her eyes.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why did you treat me the way you treated me?”
“You were the reason my husband left me,” she simply answered.
“How is that possible? Daddy loved me.”
“Yeah, until he found out you weren’t his,” she said, looking at the floor.
“What?”
“I cheated on him with my white boss. I ended up getting pregnant, and I kept it under wraps for a long time until your real father died. He had a letter for you in his will, and it was sent to the house and your father opened it. He said he always knew you didn’t look much like him, with the curly hair and light skin. None of his features. So he packed his shit and he left. You cried for days, and I couldn’t face the fact that it was all my fault so I blamed you. If you ever go back to my house, the letter is under your old mattress. I’m sorry.”
“It’s a little too late for your fuckin sorrys,” I heard Rayna whisper with tears streaming down her face. She held a gun up and unloaded on her mother. She looked at me with tears running down her face and her chest heaving up and down, handing me the empty gun. I grabbed her and gave her a tight hug.
“I gotta get out of here,” she said, running to the top of the stairs. She ran past everybody and as soon as she got to the door and fresh air hit her, she started throwing up the contents in her stomach. I grabbed her hair, rubbing her back. I know that sick feeling you get the first time you kill someone. I unlocked the truck and let her get in, turning the air on. Let me call them and tell them that I need the basement cleaned as well. After I got off the phone, I looked over and noticed that Rayna was zoned out.
“You okay?”
“Peachy,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Don’t be like that, Rayna.”
“I’m just saying, do you expect me to be okay after killing my own damn mother?”
“I know. I’m just trying to be here for you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It’s just a lot. A lot has been going on, and I’m just on edge,” she said, looking down.
“Okay I’m gonna stop right here to one of my traps really quick. Do you want to go in with me?”
“No,” she answered.
“Okay. Lock the door, and your gun is right here.”
“I’m good, Ace,” she said, looking at me.
Rayna
I started to doze off when I heard gunshots, and I felt myself being snatched out of the car. I tried to fight, but they put something over my nose and everything went black.
I woke up groggy and managed to lift my head up. I was in a room lying on a bed, chained to a wall.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled. Where am I? I thought to myself. The last thing I remember was Ace going into his trap house. Suddenly the door opened, and I couldn’t believe the face I was looking at.
“Why,” was all I could get out of my mouth; he didn’t answer, he just walked over to me, touching my face. He rubbed my face and lifted his hand, slapping me.
“I’ve really missed you, Rayna,” he said, pecking my lips and causing me to want to vomit. How did my life spiral out of control like this?
Ace
“What the fuck!” I said, banging the ground with my fist. I had just gotten into an all-out gun war at one of my traps, and they took Rayna. I rubbed my temples.
“What am I gonna do,” I said to myself, trying to figure out where to start with this shit. I sent out a group text asking everybody to meet me at my house.
Slick walked into my door with Gena walking in behind him sobbing.
“You gotta do something. Ya’ll gotta do something,” she said to Slick and I.
I already felt like shit and she was making it a lot worse, but I knew the pain she was feeling I just had to be strong, or we would never find my baby. My dad walked in with my mom and Ahleya.
“You got a game plan yet, son?”
“I’m just trying to wrap my head around this shit and clear my mind so I can make the best approach. I can’t be acting off of emotion because when you act off of emotion, you
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