𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

forty three.

CHAPTER FORTY THREE
no more alone time

Cookie

next day

Cookie decided to go over to Candace's house to fill her sisters in on everything that'd been going on between Jamal and Hakeem. Which was a whole lot.

Candace and Carol saw Jamal and Hakeem's fight video, and they also saw the video of Hakeem telling his fans to hurt Jamal. They were in as much disbelief as Cookie was when she had seen it.

"That little boy has some nerve putting a hit out on my nephew!" Candace said angrily.

Carol was furious. "Please tell me you beat Hakeem's ass!"

"I wanted to, but Lucious stopped me."

That didn't sit right with Carol. "Since when does Lucious stop you from doing anything?"

Cookie didn't answer her because Lucious couldn't keep her down; she'd said that many times. But she had made a confession to herself last week—she still loved Lucious. Since then, Cookie would admit that she had a soft spot for him. But would she dare ever say the words out loud? She didn't know...

"Hello?!" Carol shouted.

Cookie shouted back at her. "Lucious doesn't control me, Carol!"

"Then why'd you let him stop you from beating some sense into Hakeem?"

"I don't know, Carol! Maybe because it was for the best? Or maybe because Lucious and I are on bad terms, and deep down I still love him, and I don't wanna anger him any further!" Cookie blurted out.

Candace and Carol gawked at each other and then at her. "What the hell did you just say?"

Cookie sighed and sat down. "I still love Lucious. I can't keep denying it."

"Does Lucious know?" Candace questioned.

"No, but I'm thinking I should tell him."

Carol waved her hands around. "Oh no! You're not telling that man a damn thing!"

"Think about it, Carol. If our kids see their parents getting along, maybe it'll help them get along too," Cookie pointed out.

Carol spoke firmly. "I understand that, but I refuse to let that man hurt you again. What if he doesn't love you back?"

"I think he does," Candace replied. "Cookie said some words to him, and he was real hurt."

"What words?"

"That daddy would still be alive if I never messed with him."

Carol had a sour look on her face now. "Ooooh. I bet that did hurt. That'd hurt me for sure."

Candace steered the conversation back on track. "You're really going to tell Lucious how you feel?"

Cookie fiddled with her fingers. "I have to. I don't like keeping it bottled in."

Carol exhaled. "I don't know, sis. I hate that man."

"But I love him," Cookie stated. "I honestly can't see myself with anyone but his dumb ass. I already wasted most of my life on him, and I don't want all of that time to be for nothing. I don't want those seventeen years to be for nothing." She continued. "This family is falling apart because Lucious and I fell apart. We need to fix this, starting with our relationship."

Carol sucked her teeth. "I hate this."

"Well, it's not your heart, Carol. It's mine, and I'm choosing to follow it."

Carol put her hands up. "Okay. I just hope it's worth it."

Cookie did too.

Jamal

Jamal's bodyguards were behind him as he made his way inside of Empire. It was hard to do so with all the damn reporters in the way. They were shoving their microphones in Jamal's face and questioning him about Hakeem.

"Jamal! Have you seen your brother's video?" a reporter asked.

"Yeah, I seen it."

"What's your response?"

Jamal halted and looked dead in the cameras. "You wanna know what my response is? My response is fuck Hakeem Lyon. And since you wanna get your ass beat again, show up at my place, Hakeem! You know where I live!"

The reporters gasped and asked him more questions, but Becky came to his rescue. "Okay, no more questions! Jamal has music to make!" They rushed inside with his bodyguards right behind. Becky questioned him next. "What the hell was that?!"

"They wanted a response. They got a response."

Becky sighed. "Hakeem is not going to be happy."

"I don't give a shit about Hakeem's feelings," Jamal hissed. "Is he here?"

"Yeah. Somewhere with Tiana."

"That's fine. Just keep him the hell away from me, or we will be going at it again."

Becky swallowed hard. "Noted. But I'm surprised Lucious hired bodyguards for you. I thought you were his least favorite son?"

"I make him money, so I guess he cares a little bit."

"Speaking of making money, you should forget about this Hakeem drama and work on your album."

Jamal nodded. "Yeah, let me do that."

Jamal was about to go the studio because he had to record his Born To Love U song, but Lucious called his name. "Jamal!"

Jamal found him standing outside of the conference room, gesturing him over. He walked over to Lucious, and he made the bodyguards stay outside of the room. They went into the conference room and saw Tory sitting down.

"What's Tory doing here?"

Lucious explained. "I know this Hakeem drama has distracted you, but she's still your fake girlfriend, Jamal. She needs to be seen with you 24/7."

"What do you mean 24/7?"

"As in everywhere you go, I go," Tory answered.

Jamal huffed because he wasn't feeling this. "Do I really have to bring her everywhere? It's bad enough I have bodyguards following me everywhere."

"Yeah, because of Hakeem. The reason why Tory's here is because of him too. So like I said, if you wanna get mad at someone, get mad at your brother."

"I already am."

"That's fine. Just don't fight each other again because you're making this family look bad."

Tory stood up and spoke softly. "Look Jamal, I know you're dealing with a lot, and I know you value your privacy, but the public still needs to believe we're together. This has to be done, but I promise I won't be a pain in the ass."

"You're good, Tory. I'm worried this is going to seem fake."

"Then you better act your ass off because the public is eating this up so far. Keep it up, or it's your ass," Lucious threatened.

Jamal rolled his eyes and spoke bitterly. "Whatever. Cheers to no more alone time."

And cheers to this shitty ass reality he called his life.