STEP DADDY 2: FAMILY TIES (COMPLETED)

#3: Where Is Athena?

Concealed inside Kareem's tinted out black Chevy Tahoe, we drove passed my block to see if anything was going on. My house was tapped off, multiple squad cars parked alongside the street. The police were standing around talking to one another or questioning the neighbors. Kareem continued towards the freeway before anyone saw us.

Every cop in Riverborn were going to be searching for those involved in the death of two of their own.  I unzipped my bookbag and pulled out the black box I've been holding onto. Unlocking the latch, I opened the lid and stared at the contents inside. In separate zip lock bags, were Athena's umbilical cord, pair of bloody panties from the first time Rocko raped me, cut-out pieces of bed sheets that contained Rocko's DNA, pictures of all the bruises I received from him and a letter signed and dated by me revealing that, Rakim "Rocko" Hendrix is a rapist and pedophile, he is also responsible for the death of my mother, Tammy Greene - Hendrix. He raped me and impregnated me in September 2016. The contents will prove that Rocko is Athena's father, if anything happens her as well.

          A cellphone vibrated in the truck, I focused on Freddie, sitting in the passenger seat, he leaned over closer to Kareem to pull his cellphone  this time and answered it. "Yeah?"

          How many phones does he have?

          I sat up close behind him but still couldn't hear who was on the other line.

          "I'm good, she's good....I can't tell you right now...I know...just tell them you ain't seen or heard from me...look I gotta go Opal...I will...Destroy that phone..." Said before ending the call. The next thing I heard, was a phone being broken. He rolled down the window and made sure no cars were behind us, before throwing the broken phone out the window.

          Kareem looked over and asked Freddie, "Dominic's mother?"

"Yeah, how you know?"

"Oh, we go way back. How's she doing?"

          "She's doing fine."

          Kareem smiled and reminisced. " The kids would call her Voodoo lady when we were about nine and eleven."

           Freddie turned in his seat to look at me and says, "Why you think I'm not worried about these niggas out here." He laughed. "Grandma keeps me protected." Freddie reached in his shirt and showed me a black tourmaline stone wrapped in copper wire."

          "Big Mama said all that stuff was the devil."

          "So did your other grandma. Her name was Rose. She hated me coming home smelling like Sage. Dominic was used to it, he said she's been that way since he could remember."

          "So, you and my pops were close?"

          "Thick as thieves. Dominic was an older to me. He had my back and I always had his in return. We stayed getting chewed out by our mothers for being in some type of mischief.  Rocko joined the party maybe a year or two later. The other kids thought he was quiet and weird, but we knew there was beast inside of him waiting to come out." Kareem took a deep breath. "We just didn't know what type of beast it was."

          "Where were you when my pops got killed then?" Freddie changed the subject.

          "In Las Vegas, we continued to stay in touch to a degree after I was released from prison. The day he was killed, I had planned on visiting him so we could catch up and to come see you as well Neveah."

          "Why didn't you come?"

          "Your sister was born." He turned and looked at me. "I had called him to let him know that I was going to have to reschedule the trip but received a call from Opal a few days later saying that he was killed."