𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

thirty five.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
defeated

Cookie

next day

Cookie barged into her bedroom because she and Lucious needed to talk right now. "We need to talk, Lucious!"

Lucious was looking in the mirror. "Are you finally agreeing to let Jamal and Tiana make a song?"

"Oh, they can make a song."

Lucious grinned. "Thank you."

She burst his bubble. "When Jamal heals." Lucious' face fell flat. "Anyway, we need to talk about Andre."

"Where's he been anyway? I haven't seen him at work this week."

"Exactly! Doesn't that concern you?!"

"It did. Then I remembered his wife died and he's probably mourning," Lucious replied.

"But he won't answer any calls either. When does he ever give us the silent treatment like this?" she exclaimed.

"He's hurting, Cookie. He wants to be alone."

Cookie shook her head. "I don't think so. I don't think Andre would ghost his entire family because he's mourning. Because when Rhonda died, he stayed the night here. He wanted to be with his family."

Lucious faced her now. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm scared something happened to my baby."

Lucious laughed dismissively. "Baby-"

"Don't brush it off, Lucious! You know everyone's getting hurt lately!"

"You think Blake got to him?"

"No. I think Andre got to himself."

"What does that mean?"

She explained. "He's bipolar, right? That means he has episodes of mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs. Andre's at an all time low right now, and I'm scared he hurt himself."

"You're thinking too much into it."

"I'm not, Lucious! I know I'm not! I have a really bad feeling in my gut, so we need to go check on our son!" she insisted.

He gave in. "Alright, fine. If you wanna stop by his house, then let's go. But I'm telling you Cookie, the boy is fine."

She really hoped so.

-

Cookie and Lucious stepped out of the car and walked to Andre's front door. She was about to knock on the door, but didn't need to because the door was already open for some reason. That alarmed her. "Why the hell is the door open?"

Lucious shrugged because he was just as clueless. Cookie quickly rushed into the house because now she was really worried. Did someone break in?

"Andre! Andre, where are you baby?!"

Lucious looked around. "Everything looks fine to me. The furniture is in place, and the place is tidy. I don't think someone broke in."

"Then why would the door be open, Lucious?" She quickly rushed upstairs because Andre clearly wasn't downstairs. "Andre! Andre!" She checked every room and made it to his bedroom. When she did, she froze like no tomorrow when she saw Andre sitting on the bed with a gun pointed at his head.