Asha sat by the window, looking out of it. She hadn't moved from her spot in hours, just watching as the time slowly ticked by. She thought about Imani and the vow she would make once her baby was safe in her arms—she would promise to never leave her side again and they would run away together. They would go somewhere far far away from Georgia altogether, if not on the other side of the country then maybe overseas. Asha would find a new job, one where she could work from home and homeschool Royce at the same time. Asha would use the money she saved up and move them to a small house, preferably one close to a beach. Asha always dreamed of going to the beach when she was younger, so this would be the perfect opportunity for both her and Royce to start over and make new memories.

Asha smiled softly at the thought, but quickly stilled her face at hearing the door open. She sighed, knowing that it was only someone checking to make sure that she hadn't slit her wrists.

She didn't acknowledge whoever was at the door, only kept her gaze out the window.

"Mommy?" Asha froze, taking a deep breath.

'I'm only hearing things,' she tried to convince herself seeing as this wouldn't be the first time that she has heard Imani's voice calling out to her. Only, it's always just her mind playing tricks on her.

"Mommy." But, it sounded all too real. Asha couldn't help it. She jumped up at the sound of the tiny voice and slowly turned to face the door.

"Imani?" Asha didn't know what she would do if this was just another one of her auditory hallucinations.

"Mommy." Asha snapped her eyes up to the door frame and followed the edges of the wood until they landed on a small child. Asha gasped and stumbled forward.

"I'm not hallucinating?" She asked in disbelief, staring at her daughter. Imani looked exactly the same from the last time she saw her, not a single hair out of place. Overcome with joy, Asha dropped to her knees. "Baby come here."

At Asha's open invitation, Imani wasted no time and ran towards her mother's arms. "Mommy!" Imani squealed in excitement.

"Oh my god," Asha closed her eyes with full intentions of hugging her daughter tight and never letting go. She wanted to savor every moment of their reunion, so she braced for the impact...but unfortunately it never came.

"Imani, it's okay. I love you so much. Come—" Asha stopped mid-sentence when she opened her eyes to an empty room. She quickly wiped her eyes and stood up.

"Imani?" She frantically searched the room with her eyes.

"Imani, where are you?" Asha yanked open the room door, but there was nothing but complete darkness on the other side. She tried to leave, but it was like her body weighed a ton and she couldn't lift her legs. She started panicking.

"Wait...please, bring her back. I'll do anything," she pleaded with absolutely no one. It was just her, all alone in the darkness.

"Please!" She started hyperventilating, desperately trying to get her legs to work.

"Please, I—" she jumped at feeling a hand on her shoulder.

"Asha!" Her eyes snapped open at hearing her name. But feeling lightheaded, they quickly began to glaze over once more.

"Asha breathe," Briana hovered over her friend in sheer panic. Asha herself started panicking once she realized that her chest wouldn't expand to take in any oxygen.

"You're not breathing. Open your damn mouth and breathe!" Briana yelled. The second Asha opened her mouth to say something, her lungs kicked in and started taking in large gulps of air.

"Fuck, Asha," Briana broke down in tears.

"I'm sorry. I didn't—" Asha tried to explain herself while also gasping for air, but she couldn't. She herself didn't understand what was going on, or how to explain that she didn't realize that she was suffocating herself. She was only trying to find Imani.

.....

"I don't trust this shit, it's too good to be true," Meech voiced, loading his gun. After Kennedy's mama gave them the location of the place she remembered meeting the nigga she was fucking a month ago, Meech gathered some of his people and pulled up at this trap house. Meech didn't trust this shit at all, but it was better than nothing.

"If any of these fuckers know who Red is, then it's worth a shot even if it's another dead-end," Tony spoke up.

"If shit goes south, you know what to do," Meech told him. Tony nodded, already knowing his place.

He hopped out the car first, pulling his hood over his head. Meech followed, and soon the rest did as well. They had already went over the plan at the warehouse, so no words needed to be said. All they needed to do now was get in and get out.

Meech was silent as they moved quickly to the back of the house. Tony wiggled the knob, and to their luck, the back door was left open. Meech shook his head, stupid ass niggas. They filed in one by one, already knowing the layout of the house. Meech gave the first signal, gesturing for everyone to split up. He stayed on the first floor as the others rushed further into the house.

Meech stepped up to the first room, pushing the door open. His eyes then zeroed in on two figures fucking on the bed. The loud ass music allowed him to easily run up on them, grabbing the dude first and throwing him to the floor.

"What the fuck!" Meech then pulled the girl up from the bed. He narrowed his eyes at her, baffled at how calm she was. He also noticed how she looked somewhat relieved.

"Get up," Meech said directing his attention to the nigga on the floor.

"Who the fuck are you!" Annoyed, Meech raised his gun and fired, aiming at the dude's thigh. He let out the nastiest scream and grabbed at the hole in his leg.

