STEP DADDY 2: FAMILY TIES (COMPLETED)

#13: Bad News

8:50AM  | Houston Safe House

Neveah's POV

            I listened to Freddie walk out the bedroom unsettled. The stubborn part of me wanted to continue lying in bed while the caring part of me, told me to get up and go check on him. Our argument from last night caused us to sleep on opposite sides of the bed, listening to one another breathe deeply, yearning for one another. I tossed the covers off my body, making the final decision to go cook breakfast and to see what was up with Freddie.

Making a quick trip to the bathroom, I released myself and washed my face. I took a moment to stare at myself in the mirror. The young girl staring back was tired and ready for this shit to end and go back to way things were but that was never going to happen. My mother was dead, and my daughter was missing. My life was never going to be the same again. It's sad that I didn't even feel like a seventeen-year-old girl anymore. My mental has surpassed that.

I need to figure this shit out. I thought to myself.

The only reason why I wanted to go to the police was  because I was tired of waiting on Ms. Violet and her connections to come through with more information. The downside about going to the police was the possibility of Freddie and I winding up in jail and losing my daughter completely to the system. There was only so much the evidence that I had against Rocko was going to do.

I realized after a few days of being in Houston, that I was running out of clean clothes and I needed to wash. I gathered all my dirty clothes and stuffed them in a white, plastic hamper. As for Freddie and Kareem, they were on their own washing clothes. Them days of being a man's maid was over. I didn't mind cooking because I loved it but doing a man's laundry who I wasn't married to was out of the question.

With my hamper in tow, I made my way to the bedroom door and gripped the knob. Upon opening it, I heard unfamiliar voice talking to Freddie. A females voice to be exact. As I listened closer to their conversation, I suddenly recognized who the voice belonged to.

"Violet." I snarled with smoke coming out of my nose. Laundry and breakfast were now put on the back burner. Still listening to their conversation, I stealthily walked down each stair. Nothing could prepare me for I saw next. Violet and Freddie were in a tight embrace, standing in the middle of the kitchen. Two large men, dressed in all black, stood nearby unfazed. Nobody saw me as I watched Freddie's hands slowly rub her back as she cupped the back of his head in her hand like he was her lover.

"Freddie?" I called out his name just above a whisper.

Freddie looked at me and quickly broke their embrace, creating some distance between them, but it was too late. I had seen enough. Violet turned around to see what made Freddie stop hugging her, when she saw that it was me. Her competition. A chuckle escaped her mouth.

"Neveah, it's so finally nice to meet you." She smirked.

Even those I despised Violet, I had to give the woman credit. She was beautiful and stylish. Even in this hundred-degree Texas heat, she still rocked an all-black, shoulder-strapped dress that stopped just above her knee. The slit on the right side, exposed the cobra tattoo on her thigh. The snakeskin, open toed heels with wrap-around ankle straps, complimented her bronze tone legs and French pedicure.

Folding my arms across my chest, "This is a surprise seeing you, Violet." I shot a glare over at Freddie then back at her. "I didn't know you were visiting us. Is everything okay?"

            She placed her expensive dark shades on top of her blonde finger-waved hair, "I know. I apologize for that. When Freddie called me last night and told me what was going on. I had to make the trip because the information that I had received prior to his call was too sensitive to be given to anyone else."