Chapter 2 #9
“Baby, you all are mine, in every way. I don’t care about anything else!
I raised you! I held you, and took care of you when you were sick.
I was the one helping you get ready for school dances and pictures and events.
The DNA doesn’t matter to me with you, Quency.
It never did.” Karrin shook her head viciously.
“Where is she? Where is that bitch Celine? How dare she tell you and paint me out to be some fucking villain!”
“She’s gone, and she’s been gone,” Frequency revealed, stopping her in her angered tracks. “And you need to leave too.”
“What did you do to him?” Karrin snarled at him.
“Kutlass knew what the fuck he was doing and what kind of time he was on. When your number is up, it’s up. Ain’t no way around that shit.” His callousness alarmed his mother.
He didn’t come right out and say it, but death was interpreted, and Karrin grew choked up.
A raging storm seemed to brew around Karmine.
I stood there with my daughter bouncing and rocking her back and forth.
She was hungry, and I didn’t feel like whipping my breast out, so I needed to go grab her a bottle, but I couldn’t pull away from the train wreck happening in front of me.
“I never thought that you could be this cold.” Karrin broke, and I saw Frequency soften for her.
While lowering his head, he shook it back and forth.
“I can’t do this with you. Go back to Europe. Live your life. That’s the best advice I can give you.”
Karrin scoffed, disbelieving. Her wrath turned on me as I continued to rock my daughter in my arms. She held us in her crosshairs like she was marking us.
“Before I go, I need to check in on Kara. How is she?” Karrin questioned.
“She’s fine.” Frequency informed her. “I’ve got one of my people staying close to the facility so that he can keep an eye on her. It’s just a precaution.”
“So that’s it? You just love us from a distance? We don’t get to be a part of your life or your children’s lives?” Karmine questioned, sneering resentfully. “You can cut us off like that?”
“I have a family, one that I am the head of. My priority now is them,” Frequency declared sternly.
I wasn’t clear on the state of their relationship, but Free did seem closer to Knowledge than his very own brother.
Maybe it was the age difference, but it reminded me of my own sister and myself.
Sometimes, even with family, you had to handle them with a long-handled spoon.
Keeping certain people close to you, even if they are related, could be detrimental too.
“Karmine, get my coat. Let’s get out of here. We don’t want to disrupt his perfect life any further,” Karrin implied, spinning so that she could observe her son one last time.
Tension thickly filled the room. Each glance was like daggers being aimed at one another.
Misa grew even more fussy in my arms, probably picking up on the energy surrounding her.
Not too much later, Maze started going off from upstairs.
Frequency held the door open for his brother and mother while Karmine helped Karrin into her jacket and nudged her out.
When he turned to me, I could tell that it wasn’t as simple or easy as he had made it all look just now.
“I’ll go get him and bring him down before I head out.” He started toward the steps, and I rounded them to go to the kitchen.
Free waltzed in, swaying sexily with our son in his arms. He was so intense, staring down into his little face. I was setting up Misa in her bouncer after feeding and burping her so that I could whip up something to eat.
“Look at my favorite guys,” I gushed, beaming like a thousand-watt bulb at how cute they were together.
Seeing Free in daddy mode was sexy as hell.
“He’s got a fresh diaper. I gotta go to this meeting, but I’ll see you later. Ivy is supposed to be getting dropped off today.” He eased Maze into his bouncer beside his sister on the counter top, and I stared at them in complete awe.
These days, Free hated leaving any of us.
We were in the best part of life. Our nights were spent with Ivy and the twins, watching movies or playing board games.
We would be in the middle of video games or a movie, and I would look around in amazement.
I was on full. My heart was overloaded. Even with Ivana around, Free was proving to be solid.
Part of me was still a little paranoid, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I kept that doubtful part of me buried as deep as it would go.
I couldn’t allow it to submerge me unless it was coming to fruition.
“Okay. We will be fine,” I assured him, giving him a stern warning look.
His strong, defined arms found their way around me, drawing me closer to him as he brought his face closer to mine.
“I love you,” he said, kissing me gently.
“Mmm, I love you more,” I whispered, getting lost in his eyes.
He gave my ass a squeeze before taking my lips once again and giving me his tongue this time. I watched him kiss each baby on the cheek before he pecked my forehead and exited.