Chapter 7
The drive from the prison was supposed to feel like victory and it did, but it was mixed with something else heavy and complicated that I couldn't quite shake off no matter how hard I tried to bury it.
Zaire was in the back seat between me and Namier, and I kept looking at him out of the corner of my eye like I needed to make sure this shit was real, that this wasn't some dream I was about to wake up from.
I had to admit, as mad as I was at Tattiana, her smart ass was part of the reason my brother got released so quickly—the fact that my little brother wasn't still locked up in a cell fighting a system that had already decided he was guilty before he ever stepped foot in a courtroom, so for that, I appreciated her even if I couldn't stand to look at her right now.
My mind kept splitting though. Part of me was right there celebrating with my family, and the other part was still fucked up about my marriage, still processing the fact that I had a stepdaughter.
What the fuck was I supposed to do with this information?
What was supposed to happen next? Especially now that I knew the kid didn’t even know Tatti was her momma.
I suspected she was hiding something, but I never imagined it would’ve been this big.
That shit was eating me alive.
My mother turned around from the front seat and I could see the tears still wet on her face.
Zuri Carter, the hardest woman in Dallas, had been crying since we left the prison—not soft tears either, powerful tears, the kind that come from a mother who'd just gotten her son back from a place that tried to break him.
I was tripped out at the fact that she never tried to hide how much Zaire meant to her.
Especially not today. She didn’t give a damn that me and Namier got to watch her break down over her favorite son being free.
Her ass never cried for me, not once. And she damn sure wouldn’t be this emotional if it was Namier ass who’d been in that position.
"I'm putting together a beautiful breakfast in the morning," she announced, her voice full of life and purpose.
"A real celebration for my baby coming home.
We're going to have everyone there—family, close friends, the whole world needs to know that Zaire Carter is home and he's free.
They tried to take him from us and they couldn't do it. "
I watched Zaire. He was looking out the window at Dallas passing by, taking it all in like he was seeing the world for the first time even though he'd grown up here. Prison does that to you. It can make familiar shit feel new again because you've been without it for so long.
"You don't have to do all that, Ma," Zaire said, and his voice was steady and grateful but there was no softness in it.
He was hood through and through, and prison had only made that edge sharper.
Even coming out of prison, even with his mother celebrating his freedom, there was that hard edge that he'd never gotten rid of, and she knew damn well he didn't like a crowd of people under any circumstance.
"I'm just happy to be home. We can do breakfast, but I don't want all that extra.
I just wanna enjoy y'all and be around my immediate family. "
"I do have to do that," Zuri said firmly, and I could hear the finality in her tone. When my mother made a decision, it was made and there wasn't much anybody could do about it.
My father reached over and put his hand on my mother's arm, his voice cutting through the moment with authority that didn't need to be loud to be heard.
"Zuri, he said no," my father said calmly but with that edge that let you know he wasn't asking permission to speak.
"Stop all that extra. The city going to know he's home, but you gotta understand that he ain't trying to break bread with all they ass right now either.
He need time to adjust to being home, to being free again.
Let him breathe. Our immediate family only tomorrow, and when he's ready and feeling himself again, we can do something bigger with the rest of the family and friends later on. "
My mother sucked her teeth but she knew he was right. When Kadeem spoke like that, you listened.
Namier leaned over and nudged Zaire, a smile on his face.
He'd been different since he'd made up with Nyla.
He was still chaotic but in a lighter way, like he'd found something to ground him.
He'd been in war mode for months, now he was back to his goofy self, but I could still see the high alert behind his eyes.
I honestly felt like Namier was the brother that you needed to watch out for.
The nigga would always joke and play but when shit got real, he was the first one ready to kill some shit.
"Yo, you hear that?" Namier said. "Ma was about to do it big for your ass!
Her favorite son is home and she was trying to bring the whole damn city out to celebrate you.
Knowing damn well you ain't with all that socializing and shit. You know she happy and proud as hell. Her ass ain’t never tried to bring the city out for me. "
"I heard and yeah, she know she doing too much wit all that," Zaire said with the hint of a smile, and there was something in that smile that showed he understood what his mother was doing.
She was reclaiming her son publicly, showing the world that he was home and that anything thrown our way wouldn't stand a chance.
My father reached back from the driver's seat and put his hand on Zaire's shoulder, and the gesture was so full of everything he couldn't say that the whole car seemed to shift.
Kadeem Carter wasn't a man of many words, but when he spoke, every word carried weight. Zaire was just like him in that way.
"I'm proud of you, son," he said, his voice carrying years of experience and pain and survival.
"The way you kept your head up in there, the way you didn't let that break you—that takes a real man.
Most niggas would have cracked under that kind of pressure, but you stayed strong.
You stayed focused. And now you're home because you kept your composure in there, and your brothers fought for you out here the way a brother should. I hope you boys see and understand the power of teamwork.”
He paused, and I could feel his words landing on me too, because he was talking to all of us, not just Zaire.
"From now on," our father continued, his tone shifting to something more serious, almost like he was giving us a blueprint for survival, "We move smarter.
We move intentionally. Every single move we make has to be clean.
Untouchable. No traces, no loose ends, nothing that can come back and catch us the way this system tried to catch you, Zaire.
We learned something from this—we learned that the streets watch, the feds watch, and everybody's looking for a reason to bring a Carter down.
So from this point forward, we operate differently.
We think three steps ahead. We leave nothing to chance.
I know that you boys have business to handle after that hit was put on Zaire in that prison, but the shit has to be final and clean.
But, make it loud enough to send a permanent message. You understand what I'm saying?"
"Yeah," Zaire said first, before me and Namier. There was something different in his voice now, something harder, something that acknowledged the education he'd just received. "I understand for sure and I won't make the same mistakes again."
Everyone in that car understood what Kadeem meant.
It wasn't just about moving careful—it was about evolution.
The system had tried to use Zaire to break us, and instead of breaking, we'd figured out how to be better, smarter, more dangerous because we were operating with intention now, especially with me being in control of the family business. I was just glad that my father understood what needed to be done, and he didn’t question it.
He already knew what was on my mind and what we were about to do now since Zaire was back.
My mother moved in her seat like she wanted to say something, but when my father gave her that look, she decided against it.
I was thinking about all of that when we pulled up to the compound and the night air hit us like it was telling us something had shifted.
My pops pulled up to their house. My moms got out first. Zaire got out with our parents to see them off for the night.
My mom walked up and pulled Zaire into another long hug, holding him like she was trying to make up for all the time she'd been separated from him.
"Don't be late tomorrow," she said, kissing him on the forehead the way mothers do. "I don't care what you got going on, you be at that breakfast on time. I’ll respect your wishes for now, and it’ll be just family with all your favorite foods."
"I won't be late, Momma," Zaire promised, and I could hear the commitment in his voice.
We wrapped up the conversation with our parents, and I was in a hurry to get to Sam.
I tried to hide it from Zaire that I had someplace else to be, but damn I was on edge with this Tatti and Mallory shit.
I was hoping Mallory was put up like I had instructed.
The last thing I needed was for Tatti to kill the bitch before I found out what she wanted.
Zaire, Namier and I drove to his house on the property. This would be his first time being inside of his own home in over a year. I knew he had to be feeling relieved just pulling up to his own shit again.
When Zaire walked through the door, he stopped dead in his tracks.