𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

nine.

CHAPTER NINE
mysterious nuggets

Royalty

Hakeem had left because he couldn't stand Andre's presence, and Royalty couldn't either, so she was out too. She didn't even know why Lucious had him teaching her about the business anyway. He couldn't be trusted.

Ro got up and walked away. Andre followed her. "Ro, wait!"

"I'm not waiting, Andre! You need to leave me alone!"

"I can't do that. Pop wants me to keep an eye on you."

"I have bodyguards who are going to do that. I don't need you."

"Yes you do. I need to mentor you."

"Dad can!"

Andre shook his head. "You heard what he said. He's busy."

"Then I'll ask Becky or something!" Ro stated. "I don't want your help, Andre!"

That made him mad. "I don't get it, Ro. You won the competition, so why are you mad?"

She let him have it. "I'm mad because you chose power over your family. I'm also mad because Hakeem and Jamal would've never done that to you. If you won, they would've rooted for you."

"You sure about that?"

She was. "Jamal would've, for a fact. Hakeem would probably be mad for a little while, but he'd get over it. But this? We can't get over this."

"Ma got over it. Pop seems to be coming around too."

"You didn't sabotage them," Ro pointed out.

"I didn't sabotage you either, so you have no right to be mad."

"But you sabotaged our brothers, which means you're fake, Andre."

Andre exhaled deeply. "Ro, I'm not the same person I was. The competition is over, so I have no reason to be."

"I don't care. I can't forgive you until they do. But honestly, I don't see that happening."

Then she went upstairs. "Ro, I still need to teach you!"

"Then talk to me at Empire only!" She disappeared into her room and slammed the door behind herself so that Andre couldn't come in. If he had sense, he wouldn't knock on the door because she would really lash out at him.

Royalty didn't usually raise her voice at people. She wasn't an arguer, unlike the rest of the family. So if she lashed out at someone, they messed up big time. Like Blake.

Blake may no longer be an Empire artist, but she was, so she needed to get ready. Lucious still wanted them to release an album, so she had music to make.

She did her hair in the mirror, but saw the closet door slowly open behind her. She froze with the brush in her hand and turned around, but the door wasn't moving anymore.

"Hello?" She wanted to facepalm because why the hell was she saying hello to a closet? But she really didn't understand why that door had just opened. Did they have a ghost in the house or something?

She put her brush down and slowly walked towards the closet. When she opened it, she saw nothing suspicious. There was no one in there, and she didn't think there was a ghost, so she didn't understand how the door had opened. Then she jumped and turned around when she heard a bunch of noise. Her books had fallen off the dresser somehow, and now they were all over the floor.

Okay, maybe there was a ghost.

Royalty quickly scooped up her books to put them back on the dresser, and she saw a sticky note attached to one of the books. It said, Hope You Like The Gift.

What gift?

That was when she found the gift inside of one of the books. It was her favorite food: McDonald's nuggets. She took the nuggets out and stared at them suspiciously. "Hakeem, did you buy me nuggets?!"

No answer.

Okay, maybe not, but somebody did. Royalty was too hungry to care who. She just ate the nuggets and shrugged.

Thanks, she guessed.

Cookie

"I'm gonna kill me a Blake today, I swear it!" Cookie declared as she paced in front of her sisters.

Candace was just as mad. "I can't believe that white boy cheated on my niece. She's so precious!"

Carol spoke. "That's exactly why I ain't want her kissing on him. I knew it wouldn't last. Guys like him only want one thing."

That made Candace's eyes widen. "Oh no. Don't tell me she had-"

Cookie shook her head. "I highly doubt it. Royalty has more sense than that. But I really hope Blake leaves her alone because I ain't scared to go to jail for my kids." She wasn't scared to go to jail period. She'd already been through it.

"Speaking of your kids, can we talk about Jamal? He really had sex with a woman?!" Candace questioned.

"Yeah. It was a shock to us too."

"So he's not gay?"

"Jamal said he felt no emotional connection afterwards, so he really is gay. Plus, he has a boyfriend."

"And Hakeem?" Carol asked.

"Hakeem's fine. Ever since he started dating that Tiana girl, he's been better."

Carol found that hard to believe. "Really? He told his fans to hurt Jamal."

"Andre is to thank for that. He's the one who started their beef."

"How?"

Cookie explained everything. "Lucious is dying, as you guys know, and he had us competing to be CEO. Andre took it too far and decided to sabotage his brothers to get the advantage. He lied to Jamal and said that Hakeem was talking shit about him being gay, and that's how everything popped off."

Candace shook her head. "That's a damn shame. Who does that to their own brothers?"

"Andre. But I can tell he regrets what he did, but no one's trying to hear him out. Lucious even wanted to fire him, but I stopped that."

"Good. That's still his son."

"And what about Lucifer?" Carol questioned.

Cookie corrected her. "Lucious is no longer Lucifer. I told him how I felt."

"Let me guess, he rejected you?"

"He did at first, but only because he didn't wanna be selfish."

Carol laughed. "Lucious not wanting to be selfish? That doesn't add up."

"Lucious told me he didn't love me anymore, but it was a lie. He only said it because he's dying soon, and he didn't want us to jump into a relationship knowing he wasn't going to be here for very long," Cookie said.

Candace smiled. "Oh wow. Look at him being thoughtful."

"Right! I always loved his sweet side."

But Carol wasn't impressed. "Oh please. I still can't stand that trash they call a man."

"Well, you have to tolerate him Carol, because we're together again."

Carol held her tongue. "I'm not gonna comment on how I feel about that. I just hope he doesn't do you dirty again."

Cookie hoped so too because she really wanted things to last this time. She finally felt happy again, and their kids were happy for them too. They no longer had a broken home, and she wanted it to stay that way.

They did have a broken family though, and that was thanks to Andre. So that was something else she had to fix.