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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MILANA

“ Y ou good, cuz?”

I looked up to see Jacob. I gave him a soft smile. “I’m cool. You?”

“I’m good. Did you get a chance to go see the baby?”

“Yeah. He looks just like KJ and Uncle Kenny. I wonder what they will call him.”

“Kendrall said they would probably call him K-three.”

I giggled. “That’s too cute. I can’t wait to hold him. I couldn’t stay long since we had to come back to the meeting.”

“Yeah.”

“How’s Mekayla?”

“She’s good. She’s dilated two centimeters, so she’s taking it easy. She’s only thirty-four weeks. We need lil man to cool out a lil longer.”

He chuckled. Seeing the happiness on him was infectious.

Jacob had been unhappy for a long time, long before that bullshit with that bitch.

His smile hadn’t really reached his eyes .

. . since ever. He was a tortured soul, and I knew that was why Karima had taken him under her angel wings to look out for him, although he was older than her.

“Do y’all have a name yet?”

“Yep, but y’all won’t know until he gets here.”

I rolled my eyes playfully as he laughed. When Karima and Rhodes entered the room, everyone went to her, helping her to a seat and rubbing her belly. I loved that for her. She needed to be looked after. She was always looking after everyone else.

I chose to sit in the back corner. I really didn’t want to be here.

I just wanted to go to bed and think about things I could do to win Ferris.

He didn’t respond to my last text. I’d texted him after King told me he was still in Nome, hoping he would let me explain again and assure him that I was worth it.

Seeing him burn off from the diner without a second look earlier sank my heart to my big ass feet.

I wanted him so badly. He was a good guy and had his shit together. Maybe I was too young and immature for him. I was really trying to learn from my bullshit and make better decisions. I was trying to do that before he came along. Losing my grandfather was a huge wake-up call.

When my mama, daddy, and brother walked in, I could see she was looking for me. Ryder J spotted me immediately and walked over to me.

“Why you sitting back here?”

“I just want to be in my own world right now.”

“Now ain’t the time. Come on. You can be in your own world after the meeting.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I stood and followed him to the front of the room. Uncle WJ smiled at me and winked. I smiled back at him. We hadn’t really talked, but I knew we were good. I didn’t talk to my aunts and uncles as much, . . . just Uncle Storm and Uncle Jasper, because of Maui and Ashanni being my best friends.

When Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Berotte entered, I knew the meeting was about to start, but I also knew when Watchful Eyes entered, the meeting would be way more involved than I thought.

I was more than sure Mrs. Taylor would excuse herself for that portion of the meeting.

There were a few faces with them that I didn’t recognize, but I was more than sure we would be informed of who they were.

“Hey, family. Let me get everyone’s attention,” Uncle WJ said.

Everyone took a seat and quieted down to see where this meeting would take us and what things we would be enlightened on.

“The first thing I want to say is that we are family. No matter the decisions we make. No one deserves ridicule more than me, . . . more than Marcus, . . . more than Storm, . . . more than Kenny, . . . and so forth and so on. None of us are perfect. None of us are God. That means, we have no clue what some of our decisions could lead to. If we did, we wouldn’t do half of the shit we did.

Christian, Jacob, Milana, we love y’all.

None of this shit is on y’all. You hear me? ”

I lowered my head as I continued to stare at him. When I saw a tear fall down his cheek, it only caused mine to fall. My mama grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“Had I been successful at tearing down the business, we wouldn’t be here trying to discuss anything.

We would be right where the Andersons want us.

We react off of the past actions of others, no matter how recent.

During those reactions, most times, we aren’t thinking of the future.

We don’t think about what our actions could cause.

We are only focused on getting back at a nigga for what we suffered. ”

He wiped his cheek. “We will not single anyone out or blame anybody for shit that other people do to us. We are fucking Hendersons, and we are better than that. What I saw Lana go through hurt me to my heart. She was already blaming herself. It didn’t help that we all gave her the cold shoulder because we were hurting. Come here, Lana.”

My eyes widened, and I shook my head rapidly.

My mama stood, as tears cascaded down her cheeks, and gently pulled me from my seat and hugged me tightly.

I made my way to Uncle WJ, and he hugged me so tightly I broke down in his arms. His embrace felt just like Grandpa’s, and it felt like Grandpa was hugging me through him, telling me that everything would be okay.

