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Chapter Four

Shayna ‘Shay’ Turner

I told myself I could handle it. Walk in, speak my truth, and be done with it.

But the second Kilo looked at me? Everything I rehearsed disappeared.

I hadn’t seen Franklin DeLuca since I was seventeen.

Since he broke my heart and I moved away with a secret swelling in my stomach and my parents’ voices ringing in my ears, “You better not tell that boy or his family shit.”

So I didn’t. I had a baby… his baby, and I raised her with the help of my parents until they died last year in a plane crash.

I missed them, but without them hovering over me, I was able to move back and finally let my daughter meet her father.

I knew he was sentenced to ten years, so I waited until I figured he was home and adjusted before I approached him.

I didn’t expect Buck’s ignorant ass to be there, but I should have.

He was always with Kilo when they were younger.

It made sense for him to be at their family business.

I just wish he hadn’t barged in and interrupted us.

I stepped into his office with heart damn near hammering through my chest, and for a split second…

he looked at me like he remembered everything.

The hallway kisses. That summer. That night.

And then Buck came barging in, loud and ignorant like always, and the air turned too thick to speak.

I couldn’t take anymore of Buck’s harsh comments or the way that Kilo was looking at me, so I left.

The sun had dipped by the time I made it back to the car.

Liberty sat in the back seat, scribbling in her notebook.

“You took forever,” she said, not looking up. “What kind of friend did you say that was again?”

My stomach turned. “Just someone I used to know.”

She gave me a side-eye. “This building is huge. He famous or something?”

I laughed lightly to brush her off. “No, baby. Not famous.”

She stared at me a moment longer, like she could sense something was off, but she didn’t push it. She went back to her drawing. This one was of a little girl in a hoodie and Timberlands. Her style. Her attitude, just like him, and she didn’t even know it.

***

Back at the house, my brother was in the living room with his feet kicked up like he paid a single bill.

We both got money when our parents died, but he ran through his like it was water.

Tricking on different hoes. Throwing lavish parties and buying anything that had an expensive price tag.

Now he was broke and living with me and Liberty.

Sean didn’t even wait for me to speak. Just started bombarding me with questions. “So? You tell him?”

I shook my head and tossed my keys on the table.

He stood up. “You serious right now? What happened?”

“I was about to, but Buck walked in.”

“So?”

“So I lost the moment, Sean. It didn’t want to tell him with his brother right there.”

He snorted. “Man, fuck a ‘moment.’ You had one job. One. Tell that nigga the truth so he can start sending the cash and paying us back for the money we spent on Liberty all these years.”

I spun around. “ We ? You’re not raising her. You ain’t even call half the time we were gone.”

He stepped closer. “You think I care about that kid like that? I care about what that kid represents. You sittin’ on a golden ticket to the DeLuca fortune and actin’ like it’s optional.”

My hands balled into fists. “She’s not a come-up. She’s my daughter. A little girl who never asked for any of this.”

He leaned in, voice low and slick. “And she’s entitled to his fuckin’ money. Stop being stupid and na?ve, Shay. You may have a lil’ money, but you ain’t got that nigga’s money.”

“So, basically, you want me to press my baby daddy because you’re broke?” I raised a brow.

He stepped closer to me and scowled. “Don’t act like I’m just doing this for me.

You said you came here to introduce Liberty to her fuckin’ daddy.

You folded at the first opportunity. You gone fuck right around and that nigga gone have a whole new family if he hadn’t already.

And then what? The fuck you gone do then? ”

I didn’t even think about that. He could move on and forget about me and Liberty before we even had a chance to be a family. I couldn’t let that happen.

“You didn’t think about that, huh?” He smirked.

I didn’t even give him the satisfaction of responding. I went upstairs to my room and sat on the bed. I needed to hurry up and tell Kilo about Liberty before I lost my chance.

***

The next morning…

Liberty sat at the table eating cereal, her curls in a puff, eyes glued to her sketchpad. That little girl loved to draw. I figured I’ll tell her about Kilo now while I had the nerve to. Sean was gone and now was the perfect opportunity.

“You remember how I said we were visiting a friend?” I asked softly.

She looked up. “Yeah?”

I sat beside her. “He’s not just a friend. He’s your father.”

