𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

thirty one.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
lying warren

Jamal

next day

Jamal slowly sat up in his hospital bed and it hurt like hell, but he was tired of lying down. He'd been lying down for how many days now? He didn't even know.

The doctors told him it was a miracle he was alive right now. They weren't expecting him to pull through, but he did because it wasn't his time to go yet. He also didn't want to give his shooter the satisfaction of seeing him dead. Whoever they were.

Jamal wasn't worried about that person right now. Right now, he was worried about being reunited with his family. They were probably going crazy.

Just then, they all entered the room. Well, except for Andre. Even Warren was there.

Cookie ran up and hugged him tight. "Oh, my baby! I am so glad you came back to me!"

"You're hurting the boy, Cookie," Lucious told her.

"Na. No one hurt him but me." Hakeem walked up to Jamal sadly. "I'm really sorry, Mal."

"I'm not mad at you, Hakeem. It was my fault for sneaking out."

"You wanted to have a good time. We understand," Ro said.

"Yeah, well, looks like I needed bodyguards after all."

Lucious began speaking. "Yeah. And when you get out of here-"

Jamal cut him off. "Let me guess, I'm gonna need bodyguards still?"

"Yes. Word is going to get out that you're alive, and your shooter is not going to be happy about that. They might come after you again."

Jamal huffed. "I'm never gonna have privacy ever again?"

"I'm afraid not."

Cookie sat next to Jamal while holding his hand. "Tell us what happened, baby. We wanna hear it from you."

"I was tripping over Rhonda's death, and I wanted to vent to someone. I tried to call Mateo, but he didn't answer because he was mad at me. So I called Warren, and he told me he was at the club, so I went. The reason I snuck out was because the bodyguards had made me go home early a couple of nights before the shooting, and I hated it."

"And what happened after that?" Ro asked.

He continued. "Warren and I didn't go home until 2 AM, and just as I made it to the condo building, someone yelled my name from down the block. They ran up to me, and then they pulled out a gun and shot me. They stood over me as I was on the ground bleeding out, and said, 'This is for messing with Hakeem, motherfucker!' and then shot me two more times."

Jamal could see the guilt on Hakeem's face. Then Lucious said, "How did they look?"

"I don't know. They had a ski mask on. Plus, it was pitch black outside."

Hakeem frowned. "Damn. This person is gonna get away with this."

Cookie spoke to him. "You might need to give the police your phone so they can trace those texts."

"My phone?" Hakeem shrieked. "I need my phone!"

"Do you want this case to be solved or not? Don't forget this is your fault."

That made Hakeem sigh. "I'm really sorry, Jamal."

"I told you we're good."

He stuck his hand out but Hakeem smacked it. "Man, fuck a handshake!" Then he hugged Jamal and they laughed.