Page 5 of His Aries Heiress (BLP Signs of Love #21)

An Aries man is often called difficult. Marcellus called it survival.

When Marcellus processed what Cassydie said, he burst out into laughter. He chuckled right in her face because it was a known fact that Grim didn’t have any kids. Well, a known fact to him, his homeboy, Ronny, and the council, anyway. Everyone else assumed Tato was Grim’s.

Grim’s bodyguards, Goldie, Zade, and Lil Rob, laughed with him.

He peeped that the beauty in front of him seemed to shrink away from them.

He liked that. Her fear intrigued him in a way most people didn’t.

She looked so . . . pure. So untainted by the dark side, but he could tell she wasn’t na?ve.

She had been through some shit, and a small voice deep inside him wanted to know her story.

He clenched his jaw when he realized the path his thoughts were on.

“Man, gone somewhere, shorty. Grim ain’t taking no visitors, especially not from someone claiming to be his kid while he’s on his death bed. You think that nigga dumb or somethin’?” His head cocked to the side as his muscled arms crossed in front of him.

He looked down at Cassydie, and he couldn’t lie, she was gorgeous, even though she looked down on hard times.

He noticed she had thick silky hair, but the shit looked matted and like it needed to be washed.

Her eyes held a sadness in them that immediately pissed him off for reasons he didn’t understand.

While he sized her up, he noticed her fiery gaze blazing a hole straight through his head. “Do you think I’m dumb?” she asked, mimicking his stance and crossing her arms over her chest.

Marcellus snapped out of his assessment of her and matched her gaze. He blinked slowly as he mugged her. “I’on know you, lil mama, but if you claimin’ to be Grim’s daughter, then I’m inclined to say yes.”

The idea that Grim had a child was bizarre to Marcellus. He’d known the nigga for almost three decades and had never seen him with a kid. He barely even saw him with a woman because Grim was so private.

She scoffed. “You think I would walk into a hospital and lie about something like that when a simple blood test, that could be taken right here in this building, could prove my claim?”

Something about her body language told Marcellus she wasn’t as confident about her words as she wanted to seem, and honestly, this shit was the last thing he needed to be worried about at the moment.

Things weren’t looking good for Grim, and he hadn’t had any time to process.

The doctors were busy running tests, and Grim was in and out of consciousness.

“Look—”

“Are you all here for Gregory Malone?”

Everyone turned to see a doctor walking up to them. Marcellus cut his eyes at Cassydie and opened his mouth to tell her to scram, but Goldie spoke to the doctor before he could. “Yeah. You got news?”

“Are you family?”

“Yeah, nigga, what you askin’ all them questions for? You walked up on us like you had some news. Spill that shit,” Marcellus snapped. It was the Aries in him. His patience ran extremely thin sometimes, and he made no excuses for it.

The doctor looked startled as he glanced at everyone else before he cleared his throat and nodded. “It seems as though Mr. Malone is dying of liver failure?—”

“He can have my liver.” Marcellus shrugged as if it was no big deal.

The doctor shook his head. “It’s too far gone at this point?—”

Marcellus wasn’t trying to hear that. He would do anything to save his OG. Anything. And this doctor needed to understand that. He wasn’t ready to walk this earth without Grim. That couldn’t happen.

Marcellus grabbed the doctor by his white coat and pulled him up and forward so their noses practically touched. “Aye, man, what the fuck I just say? Take my fuckin’ liver or whatever it is you have to do and put it in him. Fix him up like your life depends on it because it definitely does.”

The doctor gulped. “I’ll have to test you to see if you’re a match.”

His voice came out squeaky, and Marcellus smiled as he unhanded the older white man.

He brushed the doctor’s coat off and idly straightened it out as he spoke.

“Do what you gotta do, homie. Test all of us.” He cut his eyes at Cassydie.

“You say you’re his daughter, right?” He looked back at the doctor.

“Do a DNA test on her and test her for the liver shit.”

He didn’t know this chick from a can of paint, but if she wanted to come up to this hospital spreading lies, he would definitely make her stand on them.

The doctor nodded and glanced at Cassydie. “I’ll send a nurse over right away.”

Marcellus watched as the man scurried away just as Tato and Ronny came running down the hall. Tato ran ahead at full speed and called Marcellus’s name. “Cell!”

The cheerfulness of his voice broke Marcellus’s hardened heart and put it together again all within the same second.

