Empire State (Ronnie Banks)

14. Epilogue

Four months later

Christmas morning.

Demi's POV

"Demi, can I explain something to you?" my mother said as she walked into the room.

My mother, Damian, Omarion, and I ended up buying a house in Long Island. Things were doing pretty well for us, to be honest. I had my own room and the moment we finish our first year of college, we're all going our own ways to start living our life independently. Omarion and Lanie came back for the holdays from a long semester in the University of Florida. Damian and Chloe ended up dating surpisingly. They both did a semester in NYU for dance & got accepted into NYU for dance and music.

As for me, I am now studying at the Juilliard School. I got accepted for music. I played piano and sang at my audition. It was probably the scariest thing ever, but I made it through. The judge ended up telling me, "Welcome to Juilliard," as he smiled. I cried with joy. I just didn't have the exact word to what I was feeling.

"Yes?" I responded back to my mom.

"I just want you to know that I had a reason for giving you all up for adoption," she said from behind as she zipped up the dress I was wearing.

"And what was that?" I looked at her blankly.

"I'm going to tell you everything," she smiled.

I looked at her with a straight face. I didn't know if I was ready to hear why, but I still wanted to know so I let her speak.

"I was 16 years old when I first got pregnant with Omarion. I was basically a little kid. Your grandmother was on drugs. She kicked me out of the house so I had to live with Omarion's baby daddy. Then, soon after, I became pregnant with Damian and their daddy left the house. He fucking took everything.Their dad's back was the only thing they ever saw of him since the day they were born. Their dad was a real thug. Always involved in crimes, almost sent me to jail while I was pregnant with Damian. I was struggling. I had to go to school and look for a cheap ass daycare to take care of those fools," she chuckled, "----- And it's sad because believe it or not, Omarion got his voice from his daddy. Damian got his moves from his daddy too! Tyrone (that's his name) used to sing and dance when he was in highschool. That's the man I fell in love with, not the thug who used to abuse me. He left, thank God. Then, I met this wonderful white man who looks exactly like my daughter. That's why you barely look like me. I'm black, Demi. I look like Halle Berry so I wouldn't blame you if you thought you were adopted. Anyways, your father was so amazing in what he did. He loved me and I loved him, I really did. I didn't care what people said honestly. He was white, I was black. We lived in a time full of racism where I got hurt a lot. I loved him, but soon everything changed. He became sick and he passed away. My mother forced me to give you all up and I didn't want to. I loved you all so much and I even had to go to treatment because of how depressed I was when all of you were gone. I did so many bad things to myself, but I had to stop. I went back to school and eventually, I got a degree in criminal justice. I became an FBI agent and from the day I started my job, I promised to myself that I would find you guys again. My partner and I started investigating the 456 Gang case. When Maria Deree was killed, we all knew it led up to them and I'd eventually find you all."

I was speechless. I thought she just gave us up because she didn't want us.

"I'm so sorry, Mom," I said as I hugged her. "I'm sorry too," she smiled as she grabbed the lipstick that was on the vanity desk. I finally curled the last piece of my hair and applied my makeup on my face. Omarion and Lanie would be waiting for us at the church. I strapped on my high heels and walked out of the house with my mother, Damian, and Chloe. We got in the car and drove off to the church we always went to.