Page 29

“Damn, baby, if you wanted to get paid for sex, all you had to was tell me.” I jumped at the sound of Skip’s voice. “So this whole time, you were playing a nigga?”

“B-Baby,” I stammered as I disconnected the call. “I-It’s not what you think.”

My heart hammered in my chest as Skip eyed me in anger. I’d fucked up, and I can only hope I can leave here with my life today. Not only was he upset, but I could see the hurt in his eyes too.

“What was that shit about?” He kept his eyes on me as he dropped his keys on the glass table. “You thought you were going to rob a nigga and run off happily with my shit?”

“B-Baby, it’s not like that. If you let me explain—ahh!” I ducked just in time as he threw a glass vase over my head. Tears streamed down my face as I shook in fear. “S-Skip, it’s not what you think!”

“Not what I think?” His chest heaved up and down as he clenched his hands into fists.

“So, you weren’t just on the phone with another nigga telling him that you should’ve been fucking my brother?

So this shit was never real with us, right?

You was just fuckin’ a nigga because of the money, right? Tell me I’m wrong.”

As I shook in fear, I didn’t know what to do. I had feelings for Skip; hell, I even loved him, but I loved money and power more. He was a good man. He never cheated or so much as raised his voice at me. This man really loved me, but none of that mattered to me.

When I met him, I thought he was my ticket to a happy life.

Fresh out of college, I knew he would start rolling in dough.

He didn’t need the degree since he came from a family with money, but I commended him for it.

I wanted to stick around for it, but the money wasn’t coming in fast enough for me.

I could never prove it, but I knew his family was involved in more than just various businesses and politics.

Skip was just an easy lick for me, but I knew I had to gain his love and trust to reap the real benefits.

I stayed down with him for years, and he never awarded me the life I deserved.

“Just hear me out!” I cried as I slowly backed away from his murderous glare. “It was n-never supposed to be like this. I fell in love with you, and I no longer want to hurt you. I want this. I want us.”

“Too bad, bitch, because I don’t want you no more,” he coldly stated, causing me to gasp. “Strip.”

I wanted to object, but the look in his eyes told me he wasn’t kidding. Since I was getting ready for bed, it didn’t take me long to ease out of my nightgown and robe.

“You know… I was going to marry you.” He smirked as he eyed my body. “I came back to the crib because I’d forgotten the key to the house I purchased for us last week.”

The tears continued to flow as I wrapped my head around what he was saying. Was he telling me he was in the process of giving me everything I wanted?

“Even when my mother told me she could see right through you… even when my brothers told me you were just a hoe looking for a come-up—I was still happy to call you my girl. I would have done anything for you. I would have given you the world.”

“You still can, Skip.” I took a chance and placed my hand on his chest. He didn’t try to move me as he scowled down at me. “I was wrong, and I’m sorry. I will make it up to you.”

“The nigga you were on the phone with…” He nodded toward my buzzing phone on the floor. “You been fucking him? I mean, I’m sure you have since you love him.”

I dropped my head instead of answering because I didn’t want to lie to him more than I already had.

“That’s what I thought.” He chuckled, stepping back.

“If you wanted to use your pussy to get some bread, you should have told me. I know some niggas on the West Coast that would have loved you.” He slapped my ass before walking over to the door.

“If you want to use me as a personal reference, I got you. Until then, get the fuck outta my shit.”

Shocked, I looked at him as if he were joking. He had never talked to me the way he was right now, and I didn’t know how to feel about it. Gawking at me, he gestured toward the door once more. Exhaling, I bent over to get my clothes off the floor, but he stopped me.

“Nah, you gonna leave this muthafucka with the same shit you came with.” Removing his Glock from his waist, he tapped his leg impatiently. “Hurry the fuck up before I go with my second mind and treat you like the grimy bitch you are.”

Thinking about my past with Skip, I couldn’t help but think about how foolish I was to play him.

My love for money outweighed my love for him, and I kicked myself for it every day.

The only strand of hope I had was his daughter.

