Chapter 20
Kaseem had just left a political sit-down with Tyree, and things were finally going smooth.
He was shaking the right hands, building the right relationships, and life felt like it was leveling out for the first time in a long while.
Back at the compound, Tyree’s youngest daughter was playing with Nariyah.
They were nearly four years apart in age, and Tyriel was the aunt to Nariyah although way younger, but kids never cared about that.
Over the last few months the two of them had grown close, close enough Nariyah called her by name instead of “the little girl” now.
Tattiana also loved her baby sister so much, she was taking up a lot of time with her, and had accepted what her father had done, and moved past it.
Tyree and his wife were deep into divorce proceedings.
After a sit-down with her and Tatti, it was clear she still wasn’t going to apologize or own up to what she’d done, Tyree made his decision and let her go for good.
She’d knowingly caused years of harm to his daughter behind his back, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at her the same way again.
Tatti was hurt that her mother wouldn’t own any of it, wouldn’t try to make it right even now.
Kaseem held her through it, reminded her the only family she really needed was the one they were building together.
Tyree told Kaseem that he thought his wife was responsible for killing his partner, and trying to frame him for it, but he just couldn’t get the proof.
Kaseem stayed out of that because that was a very serious accusation.
Kaseem also knew that there was no limit to what a woman scorned would do too.
Kaseem had ended up giving Brit a second chance, even though he’d never been the type of man to leave loose ends laying around.
He sat down with her personally, made it clear she needed to leave town for good, and made it just as clear what would happen to her and Sonny if she ever thought about retaliating.
She understood completely. He gave her fifty thousand dollars for a fresh start somewhere new, and every now and then he’d check her social media just to see how her and her son were doing.
That new life looked good on her. Being a father himself now, he couldn’t bring himself to take a mother away from her child over something that wasn’t fully her fault to begin with.
He followed his own judgment on that one, and he didn’t regret it.
His mother hadn’t been seen or heard from in four months straight.
Kadeem had already started the paperwork to file for divorce, no longer wanting any part of being tied to her.
She’d lost all access to the compound, and everybody who still cared about her was starting to worry for real now.
Kaseem could feel something brewing underneath that whole situation.
He just couldn’t put his finger on what yet.
It was strange, too — the same day Ron got sent home from the hospital, expected to make a full recovery after all them months, their house caught fire that night.
Two months later and it was still under investigation, officials leaning toward calling it an electrical accident.
Two people were lost in that fire, burned too bad to even identify.
Tatti didn’t shed a tear leaning that her aunt and uncle were gone either.
It felt like more than a coincidence to anybody paying attention.
But that’s what happens sometimes when a person don’t do right by the people around them — sooner or later, it catches up.
Not saying Kaseem had a hand in that, but he definitely couldn’t be ruled out.
He made it clear that protecting his wife had no limits.
Tatti was eighteen weeks along now, and she and Kaseem had been too impatient to wait on a big reveal for themselves.
They went to the appointment, then straight to brunch after, and let Nariyah be the one to read the envelope out loud and tell them the gender herself.
When Kaseem heard he was having a daughter, he hollered so loud in that restaurant the manager damn near asked them to leave.
Life was finally falling into place, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy.
Namier and Nyla were still going strong, even though most days they fought like Jody and Yvette straight out a movie. He couldn’t leave that woman alone if he tried.
Zaire was still Zaire. Focused on the business, still half in disbelief watching how soft his own brothers had gotten. He vowed to never be like them niggas. All he cared about, far as anybody could tell, was his money.
—
After finding out the baby’s gender, Kaseem set up a proper reveal so Tatti could share the news with River and Nyla the right way. He had hired a chef, put together small gift bags for both of them, made the whole thing feel special.
The girls were thrilled hearing it was a girl, laughing, joking, already making plans for the future, talking about how they had two nieces to spoil now between them. Hours passed easy, good conversation, good food, and eventually it was time for everybody to head out.
Nyla headed over to Namier’s place on the compound. And Tatti, real deliberate about it, called Zaire and asked him to come take River home instead of calling a driver.
When he walked through that door to pick River up, and their eyes landed on each other for the first time, it felt like déjà vu, like watching the exact same thing happen twice. He looked at River the same way Namier had look at Nyla on that first day.
And for some reason, standing there watching it happen, Tatti already knew.
That hard shell Zaire had been carrying was about to crack. His eyes told it all. Not to mention, River was damn near drooling too.
THE END….
Well, not really…
Zaire is UP NEXT! & Tatti & Kaseem will be back??