Page 84 of Quasim III: King Inferno

Aimee could have just settled for being Capella’s wife. She never had to lift a finger and could have had him take care of her. That was what her family expected her to do and even pushed her into doing it. They never saw her as the rose that grew in concrete. Even when it was hard, she rolled her sleeves up andworked for her goals. Even when it felt like this was all for nothing, and the world was closing in on her, she did what she had to do.

It wasn’t about Aimee taking accountability for her actions, it was that she put the work in to change them. She never stayed that way. Instead of being the victim, she went on to become victorious. With the odds stacked against her and a mountain of trauma, she accomplished what many couldn’t say they did.

Proving to herself and her baby boy that dreams could come true, and if you chased them and worked hard enough, you would eventually catch them. I swiped away tears as I listened to all the speakers.

“Please welcome our valedictorian, Landon Caselli.” We all clapped while Zoya, Stevie, and their bodyguard cheered loudly.

“Thank you for coming today. When it came to writing my speech, I procrastinated because that’s what I do — wait until the last minute and then attempt to pull a miracle out the hat. When I think of all it took to get here and the person that stood there, pushing me to get here, I can say he always pulled a miracle out the hat. Even when I wasn’t privy to needing said miracles, he was making them happen on my behalf.” He cleared his throat. “Onourbehalf. I may have done the work to get here, but I kept his face in the back of my mind. What wouldhedo had he been given this chance? Every time I texted one of my peers that I was rich so I could drop out, his face popped up. This degree may have my name on it, but it’s for you. For all you sacrificed, all you lost, and all you never got to experience because you were too busy pulling miracles out of hats for us. If I have any words for my peers today, it’s to follow your dreams… sounds cliché, but on the real, we take advantage of people saying it because not too many get the chance to live or follow their dreams.... thank you.”

Zoya and Stevie were in tears as Menace stood straight ahead looking at the boy he raised that had the same face as him. Hewas proud of him, and he didn’t need to say any words, clap, or do the most to display that.

I could see it in his eyes, and his wife did, too, because she held his hands and gave them a squeeze while Zoya was cheering with her sister on facetime.

Meer and Capri held hands while Cherry slept peacefully on her father as we waited for names to be called. Capella had taken Rory and left the section we were sitting in, while we continued to wait for Aimee’s name.

“Hey, you alright?” Capri asked.

I smiled. “I’m okay.”

She looked at me for a minute and then put her hands over mine. “Not asking if you are okay… I asked are you alright, Blair?”

“Not today, Capri. This is about Aimee, Skyler, and Landon… not me.”

She wanted to argue with me, but decided to let it go for the moment. “Aimee Delgato.” They announced her name, and we all jumped up hollering, scaring Cherry.”

“Yeah, Aim! Yeah!” Cappadonna was the loudest, clapping with tears coming down his face. Alaia swiped hers away as she leaned into her husband, watching her and Rory walk across the stage. By the steps, Capella was waiting for her.

Soon as she hit that bottom step, she let Rory’s hand go and ran into her husband’s arms. He picked her up and kissed her while spinning around. Rory jumped and clapped his hands, excited. Capella kissed and held onto his wife like he never wanted to let her go.

As a man, he fell short when it came to loving her. He was young, and a man trying to have the weight of the world on his shoulders while trying to be like his father. He wanted to be what he saw Cappadonna be, not truly knowing his struggles.Capella didn’t realize that he was like him in so many ways that mattered.

There was one Cappadonna, he didn’t need to be another one. He learned to quiet that noise and love his wife. Meet her where she needed him to meet her at and be the father we all knew he could be.

“Skyler Rae,” they called and we all jumped back up, screaming.

“Skyler!! Whew!!” Stevie hollered behind me, proud of her cousin. She had tears falling down her face while staring straight ahead at Skyler, watching her blow a kiss at her daughter, Corleon and Jeffie.

“My fucking baby,” Corleon clapped his hands as he watched her cross the stage, and Jeffie was in full blown tears.

A few other graduates were called before we heard Landon’s name. “Landon Caselli.”

Everyone jumped up and clapped. We all were surprised when Menace rose to his feet and clapped hard as fuck for his brother. He looked straight ahead, locked on his brother and he was proud.

Stevie and Zoya both looked at him and were surprised. Each time Aimee felt discouraged, I always reminded her of everything she accomplished without the degree. Aimee, Skyler, and Landon were really gonna be unstoppable and that’s because they were being trained under Corleon D. Bruster.

We made our way to the main level and the minute that Aimee saw Cappadonna, she took off running and he held his arms out. He picked her up and swung her around as he kissed her on the head.

“You did that shit, Aim,” he told her as he placed her back onto the floor. His voice was full of emotion as he stared at her and kissed her forehead. “Always knew you could do this shit… just needed you to believe it, too.”

She hugged him tighter. “Thank you, Pops.”

“You never have to thank family, Aim… ever.”

Meer came over and hugged me. “You are fucking sobbing, B.”

“S…sorry… I’m so…sorry.” He wrapped his arms around me and patted my back as I continued to cry.

“Wetting my shirt up and shit… damn hormones,” he chuckled as he squeezed me while I cried because this was such a happy moment for us.

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