Page 158 of 4 Corinthians

“Mommy?” Judah sat at the table, eating a bowl of cereal. His attention was split between his food and the TV. Deuce sat beside him; his grey eyes sparkled with curiosity. I used to chalk it up to Cross and me being related, but I knew it was the Strong blood in the mix too. I’d just been in denial.

“Yes?”

“Can we get a dog?”

“No,” I answered with a shake of my head. He’d been on a pet kick for over a year. I wasn’t giving in, and neither was he. “No dog, cat, snake, fish, turtle, bird, snail, lizard, rodent of any kind. That’s my list.”

“That’s your list?” he asked, and I nodded. For a moment he sat staring at me, then he nodded and went back to eating his food. “Okay.”

The doorbell rang, and I picked up my phone to pull up the cameras. Uri was in the back working out. Bradon stood on the other side of the door, his hands in his pockets, a mug on his face. He looked right into the camera.

“Y’all go get Uri and tell him Bradon is here,” I said, setting my phone down. The boys jumped up from the table and took off to the back.

I went to the front door, took a deep breath, then unlocked and opened it. Bradon stood there, waiting, but when he saw me, a smile that reminded me so much of Uri’s blossomed, and I couldn’t help but return it.

“I thought my nephew was going to open the door,” he said with a laugh. “I was about to cuss him out for making me stand out here so long, knowing it's hot.”

“You can't feel the heat,” Uri said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see him coming towards us. He wiped his face with the towel in his hand, then kissed me on the side of the head once he was close enough.

“Which means yo ass shouldn’t have left me out here,” Bradon laughed.

We stepped back, and he came into the house, making sure he closed and locked the door behind him.

“Man, bring your ass on, Unc. I was working out. You said you would be here in two hours, thirty minutes ago,” Uri said. He put his arm over my shoulder, and we all walked to the living room.

“I wanted to get this shit over with so I can start planning funerals and shit.” Bradon sat on the smaller couch while Uri and I took the big one. “Where are the boys?”

“I told them to go to Judah’s room and play the game,” he answered. “I didn’t want them hearing shit.”

“Smart move,” Bradon said, nodding. He looked over at me and sighed. “My nephew told me that he told you everything. I’m glad. Your relationship doesn’t need to be surrounded by secrets and shit. What my brother put y’all through was enough.” He sat forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Look, Corinthians, I could apologize every day for the rest of my life, and it wouldn’t mean shit. Robert and Logan are fucking animals. I didn’t know what they were doing. I spent most of my time away. When I came back, I thought something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know for sure until Uri was hospitalized that last time.”

“You don’t have to apologize for your brothers.”

“I do,” he replied. “I knew the type of niggas my brothers were. I saw how they treated women. How they discarded people they thought were less than them. We grew up in the same house; I knew the things our father did to them, so I should’ve known they were going to do it to someone else.” He sat back, wiped his hands over his face, and sighed. “I just didn’t think they would do that shit to kids.”

“A monster will always be able to find a victim. No matter their age,” I said, and Bradon nodded. “I know Robert knew my father, but do you know how he was dragged into all of this?”

“Money,” he answered with a grunt. “Ruben was an errand boy for Robert back in the day. He wanted street-cred without the work. I’m not completely sure how they met Ruben. One day he just started showing up. Robert would steal whatever he could get his hands on from SP and then have Ruben flip it in Turner Row. Ruben didn’t have any connections, no family ties. He was sleeping on couches when he could and, when he couldn’t, on the street. Robert offered him money to be the face of his business in Turner Row, and Ruben couldn’t say no.”

“And my mama?” I asked.

"We all knew of the DeCortes," he answered with a humorless chuckle. "Your granddaddy's name scared niggas. He'd moved them out of TR, but that didn't mean nothing. They still came through to kick it. Ruben caught your mama's eye. They were locked in from the beginning. Robert tried to step between them, and I ain't gonna lie for a minute; it looked like it was a done deal."

"What happened?" I don’t know why I needed to know, but I did. I remembered how my mama looked at Robert. As a kid, I thought it was fear, but now as a grown woman I recognized the longing in her eyes. "I mean, why didn't they stay together?"

"Our parents stepped down from SP," Bradon answered. "Our father is a mean-ass bastard. He had a meeting with Robert one day, and the next day we were sitting in meetings running shit. He didn’t have time for shit else. Or so I thought.”

“So, you knew my mama?” I asked and nodded. “Who else did you know?”

“It was a group of us that ran together, your parents, aunts and uncles, Tulane Forrester, Young Carlson, Micah and Diamond Stone, Carmen Carter, Xayne and Xia St. Thomas, and a few other niggas.”

“Wait, you know my cousin’s friends' parents?” I asked, confused, and Bradon nodded. “Their meeting, it wasn’t by chance?”

“Nah,” Bradon said, shaking his head. “After Four told me what he went through, we started making moves. Robert was lying low, but we didn’t know how long. Some shit was by luck, like Nine and Cross meeting, but the rest of it? Nah, we moved pieces into play to make sure y’all were safe.”

“Robert did the same thing,” I told them.

“I don’t doubt it,” Bradon agreed. “But now it’s time to start making moves. I can't keep on sitting after what we saw, and honestly, I don’t want to. Robert needs to die; that’s the only way you will have the peace you deserve.” He sat forward. “It’s only one thing I’m going to ask you.”