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forty-six

. . .

“Thanks for meeting me,” Anzel hesitated, as Staysha stopped short of her table.

Anzel was tucked away in a corner booth of Lex, a Caribbean fusion spot she hadn’t tried yet. She was hoping to bond in some way with Staysha, but with Eden putting her on ice, there was no way Staysha was letting her in.

“Mm. You only called me a hundred times. Which is crazy, being that you haven’t called since you left,” Staysha scoffed, sitting down. “And Eden isn’t talking to me, so I’m really only here to figure out your motive.”

“Your sister has always been dramatic.”

Staysha pulled in a deep inhale. “I’d be dramatic too if the person who was supposed to love me compared, criticized, and abandoned me.

Well, you did abandon me, and you did compare us, so I suppose I'm equally as dramatic. So, what’s this meeting for?

Are you trying to pit us against each other again?

I can tell you it’s not going to happen. ”

“Can you have a seat?” Anzel asked.

Reluctantly, Staysha sat down and stared at her mother. All the labels, all the cosmetic upkeep, and her soul was just as tainted as Mama’s. They basked in a darkness that Staysha never wanted to know. Darkness that Poppi and Eden had kept away from her.

“I don’t have all day. What do you want?”

Anzel sat back and picked up the menu, studying it. “Jerk chicken empanadas or the ox tails.”

“Neither. Answer my question.” Staysha took the menu and flung it over to another table. “What is it that you want?”

“I’m more than likely about to be indicted by the feds. Wire fraud, money laundering, defrauding the federal government.”

“I’m supposed to feel sorry for you?”

“I don’t expect you to. After all, you were raised by my mother.”

“Do not bring up old shit if you want me to keep my cool. You better be thankful Poppi took us and didn’t leave us out on the porch. Or put us out in the streets.”

Anzel nodded. “That’s fair.”

“It is.”

“No. I don’t want your sympathy. Me and my sister made this bed, and we have to lie in it. I want to transfer UVE into yours and Eden’s names.”

Staysha scoffed in laughter. “Let me get this straight. You run off, fuck, suck and blackmail your way into CEO, then you take our grandmother – subsequently kill her – use whatever money she had stashed for Eden and I. Put the label into her name, commit hella crimes under her name, and then want to give it to us like it’s a fuckin’ golden ticket.

Are you on that stuff too? It’s got to be crack. ”

“UVE should be yours.”

“UVE was stolen. You stole it like you steal peace, joy, and happiness. You the damn devil. I’m not letting you in, and I’m not saving you from your demise.

Eden isn’t saving you either. Did you see what you did to her?

She spent her childhood in that state. She would never tell me in full everything you took from her and me, for that matter.

She’s protected me at every turn, and I failed to do that for her.

We don’t want anything from you. We don’t need you.

That time has come and gone. You chose a come up over your children.

Giving us UVE will never make up for the trauma you caused.

And you don’t get to clear your conscience before the feds drag you off. ”

“Staysha.”

“Don’t ‘Staysha’ me. I might look like you, but I am nothing like you. Nothing. Everything you got coming to you is your karma. Leave me and my sister out of it.”

She stood and began walking away before she doubled back. “And while you’re leaving us out of it. Don’t do another interview or share anything else about Maximus. He doesn’t deserve his name being smeared because you’re a hoe ass bitch.”

“Did he not have your sister in a shootout yesterday?”

“Like you had her?” Staysha quizzed, watching the color leave Anzel’s face. “Thought so. Leave all of us out of your shit. I hope someone makes you their bitch on the inside.”

Staysha left the restaurant and headed toward Eden’s place, praying that she’d let her in.