Page 75 of A Toxic Redemption

Leaving the girls in the room, I closed the door and made my way back up front to my cousins. The smell of fried chicken floated through the air, and my stomach instantly growled.

"Who's in here burning up the food?" I asked as I made my way back into the kitchen. David and Sasha were moving around in the kitchen as if they lived there. Mama must have really fucked with them because regardless of the circumstances, she was not going to let anyone cook in her kitchen but her.

"Khalil, your father is outside and wants to talk to you," my mother sniffled as she came from the patio. "I'm going in the room for a moment."

I didn't bother to check on her as I made my way outside where the fellas were. She was in her feelings about me killing Kaine, and I couldn't let that bother me. She had better go in the room and pray for the nigga.

"Son, is Devyn okay?" my father asked as soon as I stepped out back. Bino had a blunt ready for me, and I was thankful. "Does she need anything?"

"Nah, she and Kira are asleep." I exhaled the smoke as I took a seat on the steps. It was humid as fuck out here, even though it was nighttime. Summer nights in Georgia will smother your ass. "Your people got any news on that nigga? Accounts? Phone tracking?"

"Not yet." He sighed, defeated. He looked bad as fuck, and I was starting to worry about him, too. I know he has a heart condition, so he needed to take it easy. "They must be using someone else's information. I have them checking every single hotel within a fifty-mile radius. He couldn't have made it that far." He got quiet for a minute before bringing his attention back to me. "Son, I'm sorry. I dropped the ball and let my guard down. Don't hate your mother. This is all on me."

"I don't hate either of you." I frowned as I looked over at him. "This shit is on Kaine and... Pops!"

Grabbing his chest, Ceaser fell out of the lawn chair he was seated in. Sweat formed all over his body as his eyes began to roll into the back of his head.

"Unk! Unk!" Bino yelled. "Jake, call the ambulance!"

"What's going... Ceaser! Oh my gosh!"

My mother and Luck's parents ran out into the backyard and tried their best to help us get Ceaser situated. He was still gripping his chest, and his movements were almost nonexistent.His breathing was shallow, and then it hit me. My father was dying.

"Come on, pops." I kneeled on the ground beside him and begged as tears welled my eyes. "Don't do this to me, man. I just got you back."

"Khalil—"

"Shhh," my mother placed her finger on his lips. "Don't speak, baby. The ambulance is on the way."

"I-I love you, son," he panted. "I've always loved you."

"I love you too, man." I looked up as the paramedics were running through the backyard. "Just hold on, man. Help is here. Don't leave us. Please."

My mother and I were pulled back as the emergency personnel began working on my father. They were moving and speaking so fast that I couldn't make out anything they were doing. All I know is my father wasn't moving, and my mother was hysterical.

"We got to go!" one of the older white men shouted. "We're losing him!"

As everyone scrambled through the backyard behind my father, all I could do was stand there. I was lost. I was numb. My son was missing, my girl was stressed, and now I was losing my father. I was headed toward the house to grab my keys so I could follow them to the hospital when the next three words caused me to stop in my tracks.

"We lost him!"

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

KAINE SIMMONS

"Who was that?"I asked Mia as I entered the room of the house we were slumming it in. As soon as I came in, she jumped and hurried her ass off the phone. "Who the fuck were you sneaking and talking to?"

"I wasn't sneaking and talking to anyone." She rolled her eyes and stood from the bed. "I was on the phone with my parents."

Eyeing her like the lying ass bitch she is as she paced the floor, I let her make it. I had bigger shit on my mind, and beating her ass wasn't at the top of my list today. When this shit was over, I was leaving her ass alone.

It's been three days since I snatched KJ from the fair with my mother, and I know that nigga Khalil was about to lose his shit. He thought I didn't notice the car he put on me, but I was always one step ahead. I switched vehicles with this lil' bitch I'd been fucking and been coming and going as I pleased for weeks. That was how I was able to get us somewhere to stay without them knowing where I was. Mia knew what was up, but that bitch couldn't do shit about it. All the money we took from Khalil was long gone. It was either spent or lost in the fire that I was sure he set.

"So what's next, Kaine?" I laid across the bed as she called from the bathroom. "Are you going to call Khalil?"

I sighed as I scrolled through my phone and texted a couple of my bitches back. Mia was worried about the wrong shit. The only thing she needed to be concerned with was her son sleeping across the room. Little did she know, I was ditching her ass as soon as this was over.

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