𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

thirty six.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
no way in hell

Lucious

Andre was now getting professional help for his disorder, and Lucious was proud of him. Andre had finally realized he wasn't right in the head sometimes, and he'd finally realized he needed to be fixed. That was a big step. It took courage to do what he was doing.

The next step was to inform the rest of the family about Andre. He was going to be gone for a while, and the kids were going to be wondering about his whereabouts. He and Cookie needed to let them know that Andre was fine; he was just seeking help right now. Which meant they also needed to tell them about Andre's bipolar disorder.

Lucious didn't know how the kids were going to react, but it needed to be done. So he and Cookie exited the car, and Warren was outside of the mansion keeping watch.

"Hey, Lucious. Hey, Cookie."

"Hey, Warren. Why don't you come inside real quick? I need to talk to you," Lucious said.

"Okay."

They went inside. "Hakeem! Royalty! Get down here!"

They quickly came downstairs. "What's going on?"

Cookie spoke. "Your father and I need to tell you something about your brother."

Hakeem grew worried. "Wait, what? What happened to Jamal now? I thought he was okay?"

"Not Jamal. Andre."

Hakeem didn't care now. "Man, don't nobody wanna talk about him."

"We need to talk about him, boy! You're not going to see him for a while."

"Why not?" Ro asked.

"Because we sent him away," Lucious told them.

"Sent him away where?"

"To a place where he'll get the professional help he needs. Rhonda's death really messed up his mind."

"So he's fake and crazy," Hakeem summed up.

"If you want to look at it that way, then yes. But Andre's crazy for a reason."

Ro crossed her arms. "What reason is that?"

"He has bipolar disorder."

Hakeem's eyes enlarged. "What the fuck?"

Royalty was shocked too. "How do you know?"

"He was diagnosed years ago, but only Rhonda and Lucious knew. I just found out," Cookie replied.

"So now you guys know why Andre does the things he does. He can't help it; he loses himself sometimes," Lucious added.

Warren frowned. "Wow. I'm sorry to hear that."

Royalty was sad too. "Yeah, me too. Now I feel bad for being so mean to him. What if he doesn't forgive me?"

"He will, if you forgive him."

"I do. What about you, Hakeem?"

Hakeem shrugged. "I mean, am I still angry with him? Yeah. But I guess I can show him a little compassion. But if he does some shady shit again, I can't promise I'll be civil."

That was fair. "That's good enough for me."

Cookie agreed. "That's good enough for me too. And that's all we wanted to tell you, so y'all can go upstairs now."

"Doesn't Jamal need to know?" Royalty pointed out.

Warren spoke up. "I can tell him."

"That'd be perfect because I have a job for you," Lucious began. "I'm promoting you from security guard to personal bodyguard."