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You gon' need a aspirin or two that's all I'm gonna say, y'all might hate me but enjoy anyways☹️ This will be in two parts.

Part 1

Cameron POV

"Hello?"

"Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center."

"Yes, hi. I'm calling to request a phone call."

"Name."

"Cameron Jackson."

"...husband of Anthony Jackson?" She asks with irritation laced in her voice.

"Yeah."

She sighs on the other line, "Baby, this ain't nothing new. He can't receive sporadic phone calls. You know this."

"I'm just calling to see if he's okay, just this once can I talk to him."

"Anthony is fine baby. He woke up this morning, threw out his breakfast meal like he usually does, and he's in the yard now. He's functioning normally. He hasn't uttered a word to anyone, he's a bit on edge. But he's good."

"Just- can I just speak to him. I'll pay, I'll do anything."

She sighs again, "Call me again at 8pm. If I let you get that phone call that's definitely the last one until next year, understand?"

"..Yeah, I understand," I say goodbye and hang up the phone. This past week since Anthony's phone call and the incident with Taleah, I've been trying to call him at the prison every day and each and every time they tell me no. I need to know what he was talking about. And I need to make sure he's okay after what I told him about Leah.

We have not moved on from the situation, but we've tried to keep Taleah's mind on everything else but that. The last thing I'd want is for my daughter to fall in a depressive state.

Tyler and I are still trying to figure out how to handle who did this. I mentioned getting the police involved but he was totally opposed to the idea. He said it was too late and he didn't feel satisfied with the form of punishment they would get. He wants them gone for good. I don't know what he's up to but this whole week he's been having secret phone call conversations, and from the sounds of it they're pretty violent. I don't know what he has planned, but I want him to be careful. I don't need anymore people that I love going to prison. My heart can't take that.

Overall though, my baby has been okay or at least putting on an act that she's okay. She's laughing and smiling every now and again, but I can see it in her mannerisms and see it in her eyes that the situation is hurting her . I've made it clear multiple times that she can talk to me about anything if she wants but she always says the same thing, 'Papa, I'm okay now. I don't want to talk about it.'

I just don't want her attitude to be a false cover up for how she's really feeling because that can eat you alive. I know from experience. Plus, she's usually okay during the day but I have no clue what goes on at night. I don't know where her mind is while she's trying to fall asleep, and those thoughts are the most toxic if you don't talk about them.

Even if she doesn't want to talk about it, and whether she has healed from the incident or not, I will deal with who caused this, and clearly it has a lot to do with Malaysia. The next time I see her, I don't need anyone restraining me. I told Tyler and I told Zaniyah. If we ever happen to cross paths again just let me do what I have to do. I'll deal with the consequences after, but I won't be able to control myself if I ever see her again. Between you and I, I have been looking for her on my own every single day. Every time I get off of work I stop by places that I think she would be, but I never find her. I've been by her house multiple times already. I'm eagerly waiting for the day that she comes out of hiding.

"You okay?" I feel a hand on top of my head and I turn from my position of staring out of the window. I sigh and nod under Tyler's hand.

"You're up early for it to be a Sunday."

"So are you," I rub at my eyes and stretch.

"Kinda, but im used to waking up early in the morning. I know how much you love to sleep."

I shrug and drag myself to the kitchen. Since I'm apparently up so early I might as well make breakfast for everyone.

"Let me help," Tyler says grabbing a bowl and a whisk.

"No way," I shake my head with a smirk, "you know you can't cook."

"I could cook. I definitely could cook." He frowns.

"Let me show you. I'm gonna make the eggs, and you make everything else," Tyler says confidently. I decide to let him do just that, even though I do not have high hopes for how they're gonna turn out.

"Only thing is you gotta tell the kids you made it so they're not biased," he chuckles while struggling to crack eggs into a bowl.

When the breakfast is done I go to wake up Aj and Tyler goes and wakes up Taleah.

"Aj, you want breakfast honey?" I caress my hands through his hair and he barely opens his eyes. I kiss his forehead, "Aj..."

