She wept with no control, and I felt a twinge. I can’t front like I didn’t feel anything for her after seeing her alive all this time. I didn’t have anything else to say. Raising my gun, I looked her dead in the fucking eye and sent a bullet through Arrow’s dome. The blast jolted her, and she shook in front of me viciously while holding my stare. I tucked my pistol in my waistband.
“Let’s get out of here before we got company.” I snatched her by the arm and dragged her toward my whip.
I thought I wanted answers, but now I ended up with more than I bargained for. There was no fucking way that I could leave her here. At this point, shit didn’t make sense. I knew one fucking thing though: I couldn’t trust her. She was screaming and cussing me out while trying to yank away from me all the way to the car until I shoved her inside and grilled her coldly. She knew better than to move another inch.
“Calm the fuck down!” I got in her face, bringing the pistol to her chin.
Horror filled her eyes when she peered back at me, and I couldn’t believe the fucking position I was in. This was a woman that I loved and cared for deeply. She wasn’t some random fuck. We shared a child, and I allowed her into parts of me that not many people could go. Harbor had busted through all of my barriers effortlessly. Even she wasn’t aware when she was doing it. The woman standing in front of me now brought a range of emotions that a nigga was nowhere near prepared for.
After I got her settled, I rounded the front of my car to get into the driver’s side. I hit the start button and maneuvered off the gravel lot and out onto the street. Glancing down at my phone, I could see that I had hella missed calls from Harbor, Ivy, and even Ledge. That had me worried because he was supposed to be at the fucking meeting too. Finally, I called Harbor’s phone, but it went right to voicemail. So I tried Ivy instead. Whatever was happening, it left a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I whipped through traffic trying to reach them, growing more concerned by the second.Why the fuck weren’t they picking up after blowing me up?
I drove for about thirty minutes until I arrived in the city. Ivana sniffled and cried beside me. That shit had me fuming that she was shedding tears over a mothafucka like Arrow. Mind racing, it seemed like I couldn’t focus on one thing before something else invaded my mind. I saw the calls from Ivy first, so I dialed her back immediately.
“Baby girl, what’s going on? Where are you?”
“At the hospital with Harbor,” she answered gently.
My fucking heart lurched in my chest.
“What’s wrong?” I quickly hit the corner and turned around to go toward Mercy Hospital.
“We were leaving the office, and someone started shooting at us. Harbor’s not doing good. She was bleeding, Daddy. The doctor’s said the baby is trying to come.” My daughter sounded like a five-year-old in that moment.
She was so scared. All that tough girl shit had gone away.
“Ivy, I’m on my way, baby girl.” I rushed her off the phone and hit the gas.
“What are you going to do with me?” Ivana’s tone was almost robotic as she stared off ahead.
“I’m not sure yet,” I answered, sitting forward with my hand resting on my chin and my fingers caressing my shadow beard.
I could feel her searing a hole in the side of my face. This was a woman that I swore I once knew like the back of my hand. Now we sat side by side, strangers. I didn’t know her, and that deep, cosmic connection I thought I felt didn’t seem as relevant as I thought it was. The fact that she could trust a snake like Arrow above me left me feeling some kind of way.
“You just took away one of the few people that has ever had my back a hundred percent. You think I won’t sing like a bird to anyone that asks what happened? What do you think you’re going to do? Keep me hostage?” she questioned, and I eventually glanced her way.
She didn’t know the fucking half of it. I had done more for less. The irony of it all was that I had taken Harbor to avenge Ivana, and now I was about to turn the tables again. After arriving at the hospital, I parked and waited. There was another car that pulled up alongside me. The driver got out, and it was one of my guards. I didn’t dare look her way. A nigga was feeling some shit that left me wide the fuck open. All this time, all the blame I placed on myself for everything, shit seemed like it was in vain.
“Tahjir will take you to the house. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I let her know, giving him a nod across our windows. “Takeher to the west wing and make sure she doesn’t leave,” I told him, and he agreed with one forward head bob.
He knew what I meant. I wanted her locked up tight in a room with no exit.
“So that’s it? You have me shipped off like some package?” Her tone was even, and resentful.
This time, I was forced to glance over at her and see her expression. The audacity she had right now to come at me like that was laughable. My anger and concern for Ivy and Harbor was more important.
“I don’t have time for this shit, Ivana. So yeah, you need to go somewhere else, and I will deal with you when I can.”
“Oh, so I don’t make the list of priorities? Is that it, Quency?” she demanded, and my nostrils flared.
She was really starting to piss me the fuck off.
“Well, let’s get something perfectly fucking clear right now. I am Ivy’s mother. I carried her. She is a part of me, not Harbor.” The way she said her name led me to believe that she knew a lot about what was going on in my life. “You moved on with your life?—”
“After seven fucking years, Ivana! Because I thought I was mourning you!” Lowering my head, I gripped the steering wheel with one hand and pinched the corners of my eyes.
The chain of events occurring was starting to exhaust me. My eyes grew heavy, and my temples throbbed trying to absorb all the madness bouncing around my head.
“Get in the car and go to the house, and I will talk to you later,” I said, not even looking at her.
