Own You

Chapter 9

"They put the policy in place so they could kill us and make off with the money. That's the real retirement he was looking for."

"This doesn't make any sense, Jamal. Why would they kill us for the insurance payment? Your dad made more than this in a month with all the shady shit he was in to."

"Think about it, why were they so quick to get us together? Why would they willingly let me be your guardian? The papers for that were fake, by the way. As long as I thought he was giving you and the business to me, I had no reason to question his motives.

"The night he caught us, and I revealed these papers to you, we had a talk. He told me Antonio's father came to him with a proposal. Since we were still in the middle of a gang war, Don Baldacci offered to help quell our enemies. But it came at a price; a price too steep to pay.

"I was already in talks with Antonio, he was planning a coup against his father. If he hadn't killed him, I'd be paying his dad 40 percent of all the take in the businesses we own. If I had taken the deal, my pops planned on setting me up to die. He wanted to make it seem like I was the drug dealing scum and he had nothing to do with it."

Everything he's telling me seems so far-fetched, but the more I think about it, the more it sounds plausible.

"Even if you are right, that doesn't prove they were going to kill me, too. How did you even uncover all their plans to set you up?"

"Doesn't it? You overheard the conversation we had in the dining room; you knew too much. Why do you think he didn't help you? For all that talk of him not approving of how I treated you, he never lifted a finger to help you. Why do you think that is? Antonio recorded his father telling him to shoot me when we finished killing off my rivals.

"I knew my dad may have wanted to get rid if me so he could keep all the money made from the business and escape with your mom. But, unless you were dead too, it wouldn't matter. You're the only one who didn't want to be a part of this family, and he knew that. But he wouldn't let you or I stop him from retiring in glory."

"That still doesn't mean my mom was willing to throw my life away!" I yell in anger.

"She gave you away to me, Mya. I hated you. But I hated your mother more. Antonio isn't the only one who likes to record things. How do you think I found these documents? I found out from a conversation of theirs that your mom was going to slip Ricin in your dinner and let nature take its course."

Jamal pulls his phone out and scrolls through it for something. He hands me the phone and tells me to press play. In full HD, my mom and Mason sit on the edge of their bed. The camera faces down at them from the left corner of the room. They talk about Jamal and Mason coming to an agreement with Don Baldacci at first. But then, my mom asks what they should do about me.

Mason convinces her they cannot have the life they want if they have to pay for college. They wanted to get away scot-free with no responsibilities or kids getting in the way. Like Jamal said, she agreed with him. She even said she was tired of having to take care of me and that she never wanted me.

This hurts me to my core, and I want to die. How could she even think like that? Why did I not notice my mother's disdain for me? Who is this woman I am watching? She doesn't seem like the mother I know, but her words are as clear as day. There is no video trickery or voice overs, that was her voice. She even came up with the idea to poison me.

Before the video ends, she says that I'll be better off dead after what Jamal did to me. Besides that, she thought I was a loser and didn't even know what I would do with my life after school. I don't even...know what to say. I drop the phone to the ground and the tears fall freely.

"No... no... it's not... real. I-it's not real! She wouldn't..." Jamal has a look of shame on his face and pity for me. "She couldn't have... I know she l-l-loved me!" I break down into full on tears and screaming.

Jamal is by my side in a second. Holding me tight and wiping away my tears. I cling to him and bury my head in his chest. I grab at his shirt while pounding my fist against him in anger and confusion. There's no way I can stop myself from screaming or crying anymore and I am hysterical. Jamal keeps me from thrashing around too much and tries to calm me down.

"I know it hurts; I've always had a fucked-up relationship with my pops. He used to abuse me and my younger brother before he killed himself. I've never forgiven him for that, and he has never cared. That's why I didn't understand why he wanted a new family. He never cared for my mother. He took us from her, and it drove her to drugs. She overdosed in some alley covered in someone else's piss."

Jamal rubs my hair gently as he explains his life to me.

"After I saw that video of our parents, I came up with my plan to get rid of them. It's part of the reason I moved us out of the main house. I had to keep you safe. I knew you weren't like your mother after I saw that video. You couldn't be if she was willing to kill you and talk about you that way to a man she barely knew. It was wrong for me to treat you that way.

"But I had already promised to use you for this breeding idea. I couldn't exactly renege on the promise, so I tried to make it seem like you weren't worth the effort to use for the plan. Hence, why I said to him, we could find another woman. But it was too late, Antonio and the others saw exactly what I saw. A strong, intelligent, and beautiful young woman who could give them the world.

"You're the only one who can keep this plan afloat. You will give every one of us an heir to our thrones."

All of this is more than I bargained for, I don't know what to do. Jamal technically saved my life, but he also abused me, so did Antonio and Emilio. Jaden and Borya will invade my body and claim it as their own when the time comes. Even if he saved me, I must be free of them; I have to kill them all.

"I will take care of you. You deserve more than what I can give you now. But, one day I will do just that. Please... forgive me, Mya. I may be a monster, but... I'm your monster. Mya, I won't let anyone else hurt you."

All my stress and anger are bubbling over in the worst of ways. My stomach feels like it's in knots, and I can feel my womb contracting. It feels like my worst period thirty times over. Before I can speak up, I am doubled over in pain and struggling to breathe properly. Jamal tries to ask me what's wrong but, I can't think clearly enough to speak.

Before I can respond to him, a flood of water, blood, and mucus spills out of me.