Part 2 of this story will be on that account ]

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𝙊𝙢𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩

𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚇 .

❦

"Zari, be nice to him!" Tasia warned, putting Zariah on the couch next to Sani.

Aijah, Samiron, Eli, Zion, Sani, Juelz and Cee were all over Tasia and Duck's house because the boys had something to talk to Samiron about so they brought the kids along. Rell was at the club checking inventory, Mayah was working, and Mari was at the studio interviewing new lash techs so they weren't a part of the chaos that was ensuing at Duck's house.

As soon as Zariah was put on the couch, she crawled towards Sani who was quietly sitting under a blanket and kicking his feet while he watched Juelz and Cee play on the floor. She tried to snatch the blanket from him but he frowned and snatched it back.

"No!" Zari frowned at Sani who was clutching his blanket and giving her a i'm not boutta play with yo ass today face.

"No Zariah, don't be rude to yo cousin." Duck warned, sitting on the other couch with Samiron and watching everything play out.

"Zari mean." Cee mumbled from the floor as she played with Juelz. Shaila was back in Houston for the week so she decided to let Juelz stay with Zion for a few days since they hadn't seen him in a while.

Shaila used to go to school with Zion, along with Rell, Soovy, and Samiron, so she knew and trusted him. And she also saw how Zion was the main one always trying to play the peacemaker role between her and Soovy so she applauded him for that. He invited her to chill with them today but she declined. Despite everyone telling her they weren't holding any grudges, she still felt wrong kicking it with them after what she put Soovy through when he was alive.

"I know you ain't talkin'. Yo rude ass.." Eli told Cee who rolled her eyes, handing Juelz a toy.

"Fuck y'all, my daughter ain't rude." Zion frowned.

"Yea beesh!" Cee added, making her dad glare at her.

"You must wanna get whooped."

"Sowwy daddy."

Tasia laughed while Zari whined in her lap, "A whole mess."

Samiron shook his head, "Ian lyin'. Y'all bad ass kids better not corrupt my son."

"Sani gon' be bad too. It's just because he's a baby right now but let him grow up, nigga gon' be a whole menace."

"No he's not! He's such a sweet boy." Aijah cooed while she sat next to Sani on the couch and tickled his stomach. He looked up at her and laughed.

"Who in here talkin' shit about my child?" Mari announced, making her way into the living room and having just came back from the studio.

Eli sucked his teeth, "Yea we were talking 'bout Sani, and what? Always thinkin' you scaring somebody. Big head ass."

"Shut up Eli. That's why you scared yo daddy away and that nigga left and never came back." Mari shrugged and set her Marc Jacobs tote on the chair. Eli's jaw dropped while everyone else in the room stifled their laughs.

"He definitely be around Mari! You just don't see him." Eli reassured. Him and Mari's jokes always went above and beyond. To anyone else, you'd think they were actually insulting each other but in reality that's just how they joked.

"Around where?" She looked around the living room sarcastically, making binoculars with her hands.

Samiron bussed out laughing, "She got you with that one Eli i'm not gon' hold you."

"Fuck y'all!"

Sani finally tore his eyes away from Cee and Juelz on the floor when he heard his mom's voice. A smile instantly grew on his face.

"Mum-mum!" He held his hands up, wiggling on the couch to try to get up. Mari smiled and walked over to him.

"Hi mommy's sweet boy." She picked him up and kissed his cheek. "You missed me?"

Sani put his head on her shoulder and wrapped his arm around her neck, "Mum-mum."

"Ugh! I have baby fever now." Aijah poked her bottom lip out and fanned her eyes dramatically. She was in awe of how easily her best friend adapted to being a mom. It also amazed her how far the two of them came over the years— she went from meeting Mari in 5th grade to babysitting her child. All you need is that one solid friend to get you through whatever, and that's what Aijah and Mari have been to each other over the years.

"Uh oh, not baby fever. Somebody tell Thirty." Duck said.

"Bye Duck 'cause I was definitely playing. I'm perfectly fine with being the rich, boujee, auntie." Aijah flipped her hair over her shoulder. She also felt like it was way too early in her and Thirty's relationship to even be discussing kids.

Duck got up and took Zariah from her mom to put her down for a nap. Mari sat in his spot next to Samiron while she held Sani in her lap. Samiron leaned over and placed a kiss on his girlfriend's cheek, "Everything good?"

Mari nodded and leaned back onto Samiron's shoulder. "I'm good." She assured. He nodded and kissed Mari on the lips several times before Sani stopped him.

"No no no!" Sani tried to move his dad's face away from Mari. Tasia and Zion started laughing at the scowl on his little face and his pinched eyebrows.

Mari laughed, "Daddy can't give me a kiss?" He shook his head with a frown.

"Nigga get back, this MY lady." Samiron said. Being petty, he grabbed Mari by the chin and kissed her again.

"No!" Sani pushed him back and crawled in between the two.

