Page 35 of The Stepbrother 2: Noah

"When did you even do all of this? As far as I knew, this place had been empty," I said, looking around. With new eyes, I could see that everything here was meant to make it feel like an actual home.

"When I found out Tempest had her baby, I knew you would be in Florida for a while longer. Then this plan came to me. I had contractors come by. It took them three days."

"So you had this all planned out? What about Tempest? She calls me three to four times a day, and I always answer. She’ll know something's wrong when I don’t."

He turned and smirked. “Don’t worry. I enlisted AJ for some help.”

My mouth fell open. "How?"

He chuckled again, something he seemed to do a lot now. “Everybody has secrets, Creed. Aj has secrets.” he said before he walked in my direction holding two plates. The chicken Alfredo made my stomach growl. I could have protested and said I wasn’t eating, but I was too hungry for that. I’d figure out how to get out without starving myself.

He set each plate on the raised coffee table and took a seat across from me on the loveseat.

After a few bites, I asked, “How did you even start selling guns?”

When he didn’t say anything after another two bites, I looked up. Hesitation was written all over his face.

"Noah."

He sighed. “Three Six Deuces.”

I frowned. “What did he have to do with you?” Two years earlier, I’d dealt with him. He was signed to my godfather's record label. He was a menace. I paid out nearly ten million to women he had assaulted, then another fifteen to him after I broke his contract. Whenever he was confronted about his misdeeds, he claimed, “the man was trying to keep him down because he was a Black man.” When I publicly stated I was letting him go because I didn’t want my godfather's company associated with violence, he couldn’t use that excuse. He threatened to beat my ass. Tempest didn’t like that and had her husband and father pay him a visit on my behalf. He didn’t even glance my way in public after that.

"When his daddy tried to buy his way into music, Tiffany took a lot of money from him. She was supposed to take Three Six on a world tour. He played a few nightclubs. They told her she would end up missing if she didn’t get the money back to them. When she came to me, I didn’t know how serious their threat was, and I couldn’t ask your parents for the money. Someone I never planned on doing business with until then offered me a lot of money to be the middleman and run logistics on a big gun sale. According to him, the person would do business with me because of personal ties. That person ended up being my cousin.

“I didn’t know you were in contact with your father side of your family.”

“I’m still not. They don’t deal with him, just like they don’t deal with me. But don’t worry, that part of my life is officially over.”

I wanted to unpack the part about his family not dealing with him, but that wasn’t my business.

"You saved your mother's life. Three Six and his family are not above hurting women."

"I know, but I don’t want to talk about that anymore." He pushed his half-eaten food away.

Noah leaned back into the cushion of the chair, his eyes darting around the room. Our conversation seemed to have put him in a mood.

Silence settled between us.

I pushed my plate back too, the fork clattering against it.

“So, what is your endgame here, Noah?”

“Us. Married with our kids, doing this family thing right.”

“And you think this will lead to that?”

He nodded. “Just as sure as your father was when he did it."

I rolled my eyes. "You're back to that story again. My daddy did not kidnap my momma," I half-yelled, and only half believed it. I hated that tell-all book my uncle Kyle wrote about my parents, but I wasn't so sure it was all lies.

A sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. He was really planning to keep me there.

He snickered, "Sure he didn't, Creed."

Troy-

Exhausted was an understatement. I was drained, running on empty. Every muscle in my body ached, and my throat was sore. I had spent all day preparing for a charity event, and the way I felt reminded me why I retired. My eyelids felt like they were made of lead, constantly threatening to shut. When I opened my hotel room door and saw Scarlett naked in my bed, I thought I had fallen asleep standing up.

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