Third POV

Ashley was awake and was finishing up the breakfast she was making. She was grateful for Izzys open concept so she could see their son doing tummy time. She called in for the rest of the week so they could decide what to do.

Upstairs Izzy was getting ready to go downstairs with his family. He slashed water on his face trying to wipe the evidence that he had barely slept away. He couldn't sleep knowing that there was someone out there trying to hurt Ashley and possibly their son.

Izzy then goes downstairs to see the wonder pets playing on the television occupying Aiden as he kicks his little legs. As he looks over his shoulder he sees Ashley humming to the some Focus by H.E.R. On her phone.

"Good morning"Ashley sounds fixing the plates of food.

"Mornin" he says coming up behind her placing his arms around her waist and head between her neck.

"Let me sit these down" she says hoping he'll back up

"What's stopping you" he says

"Yo big ass on me" Ashley says as he smacks his teeth and goes to pick up Aiden as Ashley follows with their plates in hand. She would've made enough for Sharon but she was out running some errands.

"So whats about to happen?" Ashley asks jumping straight to the point. She had been thinking about the situation all morning.

"Ash...how can I say this without havin you scared" Izzy thinks for a moment. "Some shit finna change around us"

"What do you mean" she asks

" just what I just said" he says bluntly. Izzy isn't trying to be rude but it isn't the time or matter to spare feelings. "You know I'm supposed to go back to work next month but I might have to go sooner..." he says trying not to go into detail. Izzy thought I was better she didn't know what he was doing so that if anything were to go down she wouldn't have anything to do with it.

"How does that work? I mean like I thought shows and shit had to be scheduled" she says trying to understand

" it's complicated ash... but with everything going on ion know if you should go back to work let alone be alone" Izzy says in all honestly.

"I won't technically be alone at work-" he cuts her off

" Ashley come on you know just like I know that's not smart. What happened last time to your car? If you would've came out when they were doing it Aint no telling what they would've done to you" Ashley crosses her arms leaning back.

" so what do you have in mind? I stay locked up in here?" She says slickly.

" that don't sound bad. But no Ashley just that you don't be alone and you always have Santana unless our moms do but I don't think right now the time for him to be going off alone it ain't safe. " he says

"So what security or sum?"

"I actually already got some people coming. Somebody for you and somebody for Santana" he tells her. After he got off the phone with Cash he let him know that he had people sent to him to help guard his family.

" okay Israel but I still want to go to work" Ashley doesn't budge on the working situation

"We'll see man" he says picking up his plays of food.

" we'll see? Let me go cause you ain't nobody daddy" she says getting up and storming upstairs

"Ya mama crazy tell her I am somebody daddy actually." Izzy says picking up his son.

•

Ashley POV

This nigga has lost his mind.

I look outside the large window in Aidens room to see around 8 men step out of 3 Tahoe's. And more getting out.

"Oh hell naa" I store down the stairs with my baby in hand. This nigga told me two not a small army. I walk out of the front door with my short bodycon dress on with furry slides that I happened to already have on. Izzys back is facing me as he talks to the men.

"Israel." I say firmly causing him to turn around "what is this" I ask calmly turning my head to the side as Aiden sits on my hip trying to play with the necklace on my neck.

"My bad ma... these the men I was telling you about" he says so casually. How is he so calm about having all these armed men around. I know with my family you would think I'd be used to it but we've been pretty safe that no one really knows about my mom and I. So I've never experienced shit like this. That I've known of.

"You said two not twelve." I say pushing Aidens hand as he tries to out the silver in his mouth.

" this is buck, your driver" he introduces causing me to snap my eyes to him

"Hold on hold on hold on " I say real fast. " you ain't said shit bout no driver"

"You ain't give me a chance to I was about to explain" he says like he didn't have a chance to in the house two hours ago. "I think it'll be better and easier on you having Santana to have a driver so nobody don't sneak up on you or nun" this nigga.

" hello buck. I'm Ashley" I shake the Middle Aged mans hand. He seemed to be nice but oh is Izzy gone get it.

