𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

fifty two.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO
high emotions

Hakeem

next day

This was what had went down last night—Hakeem, Jamal, and Tiana had performed their new song and it was a success. They were going to have an after party at Jamal's crib, but those plans were cut short when his sister got shot in a drive by shooting.

Hakeem's job was to call 911 and he did, but those paramedics were taking their sweet ass time to arrive. They had hopped in Warren's car and rushed to the hospital on their own. They didn't have time to wait for no corrupt ass paramedics.

None of those first responders cared about his family. They wanted them dead; it was obvious. If they didn't, Blake would've been arrested a long time ago.

Jamal had called Cookie and Lucious on their way to the hospital, and they had met them there. They had stayed at the hospital all night, and Hakeem wasn't tired this time. He was too angry to be tired, and his family felt the same way. The only thing they were tired of was the bullshit.

The nurses hadn't told them a single thing about Royalty's condition. Hakeem and Jamal were 99% sure she had died on them, but maybe they were able to save her. He guessed they were about to find out because a nurse had just walked up to them.

Cookie quickly got on to her feet. "Is my baby okay?!"

The nurse spoke calmly. "I wouldn't say she's okay, but she's not dead. You two boys got her here just in time. If you were another minute late, we probably wouldn't have been able to save her."

Jamal and Hakeem looked at each other, relieved.

Lucious had questions. "How isn't my baby girl okay then?"

"She's probably in critical condition like I was," Jamal assumed.

"She's in a coma," the nurse corrected.

Cookie wasn't sad about that. "Well shit, that's better than death."

"Yes, but there's no telling when she'll wake up. Or if she ever will," the nurse pointed out. "But if she does wake up, I will let you know."

And then she left.

Cookie's mood shifted into anger. "You know, I'm getting real tired of this shit! I'm tired of my kids being targeted!"

Hakeem finally opened his mouth. "Jamal's shooter is still a mystery, but we know who did this. Blake. He had three targets—Tiana, Gram, and Ro. And he got to them all."

That made Jamal rage like crazy. "And he's still free for what?!"

"Jamal, calm down!" Cookie demanded.

"I'm not calming down, Ma! I'm pissed that he's still running around! I don't know if it's because he's white, or because the cops are just that fucking incompetent!"

Lucious scoffed in disagreement. "Oh please. They ain't incompetent. They're just corrupt. Because if it was the other way around, and a Lyon was on a murder spree, they would've arrested us real quick."

Cookie knew that was true. "They sure did with me."

"Exactly. So it's clear the world is out to get this family because of what our last name is."

Jamal shook his head and muttered, "This is so fucking stupid."

Yeah it was. "All I know is that Andre's lucky he's not here to deal with this bullshit. I wish I was with him because I really don't want to deal with this agony again. How many times are we gonna be in this fucking hospital?"