Victoria

"Who the fuck do you think I am?
You ain't married to no average bitch boy
You can watch my fat ass twist boy
As I bounce to the next dick boy"

My hips swayed as I walked out of the bathroom, singing to Beyonce's Don't Hurt Yourself.

Since I had been trying to get my life together so that I could possibly get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy and child, it was somewhat shocking to not be disappointed that I wasn't pregnant.

I didn't feel like Kareem and myself were in any position to be bringing a child into this world. The main reason was that the people that we had conflict with we're starting to hit much closer to home. I mean, the first time it was my truck. The second, or last could be the house while Kai, the baby, Kareem, or I am here. It's not worth the risk.

I've already lost two children and I'll be damned if Kai or another baby is taken away from me.

In addition, Vanessa was already pregnant. So we had Kai and my niece or nephew to worry about. It's just not smart or safe to bring another person who can't protect themselves right into the middle of this shit.

Depending on Kareem's reasoning for whatever the fuck had just happened on the phone, we could continue to try to conceive once this shit blows over. Not any sooner however.

"And keep your money, I got my own
Get a bigger smile on my face, being alone
Bad motherfucker, God complex
Motivate your ass call me Malcolm X"

After hearing those lyrics, I stopped mid stride.

Of course I had my own money. But, I was feeling real bold. Kareem had given me his black card when I went Black Friday shopping, but I ended up spending my own money. I tried to give it back, but he told me to keep it.

"You know what..."

His bad.

Going into the closet, I went to my side and got my all black, leather Gucci duffle bag from the top shelf. After quickly cleaning it out, I went to the bathroom and stuffed the bag with my toothbrush, deodorant, makeup, bonnet, edge control, and other necessities from the dresser.

Once I was sure that I had everything but clothes, I grabbed my purse and phone, cut the lights off in the room and went down to Kareem's office. He was gonna be getting a call from his bank by the morning.

After what I was about to do right then, I bet he'll regret showing me all the ways to get outside the house without walking straight out the front or back doors.

Sitting my purse on his desk, I sat down in the large black chair and powered on the iMac. The option to put in a passcode popped up. I hit the spacebar on the keyboard seven times and then typed in Kai's birthday.

Not long after, the bookshelf to the right of the desk automatically moved to the side, revealing a room full of all sorts of weapons, a large safe, and also a flight of stairs.

I smiled before going in the bottom drawer of Kareem's desk. There were a few different keys. Tapping my chin, I was indecisive as to which vehicle to drive to the airport. Finally deciding on the Infiniti QX56 at the end of the block, I grabbed the keys, my purse and my phone that was ringing before getting up from the chair.

Once I'd went through the entrance way, I typed another passcode into the keypad on the wall, making everything in the room turn off and the bookshelf to move back to its original place like I was never there in the first place.

As soon as my foot touched the first stair, it lit up, the rest following. I noticed that the whole damn tunnel was lit up like somebody's night club. I could only imagine how much Kareem spent on this whole lil system he had Corey, his tech man, put together when he first loved in, because this wasn't even the half of it.

However, Kareem was getting his money right back because he owned 10 of the 18 mansions in the neighborhood, and the cars in their garages. Kareem would pay for the homes and vehicles in full, and then rent them, for a nice lil profit might I add, to people who were vacationing or just wanted them for the moment.

Nobody can ever say that Kareem is broke, because that's a lie. It seemed like he was always trying to find a new way to make money. I fucks with it.

I just wasn't fucking with him at the moment.

I reached the trap door of the house at the end of the block after about a minute and a half of walking. Using the house key that was on the key ring, I unlocked the door, went up the stairs. After putting the passcode that was printed on the key into the keypad, the entrance opened. The office was similar to Kareem's, just a different color scheme and different furniture. I made sure everything was back how it should be before exiting the office and going to the garage.

I hit the chirp to unlock the blacked out Infiniti and then got in. Right when I sat my bag in the passenger seat, my phone began ringing, the default iPhone ringtone blaring.

Baby✨ was calling again.

Laughing, I hit decline and unlocked my phone, going to calendar to see which clients I had from Saturday to the following Thursday. Thankfully, many people were still happy with their Thanksgiving hairdos so I only had about five people and two possibles. I quickly texted them and apologized for the inconvenience before rescheduling them until the next Friday.

My clients understood my sudden need for a leave because I rarely cancelled, regardless of how I was feeling or what was going on in my life. That's what happens when you treat ya people right and make sure them styles last.

As I was on my last text and getting ready to call Vanessa, Kareem was calling again. I ignored it of course, and was about to put the garage up. Before I pressed the up button on the garage remote that was clipped on the visor mirror, a car sped by. I heard Kevin Gates's One Thing from Islah blasting and I knew it was Kareem.

My heart started beating fast as hell because I was almost caught before even getting out the damn neighborhood.

I waited a few minutes before lifting the garage and pulling off. Once I got over the initial shock of how smoothly the truck rode and then my mini comparison of whether I was gonna get an Infiniti or G wagon, I was out of the neighborhood and on the way to George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

"Baby sis," I spoke into the phone as she picked up.

"Kaseem, damn. Can you hold up?" Hearing a moan, my mouth dropped and my eyes widened. Although Vanessa was having a whole baby and was 20 years old, I really couldn't accept the fact that my baby sister was sexually active. It was weird.

Kaseem sucked his teeth and spoke in a whining tone, "I don't wanna hold up, Vanessa. I ain't seen yo ass all day."

"Give me 3 minutes," Vanessa replied, giggling.

Lawd I think I'm gonna be sick.

"You gone be dried up by then-"

Gagging, I removed my phone from my ear. Kaseem had nobodies filter. I should have been used to it though, since Kareem is his brother.

Vanessa shrieked, "Boy I will punch you!"

