Page 58 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon 2

“I don’t think so. I heard her sister was here.”

“Yeah. She was. She had to leave, though.” All Toni could think about was all the ways she wanted to make that bitch bleed.

When Chai took her last breath, Toni wanted to be the last face she saw for what she put her and her kids through. Toni sat inside Onika’s room for another hour or so before she sensed something at the door.

CHAPTER 10

HUMBLED

For the next hour or so, Toni sat inside Onika’s room before something at the door caught her attention. Sudan. Steady, arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the door frame and studying Onika sleeping. Toni frowned and slowly brought herself to her feet. He seemed to be in another world.

“What are you doing here?”

“Visiting somebody I used to know,” he said, clearing his throat. “How is she?”

“You used to know my mother?” Toni asked, brows bunching together above her bright eyes.

Sudan looked her in the face, taking in every feature before a soft, rare smile graced his lips.

“You look like my mother,” he told her. “Same soft brown skin, brown eyes, plump bottom lip.”

Again, he studied her closely before pushing himself off the frame and stepping into the room for a closer look at Onika.

“I met Onika one day on the corner. She was strutting along with some of her girlfriends. It was a hot ass summer day. She had on these little shorts, a tank top, and a pair of wedge sandals. She walked like she knew she was ‘that girl’. All the confidence in the world. No fear.” Sudan spoke with affection, pausing at Onika’s side and reaching out to stroke her cheek. “A smile that could jump start the coldest heart. Soon as I saw her, I thought she was going to be nothing but trouble. She talked shit and flirted with everybody… effortlessly. She didn’t have to try too hard, it was just who she was.”

Toni never saw a man love her mother or treat her right. She accepted any type of treatment in exchange for them providing for her. Urso was the worst of the worst, and she married the nigga. There was something different in the way Sudan touched her and spoke of a version of her she never even knew.

“I didn’t think it was possible.”

“What’s that?” Toni pried, heart practically beating out of her chest.

She didn’t know why, but his presence rattled the hell out of her.

“To love more than one woman.” Sudan looked at her over her shoulder. “With the same capacity, just in different ways, for different reasons.”

“How long ago did you meet her?”

“Almost thirty years ago,” he revealed, sending her stumbling back into the counter and reaching for it to hold herself up.

Knees weak, stomach tanking, Toni tried to catch her breath with tears stained her eyes. She would be turning thirty in a few months. Instantly, her eyes found Sudan’s, and he turned to her.

“I already had a wife. A family. When Onika found out, she left me. Never looked back. I hurt her. So, I guess in turn, she found a way to hurt me too.”

“Y-you’re my… f-father.” Toni doubled over, wanting to throw up as her hands fell to her knees, and she wept. Stepping closer, Sudan reached for her hands, bringing them together in his and helping her stand. Tears streamed down her face, and his face broke into agony.

“I never knew about you.”

“This doesn’t make sense. Then why are you here? How did you figure it out?”

“That day… at the park,” Sudan voiced. “I’ve been following you ever since. I saw you with Onika, and I couldn’t believe it. So, I started keeping tabs on her too.” Shaking his head, Sudan lowered his eyes to the ground. “I hate seeing what she’s become. That’s not the woman I knew or fell in love with.”

“No.” Toni yanked away from him. “I guess she is the result of a broken heart. Like so many other women.”

She didn’t want to be angry. Sudan had no idea she even existed, but him having a whole other family somehow made her resentful. It was the sole reason Onika kept her from him, so in hindsight, he was to blame. Toni might have had an entirely different life if things had turned out how Onika obviously wanted them. Hearing about this young girl version of her mother also shined a different light on the woman she’d become before having Toni.

“What are the doctors saying?”

“They’ve stopped the medication that was keeping her in a coma. They want wants to check for brain activity. If there is none, then she’s going to be taken off the ventilator… and… that’s it. No more Onika,” Toni whispered, disbelief dripping in her voice.