Page 35 of Rich and Rotten

“Ruin this, Tatiana, and I’ll make sure that you won’t be able to fucking speak through your wired jaw.”

I gasped, as he walked away and then turned back around. “I hate you.”

He chuckled. “Tati, I’m not someone to love… I was born not to be loved… as your father, this is the plan, and I don’t want to hear shit else.“

He opened the door, and did a fake ass hearty laugh like we were having a good time in here. I looked at the door and all I saw was hate for a man that was supposed to my father. How could my mother love him?

She was just as unhappy and now I was forced to be the same. Forced to marry and love a man that I wasn’t in love with, or knew. Karim could have been a great guy, but I didn’t know him.

The door opened once more and my mother stood there. She paused and took in everything that I had on, holding back tears like this was a happy moment. As if I was marrying the love of my life and wasn’t being forced.

“Why are you so happy about me marrying a man I don’t know?” I muttered.

She walked across the room and put her arms around me, both of us staring into the mirror. “Right now, none of this makes sense… I know. I always want you happy and taken care of, and this secures that. Baby, there’s so much you don’t know, but I know one thing, those Sterlings will protect you.”

“Mom, what are you not saying?”

She kissed my cheek gently. “I was here before… here because my father thought this was best. I can promise you the best thing that happened out of all of this is you, Tatiana. You are my entire world.”

“Mom, please.”

“I would run away with you, baby, I would, but your father. Just do as he says and I promise we won’t suffer for much longer.” She squeezed me, and then looked over me once more.

My mother loved being my mother, and as she started at me, I could tell she loved me. Unlike my father, he looked me over like a prized horse in a show. One that would secure him even more money.

“Now, you go down that aisle and put the best show on… I promise, Tati…the Sterlings are good people.” She assured me again, as if she knew something that I didn’t know.

That lump never disappeared, but I somehow felt a bit better. A bit softer, and ready to get this over with. Would I make it easy on my new husband?

Absolutely not.

Chapter Eleven

Jonah

There was nothing worse than your ass itching in public. You couldn’t scratch it because people would start judging like their own asses had never itched before. Then niggas would assume you were dirty because your ass was itching. Like the cleanest muthafuckas didn’t get a slight itch now and then. Either way, your ass itching in public was the worst thing that could happen. Something you despised, even though it didn’t happen often.

That was how I felt about Malcolm Rich. That nigga made my ass itch in the worst way. Everything about him screamed snake, but I always had to play it cool because Karim told me that was family.

I knew he started to fall in love with Tatiana when he began trying to protect Malcolm. When his father first told him he had to marry her, he wasn’t with that shit. He wanted to find some blackmail or something to try and convince his father not to fuck with Malcolm. Then, he met Tatiana, and all that talk went out the window.

Karim was someone who cared about those around him. It started to make sense the more I got to know Tatiana myself. Her own father never protected her like a father should. Instead, he pushed her to marry into a family and forced her to give up her own life. That’s the reason Karim was so protective of her.

Then Tatiana had Nazira, and his entire world changed. Everything was about his family, and for the first time, I saw my best friend genuinely happy. Not that fake-ass happy, but the kind that felt so good others caught second-hand happiness from it.

That happiness from my memories faded the minute I pulled into the long-gated driveway in Long Island. Malcolm’s dusty ass had been hiding in Long Island ever since someone tried to pop his top. I was doing everything I could to make sure Tatiana and Nazira were safe. Whoever tried to get at him, I knew he deserved whatever was coming. Trouble found that man because he was trouble.

The thing about doing dirt is that you eventually have to lay down in it. We all did shit that we weren’t proud of, but a day comes when you have to answer for it. Someone was trying to put that man in the dirt, and he wasn’t going to take my sister and goddaughter with him.

“Ma, nobody can make sausage and peppers like you do,” I said between chews of the best sausage and peppers I’d ever had.

No matter how many times I had Carlotta’s sausage and peppers, they always got better each time. She smiled as she wiped her hands on the dish towel and came back over to where I was enjoying the feast.

Carlotta was Italian––an old-school Italian. You didn’t visit without leaving with a full stomach and plastic containers filled with food. Even though she didn’t know I was going to show up today, she still had food ready for me.

As soon as I stepped through the door, she hugged me and headed straight for the fridge to pull out the leftovers she’d cooked. Tatiana didn’t come over often, and after losing both Karim and Raphael, she was left alone. But that didn’t stop her from cooking like they were still here. I knew those niggas from Nazir’s security team were eating good.

“Nobody better make you sausage and peppers. Only Mama,” she said, then kissed my head.