𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

thirty.

CHAPTER THIRTY
prayer worked

Royalty

Royalty was in bed listening to music. She was listening to the song Jamal and Hakeem had made. The original version. Not the Andre diss version. She was actually glad that version got erased because it was unnecessary.

Lucious, Hakeem, and Tiana came into her room and she sat up worriedly. If all three of them were there, it couldn't be good.

"What's going on...?" Ro asked nervously.

Lucious blurted it out. "Gram got shot."

Her eyes widened like crazy. "What?!"

Hakeem nodded. "Yeah. It's all over the news."

"Well, is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah, he's in stable condition," Lucious told her.

"Unlike Jamal," Hakeem grumbled.

"That's good, right? So why don't you guys seem happy?" Ro asked.

"I'm not happy because I feel like Empire artists are being targeted one by one," Tiana exclaimed.

"Because you are," Lucious confirmed. "But I don't think the person who shot Gram is the same person who shot Jamal."

Tiana agreed. "It's not. I know who did this now. Blake."

Hakeem was confused. "Why would Blake shoot Gram?"

Lucious knew why. "Because Gram was hiding Blake at his place, but for some reason, he snitched to the police and they almost caught Blake."

"He snitched because of me..." Tiana admitted sheepishly.

Ro questioned her. "What do you mean?"

"I told Gram that Blake attacked me in the studio, and he seemed really angry after that. The next minute, he was telling me he was calling the cops."

Hakeem wasn't happy. "Why you telling him all that?!"

"Why not? He should know how much of a piece of shit his former best friend is," Tiana argued. "And it's a good thing I did tell him, because he called the cops on Blake."

"But they didn't capture him sadly. Now Blake's retaliating." Ro frowned. "Thankfully, Gram survived."

"It's unfortunate," Hakeem said harshly.

That disgusted Royalty. "Can you at least act compassionate?"

Hakeem rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend as if I like the guy, because I don't."

"That doesn't mean you should wish death on him."

"But he's not dying. He's in stable condition, unlike Jamal. Gram will be right back at Empire before we know it."

"But you won't be, Ro," Lucious told her.

"What do you mean I won't be?"

"You can't leave this house because you have no bodyguards."

"Yes I do."

Lucious broke the news to her. "Not anymore. I fired them."

"Why?!"

"Because they failed you once, and they'll do it again!"

"So get me some new ones!" she demanded.

But he refused. "No. I'm tired of paying for protection when they don't even protect."