Chapter Sixteen Five Empty Seats
“Where were you when we needed you?”
Kane stared straight at him.
Unblinking. Unshaking.
“You remember me?” she asked. “Kane. Your daughter. The one who ran into your arms after nightmares. The one who made you birthday cards with too much glitter and begged you not to go to work early.”
Marcus swallowed. “I remember you.”
“Then why’d you forget me?”
Prince stepped forward.
“You the man who told me to be the man of the house. Then disappeared. I buried you, bro. I gave a speech at your funeral.”
Marcus opened his mouth. But there was nothing that could answer that.
Dexter’s voice came from the car—the window cracked just enough to carry sound.
“Why you ain’t love us enough?”
Natty was crying now.
Bunny whispered to her, “That’s our daddy… but he look like a stranger.”
And Marcus?
He stood there.
Surrounded by everything he left.
And for the first time, he looked small.
Sunni stepped back, letting her children speak their truth.
Letting Marcus sit in the weight of what he ran from.
And the man who faked his death now stood face-to-face with five kids who never stopped hoping he’d come back—and now weren’t sure they even wanted him anymore.