Page 21 of Welcome to the Table

“What the fuck are you running from? The Feds? Nah, it’s something fucking else because I know you.

Our hearts beat to the same drum. This shit doesn’t even run in your blood and ain’t like you.

We don’t run. We face the shit head-to-head, but you know what?

Just go. You made your fucking mind up when you took that fucking call, and you right.

I am about to boss to fuck up. Me and my sons about to fuck shit up in your absence, and that’s if you return,” she said, then got up from the table and walked out.

I wanted to go behind her, but I couldn’t. That would only make shit worse. I sat there for a minute because I knew what I had to do. Fanucci was trying to fill a seat at my table, and this shit could be a fucking setup, but I had to see this shit through for myself. I looked at Calliope.

“I ain’t got shit to say. I always trusted your judgment, but I don’t trust that nigga Fanni or whatever the fuck his name is. Just be careful and keep us updated,” he said smoothly, leaning back in his chair.

I knew he wanted to say more, but he decided to trust me.

“Daddy, you are leaving, and I just got here?” Jaci’s voice came out as a low whisper, but I heard her.

Jaci was my baby girl. Her heart was in mine, and as I sat before her, I saw the hurt and pain in her eyes. I knew she wanted to get up, jump on my lap, and hug the life out of me, but she was grown now. Her voice was breaking me down.

“Jaci, you not leaving no time soon. You will stay here with your mother until I return. I already made the necessary contacts to have your classes transferred to online, and all your things can be replaced. Hellcat will take you wherever you need to go to shop for whatever you need tomorrow. I love you, baby girl, and you know I would never leave you. Just light your candle and leave it in the window. I will always find my way back to you.” I got up and walked over to her, pulling her into my embrace.

I kissed her forehead, and she looked over at Hellcat.

“I’ll be ready at 10:00 am tomorrow, and you better not be late,” she said.

Before Hellcat could respond, she got up from the table, leaving the men to walk. Her head was down, and I knew she felt defeated, but I meant what I said. He rolled his eyes as she walked away. She turned before completely walking off.

“Oh, and you better have that money ready because I ain’t sparing you.” She walked out, and I laughed.

“What’s up with this leaving shit?” Wisdom asked.

“And why the fuck are you trusting the words of Fanucci? This Colombian motherfucker been trying to infiltrate the United States with cocaine for years, and you wouldn’t let him.

Now, all of a sudden, the people are behind you, and he wants to protect you and not your wife?

That shit doesn’t sound suspect to you?” Wisdom asked me.

I hadn’t told Wisdom the entire truth either, and it would remain that way.

“First of all, I’m a fucking man, and don’t think I don’t have my men following my every move. I can’t chance shit and be in fucking jail for not listening. I’ll be good, bro. Just watch over my wife and my daughter. I know my sons gon’ be good,” I told him.

He nodded his head in agreement.

“Is this shit over yet? Because I got shit to do,” Hellcat said.

“I see some shit ain’t gon’ never change.” He laughed, and Hellcat did as well.

“Calliope, what you over there thinking about?” I asked him because he had been a little too quiet.

“I never wanted to be a part of this shit, but I guess I ain’t got a choice in the matter, so I will just move accordingly.

But the shit you did with Klarity was uncalled for.

I get that the family don’t care too much for her, for whatever reason, but what the fuck about me and how I feel? ” he said.

“I told you that something was fucking off with her, but you wouldn’t listen. I’m glad Athena figured the shit out before y’all got too deep,” Hellcat said.

“That’s why I can’t trust nobody. I was fucking with her for years. I found her ass, just for her to snake me. But, how, though? Athena kept saying the shit, but what the fuck happened for her to feel that way?” Calliope asked.

“That’s a conversation that you and your mother should have, because I really don’t know the story. I just know it happened years ago,” I told him, and he nodded.

“Well, we about to head out and go home before more shit pops off, and I lose the little bit of patience that I do have left. I don’t even give a fuck about the story.

She gone now, and I’m by myself once again, so I’m good.