"And these is Nick and smiley" I look at the large men. Nick being a huge lighter skin man with a fade while smiley was dark with dreads. Smiley looked rude as hell and when I spoke he said nothing. "They gone be with y'all most of the time if I'm not. Smiley gone be if you alone and Nick stay with Santana no matter what." He says. Of course he gone give me the rude ass nigga. Damn.

"You not gone introduce me to everybody else" I ask there is like 11 other people i don't know the names of.

" naa they not that important. All you need is them and they know how to handle everything. The rest of them gone make sure the house straight. Who coming and going type shit" he says I just nod my head. This is giving me a headache. I just know it's some this nigga ain't telling me and it's making me upset.

After our short introduction I go back into the house because the sun kept getting in Santana eyes and he wasn't messing with that. Izzy stayed outside I guess running through everything making sure everyone knew what they was doing.

"Ashley!" He yells interring the house "where you at ma"

" upstairs" I yell from his room and within a few seconds he was walking in. Okay time for me to be upset.

He does his normal routine of taking off his shirt since he always claims he is hot. But today I decided to look. And baby boy is swole just right. I had to bite my lip and cross my legs to keep from bussin it open on these fresh sheets.

As he turns around I hurry and remind myself that he lied to me. So I pull out my phone and lay back on the bed.

" Ashley" he says. I ignore him and I suddenly find my sudoku game funny.

"Ash" he says again "I know you ain't even doing nothing." I continue to ignore him.

"Bet" he says before snatching my phone from my hand.

"The fu-" I am cut off my him kissing my lips pushing me back onto my bed. Out of instinct I wrap my arms around him and allow him to come in between my legs, wrapping them around his waist. As he deepens the kiss I moan into his mouth feeling his hand grab my ass causing my short dress to rise. I run my hand on his muscular arm before I gasp as I feel his solid core pushing against my soaked one.

"Uh boss" a voice says causing me to gasp.

" what you need" Izzy says staying on top of me. I try and push him off but he lays on top of me still. The way the room is set up and they way we are laying I know who ever is at the door can't see me but can see my legs wrapped around Izzy.

"The baby is up. He ain't crying tho" the voice says again as Izzy is still kissing my neck. The fuck is up with this nigga

"Ight Nick" he says not even looking at nick as he dismisses him. And "boss"?

Izzy then places one last kiss on my shoulder before getting off of me laying down beside me.

"Let's go get lil man" he says getting off the bed

"Nope you got it" I say grabbing the throw blanket I placed at the bottom of the bed. I don't like getting under the sheets during the day so I use a throw.

He then comes back in with Aiden in hand and jumps on the bed causing Aiden to let out a loud laugh.

"Mama think she about to go to sleep that ain't gone happen" he said sitting down and all of a sudden I feel a little hand on my back. So I roll over to see a smiling baby trying to sit up on his own.

"Bubby you're getting so big" I say to him as I kiss his little hand. "Now tell daddy that mommy going to sleep" he turns his head and looks at Izzy before his little lip starts quivering and bust out into tears.

" oh papa I'm sorry I didn't mean it mama just tired" I place his head on my chest.

" look what you done did" Izzy says

"Shut up" I flick him off. "But why is Nick here if we both are in the house?" I ask.

" I told you he stay with Santana no matter what." Izzy looks down at his phone. "Buck and smiley here too but they in the pool house" he says looking at the baby on my chest.

"I didn't even know you had a pool house" this nigga full of surprises.

For the rest of the day he gave me a formal tour of everything I had not Already seen and some the guys went and got the rest of my clothes from my apartment.

•

Izzy POV

I wake up out my sleep to my phone ringing. I reach over my shoulder without looking and and set the phone.

"Wussap" I speak

"Shadow I hope you ain't busy I need you real quick" I hear Cash voice through the phone. I tell him to hold on before I slowly get Ashley from under me and go to the bathroom.

"My bad wussap" I close the door.

