After a few seconds passed, Eldon realized there wasn’t any bluffs to be called. His fingers took the pen, and as Dothan flipped through the pages, he signed his rights away. Shyah silently cried as she clung to Margarite.
After Eldon finished signing, Arisana reluctantly did the same. This time, she cried as she did so. Once she was done, Dothan took all the documents and placed them back in the folders.
“Come wit’ me,” Adir said to Dothan. The two went off through the living room and back down the hallway.
Stooping down, I came eye to eye with Eldon. “You never really know what ya kids grow up to be.” Removing my mask, so that he could clearly see my face, I added, “I’m my daddy’s son. G, that is.” I pointedly glanced at Gion, who smirked proudly. Turning back to Eldon, I said, “I have no remorse about what’s gon’ happen to you when I walk outta here. Neither will Shyah.”
Standing, I peered at Arisana. “The same goes for you. Enjoy each other in hell.” She snatched her gaze away like I’d slapped her.
“Here, take her,” Margarite urged, gently pushing Shyah my way. “The sun is coming up soon. We have it from here.”
Glancing out of the window, I saw a twinge of daylight trying to peek through. Hustling Shyah out of the house, we made it to the van where a blanket waited for her. I climbed in behind her, then nearly swaddled her in the blanket. She laid her head in my lap and the weight of the world seeped out of her body.
“Thank you, Antonias,” she whispered.
“You needed to see that I would do anything for you, aight? You have my protection and loyalty forever,” I told her.
She nodded. “Okay. And you have mine,” she replied as sleep claimed her. My sister was exhausted. There was no telling how long she’d been awake.
Dothan came out of the house carrying a medium sized box. Adir came out of the house last and climbed inside the van.
He took notice of a sleeping Shyah and said, “We were just in time.”
Unsure of what he was talking about, my head slightly leaned to the side. He handed me a black book that looked like a planner just as the van left the driveway. Another van pulled up and parked in the spot we’d just vacated.
“Go to page four,” Adir said, taking my attention off the Lovelace house.
Flipping to page four, it took everything in me not to go up in flames. There on the page was a smiling photograph of Shyah. Her demographic information was listed along with several dates. There was one date that stood out like a muhfucka.
“They were about to sell her,” Adir stated just above a whisper. Not much rattled Adir. The look on his face said it all. He was sick to his fucking stomach. “There are some niggas here that won’t like that shit. I’ll put a bug in their ear, so they can locate the other girls.”
The other girls being the ones taking up most of these pages. I had to close the book to keep from flipping this entire neighborhood over.
It was scary to think that I almost let my life go by without confronting Eldon and Arisana. However, confronting my past not only saved me. Confronting those muthafuckas ultimately saved Shyah and would save a host of other girls.
EPILOGUE
ANTONIAS
May…
FourmorningsaftersayingI do to the love of my life, I stood behind her in our bathroom, observing our reflections in the mirror. We were both partially naked having just gotten out of the shower. As Bianca moisturized her skin, her hands movedover her fully healed scar. For the first time, she did so with a content smile on her face.
We divided our time between the farm, the city, and Bell Estates. She was back working, and I was back to saving the lives of anyone falling victim to the streets.
Kissing her shoulder, I asked, “You ready for forever with me??”
“I’m so ready,” she replied.
“You love me?”
“With everything inside me.”
“I love you, Mrs. Suarez.”
Her smile was infectious and mirrored mine. I kissed her lips, wondering how the hell I got so fucking lucky to have the woman of my dreams.
The doorbell rang, prompting Bianca to groan. “If that’s Adrian, I’m sending him packing,” she stated.
