Chapter 43
She turned the doorknob in a trance. Cyn’s blood now dried on her clothes, skin, and hair.
Hot tears streaming down her face. Svyn was in the kitchen unpacking the takeout that arrived almost ten minutes before she entered.
After she left Cyn’s place, she lost her sense of direction, driving around aimlessly until the smell of zinc and gun powder wasn’t as strong in her nostrils.
“Baby,” Svyn called out. “I got you that seared duck you like from SuQuan’s.”
Nia didn’t answer. Just closed the door and whimpered, finally. The sound coming from her being alerted him. Prompting him to rush to her aid. He took her in. The blood, the tears, the gun haphazardly stuffed into her bag.
“I-I-I…I had to. She was going to end it all. She was going to … she was talking to the police. I had to,” Nia rambled.
Svyn cupped her face and peered tenderly at her. “Nia, baby, look at me.”
Her eyes bounced back and forth before they focused. “I killed Cyn. My best friend. She turned on us. She turned on me. She turned on me.”
Svyn didn’t linger another moment. He scooped her up and carried her upstairs to the bedroom.
Stripping her down, stuffing her clothes into a bag, and then putting her into a steaming shower.
All Nia could do was stare into the distance as he cleaned her off.
He washed her hair, dressed her, and sat on the floor with her.
His baby was a fighter. She wasn’t a killer. Especially in such close proximity.
“I lied to you,” Nia said just above a whisper after almost an hour of silence. “When I finally let you in. I told you I never wanted to be with you, I lied.”
“I know,” Svyn said, holding her close. “You were scared.”
“Yes, but that wasn’t it. I lost our baby.
I knew how much you wanted a family, and I lost it.
Cyn was the only person I told. She was there every day.
To wipe my tears, to keep me level. To make me get out of bed.
To tell me it was okay and I could go back, and you wouldn’t think any less of me,” Nia confessed.
“All I did was push you away. All that shit was fake. She was just performing.”
“You can never push me away from you, Nia. I was always close. I love you beyond fears, beyond what happened. I can love you beyond this,” Svyn assured her.
“I felt so guilty, Svyn. I felt so unworthy of you,” Nia cried.
Svyn pulled her closer and kissed the top of her wet hair.
“I need you to hear me when I say this. There is never anything you do that I won’t forgive.
Anything. I know this is heavy on you. I know your heart hurts.
I’ll be right here to help you through it.
Mourn the relationship you lost, but remember she showed you who she was, don’t let that shit eat your spirit. ”
“How do you get over this shit?”
“Honestly? You don’t. You compartmentalize. You come to terms with what it was. It’s either them or everyone you care about, always. I don’t know about you, but I will put down a million niggas for the sake of protecting this. Protecting you.”
Nia curled herself into his side. “I did the right thing?”
“You did the right thing. You preserved your family. Next time, call your nigga, and I’ll handle it. Who is cleaning everything up?”
“Fuego and Bullet,” Nia shared. “I have to tell Markus.”
“Talk to him tomorrow. Aunt Lucielle wants us at dinner the day after tomorrow. Are you up for that?”
“There isn’t any other choice. I have to be. If Reign can stab a nigga and bounce back, I can too,” Nia shared, finding strength in Reign’s strength. She didn’t even remember her crying over it. “She was the straw that broke Cyn’s back. Jealousy, anger, sadness. Brantley has a baby, apparently.”
“I heard about that,” Svyn shared. “Recently. Markus has been making sure the baby moms stays comfortable because Brantley hasn’t been doing shit.”
Nia pulled in a deep breath. “Pretty soon, he’s going to put him down, too.”
“Sooner than you think.”