Page 61 of Search My Soul (Taylor Family Saga #3)

Since I didn’t want to get any makeup on my clothes, I went into the closet to see if I could find a shirt to wear.

Soul couldn’t stand the fact that I wore his clothes because he said they looked better on me.

As I shuffled through his racks of clothes, I must have swiped a box on the shelf.

I screamed as it dropped to the floor. That’s what I got for trying to go through his clothes.

I chuckled as I bent over to scoop up the contents of the box.

It must have been a keepsake box because I noticed a bunch of pictures of Soul and his siblings as little kids.

I smiled as I picked him out of each photo I saw.

Him and Pure wore the most serious faces in every photo and it made me giggle.

My man has been handsome his entire life.

After a while, I began to get caught up in the photos as I sat Indian style on the floor.

Soul rarely ever spoke about his parents, so it was nice to place a face to the names.

Soul and Dreamier took their mothers’ features, while Pure and Patience were a copy and paste of their father.

The youngest girls, Lovely and Adore, were a nice mixture of the two.

I continued to shuffle through the photos until something caught my attention.

They might have been young, but there was no forgetting a face.

My hands shook as I continued to examine the photo.

It was a group photo with Soul, Pure, Dreamier, and three other boys that I assumed were connected to them in some way.

When I went through a few more of the photos, I saw the same boys in those photos as well.

My granny used to write on the back of her pictures to label who was in the picture, so I checked these to see if there were any labels on them.

Sure enough, the back of the image displayed handwriting on it with the names listed in order.

Pure, Soul, Dreamier, Maverick, Syre, and Remington.

My breathing became erratic as it hit me all at once.

The photo was labeled as a family reunion, which explained why they were all wearing the same T-shirt.

The revelation caused me to hyperventilate as the tears began to fall.

There was no way God could be so cruel, right?

Why would He allow me to fall in love with this man?

I stood up from the floor, trying to put all the photos back in the box.

My nerves were through the roof, and I hated that there was no one for me to talk to about this.

The only other person who would understand the seriousness of this would be Majesty, but her crazy ass probably already knew.

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. What on Earth was I supposed to do with this information?

Should I tell Soul about how I knew the man in the photo?

My mind began to reel, and all types of thoughts began to take over.

What if he already knew who I was? Was it possible that he’d been keeping his eyes on me this entire time so he could get his revenge?

Shit, shit, shit. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

Overthinking wasn’t going to help me in this situation, and I clearly needed help.

Who could I call? I needed to tell someone what was going on, but then I would have to explain the entire situation.

Puma was the obvious choice because she was no stranger to my reckless actions.

We had done a lot of questionable shit in our early adulthood.

The only issue that crossed my mind was her relationship with Murk.

Not only were he and Soul close, but they were also business partners.

What if she slipped up and told him and he went to Soul?

Nah. Puma would never snitch on me. Lord, get it together, Neeya .

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I went to search for my phone. The moment I found it, I sat on the edge of the bed and cried. My makeup was the least of my concerns because my life was on the verge of blowing up right before my eyes.

“Hey, girl. You miss me already?” Puma joked on the phone while I sat there stunned. Tears were pooling down my face.

“Umm, bitch, are you crying? What the hell is going on?”

“Puma, I need you.” I croaked a little above a whisper.

“You’re freaking me out. What’s going on? Where is Soul? Do you need me to?—”

“No, I need you to come here. I can’t talk over the phone. As a matter of fact, I might need to meet you somewhere. I’m not sure what kind of cameras are here.”

“Yeah, you are really scaring me. Should I call Normi too?”

“No. The fewer people who know, the better. Please help me.” I wailed into the phone.

“Well, my old apartment is still available. Barbie moved out with her man, but she still uses it for storage. Can you meet me there in like twenty minutes?” she asked while I slid my feet into a pair of Crocs. Life was really playing a cruel joke on me, only I couldn’t find the humor in anything.

