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Monét sat in the theater alone watching Sparkle, it was undeniably one of her favorite movies. Her head snapped to the door when Mael walked in. She gave him a small smile.

He wore a wife beater and black Nike sweats, you could see the waistband that read "Ethika" on his boxers. He took a seat on the long part of the couch.

"Come here" Monét stood up resting between his legs her head placed on his chest.

"we're going to be married soon. Tell me about the Notorious Samael, we all know what they say in the Hood but tell me first hand." Grabbing the popcorn from beside them she popped some in her mouth.

"I mean, shit... I come from a family of Druglords, King Pins, hitmen, killers. I didn't want this shit but it's all I know. The men in our family don't know anything other than this life. We don't make doctors, artist, 9-5 workers, regular shit like that. We have lawyers but everything they do is to benefit our people. Those are the roles the women play, our connections run deep on the inside..."

"It started back four generations, My great, great, great, great grandfather Joe started this "cult"... He didn't want to be married, he didn't want love, he just wanted his money. So, instead of taking the time to find someone that he could love... he snatched a woman named Rose up... she was 18, poor and in need of financial help. There's pictures in my Pops house, she was beautiful, she looked good on his arm. With a beautiful woman came more Clients. They never really loved each other but they had 7 children in total."

"Joe knew the power it had to have a beautiful wife on his arm so he gave each of his sons until age 25 to be married and when they too became desperate they snatched their wives up and it just became the norm in our family. We did it well, we knew how to pick our victims. I had got leeway with Pops, he gave me until I was 28. A little more time to enjoy my life I guess you can say."

Samael sighed running his hands down his face.

"Man, Ion wanna do this shit... this marriage shit. I knew my time was going to come... I knew I was going to be forced into it. I knew the consequences of me going against the rules and I even thought about being the first one in my family to go against the whole marriage idea. The whole kidnapping idea is fucking sick to me Noelle. It was either you or my family. My empire. I ain't mean to take you from your everyday life like that man... it's just, your connects like you more when you're a family man. They feel like you're more level headed when there's a woman. You're more trustworthy because you're not sleeping with a lot of different women, with different women comes more drama, more people in your business... Like niggas don't cheat or something." He let out a small laugh, scratching his head.

"I don't even want kids man... I know I'm going to have a son. I don't want him kidnapping somebody's fucking child. It's getting so much harder to find love imagine how it's going to be when it's his time to get married? I want this shit to stop.... I'm going to be the reason this shit stop. I just gotta find my voice to do so. I'm a grown ass man, got the world scared of me but when it comes to my pops and uncles? It's like I'm stuck." He sighed, resting his head back.

"I never had a normal childhood. Everything was training me to be a King Pin. It was a brotherly competition on who would be better between me and Izzy growing up. We both wanted the top spot."

"Of course we have the same level of authority and we both run shit now but, pops told us that was his way of teaching us that this drug game is a competition. It was a never ending battle of staying on top. Being the best, always being number one." Licking his lips he looked at Monét "Thats just a background... tell me about Monét."

"I mean I'm nothing special" she whispered. She knew eventually they were going to talk about her. It was time.

"I um, I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. My family? We weren't poor or rich. We were well off. So toxic." She chuckled "Thats why all the men I choose are so bad for me. My mom she worked at a call center, my dad never worked at all. We needed the SSI checks."

"My parents are from Brooklyn, they knew each other their whole lives dated on and off. My dad was a serial cheater. He spent a lot of time in Rikers, that fucked him up mentally. I mean I can't blame him, he was molested as a child. My mother she grew up in a two parent household, they weren't poor either but my grandmother was verbally and physically abusive. She wasn't happy as a child, she married a man that didn't make her happy as an adult. Bipolar, manic depressive all wrapped into one. There were times when she would just buy so much shit and then wonder how rent was going to be paid. She always came up with a solution but it was scary." Shrugging her shoulders she looked down.

"I remembered once a month my dad would go to the hospital and he'd get percs because there was so much wrong with him physically and he'd sell them." She chuckled lowly "It was going good, every time he'd make a sell we'd go somewhere on a family trip to a buffet... he was so tall and heavy then he had no other choice but to eat at buffets, right after we'd go to the mall and he'd splurge. Eventually he'd got with the wrong people again and he started doing drugs. Again. As a child I could NEVER understand what was wrong with them, why did they stay with each other. Why were they always so unhappy then I had to realize before my parents were my parents they were their own person. They had their struggles prior to me." Wiping the tears from her eyes. "One day my mom had threatened to kill us because we tried to stop her from standing in front of the door so my father wouldn't leave. I even found her suicide note before. That takes a toll on someone man. That shit fucks you up mentally." Biting down on her bottom lip. She shook her head "My dad shot himself... right in front of us. He just dropped. We wanted to stop him but he was going through it so bad Mael... so bad we knew if we'd reach for it any of us wouldn't been next. We were sympathetic not stupid. There was so much blood. You could see the brain particles on the wall. My mom and brother both reached for the gun. She would've been next if he hadn't grabbed it. She would've taken herself out. After a couple months she had to go in the psych ward. She went crazy. That's when I moved to New York with my cousin. My grandparents were still around but I didn't talk to them much."

"I've just been coping, compartmentalizing. Laughing at my struggles, laughing at the pain, using dark humor but my life is constantly playing in my head. Before I came here I had no sense of identity at least now I'll be your wife, I've found my role. I didn't know what the fuck I was going to do next, I just had to get away. I thought I'd be happy in New York but it just made me feel bad for feeling like I left my mom. I felt guilty for trying to find happiness." Samael pulled her into a hug she cried on his chest.

"I still don't feel happiness, I feel empty. I'm trying so hard Mael. I'm trying to belong, I'm trying to find a purpose but I just feel nothing." This was the first time Monét had cried about her situation in a long time. She moved on, she allowed things to be what it was.

They both knew each other's life story and maybe that was the step forward that they need.

It was raw and uncut. What's a love without tragedy?