I heard him laugh in the background, "Damn, I'm just playing. Hurry up."

"Sorry."

After getting myself together, I spoke, "Mhm. I'm calling to let you know I won't be in until next Friday."

"And why is that?" I expected that. She can never just say okay and hang up the damn phone.

"I don't feel like talking about it," I replied, trying to keep the conversation short. If I was to tell her where I was going, it would somehow get back to Kareem.

Matter of fact, he would probably know where I was within the next 24 hours because of the people he had on his team and because he was just that man. It would be fun to send his ass on a chase and test his patience, however.

"Mhm, okay. I'm still getting paid right?"

"Girl get off my line."

When I hung up with Vanessa, I called Dasani, hoping that getting my ticket would be an easy process.

"Dasani?"

"Hey, babe," she greeted in a cheerful tone.

Gnawing at my lip, I looked both ways before making a right turn at the stoplight. "Is the flight full? I rescheduled all my clients. I really need a break."

"Oooohhh, this is gonna be so fun. I'll have your ticket waiting when you get here," she said, causing me to grin.

"Thank you, love."

Kareem

"Why the fuck would you do that shit?!"

Not only did this walking piranha- baby momma of mine just piss my woman off, but she also threw my damn phone at the wall and shattered my shit so I had no way of calling her back. That was only gonna lead her to believe that I was over here doing something I had no business.

"Why you ain't tell ya wifey you been with me for the past few hours? She deserved to know," Layla spoke, smirking at me.

"I'm only here because your trifling ass didn't tell me that my child was in the hospital," I replied, getting up to go get the footage from the cameras that I had installed all around this house.

I always wanted my child to be safe. I wasn't jinxing it, but anything could happen when she with her mother and I wanted a way to see the whole truth. So, I had one of my boys hook a whole advanced security system installed as soon as Layla bought this place.

A few hours ago I got a call from Layla's momma, questioning me about why the hell I hadn't been to the hospital in the two days that my child was in there. Turns out she had an allergic reaction to some brownies that had nuts in them. But first off, why the fuck wasn't somebody watching my five year old child while she was in the kitchen, especially when niggas know she has an allergy.

Even though Layla was some shit that I ain't wanna call her, I would've never expected her to not tell me my child was in the hospital. That was a new level of trifling.

As I was walking away, she grabbed my arm and it took everything in me to not turn around and thump her crazy ass in the forehead. "I know that Kai wasn't the only reason you came over here-"

Snatching my arm from her grip, I saw her eyebrows furrow. I don't understand why the hell she don't understand that I don't want her.

Like why is it so hard for people to believe that I only want one woman? I ain't got that kind of time, patience, or love for anybody other than Victoria DeShay and I don't know how many times I gotta say that shit.

"I ain't stoppin' Victoria next time. You don't have any respect for yourself or my damn relationship. You want Kai to grow up, hoeing ' around and shit?!"

When she didn't reply, I sucked my teeth at her newly-silent ass and turned around to go up the stairs.

Layla grabbed me again and I almost snapped. "Man get the fuck away from me!"

She finally realized that I wasn't playing with her fraud ass and let go of my arm.

I continued up the stairs and made a right once I got to the top, stopping in front the purple door that read "Kai's Room" in blue letters.

I heard Layla coming up the stairs, "You're not taking my child, Kareem."

Glancing over my shoulders, I have her a hard look before continuing into the room, "Layla shut the fuck up."

After entering, I went to her closet, trying to be as quiet as possible. Even though she was doped up on the medication from the hospital, I didn't wanna wake her up.

"What are you doing?"

"Can you back the hell up please? I do not want you Layla. I am happy and I am in love. Honestly, I'm probably gonna marry Victoria soon. I see the rest of my life with that woman and my child is gonna be around her. And Kai is also gonna be around whatever kids are to come in the future. Get over it. I promise I ain't gonna say that shit again."

A few seconds later I heard her footsteps, telling me that she was finally getting from over my shoulder. I finished getting what I needed before closing up the lil room in the closet, kissing Kai's forehead and walking downstairs.

Layla was sitting on the couch with a glass of red wine in her right hand. Politely walking past her, I picked up my shattered phone from by the fireplace and tried to turn it on.

"Bullshit," I mumbled, when it didn't turn on after the third try, as I walked out the front door and got in my truck.

*

"Victoria," I yelled, walking through the front door. The G Wagon was outside so I assumed she was upstairs waiting for me to get home so she could cuss me out or some shit.

I was already irritated because of Layla and her bullshit, but then when I was finally able to get my shattered ass phone to turn on, Victoria didn't answer any of my damn calls.

Checking the whole house, even the outside areas, I came up empty handed. Honestly confused out of my mind, I went outside and walked to the gate where two of my security were.

When I reached the gated, Ty opened then the window of the lil room thing he was in and nodded at me, acknowledging my presence.

"Where is my woman at, Ty?"

"She should be in the crib. Her car ain't move since she got here an hour ago," he replied, furrowing his eyebrows, letting me know he was just as confused as I was.

"Call out and do a check." Ty nodded, picking up his wallow talkie and letting everybody to be on the lookout.

Walking up the driveway and into the house, I went back to the kitchen to get something to drink and call Victoria again.

"You have reached Victoria. Sorry I didn't pick up, but leave a message and-"

Sucking my teeth, I tossed my phone on the marble island, wrecking my brain go find out where the hell she could be if her car was still outside and she was nowhere to be found in the house.

It seemed like something clicked in my head, or maybe I was having flashbacks from being held at gunpoint... I don't know, but I ran to my office and logged into the iMac to check the cameras in the house and around the neighborhood.

Once I found what I was looking for, I ain't really know whether to laugh or go crazy.

"She really got me fucked up."
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I didn't edit.

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