𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
convincing

Royalty

next day

Royalty paced around her room because she was nervous. She needed to convince Lucious to remove her from the competition because she didn't have the creativity to make an album right now. She wanted to focus on her first single, but Lucious was very serious about the music. She didn't wanna disappoint him. Plus, he was dying. He didn't need any more bad news, but this had to be said.

She took a deep breath and then went to his room. She spoke chirpily. "Good morning, dad!"

She gave him a big grin and he stared at her suspiciously. "Okay, what's going on?"

"I don't know what you mean!"

"You haven't been this nice to me since your mother came back, so what's going on?"

Damn. She really couldn't fool him. She stopped the act and let out a breath. "Okay, we need to talk."

"You pregnant?" he asked bluntly.

She gave him a weird look. "Um, no."

"Good. I'd have to kill whoever he is."

That made Royalty roll her eyes because it was a problem for her to get pregnant, but if Hakeem knocked someone up, he'd congratulate him. Hell, he'd even congratulate Jamal because that would prove he wasn't gay.

"Dad, I don't think you should be talking about death after-"

"What do you need to talk about, Ro?" he asked with an attitude, not wanting to think about his disease.

She spoke nervously. "Okay...I kinda sorta don't wanna be in the competition anymore."

He looked at her seriously. "Are you a Lyon?"

"Yes."

"Well, this is a family competition, Ro. You have to compete."

She stomped her foot. "Dad, I'm stuck on my first song! I can't make an album!"

"Jamal has writers block too, but he's trying his hardest."

"Jamal actually wants to be CEO! I don't!" Royalty told him.

His expression shifted into anger. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I don't care about being in charge. I just wanna focus on the music."

Lucious had that same angry look as he got in her face. "I'm gonna ask you this again. Are you a Lyon?"

She huffed. "Yes."

"Right. So you should be striving to be on top. Being CEO is the top!"

"But-"

He cut her off. "Do you really want one of your brothers to be your boss? Or would you rather be the boss of them?"

"I'd rather be the boss, but-"

"Then go make that album!"

"Dad-"

"You're competing, Ro!"

Royalty sucked her teeth and stormed out of the room after that because his mind was made up. He truly didn't play when it came to the music. Now she was stuck competing for something she didn't even want.

Maybe she should make a shitty album, but that wouldn't be wise. Everyone would laugh and call her the untalented Lyon. Her career would definitely be over, and it hadn't even begun.

She really didn't know what to do, so she went to her room and plopped down on her bed angrily. She guessed Cookie saw her because she came in and said, "You okay, baby?"

Ro nodded sadly. "Yeah. I just had a chat with dad."

Cookie lost it after that. "What'd you do to my daughter, Lucious?!"

Royalty quickly calmed her down because she didn't want to get them started. "It's okay! I'm fine!"

Cookie relaxed. "Okay. Well, I need to talk to you. I know it must've been hard growing up with no mother around, and I know you're tired of being surrounded by men all day."

"Yeah, a little bit. That's why I like hanging with Tiana."

"Tiana? That Empire artist?"

Royalty smiled at the thought of her best friend. "Yeah. She's amazing, mom. She's my idol."

Cookie smiled too. "I'm glad you made a friend in the industry, baby. But look, I talked to your father and he said I can move in if you want me to."

"Move into the mansion?"

"Yeah! That way I'll always be around. How does that sound?"

"It sounds great, but..."

She trailed off and Cookie was concerned. "But what?"

"I don't know how Hakeem is going to feel about it," Royalty said.

Cookie touched her hand and spoke softly. "Let me worry about your brother, baby. So, should I move in?"

"100%."

Cookie clapped excitedly and hugged her tight. "Oh, thank you! You won't regret this!"

Royalty knew she wouldn't. She just hoped Hakeem wouldn't get mad at her.

Hakeem

Hakeem walked up the stairs and saw Cookie coming out of Royalty's room. He didn't know what she was doing in there, but he was gonna leave it alone. He didn't feel like arguing with her.

He had promised Lucious that he'd try to be civil with that woman, so that was what he was going to do. Especially since it was his dying wish or whatever. He had to talk to Lucious though. Tiana had told him Lucious wanted her to perform at some club, and Hakeem wanted to perform too. Just to be seen obviously, but also to get closer to Tiana.

Tiana hated his guts right now, and he didn't like it at all. She never believed anything he said, so he had to stop talking and show her how sorry he was. Actions speak louder than words.

"Yo, Pop! I gotta talk to you!"

"If it's about Cookie again-"

"It's about that new club that's opening up. Tiana's performing there?"

"She is. She's going to create some buzz for Empire."

"How come Jamal and I aren't performing?"

He said, "You and your brother don't have time to perform; you have an album to make. You have a competition to win."

Hakeem whined. "Come on. My song Power Of The Empire is nearly finished!"

"That's one song, Hakeem. You have more to make."

But he kept whining. "Come on, Pop. I can do this. I'm not Jamal. I can multitask."

Lucious knew that was true. "Yeah, you sure aren't Jamal." Then he paused for a while. "Okay, fine. You can perform last."

"Okay. But the thing is, I wanna perform with Tiana."

"With Tiana?" He laughed. "You catching feelings, huh?"

"No, but I fucked up our friendship. I feel like the only way she'll forgive me is if we get close through the music."

"You and Tiana only have one song together, and it was when you were brand new to the scene. Do you wanna perform that?" Lucious asked.

"We don't have a choice."

"Well, you better hope she remembers those lyrics. And you better hope she wants to perform with you," Lucious warned.

"Tell her to."

"I'm not going to tell that girl to do a damn thing. It's her decision. You better convince her."

Yeah. He had a lot of convincing to do, alright.