Page 92 of Betrothed To Love

“You was gon’ stop him?” Shiro asks with a frown.

“Fuck no. I was on whatever time he was,” Ace says.

“I had to remember where the fuck I was,” I admit, then shake my head. “But it’s bullshit. She’s actually sitting down with Anja tomorrow at five to basically say that and an official statement from her campaign will be released in The Chronicle on Sunday. I think he’ll drop out when it’s all over.”

“Good,” Tre says.

As usual, Max came through. Her investigation revealed exactly what I suspected. Richardson nor any member of his team knew of or had any proof of Mireya’s date. With confirmation of that and knowing the man is deceased, I served Richardson a cease and desist letter with demand for a retraction. He’s over and so is his campaign. My wife’s interview and the newspaper statements are just nails in his coffin.

After eating another slider, I wipe my hands on my napkin, take a sip of my drink, then grab my phone. In the group text, I send the picture of Alami from Max’s file and get to the reason why I requested this meeting.

“Check your phones. That’s our sister and her name is Alami,” I begin.

“This nigga,” Shiro utters. “Thursday…wow. Is her last name Bako?”

“Nah. It’s Morris.”

“He’s so full of shit. Never leave your seed. No matter what your relationship is with the mother, protect your child and give them our last name. Every Bako child needs the name,” Tre says, repeating the words Asali would always drill into us.

“His word don’t mean shit,” Deuce says.

“But damn. She’s his fucking twin,” Ace says.

“She’s definitely our sister. Same damn nose and eyes. Fuck! This nigga really cheated, had whole ass daughter, and kept her from us. That’s some hoe ass shit,” Shiro says, shaking his head at his phone. “You met her?”

“Not yet but I talked to her. She wants to be a lawyer so she’s coming to my office Wednesday because she’s on break,” I tell him.

“I want to be there,” Shiro says.

“Bet. I’ll see what time and let you know,” I say.

“What about her momma? I know you found out shit about her too,” Deuce says. “Is she pretty? What she look like?”

“She looks okay, kind of average but definitely not as pretty as Shuga,” I say and he nods. Even as grown ass men, knowing our mother is prettier is important.

“What about Shuga? You telling her about Alami?” Ace asks.

“That’s why we’re here. I need your take on navigating this shit. She’s doing better, seems to be getting back to her usual, but I don’t know if she can handle this now. At some point, yeah, but I don’t know about now. Hell, I haven’t even talked to her about making the split with Asali legal. My wife thinks she’s strong enough to handle it, but I can’t call it,” I admit and wait for their input. Of course, Ace speaks first.

“I would wait. That’s just me though. She looks just like us.”

“Wait? Until when?” I ask.

“Until after Shuga mentions a divorce,” he says.

“I don’t know. If Shuga finds out we know her, one of us met her, or that we are even talking to the girl without telling her, she’s going to be mad and that shit might hurt her more. I say tell her,” Deuce says.

“Yeah, tell her,” Shiro says.

“When you tell her, I wanna be there,” Ace says and I nod.

Everybody gives their opinions except Tre. He focuses on his food only as we talk. He’s really indifferent about our new sister and doesn’t seem to be giving in any time soon, so I don’t press him. Tre does shit on his own time.

“I wanna know has anybody even seen Asali since that Sunday dinner,” Deuce says and I shake my head.

“No,” Ace says.

“Not me,” Shiro adds.