Page 83 of Torch

“Okay, put your money where your mouth is. Bet ten on it,” Cara challenged.

“Bet.” He nodded along with Sara and Sofia.

“Will y’all stop. Brit is already nervous. For all you know, it could be only one baby we’re having. I mean, I am God’s favorite among us all.”

“God’s favorite, huh? Okay.” Cara grinned, sitting back in her seat.

Thirty minutes later, we were inside our suite with our entire family. Bryce, Bentley, and Brittney’s grandmother were also in attendance. A partition blocked their view of Brittney. Everyone watched the television mounted on the wall as Doctor Hayes conducted the ultrasound.

Brit had a death grip on my hand. She looked like she was barely breathing. I bent down to kiss her forehead while giving her encouraging words. When I straightened up, I saw Doctor Hayes lift his glasses as he leaned toward the screen.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him.

“Uhh, yes. I just want to confirm what I’m seeing,” he replied with a slight frown.

“What exactly do you think you’re seeing?” Brit questioned quietly.

He was quiet for a moment before he took his eyes off the screen and turned to us. “Well, you definitely decided to overachieve your siblings.”

“Meaning?” I gulped.

“You’re having quadruplets.”

“What did I tell you?” I heard Cara shout, and then she started laughing hysterically. “God’s favorite, my ass. You be talking too much crap. The curse doesn’t like that.”

Throughout the cheers, there was laughter. I gazed down at Brittney because she had turned mute. “Baby, say something.”

She took a deep breath and stared into my eyes. “It is what it is, Christian. We’re having four babies, and we’re going to get through this one day at a time. But I’ll tell you one thing.”

“What’s that, beautiful?”

“We’re not having any more after these.” The room broke out in laughter once again. Brit finally cracked a gigantic smile, gripping my shirt to pull me down for a quick kiss. “I love you, Christian Romano.”

“I love you more, Mrs. Romano.”

Epilogue

BRITTNEY

2 WEEKS LATER

CLUB PLATINUM GRAND OPENING

Looking around this club, I was so proud of my man. It was packed from wall to wall. The entire club, along with the Louisiana and Tennessee chapters, was here to celebrate. Christian and Blade had been moving around the club a lot, greeting all the celebrities who came through. King and his crew had two sections not too far from us. I thought Viper was going to kill him when he tried hugging Cara. Luckily, Cara knew better and offered her hand while rolling her eyes.

Xena was also here. She came up to our section to talk about her video shoot next week. I still couldn’t believe I would be doing her makeup. She also told me she was sending a few singers she was close with in the industry my way.

Over the next few months, I was going to work as much as I could. I knew I would have to scale it back at some point as my pregnancy progressed. Then, after I had the babies, I was going to take three months off before returning to work.

Speaking of work, the salon was set to open next Friday. Oscar, Kira, and I were geeked. After months of busting our butts, the salon was finally ready. We had three other hair stylists along with Oscar. Two nail techs, a shampoo girl, and a receptionist. We were also looking for a lash tech and makeup artist to temporarily fill in while I was on maternity leave. If things went smoothly, we would make the necessary adjustments so that they could join the team.

Every day I woke up, I gave myself a pat on the back for finally standing up for what I wanted. If I hadn’t, none of this would have happened. I just hated the downward spiral effect it had on my family.

When I say downward spiral effect, that was an understatement. Apparently, it wasn’t bad investments that kept draining Myron’s bank account. It was his gambling addiction. Last week, Myron went to work, and Julian and his father pulled him into the office. They told him that after everything that transpired between Morgan and me, Myron was a negative outlook on the company.

Myron completely lost his mind and attacked Julian. Unbeknownst to Julian, Myron was livid when he found out Julian had been sleeping with Morgan as well and left her pregnant. He blamed everything on Julian. Once again, he didn’t hold Morgan accountable. They were both wrong, but he only had words for Julian. During the scuffle, Julian fell and hit his head on the corner of the desk. He died from blunt-force trauma. Now Myron was in a jail cell awaiting a murder trial.

Morgan tried to plead temporary insanity for her crimes. Her lawyer quickly advised against it. Morgan had been plotting and scheming for months. Everything she did was premeditated, which meant she wasn’t insane at all. Just cruel. Plus, once the DA pulled her text thread with Smoove, it was the final nail in the coffin for her. She ended up taking the offer of life without parole.