"Not him thinking he runs shit." Tasia laughed.

"Literally. Not even a year old yet and he's already possessive." Mari chuckled and looked down at Sani who was still sitting in between her and Samiron.

Juelz and Cee were seated near Mari's feet playing with blocks.

Juelz looked up and finally noticed Mari since he wasn't paying attention when she walked in. "Hi Tee Mar." Juelz said very lowly causing Mari to smile.

"Hi baby." She leaned forward and tickled his back playfully. Mari figured Juelz was being extra quiet since they were a lot of people in the room. Even though he knew everyone, he still wasn't social when there were a lot of people around, which stemmed from his autism and him just being a shy person.

While Tasia, Mari and Aijah talked, Cee, Juelz and Sani played on the floor in front of them. Samiron was sitting on the couch across from Zion, eyeing him weirdly. Ever since he came to Duck and Tasia's house earlier, he could tell Zion was being stand-offish towards him and he didn't know why. To his knowledge, he didn't do anything to his brother so he had no reason to be acting the way he was.

Duck walked back into the living room from Zari's room. "Lemme holla at you Mir." He told him.

Samiron got up and Duck motioned for Zion and Eli to come too. Mir could sense there was something the three of them knew that he didn't, and he didn't like that.

"Daddy you go' smoke?" Cee looked up at him while Juelz sat next to her quietly flipping through pages of a kids' picture book.

Zion shook his head at Cee who was laughing, "Too damn grown." He muttered before following the boys out onto the porch.

Once the four boys got situated in patio chairs, Samiron cut right to the chase. "So wassup?"

Duck didn't say anything. Simply pulled out his phone, clicked on safari, and handed the phone to Samiron who took it hesitantly. He suspiciously eyed his brother who was staring off into the street before focusing his attention down at the article in front of him

Samiron skimmed over the article dated from a few hours ago before handing the phone back to Duck.

"So..?" Duck trailed off, confused by Samiron's nonchalant facial expression. Then again, that's how he always acted in front of them about everything. The only person who he was completely vulnerable with was Mari and even that took time and years of hardship.

"The police talk to y'all yet?" Samiron leaned his elbow on the chair and rubbed his chin. All three of the boys nodded.

"We told them you were with Mari that night 'cause we know if they end up questioning her that's the first thing she's gonna say." Eli said collectively.

"They're obviously looking for you now, but I still think we're good for the most part. The investigation been goin' on for over six months now and they still haven't found a solid piece of evidence to prove that anyone was even there, let alone you specifically did it." Duck explained.

Other than the details from Jonah's autopsy, the police had been keeping the entire investigation under wraps. Everyone suspected it was because they didn't have any solid evidence and another one of their cases was going to go cold yet again— which would look bad on their end since way too many homicides go unsolved in that police department.

"And I talked to Terris. He called his uncle who's a dirty cop that works in the department and he said the lieutenant been in there cussing everybody out 'cause they can't find shit."

Samiron exhaled deeply before glancing over at his brother who still hadn't said anything . "If Duck and Eli explaining all this," He motioned with his hand, "Why you still sittin' there with yo face frowned up like you got a stick in your ass?"

"'Cause you didn't fucking tell me." Zion finally spoke. "I had to find out AFTER they got yo name in the news that you were even involved. And to make matters worse, I called Terris and he told me he offered to take care of Jonah for you? On multiple occasions? How dumb are you?" He gritted through his teeth.

Zion hated when his siblings acted slow or stubborn. He saw more slowness in the twins with them being the youngest, but Samiron was by far the most stubborn out of all of them.

Samiron played by his rules and rarely took no for an answer and Zion hated that. Zion definitely saw it when they were both in the streets in highschool; it was either Samiron's way or no way at all. Samiron's stubborn mindset helped him secure his spot at the top in the drug game but now that he wanted out, you'd think he'd be more open minded about things.

"Zy, you're doing too much." Samiron ran an irritated hand down his face, "Shit is taken care of and trust me, i've heard it from everyone that I should've let Terris handle Jonah. I get it aight? But what's done is done. You telling me what I should've done isn't going to change what's happening now." He motioned towards Duck's phone.

Samiron along with the other boys weren't worried about the police. They've been in the streets long enough to know that if the police don't have anything, they get desperate and start putting public pressure on you. Which is what the department was doing by releasing the article and mentioning Samiron by name.

"It didn't help to mention the club though, that's bad for business." Eli mentioned. Zion threw his hand up dramatically and nodded in agreement.

"Right, the owner of Club Harmoni bein' the main suspect of a homicide investigation isn't a good look."

Samiron waved Zy off, taking the rolled blunt from Duck and putting it to his lips, "Y'all forget the club is right outside the hood? Half of the niggas that come in there probably escaped a hundred homicide investigations."

Zion huffed irritably and stood up from the patio chair. His brother's dismissive attitude was pissing him off. He could usually see right through the façade Samiron would put on but what irritated him this time was that there wasn't a façade. Samiron was genuinely calm about everything.