" I need you to handle this shipment coming in. It's in yo city from Ortiz them but I got some niggas down there who gone fly it out but ion need to get fucked over." I say Ight and begin freshing up and putting on my simple black fit. Before I walk out of the room I kiss Ashley on the forehead.

"Where you going baby" she moans out stretching her arms

" I gotta go handle sum I'll be back before you wake up" she nods before turning around to go to sleep. When I walk out I see smiley already outside her door standing in post. So I walk down the hall to my son room nodding to nick before seeing him still sleep. I give him a kiss before leaving quietly and going into the guest bedroom I don't let nobody use. After closing the door I lock it opening the small closet and pushing the excess clothes to the side revealing a key pad. I enter the 6 digit code or the quiet door reveals a room that is stocked with guns , ammo and screens that show all angles of the house.

After grabbing some to keep me protected I walk outside hopping in my all black hell cat. I got some niggas coming with me for protection but i need to zone out to get where I need to be. To completely become shadow again. And I slowly felt him taking back over.

•

Ashley POV

I wake up realizing we forgot the close the blinds so the sun is in my eyes. As my senses start to kick in, I smell Izzys masculine deep scent that I've been loving so much. I turn around snuggling closer to him as I lay my head on his bare chest.

I feel his arms tighten before I look up at him and find that his eyes are slightly awake.

"Good morning" I say softly

"Good morning ma" he says planting a kiss on my forehead and I almost melted. I get up and make my way to the bathroom to freshen up before I go cook. As I walk to the door I realize only have on a ship dress and all these men in this house. "Shit" I curse to myself

"What's wrong" Izzy asks looking up from his phone.

"I need to change" I say going towards the closets

"For what?" He says to me

"All these niggas in here" I say

"Ashley if you'n gone do what you was about to do. I wish they would look at you I'd" he stops as I chuckle before exiting the room.

"Good morning" I greet smiley as he doesn't say anything or show any sign of emotion. Okay.

I then walk towards my sons room which I greet Nick and he greets me back. I walk in seeing a wake baby and I can tell he needs a change by the size of his diaper. So I go ahead a wipe him up and change his diaper and his clothes before we head downstairs.

I realize I haven't seen Ms. Sharon so I head towards her room and hear the tv on let's make a deal so I know she's up.

I knock on the door twice before I hear her tell me to come in.

"Hey Ashley, and hey my grand baby" she says reaching for Aiden.

" hey Ms.Sharon" I say handing him over to her.

"Baby you can call me mom now ion like that 'ms.sharon' stuff" she caused me to begin go blush.

" i was about to cook you want anything" I say to her

" yeah but you gone have to go to the store ain't no more bacon or eggs" she says to me.

"Okay that's fine I need to get some stuff for dinner anyways" I say standing up.

"I'll go with you i need some too" she says handing me Aiden. I walk out and go to Aidens room to quickly dress him in a shirt over his onesie with some little joggers and some baby Jordan's.

After dressing him I go into the master and sit him on the bed with pillows helping him sit up. I turn on the tv to keep him occupied and go into my closet and grab a simple longsleeve body suit and some slides.

"Where you bout to go" Izzy asks me stands at the closet door.

"To the store real quick." I grab my purse off of the closet island.

"Ight here" he tries to hand me a large stack of money.

"I'm fine Israel" I say trying to move past him.

"Just take it Ashley you know I'm not gone move until you do" I cross my arms and stand there for a moment before sucking my teeth and placing the stack in my bag.

I grab Aiden off of the bed and make my way downstairs. I walk outside to see Buck holding the door of a Tahoe open and ms.Sharon inside.

I sit Aiden in his car seat before getting in as well.

"Ion know how to feel about all this" I say to her.

"About what baby" everything going on like having someone drive you around and all.

" well baby I remember when Israel first started in Detroit and he would have people watch-" she stops as she notices my confusion. "Shit" she mumbles.

"Started what?" I ask her

" I think it'll be best if Israel tells you" she simply says as we pull up to the store. What the hell does he have to tell me.

