The Preachers Daughter

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Zy'Air

I watched in silence as they began to drop Zoyanna's body down into the ground.My jaw was tight and my hands were balled into fists in my pockets. I felt like in this exact moment I was in a situation where everyone around me knew what was going on but I was unfortunately out of the loop. Sly said he hadn't heard from Zoyanna so, he decided to go and look for her. Said she had to handle something and she went to an address he sent to her but then she disappeared. He told me to meet him at the spot and I automatically recognized it as Glizz's place, Tae's older brother. I didn't have to get all the way on the porch to see Tae's lifeless body lying in the doorway. And Sly went inside to confirm at that point what I had already knew. 

I felt a hand wrap around mine, startling me. I relaxed once I saw Melody's tear stained face. Zoyanna meant a lot to her, I knew that. She was just as heartbroken as I was to be losing her.

"I just don't understand, Ziggy. What the hell happened?"

I shrugged. I didn't want to tell her what I thought happened. My mind was racing on so many different possibilities. My first thought was Glizz crossed Tae and killed him to get his money but I didn't see any logical reason for him to do that. Glizz looked out for the both of us. He was the one who gave me my first brick to sell. And that didn't explain what Zoyanna was doing there either. When I asked Sly about it he kept acting like he couldn't hear what I was saying. 

Melody sniffed then reached into her purse and grabbed some shades. She put them on then cleared her throat.

"What are we going to do without her now?"

"I don't know. But I know that we could-"

I stopped talking, my thoughts completely leaving me. I watched intensively as Levon walked up to where they had just dropped Zoyanna's casket into the ground. He was holding a rose. He dropped it into the plot hole then turned to face me. The closer he got to me the angrier I became.

"What the fuck are you doin' here?" I questioned.

He motioned to the area around us. "Paying my respects to the dead, of course."

"You didn't even fuckin' know her!"

"Ah, that is where you are wrong, son. I've known Zoyanna for quite some time now."

He stepped closer so that only I could hear what he was saying. 

"You never stopped and asked who was the mysterious plug she came across did you?"

My eyes widened. "So ... you're tellin' me that Zoy was workin' with you this whole time behind my mother fuckin' back?"

He sighed. "I didn't want this to be a secret. She felt that you wouldn't receive doing business with me lightly."

"And she was absolutely fucking correct! You a snake ass nigga and the only reason I'm not droppin' you where you stand is because I'd rather not end up in prison again."

"Yes, you did do some time didn't you?"

I paused. "How did you know that? Did Zoyanna-"

"Zy'Air, whilst I commend you for putting your stamp down in these streets, you did not do that alone. I have been watching your every move since you were born. Everything that had anything to do with you had everything to do with me. How do you think you've been breathing still? That slick ass mouth of yours almost had you at the end of a barrel a couple times."