Chapter 5 #2
I started the car and headed toward our old warehouse.
I’d given him that location on purpose, cause I knew wasn’t a soul left in this family who ever thought to go back out there anymore.
My hands were sweating the whole drive over, gripping that steering wheel tighter than I needed to, my mind running through every scenario that could possibly unfold once I actually got there.
What would he think of me? Would he be willing to accept what I have to offer?
Will he stand down and let the war go at my request in exchange for what he was asking for in that letter?
I pulled up, parked around back out of sight, and walked inside.
Walking through that place again, I found myself remembering the old days without even meaning to.
Me and Kadeem made our first million dollars in this exact building.
We was hustling out of this warehouse back before we needed something bigger, back when it was just the two of us and a dream we were building with our own hands.
Back before kids were even a thought in our minds.
I smiled a little, letting myself walk around slow, touching the walls, remembering.
My phone rang.
Demontae was calling. I swallowed hard before picking up.
“Aye, I’m about ten minutes away,” he said, no greeting, straight to business.
“My triflin ass baby momma wasn’t in pocket to get my son today, so I had to make other arrangements for him real quick, but I’m on my way now.
And don’t forget what I already told you.
With the day that I’m having right now, I ain’t got time to play with nobody.
Shit’ll get bad real fast if you playing with me.
” he casually said, like it was okay to threaten me.
I looked at the phone and smirked. He really didn’t know better.
“I let you slide with them threats last time,” I said, keeping my voice level, calm, letting him hear exactly how unbothered I was by his tone.
“But let me tell you something right now. You are not in a position to do a single thing to me that I can’t do back to you times ten.
So let’s calm all that down and relax. I know you’ve heard of me, and know exactly who I am out here.
I’m not a woman who plays games, and if I give you my word on something, you can take that straight to the bank.
If I was on bullshit, a meeting wouldn’t be requested.
I know how to reach you in other ways. See you soon. ”
I hung up in his face before he could respond.
Hearing him mention a son of his own, that made my heart melt in a way I wasn’t ready for.
Although we had all this drama going on, hearing that from him had just warmed my heart.
I was a grandmother. I had a grandbaby out here somewhere I had never even known existed until that very second.
I’d done research on him, I’d learned about the many women he had but I didn’t dig deep enough to know he was a father.
This had made my day, and crushed me all at once.
The thought of all that I’ve missed was beyond saddening. I could only blame myself for that.
And even though I knew good and well I didn’t have any rights to either one of them, not to him and not to that child, I couldn’t stop that feeling from washing all over me right there in that empty warehouse.
I wanted to be there now. All I wanted, standing there, was to fix everything I’d broken all them years ago and maybe, somehow, get a real fresh start with what was left of my time.
Those next few minutes felt like they stretched out into forever.
Then he finally walked in.
I felt his presence before I even locked eyes on him and something pulled heavy on my heart.
I looked up as he stopped walking. Gun already in his hand, not even trying to hide it from me. And looking at him standing there in that doorway, I saw so much of Kaseem living in him that it nearly knocked the wind out of me.
That same hard set jaw. That same instinct to lead any room that he walked into.
Hotheaded just like his brother, thinking he could shoot his way out of any situation life put in front of him.
But today was gonna be different. Today, I needed him to just listen.
The feeling that was stirring in the pit of my stomach was different.
I was nervous. I wanted him to hear me and to accept me.
But I also knew that he might not, and I had no clue where we’d go from there.
“I’m here,” he said, eyes scanning the warehouse, suspicious of every shadow in the place. “What’s so important and private you needed me out here for?”
I let out a long, slow breath. I wanted to make sure all my words came out right. I had to be careful right now because this may be my only shot.
Then I said it.
I said everything that had been sitting on my heart for twenty seven straight years. I laid out plain in front of him with nothing being held back. I told him that I was his mother.
His eyes got wide. Then he told me straight to my face that I was lying.
I reached into my purse and pulled that letter out, tried to show him the proof sitting right there in black and white, and that’s when all three of my other sons burst through them doors. My whole chest dropped to the ground.
My entire body went cold.
Had they been tracking me this whole time?
Had they somehow heard this conversation before I even got the chance to finish it?
I felt like I was about to have a stroke standing right there in the middle of that warehouse, caught between the son I’d hidden for decades and the sons I’d raised under my own roof their whole lives.
This was not supposed to happen like this.
I stood in front of Demontae and told my boys to stand down because he was their brother. Well, I tried to say that but my voice caught before I could even finish my sentence.
The second Zaire opened his mouth, I knew my boys had heard everything I just said to Demontae seconds earlier.
But I also knew, looking at their faces, they didn’t believe a word of it.
They thought this whole thing was some kind of setup on my end.
They thought I’d walked myself into a trap and they were here to save me from it.
Everything went left in a matter of seconds after that. Demontae’s men came in, guns drawn and they were ready to use them. The look on their faces let me know they already had clear instructions, and that was to kill anything moving.
Before I could even process what was happening, I had a gun pressed against me and I was being dragged backward out that warehouse, leaving my other three sons standing there while men with assault rifles, had every intention of killing them.
I let out a gut wrenching scream as I pleaded with Demontae. But he just kept dragging me.
I had my own weapon tucked at my waist, but the way Demontae had me positioned, dragging me back with his arm locked around me, there wasn’t no way I could reach it. And the second that thought crossed my mind, he snatched it straight off my waist himself, like he’d just read my mind.
He threw open the passenger door of his car and shoved me down into that seat.