She could keep the story to herself,” Calliope said, standing to his feet and grabbing his vest.

“Nah, don’t leave. You need to be a little calm. I don’t need you out here fucking shit up. You are my calm son,” I told him. He paused and looked at me before sitting back down.

I knew he had a heavy heart, and this would be the last time I saw my firstborn for a long time, so he had to stay. He was hurt, but he would get over it.

“So, Wisdom, my guy. You gon’ come out of the shadows and play with us in the city?” Hellcat asked him, laughing. This nigga didn’t take shit seriously

“Nah, I’m still in the shadows, watching everything that goes on like usual. I ain’t trying to get in yo’ way, nigga.”

I joined in the laughter, but Calliope was quiet.

We all had another drink since Calliope decided to stay, and he opened up a little, joining in the conversations and laughing finally. We laughed about old shit and what was to come, and it gave me some type of comfort.

When they left, I made my way to Jaci’s room because I knew she would be there in her own thoughts.

She was more hurt than anything by my sudden departure, but I didn’t plan to be gone for long.

I took the long hallway to her room. Her door was slightly ajar, so I walked in.

She was sitting in the middle of her bed, watching TV.

I had long ago upgraded everything in her room.

Gone were the little canopy bed with the Barbie set and 32-inch TV.

Athena has changed her color scheme to crimson and crème.

Jaci had pledged Delta Sigma Theta while in New York.

Everything from the walls to the bedding was those colors.

She was watching a show when I walked in.

She hadn’t looked at me, so I took that as it being okay for me to walk in.

I sat on the edge of her bed with my back to her.

I knew she was looking at the TV, but she wasn’t focused on it because it was low as hell.

I heard her sniffles, and my heart broke.

Jaci never knew the monster she had for a father.

She didn’t know the bodies that I had under my belt.

She simply knew me as her Superman, who could save her from anything.

She knew the Melph that nobody knew. I was a fucking marshmallow when it came to my daughter.

For niggas to be speaking on me in New York had me curious as to how the fuck they knew me and where they were getting their information.

I would have Hollygrove check that shit out in my absence.

Before I left, I would call him, but now my focus was on Jaci.

I turned to face her, and she was sitting with her knees to her chest and her head resting on them. I didn’t know what to say to soothe her broken heart, but I knew I had to say something.

“I won’t be gone for long, Ladybug,” I called her by the nickname I’d used for her since she came out of her mother’s womb.

“But you are leaving us here, and I still don’t know for what. What have you done so bad, Daddy, that you have to leave us?” she asked with tears running down her face and on her knees.

I knew I couldn’t keep everything from her, and I needed her to boss the fuck up because we had a lot at stake.

Her brothers had been training her to defend herself with and without a gun, so I knew she was good.

I thought for a moment, pondering if I should tell her the truth or just pacify a lie.

I moved back onto the bed with my back against the wall beside her.

I missed these moments, but this one was bittersweet.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to me.

“Daddy is not a monster, but we are a family, the Black Guerrilla Mafia,” I told her.

She lifted her head to look at me. Her eyes held shock, but I wasn’t keeping the shit from her anymore.

“You mean like Scarface and Luca Brasi?” she asked, and I was surprised. What the fuck did she know about them?

I laughed a little to ease her mind.

“No, baby. I don’t sell or transport drugs. We own just about every store and club in the city. We run an underground gambling ring that stretches from police officers to politicians,” I told her without too much detail. She didn’t need to know the day-to-day operations.

“I have to leave because someone in the business is snitching, and they are on my back.” She looked at me with a face of confusion.

“But if you have all these people in your corner, why do you still have to leave?” I knew she would ask that.

I hated to lie to my daughter, but I was protecting her heart.

“Someone is talking too much, and until I find out, I have to leave, but you will be safe. Your mother, brothers, and Uncle Wisdom will be here to protect you. You don’t have shit to worry about.

Someone is always watching.” I winked at her, and she smiled.

