Page 158 of Treason's Temptation
The plan wasn’t to hurt Selah, and it wasn't because we shared the same paternal DNA. I just wanted Navie home, and I was willing to use whoever to make that happen. Unfortunately for Selah, I wasn’t cruel enough to take a fourteen-year-old child, so she had to pay for our father’s sins.
I pulled up at the Mayor’s office, greeted with smiles that quickly faded. He wanted to play Switzerland and let things playout until I asked why he didn’t do the same for his son’s DUI that killed a single mother.
For once, Miss. Dot’s nagging paid off. The chop shop on Wexler, she asked me to look into, got rid of the car. Nigga’s loved coming to the hood, throwing money at their problems. Most didn’t have any, so for the right price, the secret would remain buried, but I knew where to look. Mayor Abbott was eager to make some calls criticizing how my client was being wrongfully detained.
“You good, Mama?” I asked, holding the phone with my shoulder, as I climbed back in the car.
“Treason let that girl go.”
Her firm tone, using my government name, reminded me Winston was a bitch. Now I was more irritated that he called my mother because he was losing at his own game.
“If he wants his daughter, he knows what he has to do.”
“I get it. I promise I do, but this isn’t right. She’s innocent, caught up in somebody else’s shit just like Navie. How would you feel if someone took your child?” She ranted.
“He already did! Why are you yelling at me?”
“Tre, I just want you and Navie home safe! That’s it!” she fussed, as I switched lanes.
“I gotta go, Mama,” I hung up before I said something I couldn’t take back.
When I reached the hotel, I took the elevator to Sloane’s floor, beating on the door with my fist. Jaleb opened the door, surprised to see me, like he wasn’t married to another woman.
“What are you doing here?”
“Hewas invited. What areyoudoing here?” Sloane asked, walking up behind Jaleb.
“I know it reminds you of the only thing you know how to wrap your lips around, but stop opening your mouth for every mic that’s put in your face.”
Jaleb snarled at my jab, while Sloane found it funny.
“You can’t even get Navie home, and you think your little insult hurts my feelings? I’m not sitting around waiting while you railroad my daughter into a life sentence.”
Mercury had to be in retrograde today. Too many half assed parents gassing themselves up.
“I call the shots because I’m not scared to take ‘em either. If you fuck this up, you have a bullet with your name on it,” I warned, shouldering my way inside.
“Tre calm down,” Jaleb tried to reason with me but we were beyond that staring back at Sloane.
“Don’t tell him shit! He’ll learn just like the rest of ‘em. I’m not to be fucked with, and neither are my kids.”
“You’re the only one allowed to fuck them up. Sorry ass excuse for a mother.”
Jaleb stepped in between us, defending Sloane with a look I’d never seen before. Not even with Chelle, “You need to calm the fuck down! That’s still her mother, and everybody wants the same thing! That’s getting Navie home.”
“Nigga shouldn’t you be home with your wife? What the fuck are you even doing here?” I gritted my teeth at Jaleb. “If she wants someone to blame for where Navie is, look in the fuckin’ mirror.Shegot her in that shit with Lorenzo! All this smoke for me, but not the nigga that used her daughter’s head as a bowling ball.”
Oxygen fled Sloane’s brain, leaving her looking up at me, chest heaving with anger.
“I love your daughter in a way you never did, so I know it’s hard for you to understand. It would actually bring me joy knowing you can’t hurt her again, so stay the fuck out of my way before I start spilling secrets.”
Jaleb flipped between my satisfied grin and Sloane’s annoyance. It was incredible watching her control his strings inreal-time. The idea of me knowing something about his beloved that he didn’t made Jaleb snatch the door open.
“Outside now!” Jaleb ordered, walking out first.
“Don’t say a word to him, or I promise you’ll regret it,” she snarled, as I opened my stride.
“Then stay out of my way.”
