Chapter 22 - Blaise Monroe
He nodded towards the baby, and I knew what he meant. “Go play hunny. I’ll be back in a second.” Mila went skipping off without a care in the world while the fear of a prostitute returning broke to her pimp ran through me.
When I was in the hotel with him, Tyla called me and told me Mila had gotten out of her house and couldn’t find her.
I took off like a bat out of hell, but by the time I had driven a block, she called me back and told me she was hiding in one of the cabinets.
A bitch was so shook, I just went and got her.
I planned on breaking it off with Devin because I couldn’t take the risk of something happening to Mila while I was out creeping.
I never expected him to show up at my house though. I was still trying to figure out how does he know where I live? I had so many questions, but the look on his face told me it wasn’t smart to ask them. Not knowing what else to say, I tried to snap hoping that would deter him.
“Devin, why are you just popping up at my house? I told you I’ll call you when I wanted to link again.
” He looked at me for a while to see if I was serious.
Out of nowhere, you could see something inside of him snap.
Smirking, he ran his tongue over his grill before reaching out and snatching my ass up by the throat.
My feet were now dangling, and I was swinging wildly. His grip didn’t loosen a little bit.
“Is that my fucking daughter?” My response was to keep swinging.
How the hell was I going to answer if I wanted to, and he was choking out my throat pocket.
If he truly wanted answers, at some point, he was going to have to let me go.
Squeezing hard one last time, he tossed me down on the pavement.
“IS THAT MY FUCKING DAUGHTER?” Tears streamed my face, but he had no sympathy for me.
“Devin. Calm down. We will talk about this later, but not here.” I could see my neighbors peeking out trying to see what was going on.
“Bruh, you been fucking with me for months. MONTHS! You didn’t think any of those times were the right time? What kind of person does that to someone?”
“I’m sorry.” That was the only thing I could think to say. I guess that wasn’t enough because Devin spiraled again. Reaching down, he grabbed me by my hair and pulled me up to him. This time when he choked me out, I just stood there and cried.
“You’re sorry? She’s what, five? You took five years from me with my child and the best you could come up with is sorry.
” When I didn’t respond, this nigga lost it.
Putting both hands around my throat, I’m sure he really intended to kill me.
Seeing the police cars pull up, I started clawing at his hands trying to get him to release me since I couldn’t say it out loud.
Devin thought I was fighting him back, so it only made him go harder.
“Freeze.” When he still didn’t let me go, I knew he was a different level of mad. I begged him with my eyes, and he finally let me go. “You’re under arrest.”
“No, wait. It’s not what you think.” I had no idea how I could spin this, but I knew he didn’t deserve to go to jail.
“Ma’am, step back. We don’t need you trying to defend him when we saw the domestic with our own eyes.” He looked at me with so much hate in his eyes, I felt low.
“Please. He was right to be angry with me.” They ignored me, cuffed him, and led him to the back of the police car. I was now crying hysterically, but they didn’t care.
“Damn shame, his career is over,” I overheard one of the officers say before going back to their vehicle.
One of the officers stayed behind to take my statement, but I could tell he thought I was a battered, brainwashed woman who was only trying to keep him out of trouble.
Nothing I said mattered to him. When he left, I got ready to go back inside to Mila.
I would have to try and contact someone, but I knew I couldn’t allow the real story to come out as to why we were fighting.
“Ms. Monroe, are you okay?” One of my elderly white neighbors walked into my lawn looking scared out of her mind.
“Judy, I’m fine. You can go back inside now.”
“I’m too old to fight, so I did the next best thing. I called the police so they can come get him before he killed you. I’ve never seen someone so angry.” I turned to her, and it took everything in me not to lose it.
“Sometimes it’s okay to mind your damn business. You have no idea what you just started by calling them.” She looked shocked, but I was pissed. Truth is, I was really mad at myself.
“He’s not going to come back. You can get one of those papers that says so. I just wanted to help.” Her voice was shaking, so I had to check my attitude.
“I know Judy. Thank you so much. Go back in the house and get some rest. I’m okay now.
” I gave her a hug and she walked back across the lawn probably confused as hell.
I wanted to tell her girl my hot coochie ways done caught up with me, but I went back in the house making a mental note to buy her a nice plant for her garden.
“Mommy, are you okay?” Mila was definitely a culprit as well, but I couldn’t be mad at her either.
“Yes, but baby don’t ever do that again. You can’t open doors for people you don’t know.”
“Is this not my house?”
“Yes, Jam, it is.”
“So, why can’t I do what people who live in their homes do? If someone knocks on your door, you should be able to answer it.” This was one of those times the way her mind processed was stressing me out.
“You can, just not that. Someone can take you or it could be someone I don’t want over here at the door.”
“If you don’t want them here, then why would they come?” That was the million dollar question.
“I don’t know baby.” She thought it over and then went back to playing on her iPad. Just like that she was no longer interested in the conversation. Seeing she was occupied, I grabbed my phone, walked into the kitchen, and called Tyla.
“I need you to call my PR team and figure something out fast. We’re about to be hit with a shit storm.”
“Oh, Lord. What did Garrett do?”
“Tyla, Devin found out about Mila. He came to the house and dragged my ass all over the lawn. The neighbors saw it and called the police. He’s been arrested and I’m sure it’s about to hit all the stations. We need a way to control the narrative that is not about Mila, but also not harming to him.”
“Bitch, who do you think your PR team is? The twelve disciples, a couple of YN’s off O’ Block, and a pair of Jesus’ sandals?” I rolled my eyes because I didn’t have time for this.
“Ty, I need you to focus. They have about thirty minutes before this hit the airwaves. I’m here with Mila, so I can’t say much. You’re my assistant, so assist.”
“I’ll do my best, but I wasn’t trained in cleaning up messy.
Wheww chile, I’ll call you back.” Hanging up, I went to the cabinet and grabbed out my tequila and downed a shot straight from the bottle.
I was regretting every decision I made up to this point.
I went about everything wrong and now I was about to ruin my life right along with Mila’s.
All she knew was Garrett, but Devin didn’t seem like the type to sit back and let another man raise his child.
I had thoroughly fucked everything up, and it was nothing I could do to stop what was coming next.
My phone dinged and I saw a message from Tyla.
Garrett said he is going to handle it.
Was all it read, and I don’t know if I was relieved or more worried.
I knew he wouldn’t tell the news the real story, so he would spin it well.
My fear was I had officially breached the contract, and I had no idea what he was going to do about it.
Putting my head in my hand, I broke down and cried.
I was relieved the secret was finally out, but I didn’t want it to go down like this.
Mila’s life was about to change, my life was about to be over, and Devin would forever hate me.