“I don’t want to have any more kids. I just can’t . . . I can’t do it, Patrick. Being a mom was terrifying, and the worst thing that could have happened, happened. I can’t put myself in that position again. Loving another man is one thing, but being someone’s mom again . . .” She shook her head.
Prosper smiled and kissed her forehead. “I ain’t ever wanted kids anyway, Peanut. We a perfect match.”
Her eyes widened, and she pulled away. “Wait, what? Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I done seen too much in my life. I never wanted to bring kids into this world. If you wanted to, you know I would have, and I would have done my best to be a good dad, but it ain’t nothin’ I ever wanted for myself.”
Teonny allowed his words to sink in. A great deal of relief flooded her, and she dove back into his arms and hugged him tightly. “You would make a great father, for the record,” she whispered.
He kissed her temple. “And I know you were the best mother.”
His words caused tears to flood her eyes. She pulled away from him and got up off the couch. “I’ll go get my mom.”
She rushed out of the room and allowed her tears to fall. They were happy tears though. Somehow, she knew Angel looked down on her at that moment, cheering her on, and that gave her a great deal of comfort.
Pacing and thinking about Teonny were the only things keeping Prosper from committing murder at the moment. The information that just spilled from the informant’s mouth blew his mind. He needed a moment to figure out what his next steps needed to be.
“What you tryna do, bro?” Lamar asked. His right hand was always ready for action, and since Prosper was so worked up, it made Lamar ready to blast a nigga just off principal.
Lamar had done the heavy work of catching this nigga, who happened to work directly under Ghost, and holding him in the warehouse where they did their dirty work. This was a spot only the two of them knew about. If they brought someone else there, they never came out alive.
Prosper didn’t respond. He kept pacing while his thoughts raced.
“P-please, man—” the man in chains begged. Yeah, they literally had chains wrapped around several cement pillars forniggas who had crossed them or done them wrong. They weren’t taking any chances of someone breaking free.
“Aye, man, shut the fuck up wit’ all that whinin’. Givin’ me a fuckin’ headache,” Lamar snapped before his brass knuckles met with the informant’s jaw.
The sickening crunch caused Prosper to stop pacing. He knew he needed to get a handle on things before Lamar went to the point of no return. Ghost was still theirs for the taking, but this nigga . . . luck had to be on his side because his life was no longer in Prosper’s or Lamar’s hands.
Prosper calmly walked over to the man and placed his hand around his neck. He looked down at him in disgust as the man struggled against the chains.
“Everything you told me true?” Prosper asked in a low, gravelly tone.
“Yes.” The man was barely able to gasp out the word since his windpipe was currently being crushed.
“Ghost at the location you told us?” Prosper asked. The man nodded, unable to speak anymore. Prosper let the man’s neck go with a little shove, which caused the man’s head to bounce off the pillar behind him. Neither Prosper nor Lamar paid the man any attention as he coughed and sputtered, trying to get some air into his lungs. Prosper eyed him. “Nigga, you better stay alive long enough for me to bring our guests back here.” He turned to Lamar, completely done looking at the nigga with dark, ashy skin and a swollen face from the beating Lamar put on him. “Gather a team and get Ghost. If this nigga is tellin’ the truth, it should be easy to grab him up. Bring him back here.”
Prosper headed toward the wide double doors of the abandoned building.
“What you ’bout to do?” Lamar called out to Prosper’s back.
Prosper didn’t slow his stride as he responded. “I’m goin’ to get my girl. Her and her mama have some explainin’ to do.”
When he got into his car, he exhaled a deep breath and allowed himself a moment alone to sit with his thoughts. His instincts had never led him wrong before, and something in his gut told him he could trust Teonny. He couldn’t make his mind believe that she had set him up, not even if he wanted to.
Her mama, on the other hand, his gut had been telling him for weeks that something was off about her. He observed the way Tameka interacted with her daughter. The older lady moved with jealous intent.
Teonny was too soft to see it.
She was too much of a lover girl.
She had experienced too much loss.
Now, with this nigga tied up in chains and singin’ like a bird, some shit wasn’t adding up, and he needed answers.
He started up his car and saluted Lamar, who just walked out of the warehouse and toward his car. He pulled out of the long dirt driveway and focused on his next mission of the night. He prayed to God that everything that needed to come to light would and that he could finally put this whole ordeal behind him.
“I’m just sayin’, Ma. It would be nice if you chilled out a bit. I mean, when you met Prosper, you were all for us being together. It seems like you’ve fallen off that bandwagon over the past few weeks,” Teonny argued as she dished up the baked chicken, seasoned rice, and green beans she’d just made.
