Page 78 of Quasim III: King Inferno

He smiled and looked away, his eyes red as the tears tap-danced on his water line. “You would have done the same thing for me.”

“We not talking about me, Hassan.”

He avoided eye contact with me, but the tear slipping down his cheek couldn’t be missed. “I couldn’t see you go out like that, King… not like that. I’d do that shit all over again, keep the same nightmares I been having just to stand here and be able to look into your eyes, not down onto your body like we had to do with Ellis… shit fucked up.”

Corleon stood up and walked over to him, pulling him into his arms. Everything was hitting him at once.

Seeing me, someone he admired and saved was all too much. It had him spiraling, and I hated that shit. While holding onto Cappadonna and Kobe, I walked slowly over toward him.

I shook them off me and stood, tossing my arms around him. Squeezing him as he cried into my chest. Cappadonna’s hand could be felt on my back, making sure I didn’t lose balance, as I embraced Hassan.

“I owe you my life, Hassan. There was a time when I wanted someone to take me out. I wanted to leave this earth and never return. You get what you ask for, but you saved me. Saved me so I could be here for my children and wife. So my wife didn’t have to mourn me… there’s no way I could ever repay you.”

“You already did… Had you not been you… I wouldn’t have been able to save you. This shit is all in the stars, all mapped out and we don’t have a say in how the universe loops us together… feel me?”

“There he go talking about the stars and shit like I’m not an astronomer.” Cappadonna mumbled.

“Capp?” Capone called him.

“What up, Twin?”

“Shut the fuck up,” he busted out laughing as he held his chest and fell back onto the couch because he knew his brother was fool.

It wasn’t the fact that Cappadonna claimed to have all these jobs. It was that he said the shit with a straight face, and knowing the man, I felt like he could do all of those things.

“Great, you’re here, too,” Ramos came into the room.

From the look on his face, I could tell he didn’t have good news for me, and I would remain here for a little bit longer.

“Do you want to do the honors, or should I?” Hassan asked him, and Ramos blew a sigh of relief.

“Take over as you please.” He left the floor to Hassan, who stared at me.

“He can’t approve you to fly right now. I know the plan was for you to lay low in Barbados, but we’re not comfortable with you flying right now.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“The fuck you want me to say? Do I have to stay here?”

“My shit nice… don’t act like I got you in a dump,” Capone laughed as he opened a bag of chips, and put his feet up on Kobe, who sat back down on the other edge of the couch.

“Get your big ass feet off me! These are Valentino pants… runway.”

Capone, unbothered, continued to toss chips into his mouth while Kobe went on about his designer pants.

“Ashbourne,” Capone finally said.

I turned to look at him. “Menace has a shore house there and it would be good for you to recover. They have a hospital and school so Elijah could attend school. I’m not saying that this is forever, but you need to recover, and Blair deserves to enjoy her pregnancy. She has been running around here handling shit, and now she needs to rest.”

“Capone is right. You don’t have to fly and can get there by car. Healing is the most important and we will fall back. I know how important that get back is for you, and we’ll lay low until you’re ready to reemerge,” Cappadonna said.

This wasn’t about me anymore and I had to think about Blair and Elijah. Living this life of uncertainty wasn’t fair to them. They deserved to sit and enjoy a regular life without stressing out. I wanted her to have a safe pregnancy and deliver our baby.

Elijah had been through enough and shuffling him from home to home wasn’t ideal for a kid. He deserved to be in school now that we had the official papers from Corleon. Everything with Elijah had been transferred to Inferno.

“She deserves that shit.” I replied lowly.

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