𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

twenty five.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
performance night

Lucious

next day

It was Saturday night; the night Lucious had been waiting for the entire week. Tiana and Hakeem were going to kill their performance, he knew that much. And thanks to them, Empire was going to be the talk of the town again.

He had already handled Jamal. He wasn't performing tonight. He wasn't even allowed in the club, so Lucious didn't have to worry about him messing up the mood with that Cookie mess.

In other words, it was gonna be a good night.

Lucious sat at the bar and ordered his drink. Thirsty came up to him. "Hey, Lucious." Thirsty ordered a drink too.

"Jamal and Cookie ain't here, right?"

Thirsty shook his head. "Nope. The bouncer knows not to let them in."

Lucious smirked. "This is gonna be an amazing night then."

"Why don't you want them here?"

"Because it's bad enough that Jamal's emotional as hell. I don't need him making the audience emotional too."

"How would he do that?"

"He wrote a song for Cookie and wanted to perform it tonight."

Thirsty read his mind. "Why does Cookie need a song?"

"Thank you, Thirsty! I was here these past seventeen years, not Cookie! I raised Jamal's ass on my own, but she gets a song before me?!"

Thirsty just shook his head. "Jamal's always been a mama's boy."

"And that's why he's not welcomed in here. His ass can perform for Cookie outside for all I care, but he's not doing it in here."

Thirsty laughed as Andre approached. "Hey, Pop. Everything okay?"

"Your brother isn't performing tonight, so I feel great."

Andre smiled and sat down. "That's good to hear. And hey, Thirsty."

"Hey, Andre." Thirsty drank and pointed at Andre. "You know, you've always been loyal to your father. I like that about you. Jamal needs to take some notes."

Andre laughed. "Yes he does."

They took a sip of their drinks as a dark skinned man went on stage. "Wassup, everybody!" The audience cheered, and he continued. "Welcome to the grand opening of Club Nirvana! This club isn't going to be like anything you've experienced before. It's gonna be the hottest club in New York City!"

The audience cheered again.

"You know why? Because no other club has Empire artists performing!"

The audience went crazy now, and Lucious smirked proudly.

"We got Tiana! We got Hakeem! And we even got Jamal Lyon!"

The audience went even crazier, but Lucious didn't. What the hell did he just say?

Andre had the same reaction. "Jamal? I thought he wasn't performing?"

"He isn't supposed to."

They heard a familiar voice behind them. "Hello, Lucious."

They looked behind and saw Cookie standing there all smug. Lucious hissed at her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Two of my kids are performing. That's why I'm here."