𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

fifteen.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
no one likes a snake

Royalty

next day

It was bad enough that Royalty was struggling to make one song, now she had to make an entire album? How was she supposed to do that? She wasn't as experienced as her brothers.

Lucious didn't think this through at all.

Maybe she didn't have to make an album because she couldn't care less about running a company. She only wanted to be an artist, so maybe she should tell Lucious that, and maybe he'd take her out of the competition.

But the fact that he was dying still had her in a foul mood. He'd been there her whole life, and now he wasn't gonna be there for much longer. It was sad.

Lucious may be a liar, but she still loved him. She didn't want him to die.

Royalty sighed after that, and looked at the recording booth. She heard someone say, "Hey, Princesa."

It was Blake again. He was standing in the doorway and she questioned him. "Princesa? Do you even know Spanish?"

"Na, but I learned that word for you."

Blake sat next to her and she rolled her eyes playfully. "You didn't have to do that."

"You're a princess, are you not? The princess of Empire."

Ro giggled. "Yeah, I guess I am. Hakeem's the prince. But you complimenting me in Spanish isn't going to prove we have a connection. You gotta try harder than that."

"Okay...what about this?" Blake took out some McDonald's nuggets and she gasped.

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did. Food is the easiest way to any girl's heart."

She quickly grabbed the nuggets. "Okay...you're getting a little warmer."

She ate a nugget and he laughed. "What were you doing in here? Working on that song?"

"On an album, actually."

"Damn. Lucious has you making an album already? He ain't work me that hard when I started," Blake said.

"It's a family competition we have going on; that I don't even wanna be a part of."

"Why not? I'm sure you can win."

"That's the thing. I don't want to win." She sighed.

Blake was worried. "You okay?"

"No. Something bad is going on with Lucious. I would tell you, but it's personal. I feel like my life's turned upside down."

"Then we just have to turn it back up."

"We can't."

"Yeah we can." Blake stood up and held his hand out. "Come on, I wanna show you something."

Royalty didn't know what he was about to show her, but she grabbed his hand and followed him anyway. He led her into another room and said, "I'm about to play you a song Hakeem and I promised to keep secret. We recorded it behind Lucious' back."

"Why?"

"Because it was a rap battle we did on the same track. We were dissing each other."

Royalty was so shocked right now. "Wait, you and Hakeem had beef?"

Blake nodded. "When I first got here, yeah. He was threatened because there was another rapper around. Plus, I'm white and he didn't like that very much."

Now she was intrigued. "Okay, I have to hear this!"

Blake played the song and his part was first. The beat was something crazy too, but she hoped Hakeem didn't get absolutely bodied on the track. As she listened, she couldn't deny that Blake went kind of hard, but now it was Hakeem's turn and he went in! He put all of his anger into it; he was rapping with so much emotion, and by the time the song ended, she was speechless.

"Okay, that was fucking good."

"Yeah. So who won?"

She stayed loyal to Hakeem. "I think I have to stick with my brother on this one. He fucking killed you, and his emotion made it better."

Blake chuckled. "Yeah, I agree. But Hakeem respected the fact that I challenged him, and we became friends because of it. It's a crazy story that the world will never know."

She smiled at him. "Well, thank you for sharing this with me. I appreciate it."

Blake smiled back. "I knew it'd make you laugh, so."

"Yes it did!" She laughed just thinking about it. "I have to listen to that again. It was great."

Blake laughed too. "Okay." He played the song again, and Royalty was dying because Hakeem really bodied him. She was so proud.

She had been in a foul mood before, but now she wasn't. Thanks to Blake.

Andre

Andre and his brothers were in the conference room. Jamal and Hakeem were trying to write some songs for their upcoming albums. Hakeem was scribbling fast as hell, but Jamal hadn't written a thing.

Hakeem stared at Jamal's blank paper. "Well, damn. I'm definitely winning this competition." Andre laughed out loud, and Hakeem scowled. "Something funny, Dre?"

"The fact that you guys think you stand a chance at winning is hilarious to me."

"Why is that?" Hakeem asked.

"Because you guys know nothing about the business side of Empire. You'll destroy this company. Especially you, Hakeem." Andre needed Jamal to agree with him. "Right, Jamal?"

Jamal did agree. "He's already destroying himself, so yeah."

Hakeem snapped at him just like Andre wanted. "You're gonna destroy this family with that Mateo mess. If the world finds out-"

"They won't find out, so how about you mind your business and write your damn song!" Jamal fired back.

Andre snickered. "You guys also bicker too much. That's not a good look."

Jamal questioned him. "So you think you're gonna win?"

"Yes. I'm the smartest and the oldest. I'm the best option."

"And you're the fakest," Hakeem dissed.

Andre glared at him now. "How am I fake, Hakeem?"

"Because it's hard to read you. No one ever knows what you're really thinking. I couldn't even tell if you were happy that deadbeat came back or not."

Andre spoke honestly. "A part of me was, and a part of me wasn't."

"See. I couldn't even tell you didn't want her back because you were all up on her."

He was annoying Andre. "What does being fake have to do with me being CEO?"

Hakeem shrugged and stood up. "I'm just saying that no one likes a snake in their grass." Then he walked out, and Andre scowled at him the entire time. That mouth of his was something else.

"Damn. I thought he only hated me," Jamal commented.

"Yeah, I thought so too."

But it seemed like Hakeem had a problem with Andre too. That was completely fine because now he really had a reason to jeopardize his chances of being CEO. He no longer felt bad at all.