.....

After the incident, Meech had to practically beg Dashawn to stay in the car while he went into the house to see what was going on. Meech saw so much blood that the kitchen looked like a murder scene. They quickly explained to him what had happened, and he helped move Asha's unconscious body onto the kitchen table. London arrived almost immediately after Meech. She lugged in her equipment and got to work. Both Briana and Robyn were allowed to go home permanently, but they were so worried about Asha that they lingered around for a bit until it was time for them to leave. The security helped them with their bags and then drove them home.

Dashawn didn't want to risk running into his sister, so he waited impatiently in the car until she was gone. His family still had no clue that he was alive, and he wanted to keep it that way for now. Dashawn already had too much on his plate, and the last thing he wanted was to endure the backlash from his mama.

He walked into his house and made a beeline for where he heard all of the commotion. The last thing he expected to see was the sheer amount of blood on the floor, on the counters, and on the sink. Meech moved out of the way as Dashawn rushed over to Asha.

"She'll be okay, but she needs an IV and maybe a blood transfusion once I'm done stitching her up," London said. She cleaned the laceration on Asha's wrist and then the one on her neck. Asha only needed stitches for her wrist, so London sterilized the area before doing a simple running suture. Afterwards, she wrapped Asha's wrist to keep her stitches from getting torn.

"She could've really did some damage here." London pointed to the inch long cut on the left side of Asha's neck. Thankfully, it wasn't deep and would heal fairly quickly. She applied some ointment and then placed a small bandage over it.

"Her wrist though, is what I'm really nervous about. It's so deep that she might have some nerve damage, and if that's the case, she could need surgery," London said hesitantly, knowing that surgery was outside of her capabilities. Luckily though, Dashawn knew of a private clinic that he often does business with. And in return, they perform the surgeries and the necessary procedures that London just can't do. And the good thing about working with the clinic is that Dashawn always has medical-grade equipment and pharmaceuticals at his disposal.

"Let's just deal with one problem at a time," Dashawn said, exhaling deeply.

.....

The next day...

"You ready to call in the hit?" Meech asked Dashawn as they stood outside Asha's door. Dashawn had already made up his mind to call in the hit since he couldn't do it himself. Just last night him and Meech orchestrated a hit list of all the people that work for Red. Their plan is to hire a hitman to handle all of their dirty work and make the killings look like an in-house gang rivalry—all tied to Red. It's a risky move, but if it works out, Dashawn could keep his hands clean, therefore, keeping the FBI oblivious of the fact that he was indeed not dead.

"Of course," Dashawn said in response to Meech's question. He had every intention of picking each of them niggas off one by one until he could get to Red and lure him out of hiding.

"But, I want you to stay here and watch Asha for me," he continued.

"You sure?" Knowing that he was the levelheaded one out of the two, Meech was hesitant. He didn't mind keeping an eye on Asha, but he also wanted to keep an eye on Dashawn just in case he had to act as the peacemaker.

"Just let me know how she's doing when she wakes up." Even though Meech was in charge, Dashawn still held superiority over him regardless, so if D wanted Meech to act as Asha's babysitter, Meech couldn't really say no.

"Fine, but keep a low profile."

"I will," Dashawn said heading for the stairs. When he was gone, Meech then walked into the room just as London was packing up her stuff.

"How long will she be out?" Meech asked her.

"I gave her some heavy pain meds and a muscle relaxer that will have her knocked out for a while."

"What's awhile?" Meech questioned.

"Four to six hours maybe," she said. Meech nodded, taking his jacket off and taking a seat in the chair by the bed.

"Is there anything else you need from me?" London asked.

"No, you can leave." Meech got comfortable in the chair, slumping down a bit and resting his head against the back of it. He had no doubts that Dashawn would bring his daughter back by any means. Now, Meech just had to get to the bottom of what was going on with Asha.

.....

