𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

thirty five.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
hakeem did what?

Lucious

Lucious was at Empire, trying to catch up with Becky, but he couldn't focus on what she was saying. The only thing on his mind was Cookie and her harsh words.

When Cookie blamed her father's death on him, that hurt him more than he thought it would. He guessed it was because he had never expected her to say something so cruel. But she did, and she told him that she meant what she said, so she better not try to apologize because Lucious could never forgive her. Ever. Because he would've never said something like that to her.

"Lucious?" Becky called.

He focused on her again. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Really? You seem sad, and I have never seen you sad before."

Cookie was to thank for that. He wasn't sad though. He was...disappointed. "I'm not sad, Becky. It's just too much happening in such short time."

Becky agreed. "Yeah. Things haven't been the same since Cookie's been back, huh?"

"At all. First I was diagnosed with ALS, and then-"

Becky cut him off. "ALS? What are you talking about?"

Lucious supposed he should tell her. "I had a lot of muscle weakness, and the doctor diagnosed me with ALS. I only have three years to live."

Becky was sad. "What's going to happen to Empire?"

"I have to choose a new CEO between one of my kids, or Cookie."

"Who are you going to choose?"

"I don't know yet. Who do you think?"

Becky thought about it. "It'd be nice if Cookie won because it'd be cool to have a woman in charge, but Andre is the most experienced."

That was true. "Yeah. Andre is a good choice, but I don't know. He's very erratic at times. He can help Empire, but he can also destroy it."

"Well, what about Jamal? He's trustworthy. But he's..."

"Gay," Lucious finished for her. "I don't want people blacklisting Empire because of it."

"They'll never find out."

"As long as I'm alive, they won't. But when I die, there'll be no one to stop Jamal from coming out of the closet," Jamal said.

"I see. Well, Hakeem and Royalty are too young, in my opinion. Your only options are Andre or Cookie," Becky summarized.

He nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for your insight."

"No problem. And hey, your kids are gonna be okay."

Lucious nodded again and then they heard Hakeem yelling. "Get out my face, yo!"

Lucious and Becky followed the yelling, and so did everyone else. There Hakeem was, arguing with Jamal.

"You stepped up to me!" Jamal yelled back.

"Now I'm telling you to step back!"

Jamal put his arms out to the side. "I'm not stepping back Hakeem, so what are you gonna do?"

"I'mma make you."

"I'm waiting."

Hakeem punched Jamal, and they went at it like crazy at Lucious' fucking company. In front of everybody. People took out their phones to record as Becky and Lucious rushed in to break them up. Lucious pulled them apart, praying his muscles didn't give up on him right now.

"The both of you need to stop! What the hell is going on?!"

"I was trying to stay peaceful, Pop. Jamal started this beef," Hakeem accused.

"You started it with your disrespect!"

Hakeem said something Lucious wish he'd never say. "I never said shit about you and Mateo!"

Everything went quiet after that. Jamal looked at Lucious alarmed, and Lucious looked at him too, because did that boy just-

Hakeem realized he fucked up. He looked around awkwardly as everyone looked at him as well. "Oh...um, not Mateo. I meant...Martha!"

But ain't nobody believing that shit. Lucious wanted Hakeem out of his fucking face before he killed him. "Get your ass out of my sight." Hakeem quickly left. Lucious' employees were still recording in shock, though. "Put your damn phones away, and get back to work! There's nothing to see here!"

They rushed back to work.

"Well, what a surprise. I didn't even have to out myself to the world because Hakeem did it for me," Jamal said angrily.

"You're not outed. We're going to salvage this."

"How? Everyone caught that on camera."

Lucious just repeated what he said. "We're gonna salvage this." Because he wasn't about to let Jamal and his little boyfriend get his company blacklisted. Hell no.

Andre

"How's the competition going? Are you in the lead?" Rhonda asked.

"Oh, am I. It's all because of you and your amazing advice."

Rhonda grinned. "You sabotaged your brothers?"

"I did. When Hakeem started dating Tiana, he became a changed man. He became more mature and I couldn't let Pop forget how childish he was, so I stirred up some trouble between him and Jamal. Now they hate each other again."

"What did you say?"

"That Hakeem was talking shit about Jamal's sexuality."

Rhonda looked skeptical. "Oh. Are you sure that was a good idea? Jamal is very serious about that topic."

Andre shrugged. "I had to do what I had to do. I need the advantage, right?"

Rhonda nodded. "So, Jamal isn't a threat?"

"No. He wrote a song about Cookie, and Pop's pissed. Jamal is definitely not becoming CEO. Plus, he's Pop's least favorite son, so I doubt he was ever going to be CEO."

"And what about your mother?"

"Ma and Pop aren't on good terms right now, so I'm good. I'm not worried about my sister because she doesn't compare to me, and Pop knows that." Andre smirked. "I think it's safe to say I'm going to be the next CEO of Empire Entertainment."

"You should be! You worked so hard!" But then Rhonda frowned. "But I don't know, I'm starting to feel bad. What if your brothers don't forgive you for what you've done to them?"

"That's why they're not gonna find out." Andre chuckled and checked his phone. The first thing he saw was a video of Hakeem and Jamal fighting. Today. At Empire. And Lucious witnessed it.

That wasn't the crazy part. The crazy part was what Hakeem had blurted out.

"I never said shit about you and Mateo!"

That made Andre stand up with wide eyes. "Holy shit."

"What?!"

He slowly looked at Rhonda and said, "I think Hakeem just told the world Jamal's gay!" Which was amazing for Andre because Lucious never wanted the world to find out about Jamal being gay, but now they knew thanks to Hakeem. Which meant he definitely wasn't becoming CEO.

Andre was.