Page 137 of A Kingpin's Weakness
I love you. I’m sorry I left.
I stared at the words, swallowing hard.
“Give him some time. He’ll realize soon how much you mean to him.”
Dre’s voice rolled in behind me while I stood in Jo’s kitchen, still clutching my phone after texting Noah. There was something off in his tone. Too calm. Too cold. I looked over my shoulder. Something in me knew. Before I even saw it, my soul screamed run, but my body wouldn’t move.
“What makes you so sure?” I asked, heart starting to beat hard in my chest as I turned to face him.
He stepped closer, and that’s when I saw the gun. A gun. He pointed it straight at me.
“No—no, Dre, what are you doing?” I said, stumbling backward.
“Give me your phone,” he snapped.
My breath caught in my throat. Hands shaking, I passed it to him like it was a bomb. Like maybe if I moved slow enough, he’d change his mind.
“Listen… you don’t gotta do this,” I said, my voice cracking under the weight of panic rising in my throat. “Whatever this is, is between you and me”
“I been dreaming about this,” he cut me off, eyes like stone. “Seth walking around like he above it all. Like he didn’t put my pops in the ground.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” I asked, trembling now, one hand instinctively cradling my belly.
“For Ronnie,” he said, voice hard and bitter. “Seth killed my father. Now I’m killing his bitch and his seed.”
I swear I couldn’t breathe. I staggered, hand pressed to my stomach like I could shield my baby from the reality of what was about to happen.
“No, no, please,” I begged. “I’m pregnant. Dre, please don’t do this. You ain’t gotta do this.”
My heart was pounding like a war drum in my chest. There was no running. No help. No way out. Just me and a man who pretended to be my brothers friend now holding a gun like he’d been waiting his whole life for this moment. I stood frozen in Jo’s kitchen, feet rooted to the floor, mind screaming for me to move, to do something but all I could do was watch his finger curl tighter around the trigger.
Just when I thought we could finally breathe again when peace felt close enough to touch, Ronnie’s ghost came back, wearing his son’s face. Did he know that the man he was calling“father” was a monster Did he know Ronnie killed Seth’s father? That he put a bullet in Lia like her life didn’t matter. No. He didn’t care. He didn’t want truth. He wanted blood. I was standing there, pregnant with Seth’s son. Our future. Our joy. Our healing. And all Dre saw was a target.
So I whispered a prayer. Quiet. Desperate. God, please protect my baby. If I don’t make it, don’t let him die with me. Seth can’t survive losing both of us. He’s already lost too much.
Dre raised the gun.
“Tell Ronnie,” he said with cold satisfaction, “his son down here standing on business.”
Bang!
I screamed and didn’t even realize I was screaming until I felt the hot sting tear through my side.
Bang!
My knees buckled. Blood soaked through my maternity shirt like ink. My hand flew to my stomach on instinct.
Bang!
I hit the floor. Hard. The world tilted. All I could hear was ringing. All I could taste was blood. My vision blurred and all I could see was the baby’s ultrasound taped inside my phone case before Dre snatched it away. My hands, slick and shaking, gripped my belly.
“Shiloh!” I gasped, voice thick with tears. “Baby, I need you to be strong. Please stay with me.”
My limbs were heavy. My breath came in short, shallow bursts. I could feel life slipping from me, but I wasn’t scared for myself. I was scared for my son. I was scared for Seth I was scared of becoming another person he had to bury. “I love you,” I whispered, as everything turned black.
CHAPTER 27
Dre
