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I pulled up to the reception hall in my white MC20 coupe, I left out of it with my phone and my gun tucked in the waist of my dress pants like it always is. I gave my keys to the valet, got my receipt, and text the private nanny I had for Cielo.

Me: everything alright w/ bbg?

Cielo's Nanny😊: Everything is going well with Cielo, Ms. Kelley. We've done writing exercises all morning, and now she's playing outside on her pony. How is the event? Wish the bride and groom well for me.

Me: it was cool, i should be back at my villa in another hour or 2, tell cielo i said i luv her ❤️

Cielo's Nanny😊: Will do.

I slid my phone back into my pocket and entered the main lobby. After coming out to my parents (who didn't care), we decided the best way to keep the Kelley lineage going was for me to adopt a child since I knew I wouldn't ever have one naturally myself. So, I adopted Cielo as a baby, here in case anything were to happen to me and I couldn't run the family cartel. Best case scenario, I'll be able to back away from my duties and hand the shit to her when she's old enough.

Years before I was born, my father had decided that pimping was his calling, and that he would have a child to give his family's cartel to since he was more interested in his other line of work. Then poof, he falls for one of the prostitutes he saved from an abusive family, and ends up having an unexpected kid with her, therefore birthing me, Nyia Kelley, the heir to the cartel.

With me finally running shit, he thinks he can do what he wants. Keeping my mother in a lifestyle she's outgrown- forcing me into a role that, although I enjoy, I have no choice but to participate in.

A kid loudly yelped near me in a mini suit.

My attention snapped back to the lobby where we all stood, antsy and eager for whatever the bride and groom had to offer. The guests were crowded inside of it, waiting for the bride and groom to arrive first before we all entered. One of the assistants of the event planner, wearing their signature all-black, spotted me and maneuvered through the crowd towards me.

"Are you the bride's niece, Nyia?"

"Nyia Kelley? Yes, is there a problem?" I asked, searching her face scattered with freckles and pimples.

"She needs you in the dressing room quickly," the woman nodded.

I followed after her, through a side door that led through the DJ area, the bathrooms, and then the dressing rooms.

"Auntie?"

"Help me zip this up, I don't have anybody," she said frantically. She was attempting to squeeze herself into a shimmery white party dress with a side split knee. I rushed to her back, tugging on the zipper as carefully, but forcefully as I could. "I thought Zarah would be here."

"I'm sorry. She wasn't feeling well, and my father left, not that he's very much help," I sighed.

"Another one of her..."

"Yeah."

"There we go," she let out a sigh of relief. "I didn't think I'd be able to wear what I picked out. Me and some old high school friends went out for BBQ last night for my Bachlorette's Cookout. I bloat up like a damn balloon."

"They didn't come to help you? I noticed you didn't have any bridesmaids," I said softly.

"I needed to do this alone but with family. At the end of the day, those friends won't be living through your marriage. You'll be. I've done my makeup, I've gotten dressed, my husband held the rings in his pockets in a casing. I wanted to do everything for myself, because after marriage, it's only the two of you. Through thick and thin," she told me.

"Just don't ever feel like you're alone. I'm here," I reminded her. She stood in front of the mirror, my arm draped over her shoulder. It looked more so like we were getting married by the way we matched.

Some of her curls were falling, and her lip stick was slightly smeared across her teeth. My aunt shimmered in her dress underneath the fluorescent lights, and the shoes that she had worn under her wedding dress were shiny red stilettos as the center piece of her fit. Next to her, it struck me odd how I hadn't noticed how much I had matured. My face was less soft and chubby and more defined, my lips had finally evened out after years of being something I was insecure about.

I looked too much like my father.

"You're getting older now," my aunt said softly, turning my face away from the mirror towards her, "You need to save your mother."

"It's too late," I blinked slowly.

"She's still alive," my aunt reminded me, "so there's always hope."

"I had to get her a bag of adult diapers on Wednesday," I fought back tears, clenching my fists, "She's only thirty-eight, Aunt Kay."

"I'm sorry, Ny. You never deserved this," she told me solemnly.

I sniffled, looking around the empty dressing room. "No. I'm sorry. I'm ruining your wedding day. Let's get you out there. There's people happy to see you and your new man," I forced a smile onto my face.

"Ny," she sighed.

"When you're done, I'll tell the event people to open the doors," I stated.

Aunt Kay started on her teeth first, getting the lip stick off, then onto her hair. "How's Cielo been doing with her talking exercises?"

"No progress...yet," I told her, "but she is excelling at writing, so I tell the nanny to spend more time on that."

"Have you decided if you'll ever put her in school or not since she's nonverbal?"

"I'm thinking about it. For now...the nanny will do."

"One day you'll have to let Cielo go, Ny. She needs to be around children her age," Aunt Kay stated.

As if that was the reason she wasn't in school now.

"Well, most children six years old don't struggle with the things that she does. Me and her are learning our way around her autism together," I sighed.

Aunt Kay took one of her girly hair tools and clamped it down on a fallen curl.  "Alright."

I smoothed my hand over my head lazily, my type four hair slicked into a back bun.

"I'm ready," my aunt exhaled slowly, turning away from the mirror and giving me a wide smile. "How do I look?"

"Like you and your husband will enjoy a very happy wedding night," I stated.

"Nyia, really?" Aunt Kay swatted me with one of the magazines that lay on the counter.

We left the dressing room, coming out the other way near the men's area. My new uncle chuckled as we all exited at the same time.

"You look lovely, Kay," he smiled.

"I'll leave you two alone. I'll go inform the people that you guys are ready," I grinned.

"Thanks, niece."

I rolled my eyes as soon as I turned the corner.

"Don't get too comfortable buddy," I grunted.

After all, by midnight, he'd know who this family truly is...and what we do, as someone's who's married to a Kelley.

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