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“Which is exactly why I tried to protect you from this shit for as long as I could,” my father responded, releasing a heavy sigh of his own before he perked up to share, “Hell, I didn’t even tell you the real reason why I had to rush back to Vegas the night of Snoop’s surprise party was because them motherfuckas had ransacked my damn crib.”
Wait, what?
My gut instincts had told me that something strange was going on during the phone call we’d shared once I’d discovered he’d left. But after days,and then weeks, had passed without any additional noise around the situation, I’d just assumed my father had cleared up his “little misunderstanding” like he’d said he would.
Now I knew different.
Considering what had happened today, I could guess that Kellyn and her men had probably had a similar objective back then and had taken the measures they had because my father wasn't there for them to do all of this. And with her note in mind, I couldn’t even imagine what “a lot worse” than this would look like if they were to get their hands on him again, the thought damn near giving me a panic attack when I pleaded, “Daddy, you can’t go back there. I’ll move some money around and get you however much you need to pay that lady off, but I can’t let you go back.”
I was already itemizing everything I could potentially resell on the secondhand market in my head, including the Tiffany T ring he’d just gotten me a few months ago, when my father shook his head claiming, “Nah, whatever you have in the bank won’t be enough. The only way I’ll be able to clear the amount of debt I’m in right now is if I hit big on one of the bets I already locked in earlier this season… or if you can get your boyfriend to do a lil’ somethin’ for me.”
“My boyfriend?”I repeated. “What does Kendall have to do with any of this?”
“If you can convince Snoop to do everything in his power to guarantee that the Skyhawks will lose in the playoffs next week, then that means I can put up every asset I have left on whoever they're playing against, cash out, pay Kellyn back and then wash my hands clean of the entire situation.”
The way he’d explained it so casually, you would’ve thought what he was suggesting wasn’t all that big of a deal. But in reality, it was one of the most fucked up favors he could’ve ever asked me for, my face pulled into a scowl of disbelief when I said, “Please tell me you’re joking.”
His response wasn’t immediate. And for that reason, I got right in his face to demand, “Daddy,tell methat you didn’t just ask me to convince Kendall to throw a game for you.”
“Kiki, just hear me out,”my father begged. But there was nothing he could’ve said in that moment that would’ve stopped me from crying out, “This whole time, I’ve defended you! Said you never eventhinkto do some shit like this. And now you’reseriouslyasking me to get Kendall to throw away everything he worked so hard for this season because of the deep shityouput yourself in? Asking me to potentially ruin the best relationship I’ve ever been in,with someone I truly love and care about, just to save your own ass?!”
“Shakira, I…”
“No,” I interrupted with my hand up, shaking my head in disgust as I snatched up my purse and headed straight for the garage as I told him, “I honestly can’t even look at you right now.” And because he couldn’t really move all that well, I was easily able to get away to the sounds of my father calling out,“Kiki! Kiki, where are you going?! Shakira, get back here!”
Once I slammed the door shut, I didn’t hear another word from him. And to ensure that that would remain the case, I was quick about getting into my car and leaving. But the second I made it out of my neighborhood, I immediately realized I was in no condition to be driving right now, the hot tears streaming down my face as I gripped the steering wheel with way more vigor than necessary leading me to pull to the side of the road so that I could get myself together.
Or…notget myself together, my cries intensifying to a full-blown breakdown as the anxiety from the situation took my nervous system hostage. And it only got worse when I realized I’d have to tell Kendall everything, the thought of facing him with the shit I’d sworn would never be a problem literally making my stomach hurt as I decided that now was as good of a time as ever to just get it over with.
