Andre is determined to bring the cycle of destruction in the Lyon family to an end. But it won't be easy as long as he's struggling with one of God's commandments: thou shalt not covet thy father's wife.
- "Remember the last time we had to do this?" - from the first chapter of Simply Beautiful, which is on AO3 and FFN.
-"I'm going to let this slide because you didn't know any better." Second chapter of Sacrifice, which can be found here.
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Some 15 minutes away, another Lyon lady was getting a second shot at love. "Let me see if I have this right," Malcolm said, wrapping up the teary events that Cookie had relayed in her hitching, hiccuping voice. "Your ex-husband is now married to a woman who is the mother of her own grandchild. And her child-slash-grandchild happens to be your grandchild, who is supposed to be the son of your youngest son, but is actually the son of your oldest son?"
"Mmm-hmm." Cookie was face down in a plate of chili fries, which had come with Malcolm's bacon cheeseburger - which was also on Cookie's side of the table. Malcolm had been lucky that he got the beer, and that was only because Cookie had his chocolate shake.
"Not that I don't believe that," Malcolm continued, "but how do you know it's Andre's baby and not Hakeem's?"
"Because Andre's name was on the visitor's list back when we thought Anika was about to lose her baby. Stupid ass," Cookie muttered. Why had God cursed her with idiots for sons?
"Andre's a minister," Malcolm reminded Cookie. "A near-miscarriage like that can be scary. Maybe he was there for spiritual guidance."
"At three in the morning, Malcolm?"
"Well...maybe he was just there to do a little laying of the hands that night." Malcolm rubbed his hands together and grinned lasciviously, sending Cookie into a fit of giggles. It was the first time she'd really felt happy all day long.
Andre visiting Anika wasn't the only reason why Cookie knew that Andre, not Hakeem, was the father of Anika's baby. On the day that they all lost Empire to Lucious, Cookie couldn't help but throw Anika just a little bit of shade. "Goddamn it, Kitty," she grumbled on her way down the hall to her office, "if you're gonna be company pussy, I gotta put you up on game."
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Company pussy. Anika was absentmindedly following Cookie to help her pack her office up, so the words were a like a punch to the gut. The snide remarks and out-of-nowhere insults were never going to stop. Oh, sure, Cookie would bless Anika with a token gesture or a kind word from time to time, but then the cycle of abuse would begin all over again. "Really, Cookie?"
Anika stood before Cookie so prim and proper that Cookie could've puked. "What, you got something you wanna get off your bruised little chest, Boo Boo Kitty? Cat got your tongue?" As if Cookie hadn't noticed those bruises through that god-awful casket ready concealer all over her chest and neck. "Oh, that's right," she added when the color drained from Anika's face. "You can't get anything off with your tongue." Cookie laughed loudly at her own joke. "I should've known you was down with that freaky shit. 'Cuz I know you know what a good ass-whuppin' feels like."
