Page 19 of Smoke

I didn’t say anything, prompting him to grab me and yank me to him.

“Bitch, I asked you a muthafucking question.”

“Y-yes.”

“This mine?”

I didn’t want to answer. I’d successfully avoided him knowing about my pregnancy for months now. I didn’t want to admit that I was carrying his child, but I also couldn’t pin this baby on another man. That wasn’t in my character.

“Yes.”

An evil smirk spread across his face. “Well, well, well. I guess we have a little incentive now, don’t we?”

He pulled me over to his car and popped the trunk. Inside was what I knew was a duffel bag of drugs he needed stashed.

“Pick it up.”

I shook my head, prompting him to grab the back of my neck. He all but pushed me into the trunk.

“Pick it the fuck up, or I will beat this fucking kid out of you in this parking lot, Romi.”

Tears streamed down my face as I grabbed the duffel bag and pulled it from the trunk. As he closed it, Patrick glared at me.

“I should beat your ass for hiding the fact that we’re having a baby from me, but I’m gonna let you live.” He chuckled. “You’re lucky I had business to attend to; otherwise, I would have been here sooner. I saw that little cop sitting outside your house the past two days. That was real cute. You finally found one to take you seriously, huh?”

“Why won’t you just leave me alone, Patrick? You obviously don’t need me if I haven’t complied all this time. It’s clear you made other willing arrangements?—”

“It doesn’t matter what arrangements I made. I want you to do it, and if I have to ask you again, this baby won’t be the only thing it costs you. You wouldn’t want something to happen to Korri, would you? What about your parents or that loud mouth bitch of a sister? It would be a shame if they had an unfortunate accident because you wouldn’t listen. I’d also hate for the same police you put your trust in to find drugs in your house or your car or your precious beauty bar. It would be hard raising my baby from prison, don’t you think?”

I burst into tears, realizing that I really didn’t have a choice this time. I didn’t know the first thing about cleaning money. I’d seen it in movies and shows, but this was real life where any and everything could go wrong.

“Okay,” I whispered.

“I can’t hear you.”

“I said okay. I’ll do it.”

He chuckled. “I thought you would see it my way. You know what? I think you owe me an apology for taking so long to get on board.” He cupped a hand around his ear. “I’m waiting.”

I sniffled and sighed heavily. “I’m sorry.”

“Good girl.” He pointed at the bag. “That’s how you’re gonna make this up to me. I’ll be back. I assume we aren’t gonna have a problem, are we?”

“No.”

“Good. Take your ass back inside and get to work.”

He turned me toward the door and gave me a push. With my head hung, I slowly walked back into the building, down the hall, and to my office. I tossed the bag on the couch and took a seat behind my desk. For the longest time, I just sat there, staring at nothing. I didn’t realize I was still in tears until I felt the wetness on my face.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to break something… hit something.

Why hadn’t I had my gun? Why hadn’t I checked the cameras before going outside? Why was I so fucking stupid! Now I was stuck doing exactly what I’d been avoiding. I needed a way out of this shit, but how?

A few days later…

“Watch me, Mommy!” Korri yelled.

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