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“Why you yelling at me? I said I came here to make you hurt. I could have killed you but instead I wanted you to feel the same pain my sister might have felt tonight. It’s a win to me.

” He walked over to the sink behind my bar and spat his blood into it.

Then he turned on the faucet to rinse his mouth and face.

He took a paper towel off the dispenser and dried his face.

“Besides I didn’t cut your foot too deep so you should be fine.

But Titan I want you to remember this night and remember what I told you in the pizza place.

Whatever you do to hurt my sister I’m going to take pleasure in doing the same thing to you.

And if I can’t do it, trust me, I know people who will.

” He smiled again then took another apple from the cargo pocket on his camo pants and walked out of the single door that was next to the sliding doors that led out to my pool.

“That muthafucka is crazy,” I mumbled as I stood up and went to the bathroom down the hall to get myself cleaned up. When I looked in the mirror, I looked like hell. My eyes were bloodshot, my hair needed to be brushed, and my beard was matted in some places, not to mention the cut on my cheek.

I didn’t like how I was feeling right now, even after I learned that Justin wasn’t my son after Eva cheated on me, I was heartbroken, sad, even had bouts of depression but I never felt so…

empty. But after I went through that I dusted myself off and got back to work.

The answer was simple: I needed to get my Bailey back and I was prepared to do whatever it took to earn her.

T he next day, I walked into my office early with a slight limp and a band aid on my cheek.

I didn’t feel completely like myself, but I was feeling better now that I was on a mission.

The first mission was scheduling a meeting with my brother Torrence so I can explain to him what I remember from my meeting with Eva.

I still had some pieces that were missing but luckily I had cameras with audio on this floor and in the lobby.

The next mission was getting Bailey back.

When I rounded the corner to my office, Royce was at his desk arranging the three bouquets of red roses on his desk and when he saw me he frowned.

“Mr. Browning, what are you doing here? What happened to your face?” He said, staring at my band aid.

“I cut myself shaving, and I own the building Royce; thought I could come and go as I please.” He looked at me like he didn’t believe me, but I didn’t pay him to believe me, I paid him to assist me.

“Of course you can, sir, I just meant I thought you would be taking more time off or at the very least taking it easy.”

“I am but right now I have to get some things done, can you call Torrence and tell him I need to meet with him as soon as possible and call IT. Tell them I need all the camera footage from four days ago when you know who was here.” I was treating Eva’s name like Voldemort from Harry Potter, because Eva was “she who must not be named.” Then I nodded my head toward the roses on his desk.

“Oh, these came for you yesterday, there was no name on who sent them,” he said, hesitantly.

I knew he had a feeling they were from Eva, and so did I because the vases were the same as the big one I threw to the floor yesterday.

As soon as I felt myself getting angry, I quickly took a few deep breaths to calm myself.

“Throw them away or give them to someone else. I’m not taking any calls today unless they’re from my family or Bailey,” I said walking away.

When I walked into my office I closed my door and frosted the glass before I sat my briefcase down.

I started to pace the length of my office next to my windows that overlooked Cincinnati and kept taking deep breaths to get my anger under control.

I needed to resolve this shit and finally get that woman cut out of my life once and for all because I did not like that the thought, or the mention of her name made me so damn mad.

I was going to stop giving her ass that much power over me.

“Mr. Browning, Torrence said he’s on his way over here and IT said they just emailed you the footage you requested,” Royce said, through the intercom on my desk.

“Thank you Royce,” I said once I got back to my desk and sat down.

I opened my laptop, and my breath caught when I saw my calendar.

Next weekend was the Tech in Black convention here in Cincinnati and I was one of the keynote speakers.

I was going to RSVP Bailey as my plus one, but she told me she was scheduled to be there.

She had been invited to be a speaker on a women’s panel that was centered around Black women entrepreneurs and how to increase your reach through social media.

My palms became damp because this event would be the first time I saw Bailey since yesterday, and I was already nervous.

I tried calling her and texting her this morning but of course she left me on read.

I looked over at her picture on my desk and felt my heart flutter.

God, I missed my baby.

I immediately scheduled an appointment with my tailor because I wanted to make sure I looked my absolute best when I ran into Bailey, so she could see what she was missing.

After I made my appointment, I sent an email to a friend of mine who was a jeweler.

I knew very quickly that I wanted to make Bailey my wife.

So, it was time to show her I was all in when it came to her and this relationship.

The next thing I did was look up the speaker lineup for the convention and saw that her panel was going to be on the first day while I was scheduled to speak the second night.

That didn’t mean shit. I was going to be there bright and early on day one.

