Building Trust Through Our Issues

Chapter Twenty Eight

I honestly feel like this chapter sucks. 😭🤷🏽‍♀️

Demarcus and Aaliyah ☝🏽

"Jerome, did you and Manny kill my Daddy?" Marcus asked, cutting Aaliyah off. Jerome opened his mouth to respond to Marcus but before words could come out, Marcus pulled a gun from his pants. My heart dropped down to the pit of my stomach and damn near fell out of my ass. Chris' grip instantly got tighter on me out of protective instinct.

I guess they weren't lying when they said that death comes in threes. First it was my Daddy, then my baby, and now it was about to be  Jerome. This family can't ever catch a break.

"What in the hell? Marcus why would you even ask him something like that?" Aaliyah asked with a look of confusion written all on her face. "You know that he would never do anything like that." She scoffed as she shook her head at him. "He's a changed man and I don't even know why you would come for my Daddy like that. You really got him messed up." She said looking at him like he had lost his damn mind.

Little did she know.

Marcus didn't respond to her and everyone else in the room remained silent because we all knew the truth.

"Tell him you didn't do it, Daddy." Li spoke up again, breaking the silence in the room. When she said that, Christopher cleared his throat loud as hell and I couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or if he really had to clear his throat. I simply eyed him and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well uh that's my cue to go. Thanks for dinner Mookie, it was good seeing y'all. Have a good night." Aireka said gathering her things and standing up from her seat.

"Nah, I think you should stay." Marcus said gesturing for her to sit down. He still had the gun in his hand so he was basically swinging it around recklessly. I was just grateful that my kids were safe upstairs and in the bed. I just had to pray that Marcus wasn't crazy enough to cause any harm to Aaliyah.

"No, I think I'll go ahead and go home. Thanks for the offer but have a shoot in the morning and I gotta be well rested s-"

"Ain't nobody going nowhere until I get the truth." Marcus stated. "So again, Jerome, did you and Manny kill my daddy or not?" He said leaning forward and repeating his question.

"Marcus this is really some bs! How dare you ask my Daddy something like that after all he's done for you. You know that he wouldn't do anything to hurt me or you." She snapped.

There was this weight on my chest and I was trying my hardest not to bust out into tears. The way that Aaliyah was defending Jerome against Marcus hurt me because once she found out the truth, I knew things would never be the same. Her relationship with Marcus would change and so would her relationship with her father.

"Well Jerome, did you do it?" Marcus asked, ignoring Aaliyah. I looked at Jerome, waiting to see what the hell he was going to say. Marcus said that he had proof so even if Jerome lied to him, he would still know.

Jerome sighed before clearing his throat. He leaned forward and placed his forearms on his thighs, clasped his hands and hung his head. "Yes Demarcus, unfortunately I did." Jerome admitted. I closed my eyes and waited for the gunshot but there never was one.

I slowly opened one of my eyes to see what was taking Marcus so long to shoot him. I took the time to glance around the room. Aaliyah had an unreadable expression on her face; it was a look of hurt, shock, disappointment, and anger. Aireka looked scared as hell, Chris had a blank expression on his face, Marcus had a mug on his face, and Jerome just looked pitiful to me.