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It was signed with a red kiss.
And somehow, that was all I needed to see to be able to put two and two together when I asked, “Wait. This is Kellyn’s work?Shedid this to you?”
With the ice pack already covering his eye, my father released a heavy sigh like he didn’t really want to tell me. But considering the circumstances, he didn’t have much of a choice, slowly shaking his head as he answered, “No, she just gave the order. It was her men who followed through.”
Her men?
“Her men?!” I repeated out loud. “Why does Kellyn have men? And what made her wanna give an order to hurt you? Who the fuckisthis bitch?”
“Kiki, calm down,” my father pleaded.
But at this point, there was no such thing.
I mean, how in the hell was I supposed to relax knowing his alleged business associate apparently had an army of men who’d come to my home to beat his ass for reasons I still didn’t know?
It was impossible.
So I didn’t even try, crossing my arms over my chest when I responded, “No, I’m not gonna calm down! Not until I get some real answers.”
“Do I look like I’m in any fuckin’ condition to be giving you answers right now, Kiki?!” he growled in a menacing tone that was so unfamiliar I had to blink a few times to make sure it was really him talking to me.
But even with his face all fucked up, I still saw my father, the broken state he was currently in paining me to the point that I found myself fighting back tears when I told him, “Come on. Let’s get you to the bathroom so we can clean you up some.”
Because my father wasn’t exactly a small man, getting him off the floor and then to the bathroom near the kitchen was a bit of a struggle. But with a little grit from the both of us, we somehow made it happen, the LED bulbs in the half bath typically used for getting the best selfies only highlighting just how battered and bruised he really was.
It was an alarming sight, full stop. But I was grateful when we were able to,at least, get most of the bleeding under control, that alone making my father look a little less close to death when he glanced at me through the mirror and said, “I apologize for snapping at you earlier, baby girl. And I’m extremely grateful you showed up to help me when you did.”
Even for as scary as it was to walk into, I,too, was grateful that I’d shown up when I had. But the timing of everything that had happened before my arrival was still enough of a mystery for me to ask, “Had they just left when I got here?”
“Nah, maybe a half-hour or so before.”
“Do I need to be worried about them coming back?”
Just the thought was enough to make me paranoid, even after my father shook his head and answered, “Nah, they won’t be back as long as I get Kellyn her money within the next fifteen days.”
“And who is Kellyn really?” I asked, knowing their involvement couldn’t have possibly been as simple as the two of them just being business associates if she was pulling shit like this.
But once again, I could tell the mention of her made my father uncomfortable when he sighed, “She’s… the boss. Runs a business out in Vegas that provides cash advances to people who do a lot of gambling.”
“So she’s a loan shark?”
“Basically, yeah,” he nodded. “But she works underground in order to be able to give out larger sums than what’s legally allowed,” he shared, releasing another sigh as he looked down at the sink to add, “And so that she can hurt people when they don’t pay their debts.”
It was easy to make the connection between his current condition and Kellyn’s…business.But hearing that my father’s gambling habits were the true cause of his financial troubles that had led to all of this was enough to have me right back upset when I asked, “Since when are you in debt? And why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t tell you cause it’s really none of your business, Kiki,” he suggested with a scowl that had me pushing a frustrated breath through my nose when I muttered,“You cannotbe serious right now.”
The look on his battered face told me he was deadass, making me quick to remind him, “Daddy, I literally just walked into my house that I didn’t even know you were hiding out at and found you in the damn fetal position with blood leaking from your mouth, and you really have the nerve to tell me this isn’t any of my business?”
“Shakira…”
“Nah, Daddy. This is crazy. We need to call the police.”
I was already making a move to grab my phone that had gotten left behind in the entryway when my father came limping after me to ask, “Call the police so they can do what? Kellyn and her crew are probably already on their way back to Las Vegas by now.”
“Okay, so how about we call the Nevada police?” I suggested, already imagining how easy it would be for them to get stopped at the airport the second they landed. But according to the annoyed look my father responded with, I must’ve sounded completely ignorant when it came to how any of this shit worked, his face pulled into a slight scowl when he asked, “You mean, the same police that Kellyn has on her payroll? Or the law enforcement officers who were in the line taking out advances right wit’ me?”
Hearing that instantly made me feel hopeless,and somehow even more stressed than I already was, my chest painfully tight as I brought my hand to my forehead and sighed, “God, this is all so fucked up.”