I bought a VIP ticket so I could reserve myself a seat in the front row of the auditorium where her panel was going to be.

Now that I had at least that part of my plan to get Bailey back in place, I started sifting through my emails. I was at least halfway through the more urgent emails when my brother came into my office without knocking.

“What up Ty? I came as soon as I could when Royce said you were here , why are you here? And what happened to your face?” Torrence looked concerned as he walked over to my desk and sat in one of the wing back chairs across from me.

He took off his glasses and wiped them on his black silk tie before putting them back on.

“I cut myself shaving and I need to get some shit handled; I still don’t remember all the shit that went down when that woman was here.

So, I had IT send me the footage from when she was here,” I said, and he leaned forward to take off his black overcoat and unbutton his black suit jacket before taking it off.

When he rolled up the sleeves on his white shirt, I smirked.

“Well shit let’s get down to business,” he said standing up and turning his chair toward the flat screen monitor on the wall across the room. “Put the footage on the big screen.”

I queued up the footage as I turned on the screen and then pressed play.

Me and Torrence watched in rapt attention as me and Eva talked, and I looked pissed off as I told her I didn’t want to work with her but then I saw myself look at Bailey’s picture on my desk and the calming effect it had on me.

Then the footage switched to us in the lobby, and I asked her for the truth about Justin.

“Shit!” Torrence said gripping the arm rest of his chair, “That bitch !” It was rare when I saw my brother pissed off but when he heard Eva say that her current husband was Justin’s father he looked like he wanted to punch something.

But when he saw me pass out, he stood up as if he was about to run and catch me and my eyes got misty.

When the footage ended I turned the screen off as Torrence sat down, he started bouncing his leg and rubbing his fingers together, which I learned over the years that it was something he did when he felt stressed.

“What’s wrong Tore?” I asked standing up and coming over so I could sit in the chair next to him but before I sat down, he stood up again and hugged me.

My family was an affectionate family, so I didn’t feel weird or surprised that my brother was hugging me tight.

There was no such thing as toxic masculinity in the Browning household growing up.

“I’m so sorry Ty.” His voice sounded thick like he was trying not to cry.

“What? Why the hell are you sorry?” I said, backing up so I could look at his face.

“Did I miss something on the paperwork? How did I miss that Eva was married to Brandon when I ran his background? You wouldn’t have had the stroke if I did a better job?—”

“Wait, hold the fuck up. What you not about to do is blame yourself for this shit, ok? I looked over the paperwork too after you did, and Eva’s name was nowhere on it.

Also, Eva didn’t change her last name after she got married, probably so she could pull some shit like this.

But you are not to blame, you hear me?” I said, grabbing his face so he could see that I was serious and when I pulled him in for another hug I felt him relax.

“Tore, you’re one of the best lawyers I fuckin’ know and if you weren’t you know damn well I would have never hired yo’ ass.

” After I kissed the side of his head and let him go, he laughed because he knew I was telling the truth.

I loved each of my brothers and they were all smart, but I didn’t believe in hiring family just because they were family.

I hired them because they were some of the best people in their fields.

“You right, I am the shit!” he said, and I felt proud because I loved when my brother talked his shit. There was nothing wrong with knowing you was the shit when you could easily back it up.

“Damn right you are, so now let’s work on getting me out of this bullshit,” I said, sitting behind my desk and pulling out all of the paperwork and correspondence I had with Brandon Moore.

As much as this deal would have been good for our companies, there was no way in hell I was going to work with Eva’s ass.

What was that saying? “All money ain’t good money.”

“But fuck all that I want to share some good news with you,” I said leaning back in my chair. I felt myself smiling and my body relax with what I was about to say.

“Whatever it is must be good because you’re wearing your “I’m the king of the world” smile, I only see it when you close a lucrative business deal. What business have you bought?” Torrence said, looking at me skeptically.

“I'm going to ask Bailey to marry me.”

Torrence looked at me for a few seconds and blinked slowly as he sat down so he could take in what I just said. He was eerily quiet as he studied me. Then he burst out laughing before he damn near leaped over my desk to give me a hug.

“I fuckin’ knew it!” He shouted in my ear. “I knew from how you looked at her that woman had your ass hooked!”

“So…you don’t think it’s too soon?”

“What? Of course I do, but shit when you know…you know right?” Torrence shrugged . “I’m just happy you allowed love to come back into your life.”

“Thanks Tore,” I said, feeling my happiness spread through my body. I know me and Bailey were in a weird space right now, but I know she’s the one for me. So, whatever I needed to do to make sure that our future was together and not apart, I was willing to do.

I just prayed she said yes.