He stirs around in his sleep for a bit and then he opens his eyes fully, "what?" He asks confused.

"I made some breakfast. Come and eat after you situate yourself." I smile at him and leave his room.

"Good morning papa," Taleah says when she finishes out of the shower.  I hold my arms open and she melts into my embrace. Every time I see my daughter I have to try and act normal. I have to try not to cry whenever she says something or smiles or laughs. Because every time she does, I'm just reminded that she didn't deserve anything that happened to her. And no one does, but my baby is the sweetest thing ever and the fact that anyone could do that to such a genuine and kind  soul hurts me.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah I did."

I kiss her face and pinch her cheeks, "well you can eat your breakfast."

She sits at the kitchen island and at that same moment Aj comes out of his room.

"Goodmorning Aj," I smile slightly at my son, testing the waters.

Don't get me started on Aj this week. I have to beg him to come home before 4am because he's out all night thinking that he can find the man who violated his sister. He's been on edge, and has barely said a word. Part of me feels as though he still blames himself and even when he doesn't confide in me about his feelings, I reassure him that none of this is his fault almost every day.

But, like expected, none of my talking helps the situation. It actually hurts it in his eyes because I can tell he is getting annoyed with me every time I speak to him and try to instill the fact that it's not his fault. He completely shuts me out and avoids me at all costs. He won't even look at me. And I may be overthinking, but I also think that he blames me, because of how hostile he's been acting towards me ever since we found out what happened. As a parent, I can't help but take partial blame for not looking out for my daughter like I should have. But deep down I know I shouldn't be sharing blame because the only people to blame is the people who set her up and her rapist.

Aj ignores my greeting and sits alongside Taleah while Tyler and I sit on the other side. As they take out their breakfast I'm laughing internally because I already know how nasty Tyler's eggs are going to be.

They both take a bite at the same time and then stop in their tracks.

"...who made these?" Taleah asks talking around the food in her mouth.

"I did," I smile, keeping up with what Tyler said to do.

"You did not make these," she spits it out into a napkin and I laugh.

"How do you fuck up eggs? Uncle Tyler, you made these didn't you?"

I look over and Tyler's jaw is dropped, and he looks shocked. "Y'all ain't shit. It's not that bad," he takes a bite for himself and the smile he has to force on looks so painful.

I'm not even willing to try because I know I'm not going to like it either. I'm just going to stick to the food I cooked.

"Just spit it out," I smile in amusement as I continue to watch Tyler suffering. He finally does into a napkin.

He looks disappointed in himself but then he grins, "$500 to whoever can eat this whole bowl," as Tyler is trying to bribe the twins to eat the bowl of eggs for money I get a phone call. I excuse myself when I see that it's my mother calling.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cam! We just touched down in New York at JFK. Daddy is on line picking up the rental car right now," she says excitedly.

What?

"What? What are you talking about?" I ask in genuine confusion. But before she can respond it dawns on me that two weeks ago she had said she'd be coming to New York in two weeks time. My eyes widen.

"I told you we'd be coming to New York."

"I know, I forgot. Why didn't you call to remind me? This is very unexpected."

"I mean, Cam. I told you that we'd be coming it's not like this is random."

"But you still could have reminded me. That was two weeks ago when we had that discussion."

She sighs, "it was such an important discussion that I would think you would have remembered it."

I make a face. Yeah it was an important phone call, but by me forgetting that my family was coming to New York clearly says that that wasn't an important part of the conversation.

"Yeah, you having cancer was the important part. Not flying out to New York. Regardless, you should have reminded me."

"Okay Cammy, I understand. Well, I was just calling to say that we've touched down and we'll be on our way to see you in about five hours. So we can get settled in and catch a bite to eat. Okay? Love you, bye," my mother hangs up before I can protest against them coming. I take my phone from my ear and just stare at it. There's already way too much on my plate right now, and I know my family is just going to add on to it.

"Leah! Leah! Leah!" I hear Tyler chanting when I can tune into reality. I look at my family- that I actually care about- and I'm met with the sight of Leah taking the finishing bite of all the eggs in the bowl while Tyler and Aj watch her.

