all the guests and Trick waited, Glimmer felt bile rise into her throat. Her pace slowed, and Stacy turned to look at her.
“Come, dear. The music is already playing. We have to open these doors.”
Glimmer stared at her for a moment before taking a few more steps to get into place. She tried to take a deep breath, but she could only inhale small bursts of air at a time. She felt like she was about to hyperventilate, but before she could warn Stacy, the bubbly lady flung the doors open.
Time stood still as she stared at the man she was about to marry. He was dark-skinned with a bald head and a full beard. He wasn’t even bad looking, but his aura was all wrong. The energy he exuded felt pure evil, and as the bride, Glimmer wanted nothing to do with him.
Gasps sounded through the room over the sound of the soft music playing, but Glimmer barely registered it as she glanced at her mother.
Of course, she sat in the front and center of the space, ready for her daughter to marry an evil man to make sure she got her lavish lifestyle she missed so dearly.
Daddy.
He was the one person Glimmer wanted right now more than anything. The day her father got locked up was the day Trick came and got her. He forbade her to see her father or even talk to him. She had no idea how Juke was doing behind bars, and she was sick about it.
Her feet planted in place. Glimmer physically couldn’t move forward.
Her feet refused to carry her to her dreadful future.
Trick grinned at her. He stood there tall and mighty in his expensive white tux, and reality hit her.
This life wasn’t one she could stomach. For six months, she’d tried to be strong to save herself and her family, but she couldn’t do it for a lifetime.
Not when six months had already dwindled her down to a shadow of herself.
Run. The voice in her head was loud and clear.
Run. Run as far and as fast as you can. Glimmer still couldn’t move.
Trick had a brow raised now, as if to ask her why she hadn’t brought her ass down the aisle.
She knew Stacy spoke to her, but Glimmer couldn’t make out the words.
She stood in a trance. Her eyes found her mother again, who looked like she wanted to curse Glimmer out and drag her down the aisle by her ear.
Run. Now. Run!
Glimmer blinked and snapped out of her fear for just a split second. It was enough time for her feet to move though. Not toward Trick, but away. Far, far away.
She lifted her dress, kicked off her five-inch diamond encrusted heels, and she ran.
Her heart hammered in her chest as she pushed open the front doors of the venue and sprinted toward the wooded area. The only thing on her mind was to disappear. What better way than to slip into the woods?
Her legs pumped as she ran faster. The sun beat down on her, and sweat settled on her forehead.
The woods welcomed her just as she heard someone shout her name.
It sounded like her mother, but Glimmer knew she’d disappeared behind the trees before anyone could spot her.
Still, she ran. She needed to put as much distance between her and those people as she could.
A branch snagged her dress. She yanked at it, and the slit tore further up her body, exposing her underwear. Glimmer didn’t care. She balled the fabric up and held it up as she continued her run.
The dirt beneath her toes was soft in contrast to the crunchy leaves, sticks, and rocks that cut the bottom of her soles. The feeling of pain didn’t register. All she knew was she needed to keep running.
Fear of getting lost in the woods struck her, but that would be a fate far better than marrying Trick.
For thirty minutes, she ran until she came out on the other side of a clearing and into a street.
A car horn honked, and brakes screeched.
She saw her life flash before her eyes, but she merely got tapped by the white car at the side of her hip.
She cringed. It hurt like hell, but she didn’t fall, so she continued running, now with a limp.
“Hey! Are you okay?”
Glimmer heard the concerned woman, but she couldn’t take a chance accepting help from a stranger. She couldn’t trust anyone, but she also didn’t want to drag an innocent person into her mess.
She tried to get her bearings and realized she recognized the area. It had been years since she had been on this side of Desmore Bay. Decades. She didn’t even think about where she should go. Her heart simply knew. It wasn’t far from there, so she half ran, half limped as fast as she could.
It only took her another ten minutes before she saw the house looming in the distance.
She didn’t even know if anyone she knew still lived there, but it was her only hope.
Her toe stubbed on a curb when she tried to cross the street, and she tripped.
Her ankle twisted, and she cried out in pain.
Her knees smacked on the concrete, and her hands skinned when she tried to catch herself.
Tears clouded her vision as she gritted her teeth. She didn’t come this far to give up, so she allowed her tears to fall as she stood again and stumbled toward the house.
Motorcycles. That was all she could see. Dozens of motorcycles sat out front on the immaculate lawn. A few men were joking around on the steps of the mansion, but they stopped when they spotted Glimmer practically crawling at this point toward the home.
“Yo, you good?” one of them asked as they rushed toward her.
Pain seemed to explode from every fiber of her being, and she knew she couldn’t go on any longer. She stopped crawling, frustration overtaking her as her manicured nails clawed at the dirt beneath her.
“Haze. I need . . . Haze,” she managed to say before she collapsed on the grass and succumbed to her exhaustion and pain.