“Hey, man. What’s good wit’ ya?” Marcellus asked, immediately putting on a cool front so he didn’t alarm Tato.

“Why are we here?” Tato asked.

Marcellus shook his head before he crouched down so he was eye level with the little boy who didn’t know he was his son.

He knew the best thing to do was be straight up with Tato.

The boy didn’t grow up like he and Grim had.

He didn’t know hardship, so this news might be a blow to him, but part of being a man was learning how to take things in stride.

Marcellus had yet to learn that lesson. He liked to control shit, but he wanted Tato to be better than him in every way.

“Pops ain’t doin’ too well, man.” After the words left his mouth, he heard a small gasp from Cassydie. He furrowed his brow as he glanced at her before focusing back on Tato. “We’re here to support him and make sure he gets better.”

It was funny how much Tato looked like Marcellus.

Cambria, his baby mama, was someone Marcellus fucked around with back in the day.

She was an around the way girl that had a major come up when she snagged Marcellus.

To him, she was just a good time. They had no business getting pregnant, but when they did and she refused to get an abortion, Marcellus tried to put his best foot forward.

After Tato was born, Cambria let loose again and went right back to partying and running the streets.

It took one good time for Marcellus to get on her ass for her to lose her mind.

He came home one day and found her trying to suffocate Tato.

There hadn’t been a time up to that point or since that point that Marcellus ever remembered so much rage flowing through him.

He didn’t even have the chance to blink before he snapped Cambria’s neck and rushed Tato to a private doctor Grim had on staff.

Grim had met him there and helped calm him, and that was when Marcellus broke down.

It was the only time he could remember crying as a grown ass man.

He cried like a baby, and Grim let him. When they got word that Tato was okay, Marcellus asked Grim for the biggest favor.

It was then Grim became Tato’s father, and Marcellus became a big brother.

He felt lighter at the time. The way he so easily snapped Cambria’s neck haunted him.

It was the moment he realized he didn’t have any real emotions, and that terrified him.

Tato deserved a father who could teach him how to be a man and do things the right way, and Marcellus didn’t believe he had it in him.

Now, he realized he might not have a choice.

The fact that nobody ever commented on how much he and Tato looked alike was comical. Then again, Marcellus knew it was just because they knew better. His heart was heavy as he looked into Tato’s eyes, but he saw nothing but warmth within the boy’s gaze.

“It’s okay, Cell. God told me everything is going to be okay.” Tato hugged Marcellus around the neck before pulling back. “Can I have two dollars for the vending machine?”

Marcellus blinked slowly as he processed what Tato told him as he stood up and pulled out a wad of money. He handed it to Tato, who took off down the hall. Marcellus nodded at Goldie, who followed Tato. When they turned the corner, Ronny spoke up.

“The fuck goin’ on, Marcellus?”

Marcellus ran a hand down his face. He wanted to believe what Tato said.

As a matter of fact, he wanted to believe that God would come through for them, but he learned long ago that God didn’t care about him.

He felt in his gut that things wouldn’t be okay, and he needed to try his best to mentally prepare himself.

If it wasn’t for Tato, he would burn the city down to numb his pain, but that wouldn’t be an option if Grim transitioned before Marcellus was ready.

“Shit really ain’t lookin’ good, man. His liver is failing. Dumb ass doctor is gonna test us to see if we can help OG out, but I don’t know, man.”

Ronny’s jaw clenched. Marcellus and Ronny met about ten years ago, and Ronny quickly became Marcellus’s second in command. He was the realest nigga outside of Grim that Marcellus had ever met, and he loved Grim like Marcellus did. Grim was for sure about to fuck the hood up with this shit.

After a minute, Ronny asked, “And who is she?”

Marcellus had almost forgotten she was there. His eyes met Cassydie, who seemed to shrink into the corner. As his head cocked to the side, Marcellus studied her. He licked his lips and then glanced at his right hand. “Say she Grim’s daughter.”

Like Marcellus, Ronny laughed. “Ain’t no way.”

Marcellus grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Only one way to find out. Do me a favor, bruh. Get her information and send it on over to Tech. I want to know everything about her lil ass by the time these test results come back.”

Marcellus watched as Cassydie’s eyes bounced between them, but he gave her props for not backing down.

She made eye contact and did her best to hide the fear he smelled rolling off her.

His interest piqued, and he knew he was about to have a lot of fun with her, because as soon as the test results came back that she wasn’t Grim’s daughter, he could unleash some of this fury on her.