"Run me my money uncle," she says painfully and I know it has to do with the amount of eggs she consumed and how disgusting they are claimed to be.

Tyler stands up and rubs his bare stomach, "thanks for the food ugly."

He goes into the pocket of his jeans and seriously pulls out five hundred dollars and hands it to Leah, "you got lucky." Taleah smirks and stands up and starts skipping off to her room but I stop her.

"By the way, my mother and father are coming over in about an hour. Don't ask, I'm just letting you guys know."

"Why?" Aj asks and I sigh.

"Your grandmother has cancer, so-"

"Wait– grandma has cancer?" Taleah asks full of concern and on the verge of tears. I realize my mistake and I have to correct myself.

"No not grandma," I say referring to Tyler's mother who we all consider the twins grandma. She loves and appreciates them a million times more than any of their blood grandmothers, so she's rightfully earned that title. And she wears it with pride.

"I'm talking about my mother" I say, "your blood grandmother has cancer. So she wants to see all of us in case something happens."

The twins sigh in annoyance. I didn't expect them to have any sympathy though because they don't know my side of the family very well. They have met them once when they were five years old, but it has been ten years since then.

"Why? I've barely even met them before. This is so unnecessary," she adds. I nod in understanding.

"I know, but they're already in New York. They'll be here in an hour," I say as I start to straighten up my already clean apartment.

"Your brothers is coming?" Tyler asks

I stop in my tracks, alarmed. I hadn't thought about them, I only imagined that my mother and father would be coming, "I hope not, what the heck. That would be so disrespectful if they brought over that man," I express, now upset.

"I wouldn't put it past them."

"Does that mean I gotta go dress up?" Leah asks. She's sitting comfortably in her black leggings and t shirt.

"No, you guys don't have to do a thing. Do what makes you comfortable," I say quickly. I dare them to come in here and think they deserve to be presented with fancy attire. My kids will be comfortable in the place they live in at all times.

"I'm going out," Aj speaks hoarsely with a cough and starts getting up. I frown.

"Why do you sound like that?" I get up and go to the other side of the kitchen island where he is. I touch the back of my hand to his forehead and he moves his head away immediately, "Don't touch me."

"I just need to check your temperature," I place the back of my hand to his forehead again and he pry's my hand away. "Yo, can you move," He says.

"Aj stop," I frown again and reach my hand up to his face to touch his forehead, but he steps away from me.

"Get the fuck out my face," He says and on a regular day I would have just walked away and moved on, but strangely his statement triggers an emotion that makes me explode.

"AJ, Stop! It's not a big deal I'm just trying to help you!" I yell at him emotionally, "everything I do for you is a problem! What did I do wrong?!" I feel my eyes start to water. He pauses and I wait for an answer and when I don't get one, I walk away from the kitchen feeling on edge and stressed out. I sniffle and wipe the tears flowing from my eyes as I head to my room. I close the door and grab some tissues from my night stand and dab at my eyes. I take a seat on my bed.

I'm used to Aj's personality, but for some reason it triggered me at that moment. It's just like, so much is going on in my mind today and all I would ask for is that I don't have to deal with unnecessary drama such as Aj's bad attitude. That's all, but even that's too much to ask.

I try to tune out the sound of Tyler yelling at Aj, but it's just so distracting. But so is the thoughts in my mind and it's like they're both battling for my attention and it's driving me crazy. I cover my ears and bury my head into my knees. Five minutes into that position, I realize that the yelling has stopped nearly two minutes ago. But the thoughts in my head were screaming so loud, i hadn't even noticed.

The thoughts about Taleah, my daughters rapist, Malaysia, my husband, his phonecall, my parents, my mothers cancer, the possibility of seeing my father and my parents son who I hate with a passion coming in less than ten minutes, Aj's hate for me, my job, the loneliness, all of it at once. I am only one person. I can truthfully say, that I am tired. I hate to make anything about me, but I'm so tired. If it's not one thing it's the next. And I have so much on my plate right now, and so many emotions and feelings that I have been feeling for years but it's like they all of a sudden want to just hit me like a truck and add on to every current problem I have.

