Page 235 of 4 Corinthians

Istared at my mama. I wanted to feel something, anything besides anger towards her and came up empty. Years of trying to figure out why or how I ended up with parents as I did sat at the edge of my mind. Robert was a monster. There was no doubt about it. But my mama? Sharon? She was a victim. A kid forced into a life that wasn't fair to her. She was no different than Cori and me. Well, no, she was; her outcome was different because she didn't have someone like Unc to look out for her.

"You want to see him die?" Cori asked, and Mama nodded. "And what exactly will that do for you. I mean seeing him die."

"The same thing it'll do for you," she answered. "Heal the broken child inside of me."

Cori looked over to me, and I shrugged. This was her decision. If she wanted Mama to live, then she would.

"Fine," Cori agreed with Mama.

"I know where Robert is," Mama said.

"Where?" I asked.

"With his wife," she answered, and I stood there confused.

"Aren't you his wife?" Cori asked.

Mama shook her head. "No, I'm just the girlfriend," she humorlessly laughed. "He married someone else. I was his witness."

"Where is he?"

"At his office," she replied. "In the gym."

"Let's go." I took Cori's hand and left the house. I could hear Mama walking behind us. Her steps were slow and measured; they echoed with confidence that I knew she didn't have.

We got to the car, and I opened the door for Cori, but she didn't get in. "If she rides with us, I won't let her sit behind me. Her story is sad, but I'm not dumb enough to think she's innocent."

"Agreed."

Mama stood next to the car, her dark eyes watching us. I couldn't read her expression. "I can sit in the back," she offered. She hadn't heard our conversation. "Or drive."

"You can have the front," Cori said. I looked over at her and waited. She reached around me and took my gun from the waist of my pants. "If you try something, you won't get to see Robert die, but I have no doubt you'll see him in hell."

Mama smirked, then nodded. "That's fine with me," she replied.

Cori and I stepped back, and she opened the door to the back passenger side. She got in and waited. We rounded the car, and I opened the back door for Cori; she got in, and I closed it.

"You remember how to get to the gym?" Mama asked once I was in the car and situated.

"Yeah." I looked in the rearview mirror to see Cori facing Mama. My gun in her hand, her back against the door. I knew she preferred her razor but seeing her with a gun was a turn on like no other.

I drove down the driveway, flashing my lights at Cori's people as I drove past them. They followed. The twenty-minute drive to the gym was quiet. Mama stared out of the window. Cori watched her, waiting for any reason to have to kill her.

I parked my car and got out. I opened the door for Cori while Mama opened her own. Without waiting for her cousins, we headed towards the gym entrance.

"My nephew Mims typically does security," Mama said as she looked around. "I don’t see him."

"His head is in the trunk," Cori told her.

Mama nodded, not fazed by what she'd heard. She went to the back door, put in the code to open it, then walked inside.

Silence.

The gym still smelled the same, of blood and despair. I looked over to Cori. Her left hand tapped against her side as she followed behind Mama. We made a right, then left and another right before we stopped in front of Robert's office door.

"You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to," I told Cori. "I can do this for us."

"No," she said without looking at me. Her eyes were locked on the closed door. "I want to see him die."