I should have reached out to him years ago, but I knew once he knew I kept her from him, it wouldn’t be good for me.

The last time I’d seen or spoken to Skip was the day he caught me plotting on his brother.

I knew his disdain for me was already at its maximum limit.

Now, I was sitting here at an indoor kiddie park, waiting to have a long overdue conversation with the one person I knew would kill me without a second thought.

He knew about our daughter now, and I was slightly relieved to still be alive.

I had to wait until the right moment to tell him, and now that I had accomplished that, I was hoping he would spare my life indefinity.

“What’s up?” he greeted me dryly as he sat down at the table across from me. “Sorry, we’re late, but GiGi wouldn’t come unless her Uncle Adrian came too.”

Looking in the direction that he nodded, I spotted my daughter jumping on a trampoline with her idiotic uncle.

She looked more vibrant than she did when she was with me.

Her hair was combed, her clothes were cleaner, and she smiled with her eyes.

Knowing that Adrian was the one making her happy pissed me off.

Wild had always hated me, and the feeling was mutual.

Seeing him around my daughter angered me to no end, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

“She couldn’t come over here and speak to her mother?” I frowned as I watched him push down a little boy who tried to talk to her. “Why did you have to bring her anyway? He could have just kept her while we talked.”

Being as though he didn’t respond, I shifted my eyes to him. While his face was neutral, his eyes held all of the hate he had for me. After all these years apart, he still couldn’t stand me.

“Gia, before I came here today, I gave my mama my word that I wouldn’t show my ass in front of all these kids.

Most importantly, in front of my daughter.

” Leaning forward, he placed his elbows on the table, squinted his eyes, and dropped his voice eerily low.

“Make no mistake about it; I will take you into that ball pit and suffocate you. You’re only sitting across from me right now because of that little girl you despise so much.

Perk the fuck up when you’re speaking on my daughter.

Now…” He leaned back and folded his hands on the table in front of him.

“Tell me what we’re going to do about shared custody.

If we’re being honest, that’s the only thing we have to talk about. ”

I hated to admit how affected I was by the way he was talking to me, so I blinked back the tears that were trying to escape.

The man in front of me wasn’t the one who told me he’d always love me.

The man before me looked at me as if I were his greatest adversary.

Sadly, that may be true because he had finally awoken the bitch in me.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said, shoulders back.

If he wanted to treat me like a bitch, I was going to act like one.

“She’s my daughter, and I have sole custody of her.

” Smirking, I added, “Play nice, and I may allow you to have visitation. What we need to figure out is the child support. Raising a Mills won’t be cheap.

There are certain standards she and I both need to make sure we’re living good. ”

A part of me coming back to Milly Grove was so Skip could get to know his daughter, but the most important thing to me was money.

I loved my child, but I could do without her.

At this juncture in my life, I knew she would be more beneficial to me than anything else, which was why I waited five years to reveal her existence.

I knew he nor his family would allow their precious addition to go without anything.

I also knew his mother would not allow him to kill me, so while I was scared of Skip, I felt secure in knowing his actions toward me would always be second-guessed now that Gianna was in the picture.

“Crack? Fentanyl? Opiates?” he spewed, breaking me from my thoughts. He placed his head on his closed fist and stared at me. “Shit… maybe even CTE.”

“What?” I asked, confused. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“You’re either on some good drugs or have some type of mental disorder if you thought for one second I was going to give you anything but a bullet to the dome.

What the fuck I look like letting you keep my child—a child that was dirtier than her rotten-ass mammy when I first met her—and pay you a monthly amount of money?

Act like you know who the fuck I am, Gia.

I’m sitting here trying to have a cordial conversation with you, and you want to play on my fuckin’ intelligence. ”

Tapping the table, he brought my attention to a folder I hadn’t noticed he had with him until that moment.

As the noise of the hollering voices around us faded, all that could be heard was the pounding of my own heart.

I watched as he slid the folder over to me.

Staring at it for a few moments, I opened it with shaky fingers.

The more I scanned the document, the more enraged I became. Slamming it shut, I leaped to my feet.