Chapter 32
Kaylin
It didn’t take any time to make it back to New Orleans. I didn’t know if I was nervous or what, but I couldn’t shake the funny feeling that I had in my stomach. I didn’t have time to worry about it, though, because before I knew it, I was pulling up to the house where Stacy and her father held the boys.
When I got out of the truck, I noticed that the whole block was extremely quiet today. Not thinking anything of it, I grabbed the bag that the money was in and made my way inside the house. When I walked inside of the house, it was dark and unusually quiet, as if there was no one at home.
“Yo. Anybody here?” I asked as I tried to find the light switch.
“Damn, it’s about time that you showed up. I thought I was going to have to come look for you and shit,” Stacy said, flicking on the light.
“Well, I’m here now, ain’t I?” I said, taking a seat on the sofa. “Your pops here?”
“Nah, he just stepped out. He’ll be back in a minute,” she replied like it was cool.
“I know he got a phone or something. Call him and tell that I’m here and I’m ready to get this shit over with.”
“All right,” she replied as she got up, grabbed her phone, and walked into the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later. “He said that he’ll be here in a minute,” she said, taking a seat on the sofa opposite me.
As I sat there looking at her, I couldn’t help but to think of the many ways I could make her and her father disappear. I couldn’t stand to see the sight of her right now.
“Kaylin, where do we stand after all of this?” she asked me.
“Honestly, Stacy, I don’t know.”
“Well, I thought you said that once this was over, we were going to be a family,” she stated, sitting up. I didn’t answer her. I didn’t want to say too much that could jeopardize me getting my boys back and leaving here in one piece. “So you gon’ just sit there and act like I ain’t talking to you at all?”
“Stacy, chill. Let me just get the boys and give this nigga the money, and we’ll go from there,” I said, trying to satisfy her.
“Okay,” she replied. I wasn’t trying to have any more conversation, so I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned it on. My phone immediately began to ring from all of the missed calls, text messages, and voicemails, which all happened to be from one person: Stacy. I looked at her, giving her the side eye before I found Shelly’s number and sent her a text. I didn’t have time to wait for her to reply before I heard the door opening. Stacy’s father, along with the boys, came walking inside. I got up, but when I noticed a woman walking in behind them, I immediately sat back down.
“Marie?” I asked, not believing my eyes.
“Kaylin,” she nonchalantly replied.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her.
“I came to collect what’s due to me and mine,” she said, confusing me.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“The money, Kaylin. Where is it?” she answered.
I couldn’t believe that she was working with these snakes. How could she even do that to her own grandkids?
“I’m not giving anybody anything until I get my boys and know that we’re getting out of here,” I told her.
“All this time, it’s been you?” Stacy asked, getting off the sofa.
“Of course, it’s been me. How else was Julius going to know where Amina and the kids where?” she replied. She shoved the boys down the hall into a back room and pulled the door shut.
“So it was never about me and Kaylin Jr. You only had me in on the plan because you knew I had Kaylin’s son,” she said, turning to her father.
“Darling, you are weak. Just like that nigga was pussy-whipped, you was hung up on his dick. Even when you knew that nigga wasn’t going to wife you,” her father said to her. I couldn’t do anything but chuckle. Here I was, thinking I was the only one who was being fucked, but it seemed that Stacy didn’t know her father like she thought she knew him.
“So you had your own daughter killed, because of her mother?” she asked.
“What are you talking about?” I asked her.
“Yeah, you didn’t know?” Marie asked. “Stacy and Amina are sisters.”
“At least they were,” Julius replied.
“No, they are,” Marie replied, laughing. “You see Amina is actually . . .” she started to say, but stopped when the front door came crashing down.
“Am I too late for the party?” I heard a voice say.
I froze because I knew damn well this wasn’t who I thought it was. When I turned and saw Amina standing there, I thought I had seen a ghost. “Hello, Kaylin. You miss me?”