“Yes. I’ll be there in fifteen or less.” Using the back of my hand, I wiped the tears from my eyes.

“Okay, babe. I’ll see you soon.”

“Puma,” I whispered into the phone.

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t tell anyone you’re coming to meet me.”

“Umm, okay. I love you, Nee-nee.”

“I love you too.” After I hung up the phone, I rushed out of the room.

As soon as I made it down the hall, Rosco and Apollo were at the bottom of the steps looking for me.

My heart sank as I looked into their sweet faces.

They’ve really become like children to me, and I hated the thought of us being apart.

However, I needed to get as far from this place as I could.

Soul asked me to feed them and let them out, so I made sure to do so before I headed out.

The journey from his house to Puma’s old apartment was something like a blur to me.

I couldn’t even recall how I got there, but I was thankful that I made it in one piece.

Once I found a parking space, I sat there in the car for a moment.

My thoughts were all over the place, and it was imperative that I get myself under control.

Puma would cuss me out if I didn’t get straight to the point, but even thinking about the events of that night caused me distress.

Here goes nothing. Placing my hand on the door handle, I braced myself for what was about to happen.

I prayed Puma would be able to help me sort everything out, but I wasn’t sure.

I knew this shit would come back to bite me on the ass, but I still made the choice to do it.

All of this was on me, and unfortunately, I would have to answer for the things I had done.

“Hey, pooh.” Puma met me at the door of the apartment before she used her key to let both of us in. I kicked my shoes off out of habit before taking a seat on the couch.

“Damn, you’ve got me sad that I’m pregnant because I have a feeling I need a drink for this conversation.” My eyes looked up at her as I tried to gather my thoughts before I told her everything I’ve been dealing with for the last few months.

“You can start at any time, love. You’ve got me stressed out, so let me know what’s got you so upset.” Taking a deep breath, I prepared to tell her everything.

“Puma, I fucked up, and I don’t think I can come back from this.”

“Talk to me.”

I ran down everything that happened with Majesty, Remi, and my father first. Puma’s eyes widened, but she fixed her face.

“Why the fuck would you do some risky ass shit like that? I understand you love your father, but he made his own mess. That wasn’t for you to have to clean up.” She fussed, telling me what I already knew.

“He’s my father, Puma. What was I supposed to do? Let him and my sister die?”

“I’m not saying that, but at the end of the day he did nothing to earn that from you. He got into that situation on his own and then sat back and allowed you to carry the burden. What kind of parent puts their child in a position like that?” Puma paced the floor with her pregnant belly poking out.

“That isn’t the worst part,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What the hell could be worse than what you just told me?”

“The man she shot is connected to Soul. I believe they’re related.” Puma froze where she stood.

“Say that one more time.” I dropped my head in shame. This story went from bad to worse, and I wished it was someone else’s life instead of mine.

“I was going through Soul’s clothes so I could find a shirt to wear, and I knocked a box over.

When I picked up the box, I realized there were pictures in it.

I found pictures of Soul and the guy when they were younger.

They were standing together with Soul’s other brothers in family reunion shirts.

There was another photo of them together as teenagers as well. ”

“What the fuck? Oh my God. No.” Puma’s jaw might as well have been on the floor.

“I know. This is so bad. I’ve been so stressed about the man not making it and this whole time I’ve been around his family.”

“Nee-nee, this is bad.”

“I know! I don’t know what to do. Should I confess and let the chips fall where they may or?—”

“No! You can’t ever repeat this to anyone else. I shouldn’t even be saying this, but they are looking for you.” My heart dropped to my feet as her revelation set in.

“W-what do you mean? They know it was me?”

“No. They don’t have any names yet, but I remember the night it happened.

Soul was losing his mind, and he called Murk to tell him that they were out for blood.

From what I understand he pulled through, but they want answers.

The other day, Murk was on a call and from what I overheard, Soul is still out for blood and there is an award out for anyone with information on what happened.

He said once they find out who did it, they were gonna wipe out their family. ”