When he released me, he brought his hands to my cheeks.

“I love you. I’m gonna do better about checking in on everybody.

We all fuck up, niece. Hold your fucking head high though.

Your last name is Semien, but you are still a muthafucking Henderson.

We about to show these people who they crossed and make them regret every ill word that fell from their lips.

If they fucked over you, they fucked over all of us. ”

I hugged him again and said, “I love you too.”

I went back to my seat. Jacob smiled at me, and Christian winked. Jessica came next to me and hugged me tightly. “Holla at me when this is over.”

I nodded then sat and tuned back in to see what was next on the agenda.

“So, Missus Taylor and Mister Berotte are here to share updates with the family about Ace’s pending trial. Some of you probably already know this information if you’ve been speaking to Marcus or Ace.”

Uncle WJ nodded at them, and they made their way to the podium.

Mr. Berotte began clapping, and all of Watchful Eyes followed suit.

I was confused for a moment until I noticed they were all staring at Uncle WJ.

We all began clapping as well. He was the leader of our family and had now become the head patriarch.

His speech was beautiful, and it was filled with love and support.

I felt like I could conquer the damn world after that.

Once everyone quieted down again, Mrs. Taylor said, “Whew! I don’t shed tears often, but that did it. Thank you, Mister Henderson, because we can all apply that to our families. Y’all apparently are going to get introduced to members of my family later.”

She glanced over toward Watchful Eyes, then continued. “Ace Henderson won’t do any time.”

Everyone stood and began clapping and cheering loudly.

After they quieted down, she said, “He was protecting his grandfather. After connecting the dots on all the people that were there that night, we realized that all of them were a part of it. Mister Henderson was ambushed. The only people that weren’t a part of the actual planning were the two young men who were with the Anderson man that attacked him. Even the store clerk was in on it.”

“Those muthafuckas finna go down. All of ’em,” Mr. Berotte added. “We have the protection of Watchful Eyes, along with a few others that I will allow Ali to introduce y’all to.”

Mrs. Taylor continued. “Ace will only have to do community service, and he can do that right here in Nome. That sentence is for unnecessary cruelty because he shot two of them in the head. He can’t serve that sentence with Henderson Ranch and Farms since he’s an employee, but he can definitely serve that sentence at any of your other businesses. ”

She nodded as Ali stepped to the podium, and all the men followed him. Mrs. Taylor stepped down, and I watched her hug four men. Ali went to the mic and said, “Watchful Eyes will be dedicating all of its resources to the Hendersons until further notice. We’ve contracted more help.”

He tilted his head as the men came forward. “Y’all are probably somewhat familiar with this young man.”

Ali smiled, and the guy standing next to him smiled too.

“Yeah! That’s Noah’s brother!” Jessica yelled.

I frowned, trying to figure out how the hell he was going to help us. Everyone chuckled, and I could see their recognition of him in their eyes. Uncle Storm stood, and I was ready for the bullshit.

“What the fuck RJ gon’ do? Dance? Build something?”

Everybody fell out laughing, including RJ. He stepped to the mic and said, “RJ ain’t here, my nigga. Ryan is here. That’s a totally different muthafucka that most people don’t know.”

He glanced at a light complexioned man and said, “Ali said I can trust y’all.

I typically don’t trust no-fucking-body outside of my family.

I grew up between Baltimore and Watts, California.

In Cali, I was a whole ass gangsta. My family, Noah nor my dad, were aware of this fact until I was in my thirties.

That situation with Rhodes was handled by me.

I don’t typically try to negotiate a damn thing.

When I’m called, I’m called to handle shit. You feel me, Mister Henderson?”

Uncle Storm rolled his eyes. “I guess. Our Christian family just sinking further and further in hell.”

“Shut up, Storm!” nearly everyone said in unison.

He frowned hard as we broke out in laughter.

Even Watchful Eyes was laughing. Ryan slowly shook his head and said, “These are my people. Shawn is Missus Taylor’s brother-in-law.

The man is extremely connected, and I still don’t know how.

He used to run drug shit in Beaumont. I’m sure Philly is familiar.

This guy goes by Nathaniel these days, but we knew him as Kai.

From what I understand, someone in the family had dealings with him some years back. ”