But She Knew

Prologue

I packed my clothes calmly. There was no need to be dramatic about it- there was already enough stress going around. The last thing I needed was to have everyone scrambling into the room yelling and freaking out. I especially didn't want the boys to come into the room. They didn't need to know I was leaving their father, because then they would beg me to stay and I'd do anything to make those boys feel safe. But staying with Lucious after everything- that was the one thing I could not do. It was against what my profession believed in, what my values were.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" My gaze nonchalantly followed the angered voice. "Are you- are you leaving?"

I zipped up my trunk, heading towards the door. But he stepped in front of the way. Bringing a hand to hold my face, I turned away at his touch, causing him to tilt my chin to look at him.

"I'm tired, Lucious. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of pretending like at the end of the day we'll be okay- like it will be okay. It won't." I reached for the handle, but his body stopped me.

"Don't leave, baby. It's different now, we finally closed the deal. The Empire is about to become the hottest music producing company the world will ever know! It'll be different." A proud, power-hungry look filled his hazel eyes. A look I had never become used to.

"It won't." My voice was more relaxed than we both expected. "You've made it here all the way from the streets. I've never known what that's like."

Lucious' head began shaking so violently, I was afraid he'd punch something. "Don't tell me you've let the crap those know-nothing-assholes said get to you. You're smarter than that!"

"It's more than that, Dwight."

"Damn it woman, I told you to never call me that." He pushed me back, and instead of going crazy, I let myself stumble back a little. "What else is it then?"

"It's the way you treat the boys. Especially Jamal. It's the way you attempt to turn Hakeem into some thug rapper by encouraging him to party and disrespect women, and the way you tell Andre that school is for 'fagot ass niggas who aint got it in them to spit some music and free their souls.' You hurt them so much, and no matter how many times you try and assure me it's going to make them 'stronger,' I die a little every time they come crying to me."

Lucious stood in contemplative silence for a moment- just shifting his gaze from me to the window. In the background, BET was speaking about Lucious closing the deal that made Empire into an official music-producing company. And the same question the reporters and the nation had been asking for the past three months came up again- "what will Lucious Lyon do without an inspiring woman like Cookie Lyon to influence his music?" I took cautious steps back towards the door, but he didn't move. Instead, he brought his hand to my face again- gentler, more lovingly. And I did not pull back.

"They're not wrong, you know? Cookie is good for you. She brings out a passion in you that I- that I just never could."

"Pshh, I knew it was all the media." I shrugged, admitting that I was also beginning to feel a pressure to be more like Cookie Lyon. "That isn't the woman who has pulled me through since I've built this empire." I grabbed his chin and shook my head. His large, soft hand wrapped around the one I used to hold his face. "You're my queen."

"I wish I could be. You even said it yourself. The streets weren't made for everyone. I'm one of those people." Tears formed at the corner of his eyes. I rested my hand on his cheek, tilting his head so our eyes met. "Please, please promise to take care of the boys."

He rolled his eyes at this. "It would be easier if they had you here to put them in check before I have to. They all gained your stubbornness."

"Good." I smiled. "That means they won't let anyone, especially Lucious Lyon, crush their dreams." I watched as his eyes met the back of his head again, but this time I pulled his perfectly ironed tie towards me so our eyes met in deadlock. "I'm being serious. Hurt them again and I'll be back to make you pay for it."

"I love how rough you are with me," he brought his lips closer to mine. The smell of his pine aftershave and minty breath blew into the small space between my lips. If I truly wanted to, I could close the gap between our lips. I could make love to him right now, because if Lucious could do one thing right that wasn't music-orientated, that was it. But I wanted a future more. So instead, I leaned in and as his eyes closed I moved in time for him to miss my lips and to plant a sentimental peck on his cheek.

"I'll miss you, Dwight."

*3 Years Later*

Hakeem sat with his Timberlands laid out on the dining room table. Andre leant back in his chair with his hands intertwined upon his stomach. And Jamal rested both elbows on the table, letting his head sit on them. Their father had called for them, and when Lucious called, they came.

Groaning, Hakeem took his shades off. "So what's this about y'all, cause ya boy gots to go soon?"

"I'll tell you what it's about when you get your damn feet off where I eat, boy." Lucious entered the dining room with a grim face. Planting himself at the head of the table, he stared at each of his sons for a moment. As if he were judging each by just his gaze. "Soon I will need to choose someone to be the heir to Empire. It won't be today, or tomorrow, maybe not for a few months, but I will start grooming someone soon."

Lucious' eyes fell on Hakeem as he finished speaking, which came to no surprise to Jamal. But it did light a fire in Andre that he was not going to let go out so easily. He had worked hard for this. He had built Empire, had given everything for the company since he was old enough to take part there. If his father were to pick Hakeem, the most arrogant and immature of them all, he was making a mistake. But Lucious knew what he had started- a battle between his sons to see which would have what it takes to bypass all means to become his chosen one.