Majeston #4
“She worth it though.” There wasn’t even a second of hesitation. Seeing that answer told me everything I needed to know about the man my daughter married.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “She is.”
“Damn right.”
The pride in his voice was completely unapologetic. Protective. Loving. Certain. The kind of pride only a man deeply in love carried without even realizing it. For a brief moment, we stood there smiling. This nigga was gone, a straight up fool lost cause to love.
“Boy, you in deep.”
“You noticed? I married her in thirty days.”
“You know what? Fair enough.”
For a second we just stood there laughing. Not because anything was funny. Because life was. A year ago neither one of us would’ve imagined standing here having this conversation. Then Kade’s expression sobered.
“Look, man. She’s angry.”
“I know, and she got every right to be.”
“She don’t trust easy. Truthfully, she never has.
Every person that was supposed to protect her gave her another reason not to.
” I wasn’t looking for a parade, for her to call me daddy tomorrow, or instant family pictures and matching pajamas at Christmas.
I just wanted a chance to know my daughter.
The tension eased further, replaced by understanding.
Then reality settled back over the conversation.
“Where’s Marius. I want him.” I said plainly.
“I figured you would.”
“No.” I turned toward him. “I don’t think you understand. I don’t want revenge, closure, or an apology. I want that nigga’s obituary.” I met him with a stare that told him I was serious.
“I’ve spent the last month learning everything there is to know about that man,” I continued.
“Everybody he’s buried and every life he’s destroyed.
I’ve dug through everything I could find.
That bastard has been poisoning people’s lives for decades and somehow keeps finding a way to walk away breathing. ”
“I know.”
“My daughter suffered because of him.”
“She did.”
“My son buried a life he never chose because of him.”
“I know.”
“My wife spent years making choices out of fear because of him.”
“Every damn one of us did.”Kade rubbed a hand over his beard before looking at me. I exhaled slowly and looked away.
“And I'm tired of knowing.”
For the first time all evening, Kade smiled. Not a happy one. The kind two dangerous men shared when they'd stopped needing to explain themselves to each other.
“Now that...” He shook his head slightly. “That sounds familiar.”
“Guess we got more in common than we thought.”
“You ain’t lying.”
The two of us stood there looking out over the property. Two men from completely different worlds, different backgrounds, different paths, carrying different scars—yet somehow connected by the same woman, the same family, and the same enemy.
“You got people?” Kade asked, testing the shape of an actual alliance instead of just words.
“More than you’d believe.” I wasn’t ready to hand him my whole hand yet, but he needed to know I wasn’t walking into this empty. “Enough to make sure whatever we build don’t fall apart the second it gets tested.”
He studied me a beat longer, like he was deciding how much of that to believe. “Good. Because I don’t need another man running his mouth. I need somebody who show up when it’s time to bleed.”
“I’ve been bleeding for this family since before you knew my name, young blood.” After a while, Kade looked over at me.
“Just don’t do nothing stupid before we get a plan together.”
I snorted. “I make no promises.”
“You sound like Yayo.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“It really is.”
That earned another laugh from both of us. Then his expression grew serious again. “For what it’s worth...I’m glad you showed up.”
The words surprised me, not because he said them, but because he meant them—no obligation in his voice, no polish to it, just honesty. I looked back toward the house, toward the family gathered inside, toward my daughter, toward everything I’d missed.
“I know she ain’t ready.”
“Nah, not yet.”
“I know this ain’t fixed.”
“Not even close.”
I nodded. “But at least now she knows.”
Kade followed my gaze toward the mansion before nodding. “At least now she knows.”
Eventually, Kade extended his hand, and this time I didn’t hesitate—I took it.
Man to man, father to husband, two men who’d do whatever it took to keep this family standing.
Neither of us had to say what we were both already thinking.
Ysis came first. The twins came first. Everything else, including Marius, could wait.
As I headed toward the truck, I glanced back one final time at the mansion behind us.
Warm light spilled from the windows, illuminating the home that had become a sanctuary for the people I cared about most. Somewhere inside, my daughter rested with my grandchildren growing safe inside her.
It wasn’t the reunion I’d imagined, and nothing about today had been easy.
But for the first time in a very long time, the truth was finally out in the open—no more secrets, no more ghosts hiding in the dark waiting to resurface.
There was only one thing left to do now, and that was to kill the man responsible for all of it.