I'm probably not even making sense right now, I'm all over the place. I just need to get it together. I can't be acting this way. I sit up and wipe my face. I head to the bathroom and splash my face with cold water and when I look into the mirror everything about my face is so red, especially my eyes and cheeks from all the crying. I try to get rid of the redness but it won't go away, so I give it up with a sigh.

I clear my throat and take a sip of water from my reusable water bottle on my nightstand and straighten out my clothes.

With my phone in my hand, I leave my room and go back to the kitchen. I'm surprised to see Aj still sitting there alongside Taleah while Tyler sits across. There's a lot of tension coming from Aj. Not much from Tyler because Tyler doesn't hold a grudge against his family, if he's going to confront you he just does it and moves on.

I start to do a big cleaning just to try and relive some stress. And even though I'm on my feet for nearly four hours it helps relive some stress.

"You okay?" Tyler asks me and I smile and nod.

"I'm okay," I start to pick up everyone's dishes that I put in a stack but Ty stops me.

"Nah Cam, I got it, I hadn't even noticed they were there." he tries to grab the dishes from me but I protest.

"No, it's okay."

"For real, I got it." He says and starts picking up the things that I can't carry. I decide to just let him help.

"I'll do the dishes." Tyler insists.

"I can do it." I reply with a smile.

"Yeah clearly, but I'm going to do it."

"No, Ty. It's okay,"

Before he can continue the back and forth about who's going to do the dishes, a knock on the door interrupts us. I freeze in my position and let out a frustrated sound. That has to be my family.

I dry my hands and walk to the front and that gives Tyler a chance to wash the dishes that he wanted to wash so badly.

"You guys can go to your rooms if you want to. Whatever makes you comfortable," I tell the twins and they don't waste a second in getting up and leaving the kitchen and heading straight to their rooms.

I take a deep breath in front of the door and build up enough courage to answer the door. When I open it all the way so many memories come flooding— good ones and bad ones.

"My Baby!!!!!" My mother starts to cry and wraps her arms around me. I hug her back. It feels good to hug my mom after so long, despite some of our differences. It's been ten years since I've seen her face and she's seen mine. She takes a step back and holds my face and stares deeply into my eyes.

She doesn't even look like a sick woman. Despite all the weight she's lost, she looks beautiful as ever. She's going on fifty and it's evident, but she wears it well. But, I can feel how frail and cold her hands are around my face.

"You look so beautiful, so young." She admires and smiles, and kisses my cheek. She sighs out in happiness, "Ah, I can't believe this. My second born son. My favorite."

"Mom!" I look up and it's my younger brother Kyle looking offended. Last time I saw him, he was the same age as the twins which would also make them the same age now. He's gotten quite tall since then, obviously. He's nothing like me, in terms of looks. He's tall, muscular, and much more manly. But I guess we do favor in similar features.

He makes eye contact with me and smiles and I smile back. We're not close at all, I've barely even met him. Plus, he's the same age as my children, I could be his parent.

"It's crazy that I have a brother I've barely met before. We have to get to know each other." He says with excitement and I just nod with a smile.

"Can I hug you? I'm gonna hug you." Kyle walks around my mother and hugs me super tight, "You're kinda short. Actually not kinda, you really are like super short, what the heck." He lets me go and walks in and helps himself to a seat, "Your apartment is so nice."

My mother smirks and rolls her eyes at him, "This one can talk, just telling you ahead of time."

Her smile suddenly drops and her stare becomes serious. I see two other male torsos and I refuse to look up and meet their eyes . I'm pissed that they brought that man here. I was expecting my father, I'm not shocked about that. But I would think they'd have some type of decency to not bring TaiShawn. For all that he's done in the past, I really do not want him here right now. I can say wholeheartedly that I absolutely hate him.

And as for my dad, I wish he hadn't come either. We've never healed from our past and it's even harder since we used to be so close. He was my best friend when I was sixteen but all it took