Then, I kissed her forehead and let the kiss linger before I got up from the bed because I knew I had another monster who wouldn’t be so understanding.

“Just come back home, Daddy, and don’t take too long.” I winked at her again. “And why do you have Hellcat taking me out shopping? You know we don’t get along, and he’s just too wild.” We both laughed at that because it was the truth.

“The same wildness that he has is the same way he loves. Just remember that,” I told her, and she blushed. She loved Hellcat, and the feeling was mutual.

“Calliope is going through some shit, and he needs time to come to his senses, but you gon’ be good.”

With that, she gave me a smile, and I left to see what my wife would have to say.

I walked down the stairs to the middle level, where I knew Athena was.

A nigga was kind of scared because I didn’t know what the fuck I was walking into.

When something was happening that she didn’t fucking like, she was a whole other demon.

It wouldn’t surprise me if she had a lamp ready to throw at me or, worse, her little handgun aimed at me as soon as I entered the room.

I tiptoed to the door. It was closed, and my heart skipped a beat.

I put my ear to the door to see if I could hear any movement, but didn’t hear anything.

My heart ran rapidly in my chest because it was silent as fuck.

I tugged at the door and pushed it open wide.

It was dark as fuck, but I still walked in.

I knew our room like the back of my hand.

I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her breathing.

I made my way to the light switch and flicked it on.

My eyes went to where she stood with a fucking AR-15 in her hand, pointing the motherfucker at me.

I put my hands up in surrender because I knew she would fucking shoot me with one false move.

The gun shook in her hands as tears ran down her face.

She knew I hated to see her tears, and it made me feel like shit because I was the reason behind them.

“Put the gun down, Athena, and stop playing.” Her short ass holding a gun as big as her fucking body was almost comical, but I was too scared to smile.

“Grab yo’ gun! We not separating unless we’re leaving in body bags and meeting each other in heaven with weed and backwoods,” she said, nodding her head at the other gun on our bed. She was tripping. Her pain was killing me.

“You already know why the fuck I gotta do this, Athena. Put the fucking gun down!” I raised my voice, but that didn’t stop shit. She didn’t put her gun down. I walked over to the bed and picked up the gun. If this was what the fuck she wanted, then this was what it was gonna be.

“This what we doing? We’re going out like this?” she asked.

I shook my head from left to right. I noticed the tears still streaming down her puffy cheeks.

Her eyes were red like fire. She had been crying since she got to our room.

I couldn’t show her how I really felt. I wanted to snatch her up in my arms and kiss every tear that fell, but I couldn’t.

She had to be strong. I needed her to align with me and know that I was gon’ always come back to her.

I looked at the nightstand and noticed she had her empty glass of wine and a bottle.

I didn’t even know how she got that shit up here.

I straightened my shoulders with my chest out.

“Fuck it. You shoot first. You crying and shit, so this shit has been on your mind for a while. You want me dead, Athena. Shoot that bitch,” I egged her on because I knew she wouldn’t pull the trigger. She was barely holding the motherfucker up.

I knew she wouldn’t kill me, and I didn’t have the heart to kill her.

I held my gun in my hand, but I didn’t point it at her.

She fell on the bed, throwing the gun to the floor, and curled up in a fetal position.

I laid mine against the wall and went over to the bed.

I got in bed behind her and pulled her into my arms.

“You really leaving me. What the fuck am I supposed to do without you? We have been married for almost twenty years, and we never separated,” she cried in my arms.

I placed my hand on her chest. Her heartbeat matched my fast one.

“Stop that fucking crying and hold shit down until I get back. I prepared you for this shit. Wipe those fucking tears. I ain’t gon’ be gone that long. I am protecting all of us by leaving. I know you in good hands,” I told her, and her sniffles stopped.

She turned to me, wrapping her arms around my neck with her head in my chest. “Just come back to me, Melph. I can’t live this life without you,” she said before drifting off to sleep.

I kissed her forehead, nose, and lips, and hugged her tighter as she fell asleep, knowing that when she opened her eyes, I would be gone like a thief in the night.