Page 247 of Kentrell

Everybody had their reasons for pickin’ a side. Cello swore he’d known Shanelle all his life. But all that sentimental shit should’ve gone out the window the day she took Boog’s last name. It’s probably one of the reasons I never took anybody seriously. Not until Zoe.

And the second her name crossed my mind, my brain jumped right back to the day Wani met her for the first time… When he said he knew why she was the one.

And he was right.

I couldn’t control the shit I’d seen growing up… couldn’t erase the images of how this lifestyle turned women into casualties… property… punchlines.

I knew too well how these hoes moved out here… let me and every other nigga run through them for shoes, trips, rent money… or because they man cheated and they wanted their getback.

I spent years detaching myself from that whole idea…

‘Cause mentally?

I couldn’t stomach knowing another nigga touched something that was supposed to be mine.

That’s why Zoe was it for me.

She gave me that… without even knowing she gave it.

Her mind wasn’t on what I could do for her.

She didn’t want my pockets.

She made her own lane. Paid for her own lifestyle. Built the career she wanted.

She became the woman she wanted to be… before she ever knew my name.

And the first time I saw her—short-ass black dress, head high, attitude on ten…

I knew I wanted her.

Only her.

And right then… I started making plans.

The kind that didn’t leave room for second guesses.

The kind that started with one name…

Zoe.

“Damn.” I dragged a hand down my face, trying to shake these thoughts off.

I needed my head in the game… not stuck back home… thinking about her… where she was… and where I wanted to be.

My gaze shifted toward the door… landing on Oshon…

Already watching me.

Waiting on my move—because I was the one who told him to bring them here.

Like me and my pops, Oshon always stayed neutral when it came to the Terrells.

Mainly Melly.

They’d helped each other out more than once over the years.

I’d done a few hits that saved his oldest brother, Lamar, from getting laid out… and vice versa.

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