After Eight years, Ghenesis Santiago leaves for Atlanta, Ga to try having a relationship with her father and his new family. While having to maintain her senior year in highschool and working with her brother and his Crew under her father's orders...
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I got home just after nine, jaw tight, head heavy, tryna hold all the rage I’d been swallowing since that weak-ass meeting. All I wanted was to come in, scoop my girls up, and feel like at peace again. But before I could even hit the stairs, Charles voice echoed from down the hall like he was God callin’ folks to judgment. “Study. Now.”
The study always smelled like old paper, cigars, and the type of power that ain’t earned — just stolen. I stepped in slow, and there they was. Ghenesis sat stiff in one of them hard-ass leather chairs, holdin’ Artemis tight to her chest, whisperin’ to her, rubbin’ her back like they was both tryin’ to stay calm. My baby girl had tears on her cheeks, quiet though, no sound. That’s how I knew she was scared for real.
I didn’t say nothin’. Just walked over and sat in the empty chair beside them, fists balled on my knees, my jaw clenched so tight it felt like my teeth would crack. I could feel the heat comin’ off Ghen, could feel her whole body wrapped around Artemis like armor.
Charles leaned back behind that big ass desk, laced his fingers like he was some fuckin’ therapist and not a devil in Gucci shoes. “We got Ghenesis’ test results back,” he started, casual like we wasn’t sittin’ in hell. “Testosterone levels are high, which is good. That mean the compound’s stabilizing.” He opened a drawer like he was reachin’ for a pen, but what he pulled out made my skin crawl. A syringe, long and thick, filled with some yellow-clear liquid that shimmered under the lamplight like poison tryin’ to be pretty.
“This right here,” he smiled, holdin’ it up, “this a booster. Should help speed things along. Time to level up.” Then he looked at me. “Take the child so he can receive it properly.”
I ain’t move.
Didn’t blink. Didn’t speak.
Just stared at him like I been starin’ at nightmares my whole life. My silence was loud, and he ain’t like that.
Charles clicked his tongue, slow, like he was disappointed. Then he reached into that drawer again — this time it was a gun. Black. Heavy. Familiar. He pointed it right at my forehead.
I didn’t flinch.
That pissed him off more than the silence.
He smirked, twisted his wrist, and aimed it at Ghen and Artemis. “How ‘bout now?”
Ghenesis closed her eyes, head bowed, arms clutchin’ our daughter tighter. I could see her lips movin’ — she was prayin’, I knew it. That broke me.
Charles shook his head like a fed-up schoolteacher. “Since you wanna disobey, you can take the whole thing. Now.”
I reached out and grabbed the syringe slow. Ghenesis met my eyes, and hers were screamin’. “No,” she begged without makin’ a sound, just shakin’ her head, tears glistenin’ but not fallin’. I wanted to kiss her, to shield her, to burn this whole house down.
