Standing to get my daughter from her uncle, my father placed his hand on my shoulder, telling me he would go out back with them. “You two need to talk, son,” he said as he motionedover to Gia, who was staring at me. “At the end of the day, that’s her daughter, too, and you guys are going to have to figure out how you're going to co-parent.”
Patting my shoulder, he walked through the kitchen and out the door, where my daughter and brother were. The way she threw her head back and laughed so lighthearted warmed my heart. As long as I have breath in my body, it will always be this way.
“We need to talk, Jordan.” Gia walked over and sat beside me on the sofa. “Please.” Slowly, she glanced across from me at Uno. “Can you tell him to leave?”
“Trust me… with the way my brother is looking at you, you may want me to stay.” He leaned back and threw his arm over the back of the couch. “Plus, I want to hear why the fuck you ever thought I would go for a shady bitch like you.”
Looking between the two of us, her head dropped as she twiddled her fingers nervously. She could fidget all the fuck she wanted; she wasn’t leaving this room until we figured this out.
“Why didn’t you come to me when you found out you was pregnant?” I bounced my leg as I asked the one question that bothered me most. “Why did you wait all these years to pop up at my door with a kid?”
“You wouldn’t have wanted her, Jordan.” She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “The day you broke up with me, you told me you’d kill me if you ever saw me again.”
“Yet, here you are.” I leaned toward her. “You thought it would be a good idea to keep my child away from me for five years and then pop back up as if nothing had happened. Five years I’ve been away from my child. Five birthdays. Five Christmases. I’ve missed so much time with her, and now you come along and expect what? To be a family?”
“Yes!” She jumped from her spot on the couch. “I stayed away because you wouldn’t have wanted my baby!”
“No, bitch! I wouldn’t have wanted you!” I leaped from my seat and got in her face. “I loved you, Gia! I would have done anything for you! You thought I was some young nigga that would have been an easy lick. You never gave a fuck about me, and the only reason I didn’t kill you is because even after all that, I loved you! I still wanted you, but I knew you were nothing but a conniving-ass bitch that wanted nothing more than to suck dick for a few dollars.” The tears streaming down her face didn’t stop the word vomit. “Where the fuck have you been at with my daughter?”
I know the important thing in all this was that I had my daughter home, where she was going to stay regardless of what this bitch had to say. I didn’t care how she felt; Gianna wasn’t going anywhere. I needed to know where she’s been living, though, so I can get someone to look into it. If the conditions were anything less than perfect, I was killing this bitch.
“I’ve been staying with my mother in Texas. You left me with no choice after you stripped me of the little things you’d given me.”
“Little things…” Uno chuckled from the side of me. “Girl, my brother kept your account laced. You never wanted for anything. Hell, you didn’t even have to work. Against the wishes of everyone in this family, he went to bat for you and brought you home. You had it good, but instead, you wanted to be a hoe.”
“Excuse me if I expected more!” she shouted as she turned and faced him. “Jordan was good to me, I won’t lie about that, but he didn’t have the power that I needed in a man. I wanted the boss—the head man in charge. Yes, his little club was up and running, but Uno, you owned the city, and everyone knew it. I even pushed him to work beside you, pushing drugs and—ugh!”
Grabbing her by the throat, I cut off what she was about to say. She never knew anything about our illegal business becauseI made sure to keep it from her. Her lips were a little too loose for my liking, and I was about to shut her up permanently.
“You know… one thing I always hated about you is the fact that you talk too fucking much.” I squeezed her neck and watched the tears fall down her cheeks. “You always thought you had the answers and everything figured out. I don’t know what you think you know, but you got the wrong nigga.”
“Bro, let her go before you kill her.” Uno walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You don’t want Gianna to see you like this.”
Gia was getting weaker by the second as her clawing my hand slowed down. Her skin was losing its color, and as badly as I wanted her to die right here in my mother’s living room, I wasn’t going to do it around my daughter.
“T-That was the last time you will ever put your hands on me.” She gasped from the floor as she clutched her throat. “You’re not the man I fell in love with.”
“Correct. That nigga died the day you thought it was cool to call another nigga in my house and plot on me.” I smirked as I stepped back from her. I needed to put some space between us before I ruined Mama’s new floors. “How is that nigga, Stewart, by the way?”
When I took Gia off my phone line, I had someone trace the calls on her cell to figure out who she was speaking with. It took me no time to locate and kill the man she thought she was going to play me for. There were no words that were exchanged. I simply walked into his single trailer on a Wednesday night and painted the tin can with his brain matter.
“Fuck you!” she shouted as she hopped up from the floor. “I don’t have to take this shit!” She walked over to where her purse was located and snatched it from the mantle. “I’m taking my child, and we’re leaving.”
“Sit the fuck down.” I pulled my Glock from my hip and aimed it at her. I glanced toward the patio, and Gianna was still playing with her uncle and grandparents without a care in the world. “You’re not taking my daughter anywhere.”
“She’s my fuckin’ daughter—not yours!” she cried. “It’s me who went through fifteen hours of labor alone. It was me who lost countless nights of sleep, not knowing how I was going to pay for her milk and daycare. It was me that gave up everything to provide for her. It was me?—”
“It’s me that doesn’t give a fuck.” I walked toward her, placing the gun to her head. “You know damn well had you told me about her, I would have been there for her in a heartbeat. She wouldn’t have gone without anything!”
“What about me?!” she hollered. “I needed you too!”
“You?” I eyed her in disgust. “I could give a fuck less about you and what you need. My only concern would have been my baby. My only concern now is my baby.” I lowered my gun but kept my eyes on her. “Now, here’s what it’s going to be. You can go wherever you want, but Gianna is staying here with her family.”
“We can co-parent.” She roughly wiped the tears from her eyes. “You can give me money to help us relocate and pay child support to me. I don’t want to work, so I’ll need?—”
“This bitch is crazy.” Uno chuckled as he stood beside me. “Was she always this slow?”
“Having my nuts drained daily by a human vacuum clouded my judgment, I guess.” I scratched my head with the butt of my gun. “Gia,have youlost your fuckin’ mind? I’m not giving you shit. The most I can do is let you stay at that penthouse until I get her a new birth certificate with my name added to it. Other than that, you can get the fuck out of my face. I’ll bury you alive under a slab of cement before you ever get a penny from me. Get your shit; I’ll take you back to the penthouse. A good night’s sleep willdo you some good because you clearly need a refresher on who the fuck I am. I suggest you not confuse the love I once had for you as a weakness. You don’t mean shit to me now.”