Asha woke up about five hours later. She was still drowsy, but she had to pee. She slowly sat up, pushing the covers away. When she went to stand up, she felt a tug on her left arm. Asha's gaze then snapped to it, and her eyes widened once she saw the bandage wrapped around the palm of her hand and some of her forearm. But, her wrist wasn't causing the tugging—the tugging came from the catheter sticking out of her arm. Asha followed the tubing up to where a drip bag was hanging next to the bed. Almost instantly her memory seemed to come back all at once.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when the door to the room was pushed open. Meech stopped once he saw Asha sitting straight up in the bed.

"My fault. I didn't know you were up," he said walking in and closing the door.

"I need to pee." He made his way over to her and unhooked her IV. Meech then turned on the lamp by the bed and watched as Asha shuffled across the room, closing the door to give herself some privacy.

Asha emptied her bladder first, then tried her best to wash both of her hands. Shortly after, she just stood in front of the sink and tried to compose herself. She was somewhat embarrassed to go back out and face Meech. She remembered everything, and she was now too nervous to face his scrutiny. She had selfishly demanded to see him, taking his attention away from Imani. Now he was here and not out there looking for her.

Asha didn't know how much longer Meech would stick around, so she quickly turned off the faucet and rushed to the door. She opened it right as he was about to do the same.

"You wanted to talk, so let's talk," he said to her. She nodded, following him back into the room. Asha took a seat on the bed while Meech grabbed the IV.

"How do you feel?"

"I think I feel fine," she said running her good hand over the bandage on her neck. Meech knew that the only reason Asha was feeling fine was because London had pumped some heavy drugs into her system. And when those drugs completely wear off, Asha will be in a lot of pain.

"Can you move your fingers?" He asked next.

"Yes, I moved them around when I was washing my hands. The bandage is tight though; it makes it hard for me to move my wrist."

"Good. That's the point," he said hooking her IV back up. He then left her sitting with her back pressed against the headboard and went to take a seat himself.

"I'm disappointed," he got straight to the point.

"Meech—"

"I put you here for reasons that I thought were clear to you." Asha was caught off guard by his sudden change of tone. She knew he was angry, but the slight rudeness made her want to roll her eyes.

"I put you here because it was the safest place for you, and I needed to know your location at all times. I also put you here because I wanted to keep you out of trouble," he said.

"I know but—"

"I thought I could trust you to keep calm and let me handle this, but I guess I was wrong."

"Meech, I'll admit that I acted out of impulse, but I was fed up with the isolation."

"So you try to kill yourself—"

"No, I wasn't trying to kill myself," Asha corrected him. The last thing she wanted was for him or anyone to think that she was purposely trying to unalive herself.

"Then tell me what it was, because that was some immature ass shit you pulled."

'But it worked,' Asha wanted to say, but she knew better than to provoke Meech when he was already ticked off.

"I just...I feel like I'm suffocating, and everyone keeps pushing me off to the side as if I don't exist. It's honestly frustrating when I ask if I can help and the only response I get is no."

"Ok, and let's be honest Asha. What is it that you think you could do to help?"

"Anything. I don't know, just give me a chance." Meech immediately shook his head no at the mere thought of Asha being anywhere near the shit he does on a daily basis. Even her being at the warehouse felt like too much of a risk to him.

"Meech—"

"I refuse to agree to let you run around and do whatever the fuck you want just because you simply ask."

"But, you don't know what it's like to sit here every damn day and do absolutely nothing. I don't enjoy being confined to this house, and you don't make this shit any easier by ignoring me."

"I just want you to cooperate Asha."

"That's all I've been doing!" She finally yelled, getting upset as Meech dismissed her yet again. It was as if he just wasn't willing to listen to anything she had to say.

"Asha," he said in a warning tone.

"No! I'm telling you how I feel but you act like you don't care."

"I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't care."

"Oh please. If you cared, I would've never had to slit my wrist to get your attention. If you actually cared, you would've at least tried to call or text to give me updates on my daughter, but you act like you can't even do that unless I beg you."

Asha probably sounded ungrateful, especially since she was the one that called Meech for his help in the first place. But, she felt as though she had done nothing but follow the rules all the way up until this point. She finally had his attention and the only thing he could say to her was to cooperate. It felt like a slap in the face, and Asha was about to snap.

.....