"Help him up and get the fuck out," Meech said calmly. He then watched as she ran over to him and helped him to his feet. They stumbled out of the door, Meech following closely behind. Once they got to an opening in the living room, they were both yanked into the center of the room and pushed down onto the floor. Their arms were then tied behind their backs along with the rest of them.

"Is that it?" Meech asked.

"Yeah, the house is clear," someone responded. Shit, that was way too easy.

Meech stepped further into the room, eyeing the whole setup. It was messy as fuck, money and product everywhere. He walked around, looking for anything that could be of use to him, but the shit was filthy.

"Ain't a drop of security around this bitch," Tony came bounding down the stairs.

"And they all young. We got a Bryce, James, Kash, Liberty, Kyra, India, Darnell, and Deja. The youngest is fifteen, and the oldest is nineteen," Tony revealed.

Meech took a moment to think. It all made sense now—ain't no security, no cameras, the place is trashed, product everywhere, niggas fucking without a care in the world, and no guns. Whoever hired these kids didn't give a damn about their safety.

"Sit them up so we can chat. And turn that shit off," Meech said referring to the loud music coming from one of the bedrooms. He then put his gun away and grabbed a chair. His people made quick work of sitting each of them up until they were all shoulder to shoulder, facing Meech.

Most of them were dressed in sweats, some in their underwear, and the two he caught were completely naked. Meech observed the nigga he shot, almost laughing at how he tried his best to keep from crying out in pain.

"Patch him up for me," Meech said. London stepped from out of the shadows and did as she was told.

"Forgive me," she teased bending down to one of the ones that was fully clothed. She then tore a large piece of fabric from his shirt and walked over to the one bleeding out. She quickly fixed him up, using the fabric as a makeshift tourniquet—it wasn't effective, but it would do for now. The bullet needed to be removed, but she didn't have that type of equipment on her. When she was done, she resumed her position by the wall next to Penny.

"Who is the boss around here, or better yet, who does most of the heavy lifting?" Meech asked the young group.

"Me." It was the same nigga.

"You?" Meech scoffed. "How you run shit but already got a bullet in your leg?" Meech shook his head in disbelief before leaning back in the chair and getting comfortable. He was pissed at the fact that he now had to deal with kids.

"What's your name?" Meech asked instead.

"Kash," he gritted out.

"How old are you Kash?"

"Nineteen," he mumbled. This time Meech couldn't help but roll his eyes. He then looked to the one sitting next to Kash.

"What's your name?"

"J-James."

"Age?"

"I'm seventeen." Meech then went down the line until he got to the last girl. She was shaking, teeth chattering as she tried her best to hide her naked body. She hadn't looked up once, only stayed bent over in an awkward position.

Meech didn't have to say anything, Penny was already walking forward and placing a jacket over the young girl.

Meech remembered the names Tony listed off earlier. He already went through the whole group, the only name left was India. Meech also noticed that she had to be the youngest since they were all between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, and the only age he also hadn't heard was fifteen.

"You must be India," he said. She only nodded.

"Who y'all work for?" Meech asked, looking at Kash.

"We don't know. We were all picked up off the streets and sent here to work in exchange for money and a place to sleep." James was the first to speak.

"So you telling me no one checks in to make sure product is distributed? What about the money? Who comes to collect it?" Meech continued his onslaught of questions.

"We don't know. The drop is always in secret. Kash gets a call every two weeks with information about the drop. A new load is always waiting at the location when we arrive. We take it and leave the money in the same spot," Darnell spoke up.

"We don't ever come in contact with anyone. And we were told that if we ever missed a drop, was late on payments, or stole more than our share, we would all be replaced," Bryce finished.

Meech stood up, grabbing his gun. Most of them scrambled back as he made his way over to Kash.

"Why you got people speaking for you? I thought you ran shit, but you sitting here acting like a lil bitch," Meech said pointing his gun at Kash.

"Fuck you," Kash spat. And that was all Meech needed. Now he had a reason to fuck this nigga up...and that's exactly what he did.

"W-We have a drop tomorrow," someone finally spoke up, halting the beating that Kash was receiving. Meech heard sniffles from down at the other end of the line, knowing exactly where the voice had came from. He left a bloodied Kash withering on the ground and stormed up to India.

"Look at me," he said and she obeyed. "Now repeat what you just said."

"We have a drop tomorrow night," she whispered, shaking uncontrollably. Satisfied with the new information, Meech signaled to everyone that it was time to go.

"You might as well kill us. We're already as good as dead," Kash's voice was barely audible as he coughed up blood. Meech was a merciful man, he knew when to draw the line and he actually intended on sparing all of them. But, if it was death that Kash truly desired, who was Meech to deny him that. Not to mention, Meech didn't mind killing anyone that stood in his way of finding Imani. So, without a second thought, he stepped up to Kash and put a bullet in his head.

"Load the rest of them into the truck and take care of the body." Meech was also tempted to burn the whole place to the ground but didn't want to raise suspicions before he had the chance to ambush whoever decided to show up at the exchange tomorrow.

.....