Chapter Fourteen Wake Us Up
“You always protect us. Now it’s time for us to protect you.”
The Tahoe rolled down the road slow, like a year of grief and five wounded children were dragging the tires through mud.
Sunni’s hands were locked tight at ten and two.
She was quiet.
So was Kane.
Until—
“You always protect us,” Kane said, voice low but sure. “But now… it’s time for us to protect you.”
Sunni’s eyes flicked to her daughter—her firstborn girl, sitting taller now, bolder now, no longer just surviving.
Kane pointed behind them.
“Turn around.”
Sunni hesitated.
Kane didn’t blink. “Turn. Around.”
Sunni made the U-turn without another word.
The car was silent except for the hum of the engine and the buzz of Bunny’s tablet in the back. But everyone felt it. Something was happening. Something big.
She pulled up across from the house again, this time parking with purpose. No hesitation. No hiding behind courtesy or time or fear.
She turned to the backseat.
“Everybody stay in the car.”
Dexter sat up. “Why?”
“Because Mama said so,” Prince snapped.
Then Sunni looked at him.
“Prince.”
He met her eyes.
“You coming with me.”
He nodded once. “Bet.”
The three of them stepped out—Sunni, Kane, and Prince—and walked across the street like they were walking into war. Each step heavy, each heartbeat louder than the last.
The house looked the same. But now, every crack in the siding, every smudge on the window, felt like an insult.
Sunni led the way up the porch steps.
Kane stood just behind her, Prince at her side—quiet but ready.
Sunni took a deep breath.
Then knocked.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The door opened slow.
Keisha stood in the doorway, surprised, barefoot, a towel wrapped around her head. She didn’t say anything at first. Just stood there, lips parted, eyes wide.
Then her voice came out in a whisper, like it had been waiting too.
“Sunni.”
Sunni’s jaw tightened.
“I ain’t come to fight,” she said. “I came for truth.”
Keisha looked past her, eyes landing on Kane.
And then on Prince.
Then, a shadow appeared behind her.
A man’s figure.
He stepped forward.
Wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt.
Older. Beard fuller. Hairline lower.
But those eyes—
They were his.
Marcus.
And suddenly, silence fell like thunder.
He opened his mouth.
But Sunni lifted a hand.
“Don’t say a word.”