Chapter Twenty-One Eason Storm
You ever been so damn done with somebody that the thought of their name being legally attached to yours made your blood pressure spike? That’s where I was.
Sitting in the cold-ass marble lobby of my attorney’s office, jaw clenched, foot tapping, and fists balled like I was waiting on the judge to say proceed so I could sign the fucking kill order.
This wasn’t about pride. Or image. Or money. This was about my woman. My family. My peace.
And Harmony was poison in silk. A manipulative, lying, performative-ass parasite who only crawled out from under her rock when she felt like my happiness didn’t include her. Fuck that.
I wasn’t about to let her file fake-ass restraining orders, spread abuse rumors, and play victim in a game she started. I warned her once. I let that slick shit slide twice. But the moment she tried to weaponize the system against me? Game over.
My lawyer slid a stack of documents across the table. Emergency petition. Restraining countermotion. Custody cease-and-desist. All the paperwork I needed to finally drag her ass out of my life by force.
I picked up the pen and signed my name with the kind of focus I usually reserved for putting a bullet between a nigga’s eyes.
This wasn’t just a divorce. This was war. And I wasn’t leaving no witnesses.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Xalori softly questioned, as she sat next to me nervously bouncing her leg.
Lifting my eyes from the paper, I glanced over at her like she’d grown two fucking heads. “Fuck are you talking bout, Xalori? Why would I wanna do this?” I frowned. “Please, don’t start that second guessing and tryna run shit. I ain’t in the mood for it, I’ll hogtie your ass to my car.”
Xalori rolled her eyes, brushing off my threat. “No, psycho, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m just trying to make sure this is the best route to go without making things worse. We’re all adults, you don’t think we can talk and come to some kind of agreement like civilized individuals?”
I lightly chuckled as I leaned forward and softly placed a kiss on Xalori’s nose. My baby might’ve had a feisty ass mouth, but her heart was pure gold. She loved trying to keep the peace and see the good in people, but when you’re dealing with a bitch like Harmony there is no good.
“Muffin, everyone doesn’t have a heart like you,” I reminded her. “That bitch is playing dirty, and I know you wanna keep the peace, play the good guy role but when a snake gets to slithering you gotta cut that bitch off at the head.”
She sighed heavily as she poked her bottom lip out. “I know, but I’m just thinking ‘bout Ginger and what’s best for her. One day she’s gonna grow up and have questions, questions that’s gonna need answers.”
“And that’s why,” I tapped the paper that would make her Ginger’s mother legally, “this piece of paper is important. I know Harmony’s bullshit has you worried and stressed, but you aren’t concerned about your feelings, mine, or hers. Your focus is on Ginger, her future, and what’s best for her.”
She gave me a soft smile. “Even though it took me a while to accept it, I love the hell out of that little girl and only want what’s best for her. I don’t want us to make decisions that come back and bite us in the ass when it comes to her.”
“The second Harmony played her fucked up hand it became personal. She didn’t think about my baby girl, she only thought about herself, so this is what’s best for Ginger. We’re sparing her from being a pawn in Harmony’s game, we’re what’s best for Ginger.”
Xalori leaned back in her seat, still gripping my hand like it was the only thing tethering her to this moment.
“I should’ve seen it coming,” she murmured. “The minute Harmony popped up at your event… I should’ve known she wasn’t gonna stop until she got exactly what she wanted.”
“She ain’t gettin’ shit but a casket,” I growled, my voice low and cold. “And that’s being generous.”
Her eyes met mine, and for a second, the steel in her softened. “Eason…”
I shook my head slowly. “Don’t Eason me. That woman tried to paint me like some violent-ass deadbeat. Tried to flip the narrative and frame me like I was the danger. Like I wasn’t the one raising her kid while she vanished for damn near a year.”
My voice dropped, tight with heat. “She got the game twisted. I been silent too fuckin’ long.”
Xalori exhaled and turned her head, staring out the window like she was trying to catch her breath. “I hate that she still has any kind of hold on this situation. On us.”
“She don’t,” I said, voice firm. “Not after today.”
I grabbed the last document, the one that mattered more than all the legal shit put together.
It was a parental declaration. One that made it clear—not just emotionally, but legally—that Ginger was ours.
That Xalori had just as much say; just as much protection, just as much power over that little girl’s life as I did.
I slid it to her.
“Sign it,” I said. “Make it real. Let the state, the system, and every motherfucker breathing know—ain’t nobody snatching that baby from our arms.”
Her eyes widened. “You sure about this?”
“You asking me if I’m sure?” I raised a brow. “You the one rockin’ her to sleep every night. The one she run to when she gets a scrape. You the one she call Mama even though you didn’t birth her.”
I leaned closer. “You already hers, Muffin. This just catches the paperwork up to what we already know.”
A long beat passed before she finally reached for the pen. Her hand shook just slightly, but her eyes didn’t waver as she scribbled her name across the bottom. And that was it. My girl had officially signed her name on the line that made her Ginger’s mother, in every way that mattered.
I watched the way her shoulders dropped, the way her breath left her chest like she’d been holding it in for years. And I knew right then that she wasn’t just doing this for Ginger. She was doing this for her.
For the woman who once stood over her daughter’s grave and swore she’d never mother again.
She was reclaiming her heart. Her right to love without guilt. Her place in this family we were building brick by brick, scar by scar.
I reached for her hand again and brought it to my lips. “You did that, baby. And I’m proud as fuck of you.”
She blinked, lips parting like she wanted to say something, but the tears hit her before the words did.
I pulled her into my arms, cradling her against my chest like she was something precious. “Ain’t nobody gonna break what we got, Muffin. Not Prime. Not Harmony. Not the system. Nobody.”
And I meant that.
Because they thought they could file reports, spread rumors, make threats. But they forgot, this ain’t just a family.
This a fuckin’ kingdom. And I’m the king that’ll go to war every day to protect it.