𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

fifty three.

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE
no longer sisters

Cookie

Candace and Carol had just arrived at the hospital and they ran up to Cookie. Candace spoke with the utmost urgency. "Cookie, what happened now? Another one of your kids is in the hospital?"

"Who is it this time? Hakeem?" Carol assumed. "I would not be surprised."

But she was wrong. "It's Ro."

That made Carol inhale sharply. "Ro?! No one better not had touched my niece!"

"Well, they did. She got shot, and she's in a coma."

"By who?!" Candace demanded to know.

"This has Lucious written all over it!" Carol commented.

Cookie snapped at her because she had a weird obsession with Lucious. "Are you gonna blame Lucious every time something goes wrong? It's old, Carol!"

She argued back. "No, it's not old! It's facts! That man is no good!"

"He's no good, but he's always on your mind. Why is that?"

"Because he's always gonna be in our lives now, thanks to you. Or maybe not since he's dying soon." Carol shrugged briskly and carelessly.

Yeah, Cookie was pissed off now. "Listen, you need to worry about your own man."

"I don't have one."

"I see why."

Carol scowled, offended by that comment. "Let me tell you something, Cookie. I don't have a man because I actually know my worth. And if I did have one, I'd be smart enough not to let him let me rot for seventeen years!"

Cookie officially lost her cool. She tried to attack her, but Candace got in the middle of them. "Stop it! Are you two seriously fighting over Lucious?!"

"Damn right we are, because she's always defending that man! He never gives you that same energy, Cookie! That's what you don't realize!" Carol spat. "I mean, didn't he divorce your ass while you were doing time? For him?!"

Cookie could beat her ass for that comment, but why waste energy on her? So she exhaled deeply, trying to calm down her rage. Then she spoke to her actual sister. "Candace, please get her out of my face before I hurt her."

Candace frowned at Carol. "Maybe you should go cool off, Carol."

"I'm good, sis! I think I'mma stay here and tell Cookie about herself some more!"

Cookie was about to respond, but Lucious came to see what the ruckus was about. "What is all this shouting about?"

Of course Carol attacked him. "Oh, look who it is! Lucifer!"

Lucious huffed. "Alright, what's your problem with me, Carol? Just lay it out, because you start mess every time you see me."

Carol spoke in a low, grim tone. "You wanna know what my problem is? My problem is that you're turning my sister into Lucifera!"

Candace grabbed her. "Okay, you need to stop!" She pointed at the exit. "Go! Now!"

Carol grilled Lucious and Cookie up and down. "Yeah, I'mma go alright. Cookie needs to go far away from that devil, but she won't!"

Then Carol stormed out of the hospital as Lucious said, "What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Just Carol being Carol," Candace answered.

"Well, my daughter's in a coma, so I don't have time to deal with Carol's antics!" Cookie shouted before walking away.

Candace grabbed her. "Nu uh! We're not done talking, Cookie!"

"What else is there to talk about, Candace?"

Candace looked at Lucious. "Lucious, can you give us a minute?"

"Whatever."

Lucious left, still feeling confused as hell. Then Candace spoke seriously. "Look, I understand Carol does the most, but she's not wrong about Lucious."

"Oh, not you too."

"Listen, I like Lucious more than Carol does, but you do need to open your eyes. He really isn't the best man for you," Candace told her.

Cookie defended the man in question. "Has Lucious done some fucked up things in his past? Yes. Did he let me rot for seventeen years? Yes. But no one is perfect, Candace. And honestly, Lucious is the only man who can deal with my craziness, and I'm the only woman who has the patience to deal with his. So I'm not going anywhere."

"Plus, we finally don't have a broken home anymore. Our kids have been happy, despite the nonsense," she concluded.

"It may be a happy home, but it's clearly not a safe one if your kids keep getting shot. When are you going to realize you need to get them away?" Candace asked.

"Away from where?"

"Away from Lucious," Candace elaborated. "Your kids are not safe as long as they're around him,
Cookie."

"Lucious is not the problem, Candace!"

"So who is?!"

"Our last name is!" Cookie answered matter of factly.

Candace nodded. "Yeah, and who's the one that came up with the last name? Lucious. Who's the one who made the Lyon name so notorious? Lucious."

Cookie huffed deeply. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you Lyons have a lot of targets on your back because of that man. You need to take your kids and get the hell away from him, or this is gonna keep happening, sis!"

Cookie brushed her worries off. "I don't even know why I'm entertaining this. Ro getting shot has nothing to do with Lucious. It's because Blake is heartbroken and he wants revenge. You know that."

Candace was skeptical. "Did anyone actually see Blake?"

"No, it was a drive by shooting."

"Right. So it's not confirmed that it was Blake. It could've been one of Lucious' enemies for all we know!"

That made no sense. "Why would one of his enemies target his daughter, Candace?!"

"To hit him where it hurts!"

Cookie was really done with this conversation. "Alright, I'm done talking about this. You and Carol aren't even around, so you don't know what the hell is going on, but I do. I'm telling you that Blake did this. This is unrelated to Lucious."

"I still feel like you need to get the kids out of here. I refuse to visit another one of my niece or nephews in this hospital again."

Cookie spoke harshly. "Then maybe you should leave because you're bringing a lot of negative energy here, and we don't need that right now."

Candace scowled. "I will leave because there's no getting through to you. You're always gonna put that man first."

"Bye, Candace!"

"Yeah, bye! And I really hope Lucious' enemies don't come after you next!"

"Let the enemies come for me! I've used a gun before!" Cookie shouted.

Candace just rolled her eyes and left. Lucious walked back up to her instantly. "Everything okay, baby?"

Cookie slowly looked over at him with an exasperated look. "When is anything ever okay, Lucious?"

They had nothing but bad luck in that family, and they really did have a lot of enemies. Her sisters were right about that. But Lucious wasn't responsible for her kids being targeted. She wasn't saying that because he was her man. She was saying it because it was a fact. But her sisters didn't want to hear it. They didn't want her with Lucious period, but Cookie wasn't going anywhere. Especially not now, because family should never be divided, especially in dark times like these.

Her sisters couldn't accept that, so Cookie believed she had lost them because of Lucious. Again.