"What did god give you a fucking brain for if you ain't gon' use it?" Zion mushed Samiron's head aggressively as he walked past him and back into the house.

Samiron just rolled his eyes before taking another pull from the blunt and passing it to Eli. He was used to Zion's anger and he never took it to heart. Samiron knew the way his older brother treated him came from a place of genuine concern and love. Zion was frustrated that his brother wasn't more alert about everything, but the thing about Samiron was that he always stayed two steps ahead of everything.

It may not look like he has everything in control, but he did. He has the money, connections, and resources to make the lieutenant himself disappear if he wanted to. Samiron just wasn't concerned and he knew he was calling the police department's bluff on this case. They were obviously desperate to redeem themselves in the public eye because they looked weak.

⇊

"Literally ghetto.." Mari mumbled to herself while she sat in her office, flipping through paychecks and listening to Samiron and Sani be loud in the living room.

After leaving Tasia and Duck's house two hours ago, Samiron decided to stay home tonight and let Rell go to the club instead of him. He had been the one going to the club every night for the past week and he wanted to stay home with his son and girlfriend. Ironically, the night Samiron decides to stay home is the same night Mari has paychecks to sort through so they can be distributed at the studio Monday morning.

"YEA SON!" Mari heard Samiron yell faintly from the living room. She suspected they were still fooling around with the basketball toys so she turned the volume up on her remote and continued watching You on the t.v that Samiron installed in her office a few weeks ago.

At first, she didn't even want an office in the house because it would encourage her to bring work home and she didn't like doing that—even though she always did anyway. But Samiron insisted on turning the spare guest bedroom downstairs into an office for her so he did.

"Baby!" Samiron flung the office door open, holding a giggling Sani in his arms.

Mari rolled her eyes and threw her pen down on her desk, "What?"

"On god he just walked!" Samiron cheesed and bounced Sani up and down in his arms, making him laugh.

Mari's eyes shot open, "He did what?"

"Look!" Samiron showed her his phone.

"Was momma's baby walkinggg?" She cooed and tickled Sani. He smiled and snuggled onto his dad's neck.

"Come on Sani, show yo momma." Samiron took a few steps back and put Sani on the floor in front of him. He held onto both of his dad's hands above his head while he took the smallest steps towards his mom who was sitting on her desk chair.

"Look at my baby!" Mari poked her bottom lip out and held her arms out, encouraging Sani to come towards her. He took two more steps, with the help of his dad, before planting his hands on his mom's lap.

Mari smiled and pulled him onto her, "You did soo good baby boy." She kissed the top of his head.

"You hungry?" Samiron asked Mari.

She shrugged, "I could eat."

"Aight, i'm finna make wings." He said and she nodded dismissively, looking at the envelopes on her desk while Sani restlessly squirmed around on her lap.

Samiron sighed and grabbed Mari's chin, forcing her to make eye contact with him, "What did I tell you? Didn't I say everything was good and you don't needa be worrying?"

When they were on their way back home, Samiron decided to tell Mari what was going on instead of having her find out from the news or someone else. Mari was obviously upset because everything could've been avoided if Samiron would've just listened but he's stubborn and he didn't.

"They got yo name on the news Samiron." She said frustratedly while trying not to be loud and alert Sani.

"I know, they don't have anything so they're trynna put public pressure on me. Niggas came and talked to me once three weeks ago and never said anything after that. All of a sudden i'm a person of interest? They bullshitting." Samiron explained truthfully.

Aside from getting questioned once outside of his club a few weeks ago, the police never came and talked to Samiron about the case again. So he found it ironic that he was being named a person of interest now. It was obvious that the police had no leads and were desperate to put anything out in the news since their department looked like they don't know how to do their job.

Mari blew out a breath. "You hear me? Stop. Worrying." Samiron repeated and she nodded. He leaned down and planted kisses on her lips.

"No no no." Sani babbled, attempting to push his dad away from his mom. Samiron sucked his teeth and straight faced his son while Mari laughed.

"What I tell you earlier? This MY girl. I'll kiss on her if I want. How the hell you think you got here? Hm?" Samiron looked down at Sani who was leaning back against his mom's chest.

"No no." He babbled again, making Mari laugh. "Period! My son don't play 'bout his momma."

"Oh that's how it is? Bet that." Samiron nodded, "That's exactly why neither of y'all eating tonight." He told them with a grin playing on his face.

Mari's mouth dropped open, "You really gon-"

"Nah nah, keep that same energy." He walked backwards towards the door of the office, "Better teach 'yo son' how to Doordash in this bitch." He said and closed the office door behind him.

Mari shook her head and looked down at Sani who was quietly sitting on her lap with his finger in his mouth, "Daddy has mental issues, doesn't he baby boy?"

"No the fuck I don't." She heard Samiron say from the kitchen.

❦

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