Page 3 of Wicked Throne

“What you say bit…”

Before the words could roll off my tongue the door to the study opened. Rex my father’s lead guard opened the door. He had been around since I was a kid too. He was a big burly motherfucker. I’d watched him knock a couple of fools out.

“Miss Ivy,” he looked down on me, a small smile twinging at his lips. “Your father is expecting you.”

“I bet his ass is,” I brushed past Rex.

My palms were sweating. Yes, I was theDiamond of Atlanta. The baddest bitch in all the land but when it came to John Dennis Knowles, I reverted before him, back into the smallest of children.

When I entered he stood, like a true southern gentleman.

“Ivy, was that you out there?”

No smile greeted me.

Fine, two could certainly play this game.

“Daddy, who in the hell is this white man that came in proclaiming I was his soon-to-be wife?”

I watched my father adjust his tie. He stretched his shoulders and then clasped his hands.

“Sit down lil lady,” he leaned against the edge of his desk.

“NO!”

“Ivy…”

“Daddy, I need some answers around here!”

“First, I don’t know who you’re raising your goddamn voice to Ivy Knowles but it is most certainly not me,” my father spoke calmly. “Secondly, this next part is very important. Are you paying attention?”

A scowl became planted on my features. There seemed to be pressure building at the base of my skull. Somewhere in the darkest parts of the office on a leather couch, I could hear Rex sniggling.Bitch ass!One day, when I was running shit, I was going to shoot him.

“Fine,” I groaned.

There was a cherry wood chair that sat patiently in front of my father. Pushing my body onto its uncomfortable surface, I sat down and crossed my legs. Just like a good southern belle would do and waited to hear what he had to say.

“Ivy, very simply put…I am dying,” my father spoke.

At that moment, my ears started to ring.

I couldn’t hear anything.

My head whipped up to meet his eyes and I saw what I hadn’t allowed myself to see for a long time. John Knowles looked tired and ragged around the edges. Make no mistake, he was still one of the most handsome black men on this side of the Mississippi but he for sure looked more tired. I had chalked it up to him being an old ass man that had fathered a new child.

“Daddy what?”

“You heard me,” he spoke again. “And I want you to know, that everything is going to be alright.”

My hands went to my head and pushed through my loose raven-colored locks. I didn’t understand.

At all.

Dying?

“Nothing is going to be alright, daddy…how? When? How long have you known?”

My father’s face remained stern, it didn’t soften or waver. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to worry you.”