As we get out I notice Nick and Smiley standing near the car with a buggy which I place Aidens car seat on. We walk into the store and of course people stare since we have two large men walking along side us.

"Okay we shouldn't be long I have everything on a list" I say as we begin shopping. After about 25 minutes I make my way to pick up the almond milk which is last on my list. As I grab the milk I feel someone staring at me from the side of my eye. And of course it's this Bitch Zonnique.

I swear I'm tired of seeing this bitch. If I could I'd run her ass over with this cart. Damn I swear this dumb, aggy, thirsty ass bitch don't have nothing else better to do. She's a very pretty girl and I'm pretty sure she can have anyone she wanted but I guess she just stupid.

I look at her as I notice her full cart of groceries as she looks at Aiden who is playing with his toys attached to his carrier.

"Ms. Ashley lets go" Nick says as Ms.Sharon comes back with smiley trailing behind. I turn the cart around and make my way back up to the front to check out. I could've made a scene in here and cussed her out but I'm better than that.

"Aren't you bandhunta izzys babymomma" the young cashier asks me as I hear Ms.Sharon scoff under her breath.

"and aren't you supposed to be bagging them groceries child" ms. Sharon says as the girl rolls her eyes before finishing scanning.

"185.32 is your total and I'll have to go get my manager for ebt" the young girl tries to get smart.

"No need suga" I then proceeded to pull out the large stack of 100's Izzy gave me in the house. I made sure to unravel the whole thing before slicing off three bills just because. "And keep the change baby" I say walking away leaving her speechless. Yeah mind your business.

Going back in the house I noticed Aiden was getting cranky then I realized it was time for him to eat.

"Gone head and take care of that baby" Sharon says

"Okay ma" I say walking away and up the stairs. As I approach the room I hear Izzy on the phone speaking lowly

"Yeah it's handled..." What is handled?

Aidens dramatic self tries to throw himself backward so I continue to walk in which catches Izzys attention.

"Let me hit you back" he hangs up the phone

By now I'm already sitting down feeding Aidens greedy self.

"What all y'all got from the store" Izzy comes over and asks me.

"Nothing much just food for lunch and dinner tonight." I say as I mentally try to decide how to approach the situation.

"I was talking to your mom earlier and she said something about you used to do something and that you should tell me... I hope I'm making sense because I don't even know what I'm talking about" I tuck my hair behind my ear. "I just can't help but feel like there's something I'm being told. And if we trying to be together like we say then I expect full honest since that's what I'm giving." I feel like a little bit of the weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

I watch as he takes a deep breath before rubbing his hand over his mouth. I watch him while I sit there trying to figure out what was going on.

"When I was around 14 I started hanging out in the streets and shit. Eventually I started dealing and making runs with this dude I grew up with we call cash. He was like 2-3 years older than me" He starts. " after a while we got money hungry and in a years time we grew the trust of the main nigga who put us on. Even gave me a nickname. Shadow." I watch as he stares straight ahead. "I'll never forget on my 17th birthday we decided we wanted to be the niggas who was paying other niggas. So we went to the nigga who put us on house and I did what I needed to do. By the time I was eighteen I had seen more money than I could process way more money than this lil rap change. Cash and I had the city on lock. He was the flashy one and I stayed back like in the shadows. Ian wanna be seen Or nun like that because Ian want nobody coming for my family but cash he ain't had shit to loose. No mama no daddy he ain't care about shit. So when I turned 21 I decided that shit wasn't for me no more and started rapping" I'm trying to understand where this is going as I listen.

"So when that shit happened at your apartment I had to do what I thought was best... I called cash. Me being out of the game ion really have the connects like I did before. But that came with a price" he looks at me

"You didn't.." I plead with my eyes

"I had to...y'all got stay protected somehow even if that mean I gotta go back go that lifestyle" he says placing his hand on my knee

"Why tho? We could've worked it out hell I could've talked to Alek" I say to him

"And why would I do that and I can take care of my own family. Alek tryna get out this shit too so why would I push him 10 steps back?" I stay quiet since I don't know what to say.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" I almost whisper