June
Since Cynthia’s visit, I'd debated whether to open the letters she gave me or burn them.
However, my reasons for disliking her had nothing to do with my sons.
While they were still minors, it was my decision whether to allow them to get to know her, but once they were old enough, if they wanted that relationship, it would be their choice.
When I read the letters, I realized she had put their house in the names of their great-grandchildren.
Money and wealth were all they thought about. She had missed the mark yet again.
When she said he knew no other place but home, I decided to see for myself.
I stood at the door, ready to knock, but then chose otherwise and shot at the doorknob, sending it popping open.
As I stepped inside, the aura of evil filled me.
This house was exactly what I thought it was—pure fucking evil.
I could only imagine the type of monstrous things Clark did here.
As I moved further inside, I spotted a door cracked and walked over to it, pushing it open.
The dark office sat quietly screaming the secrets that were held here.
I found myself scanning everything in the room until I came across a photo.
I walked over and picked it up. It was a photo with Indigo, Tania, my mother, and that nigga Myers, who was supposed to replace me.
It was supposed to be me in this photo, but instead, I was across the world being tortured.
Oddly, the photo didn’t have the same pull because I knew that, although my life was hard, God had saved me from something.
He saved me from a life that would have been much worse than what I experienced.
I went to set the picture down, and the sound of his voice made me go still. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Home is where the heart is. Isn’t that right, Clark?” I said as I turned around.
I could see his mouth sizzle a little, and a grin eased on my face. “You scared?” I asked.
He tried fixing his fucked-up tie. “Of you? Ha. You’re mistaken. I’m not one of your animals.”
I nodded as I moved closer. “You should be. I can kill you right here and now if I wanted to. But I’m going to show you what animals do, nigga.
I’m going to hunt you like prey. I’m going to give you a head start.
Clark, you should be scared. Very. I’m going to skin you alive, and then I’m going to cut your fucking loveless heart out.
It’s not a threat. It's a promise. So run, nigga, run.”
I looked him up and down as I walked past him. Clark was going to make a move, and when he did, it was coming with something, something he didn’t expect.
***
“I can’t believe after all that you let that nigga walk,” Bishop said as he handed me the blunt.
The shit sounded crazy, but shooting him would have been too easy.
If he wanted to see the animal come out of me, I was going to give it to him.
However, I also had a feeling that he wasn’t making his moves alone.
Clark knew too much. The way he had been able to navigate, his pop-ups, his knowing information, it was all something that stood out.
Just like the night I left the hospital.
How did those muhfuckas know I was there?
Turning to Bishop after releasing the smoke in my lungs, I posed a question. “I know you and Indigo are engaged and shit, but have you seen Navanna?”
Bishop choked as he glanced over his shoulder to see if Indigo was anywhere behind him. “Fuck you asking me about her for?”
I shrugged. “I mean, you were playing cut buddies with her.”
His face turned serious. “No. I entertained the thought, but she and I were nothing more than friends, and a nigga wouldn’t even call it that. Shit, isn’t that Zaria’s sister?”
“It is, but since she and Preach split up, shit ain’t been right. You know she used to be a cop.”
“Say word.”
I nodded. Zaria’s sister had been a ghost, and it was the one thing that had been bothering me. The more shit started to happen around me, the more Navi came to mind. Even though we had moved forward, she had always been on a nigga’s radar since the day I was arrested at that church.
Starting family feuds wasn’t my style, but if Z or Yana didn’t produce their sister, she was about to be an automatic target because a scorned woman was a dangerous one.