She blinked. “Wait… what?”

I took a breath. “Franklin. The man we saw yesterday. He’s your dad.”

“Why didn’t I see him? Did he not want to see me?” She quizzed.

“No. It’s… complicated. He never even knew about you. That’s why we’re going back today. So I can tell him the truth.”

She stared at her cereal, silent.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. But I wanna meet him.”

“You will.”

***

I strolled back into DeLuca Enterprises with Liberty in tow.

I didn’t know how this was going to go, but I’m here now and it had to be done.

I stopped at the front desk to let the lady know I was here to see Kilo.

After eying me and Liberty. She called him and he directed her to send me up.

My breathing shallowed, and I closed my eyes to get a grip.

I felt Liberty squeeze my hand causing me to open my eyes and look at her.

I gave her a small, assuring smile right before the elevator stopped.

I knocked once, then walked into Kilo’s office. He was behind the desk again, looking over paperwork. When he saw me, his expression shifted. His eyes darted to Liberty, then back at me, but he still didn’t speak.

“I know you bet not be walking in here to tell me what the fuck I think you’re about to tell me,” he snapped. Liberty moved closer to me, and I rubbed her back to make sure she was fine.

“This is my daughter,” I started. “Her name is Liberty. She’s nine. And she’s yours.”

He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Just stared at us like we would disappear.

“You had a baby?”

“Yes.”

“You had my baby?”

Again I answered, “Yes.”

“You serious right now?” he said, voice low.

“I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“I was locked up, not buried. My people still lived in the same place. You could’ve told somebody.”

“My parents found out before I could say anything, Franklin. They hated you. They hated the thought of me having your baby. They said I’d ruin everything if I told you. That you’d use her, or your family would take her from me.”

“So you kept her from me for nine years.”

“. I didn’t take her from you.”

“You took everything from me.”

He stood up, towering, voice rising with every word. “I did time eight fuckin’ years and the whole time I ain’t know I had a fuckin’ daughter out here! Do you know what that does to a man? Huh?”

Liberty flinched at his voice. That’s when he realized she was still in the room.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you ain’t. You sorry it caught up to you.” He walked closer to Liberty and squatted in front of her. “She looks just like me, Shay.”

“She acts like you, too.”

He looked at her for a second before he cleared his throat and spoke. “Hey, baby girl. Uhm, I’m your da—I’m Franklin.”

“You’re my dad, right?” she asked innocently causing Kilo to look at me with fire in his eyes.

“That’s what I heard. How you feel about that?”

Liberty looked up at me and smiled before she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. The action caught him by surprise, but he quickly recovered and reciprocated. Finally, he let her go and stood to his feet.

“What now?” he asked

“I want y’all to get to know each other. She deserves that?”

“And I didn’t?” he snapped.

“I’m not saying that. I’m just—it was a lot at the time. I didn’t find out until after you broke up with me. By then, I heard you had gone to prison. What did you expect me to do?”

“Expected you to be woman enough to do the right fuckin’ thing and not be selfish. Because of that, I missed out on nine years of her fuckin’ life!”

“You were in prison! You still couldn’t have been in her life.”

“You’on know me like you thought, because there wasn’t a cell in any institution that would’ve kept me from my daughter.”

We stood in silence. The weight between us pressing down like concrete. Finally, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his before unlocking it and handing it to me.

“Put your number in.”

I glanced at him before putting my number in his phone.

I closed the contact app and before he could get the phone back; I saw a picture of a girl I saw him with a few times back in the day.

She’d gotten a little thicker, but it was her.

I think her name was Mel or something like that.

What stuck out to me was her exposed very pregnancy belly, with Kilo’s hands resting on it as he hugged from behind. They looked happy. He looked happy.

“You have other kids?” I croaked out. I had no business being jealous, but I was.

“That’s none of your business. I’ll be in touch.

” He turned toward Liberty and got eye level with her again.

“It was nice meeting you, pretty girl. I gotta work some things out with ya mama, but I promise this won’t be the last time you see me.

Aight?” She nodded and gave him a hug before we turned and left.

I didn’t expect him to have kids that soon after being out, but I guess he wanted to get it out the way.

I guess I couldn’t blame him, but I didn’t have to like it.