FREDDY PRINCE

Chapter five

Although Freddy allowed Kalani to interview him that afternoon, he didn't agree to help her investigation right away. For reasons unbeknownst to her, he respectfully declined. The NDA that hung over his head from three years prior wouldn't allow him to speak on anything concerning Mayor Montgomery. Unless Kalani found a loophole.

But even so, he couldn't tell her he had the same feelings about her father after what he saw the night before her mother's body was found. Nor did he want to be exposed for accepting the mayor's payout to stay silent.

"How was it?" Mo asked, after seeing Kalani off. "What did she come all the way back to Virginia for? I looked her up while y'all were talking. The girl is Mayor Montgomery's daughter!"

"Yeah, I know."

Freddy replied with a distant tone as he slipped into his jacket to leave for the afternoon.

"She wants me to help her prove he was the one who killed her mother."

He brushed past Mo as he headed for the elevator, leaving her standing in the middle of the room with her mouth wide open. She turned around to follow him just as the doors opened but stopped in her tracks when she saw the dreadful look on his face.

"I need you to stay here and take my calls for the day," he said. "Tasia wants me to pick Skylar up from school and I gotta make a few runs after, so I won't be back at all."

"Aw snap! Okay. I'm glad y'all are back talking."

She noticed something off about him but didn't ask what. As long as he was okay, Mo didn't stress him about his personal issues.

"You good?" she asked before he disappeared.

"Yeah."

He quickly nodded to keep her suspicion low.

"I'm good. I'll see you when I get back in the office tomorrow."

Skylar Prince, Freddy's fifteen-year-old niece, took after him and his mom in a lot of ways. She was very outspoken and never backed down from what she believed in. She was also popular with the ladies, just like her uncle.

Her dream was to follow in both his and her grandmother's footsteps to change the world for the better. But when all of that got stripped away, she fell into a shell and would only talk to him about how she felt.

Often, Freddy and his sister, Fantasia Prince, were at odds because of what she knew he did. She found out about the money he accepted from the mayor after the murder, and it disgusted her to her core. She saw him as a hypocrite. Not a man who sacrificed his dignity for all the women to come, as he psyched himself to think he was.

For a long time, Fantasia forbade him to come near her or her daughter. But when she started to lose her grip on her own child because Freddy was the only one Skylar would talk to, she had no choice but to let him back into their lives.

"I'm waiting in the parking lot. Hurry up, scrub."

He texted Skylar when he pulled into the parking lot of her school, knowing she'd be eager to see him when the bell rang. His picking her up came as a surprise to both of them that afternoon. Fantasia had to work late, and she didn't want Skylar to take the bus home alone because she was fearful of anything happening to her.

The prep school Freddy got her into was nearly an hour away from where they lived. Even longer on the bus. And after what happened to their mom, both Freddy and his sister were afraid to let Skylar breathe too hard on her own.

While he waited outside of his car, he scrolled through his messages to make sure he was up to date on everything. He noticed a text from Kalani and caught himself smiling at the fact. His smile didn't last long, however. The thought of how sexy she was wearing her Hijab was quickly replaced by the memory of what her father had done three years ago.