New Identity

Chapter 2

“How’s my beautiful Gem?” he asked with a genuine smile. I couldn’t help but smile back. He walked over to me with a glass of water in one hand. He bent down and gave me a peck on the forehead before he sat down in the other chair.

“What are you doing here?” I asked looking between Mr. Moore and my father.

“I was halfway home when I got a phone call telling me to come straight here,” Dad said.

I couldn’t help but get excited that he was coming home. Wait, did he say he got a call? “Who called you?” I asked still standing by the chair.

“Why don’t you sit down so we can talk,” Mr. Moore said with a hint of a challenge laced through the words.

I shook my head. “I’d rather stand.” Dad and Mr. Moore looked at each other. Mr. Moore raised a questioning eyebrow at my father, who just nodded his head. They both stood up and walked over to me. “What?” I asked.

“Gem, Andrew called me,” my father simply said. “He said that you weren’t feeling too well, so I came to see if you were alright.” As he was talking he took small steps toward me until we were toe to toe. I just stood there, not saying a word. The look in his eyes told me that he knew what happened. Andrew told him what happened. I was just hoping that he didn’t tell him who did it. Dad looked sad, angry, and betrayed. I saw his hands reach for my back and I wanted to step out of reach or scream no but I was rooted to the floor and no words would come out. Tears weld up in my eyes. I tried to hold them back but I have been holding them back for too long.

For the second time today, I felt my shirt being lifted up. The tears streamed down my caramel cheeks as I heard both men take a huge breath as they saw the bruises from this morning. My dad pulled back and looked at me. The tears flowed down my cheeks even faster. I saw the hurt in his eyes as his own tears escaped and rolled down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry baby,” he said choking on a sob as he pulled me into a bear hug. “I’m so sorry baby,” he kept repeating.

My father is one of the strongest men I know, so to see him break down like this is tough on me. He was always laughing when I was around or he was yelling at someone on the phone because they messed up on his order. You see, my father is the biggest Drug Lord on the East Coast. No one crossed him, ever. They were all too scared by his fierce looks, dark black hair and grey eyes. It didn’t help that he was 6’7” and built like a muscle head.

We stayed like that for I don’t know how many minutes. I could hear Mr. Moore talking on the phone. I tried to ease drop but he was talking too softly. Dad pulled away and wiped the tears away with his thumb. “Who did this to you?” he asked his voice raspy from the crying.

“Malik,” I said with no hesitation. I never lied to my father before and I wasn’t going to start now.

I watched as his eyes turned to hatred and his face became steel. He stepped away from me and paced the back of the office. He ran a hand through his black hair, almost ripping a chunk from his scalp. The next thing I know, I hear this painful scream and two seconds later a loud crack echoed through the office.

Mr. Moore and I exchanged looks before turning to the back of the office. A huge hole was now added to the decoration. My dad was sitting on the couch with his head cradled in his hands. I watched as Mr. Moore walked over to the couch and sat down next to my father. “Sal, you need to calm down just long enough for us to figure out what’s going to happen,” he said in a gentle voice. My father didn’t answer. He just sat back and rested his head against the wall. Mr. Moore looked back at me and motioned for me to take the seat again. This time I didn’t object. “Gemina, how long has your step-brother been doing this to you?”