𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

forty nine.

CHAPTER FORTY NINE
honesty

Andre

next day

Andre's attempt to come clean to his family had failed the other day because of Hakeem's outburst. However, Andre was glad he didn't confess because Hakeem ended up calling off the hit anyway. Jamal no longer needed bodyguards, and his life was no longer in danger. Which meant one thing: Andre was still in the running for being CEO. He was going to win too.

Rhonda wasn't happy with him though. She still believed confessing was the right thing to do, and Andre kept trying to tell her that it was pointless. His family's problems were slowly being fixed and he wasn't going to ruin that. He'd already done enough harm.

"Rhonda, please talk to me."

"I'm not going to talk to you until you confess."

"Why do I need to confess? Hakeem called off the hit, so Jamal's life isn't in danger anymore. I don't have to come clean."

"Yes you do. It's the right thing to do, Andre," Rhonda argued. "Hakeem almost ruined Jamal's life, and so did you. And honestly, you almost ruined Hakeem's life too."

"How?"

"Because if someone really did hurt Jamal, do you think Hakeem would be able to live with himself knowing he was the cause of it?"

Andre shrugged. "I mean, he hates Jamal."

"It doesn't matter, Andre! That's still his brother! And they're your brothers, so the fact that you don't want to come clean is disappointing."

Andre sighed deeply and held her hands. "Listen baby, I'm thinking ahead. If I become CEO, that'd be huge for us."

"Is that all you care about these days? Being CEO?"

"I've always cared about it, and you know that."

"Yeah, and I'm starting to think you care about it more than this marriage."

Now she was being dramatic. "That's not true."

"Yes it is! Every conversation we have is about you being CEO! It's getting old, Andre!"

That ticked him off. "Don't act like you don't care about CEO. You're the one who wanted me to get the advantage. So if anyone's to blame for all this insanity, it's you, Rhonda!"

Rhonda huffed. "I'm not saying I'm innocent in all of this. You being CEO did sound nice, but now? Not so much. You don't deserve it, Andre."

He shot her a dirty look. "What do you mean I don't deserve it? I deserve it more than anybody in the family. I'm the most experienced like you said, and I'm a damn good businessman."

"But you're not a good man anymore. This competition has changed you. It's turned you malicious, and I really don't like this new you."

He stared at her with hurt eyes. "Wow. All of this is because I don't want to confess?"

"You need to, Andre. You don't want to know what's going to happen if you don't."

"What's going to happen?"

"You're not going to be married anymore! That's what!"

She walked out, but those words were still repeating in his head. "Wait, what? Rhonda, you're overreacting!"

"Confess, Andre!"

He couldn't do that. He couldn't mess up his chances of being CEO. If Rhonda couldn't accept that, then he guessed she'd have to divorce him.

Lucious

Lucious had invited Thirsty over to talk about Cookie. Cookie knew Lucious like the back of her hand; she knew he still had love for her, but he couldn't admit it. It wouldn't be fair to her because he was dying soon. But maybe Thirsty could help him see this in another light.

Thirsty sat down across from him. "Tell me what's going on."

Lucious got straight to it. "Cookie said she still loves me."

Thirsty's eyes widened. "You're lying."

"Nope. She said that."

"Wasn't she just blaming her father's death on you?"

"Apparently, she didn't mean it."

"You believe that?"

"I don't know. I feel like a part of herself will always blame me for her father's death, but I do believe she regrets those words. And I do believe she's being honest about loving me," Lucious replied.

Thirsty asked the millionaire dollar question. "Do you still love her?"

Lucious wasn't even gonna lie. "Cookie said she can't see herself with anyone else, and I honestly can't either. Then she said we should lead by example and stop beefing, and maybe that'll help the kids stop beefing. But I still can't be with her."

"Why?"

"Because I'm dying. I have three years left to live, and then I'm gonna leave her forever. That's not fair to her."

"Don't you think you should leave that decision up to Cookie? It should be up to her if she wants to take the chance or not," Thirsty pointed out.

"So you think I should be honest with her?"

He did. "Yeah, why not? Just because you're dying, doesn't mean you shouldn't be happy for the rest of your life."

"Wow. I'm shocked because you don't like Cookie."

"Do I think she's bad luck? Hell yeah. But I'll admit that it'd be weird seeing you running around here with a woman who's not Cookie."

"Na. It's Cookie or nobody," Lucious stated.

Thirsty smirked and pointed at him. "That is exactly why you should get back together. You know she's thinking the same thing."

Lucious nodded. "Okay. I'll be honest then."

"Right now?"

"No. I got something better in mind."

Right on cue, Cookie came walking in, looking stunning as always. Lucious finally wasn't scared to admit it.

Thirsty greeted her. "Good morning, Cookie." Cookie rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Lucious, tell your wife to be nice please."

Cookie corrected him. "We're not married, genius. He divorced my ass."

"Do you want to get remarried?" Thirsty asked bluntly.

Cookie froze for a little bit, shocked he had asked that in front of Lucious. Then she hissed at him. "Do you ever get tired of not minding your business?"

Lucious spoke now. "Cookie, weren't you just saying we should be nice to the company?"

"Not that company!"

He laughed as Thirsty rolled his eyes. "I honestly don't know what I did."

"You tried to keep me away from my kids. That's what you did."

"But you see them everyday, so what's the problem?"

Cookie had enough of him. "Lord, let me go because I can't stand seeing his face."

Cookie stormed out and Thirsty waved. "Alright, have a nice day."

"Bye, Thirsty!"

"Where's my bye?!" Lucious shouted.

"Bye, Lucious!"

"Bye! And you look good!"

She was going to look even better by his side.