Page 13 of Through Treacherous Weather
“Hi, is this Fatima?” the voice on the other end of the phone belonged to an older woman.
“Yes.”
“Hi, my name is Bianca. I’m Kadafi’s grandmother. I’m going to keep the kids for a few days. If you don’t want me to come pick them up from your home, I can meet you somewhere.”
Kadafi’s introduction to Fatima’s family was a touchy one. He shot Wise while fully intending to kill him. His beef? Wise killed his father, Prime, before Kadafi was born. Simone didn’t want Kadafi once his father was dead, so she gave him to Bianca to raise. It took a lot for Wise to forgive Kadafi for shooting him just like it took a lot for Bianca to accept the fact that Wise murdered her son. She understood, however, that in the game it was often kill or be killed. Prime wasn’t an angel, and he’d done his fair share of dirt.
Bianca knew her child wasn’t exempt from the old saying, live by the gun die by the gun. If she had it her way, Prime would have chosen a different path in life altogether.
“I’m in a lot of pain, so I’m not driving at the moment. I don’t have a problem giving you my address.”
“Okay, you can text it to me, and I’ll be on my way.”
Once she ended the call, Fatima sat down on the couch with a sigh. No one in her family was dead, but she still didn’t like the eerie feeling that seemed to be following her around like a dark cloud. She had been so happy to return to Diamond Cove and one night of fun turned into tragedy. Go figure. Trinity called to check on Fatima and the kids and by the time their conversationended, Bianca had arrived to pick the kids up. Fatima had just sat down when the doorbell rang again. Kissing her teeth out of frustration, she stood up and ambled to the door.
“Hey, daddy,” she stated slowly when she saw her father and Esco standing at her door. Fine ass Esco. Esco that had seemingly saved her life.
“Hey, baby. This is Esco. I knew his father, and he has his own security firm. It was him that saw a fuck nigga pointing a gun at you. Him and a member of his team were working the club last night, and his employee was able to get the license plate number for the car the shooters were in. It might take some time, but I’m confident that Esco will find out who did this.”
“Um, okay.” Fatima’s gaze darted from her father to Esco and then back to her father.
“You were in front of the group,” Wise continued. “Esco saw the gunman point his gun directly at you, which is why he pushed you. There is a chance that he was aiming at any of you and since you were in the front it just looked like you were the target, or you could have very well been the target.”
“Me?” Fatima frowned and drew back. “I haven’t even been back in Diamond Cove for a month. I haven’t lived here in four years. Why would someone be shooting at me?” she was genuinely perplexed, but she wasn’t the only one.
Wise was stumped as well. Winter was a little feistier than Fatima, but his daughters were the green, calm ones. They grew up with silver spoons in their mouths. Never in life had they wanted for anything. Fatima didn’t even get into physical altercations with other females. He couldn’t think of one reason that anyone would have beef with her, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
“I have no clue, but I’m not taking any chances. I’m paying Eso way above his pay rate to watch over you until we get to the bottom of this. He’s going to be with you for the next twodays, then one of his employees will take his place, because he does have business at home to tend to. He’ll rotate. A few days with you and then his employee will step in. But I feel better with you being with him. You aren’t to go anywhere without him. Got it? I also don’t want you driving your car. If you have to go somewhere, ride with Esco or whoever your security is at the time.”
Fatima’s scowl deepened. Esco was a perfect source of eye candy, and she had no qualms about being in the presence of an insanely handsome manly man, but the situation didn’t make sense. She was truly baffled. “What about work?”
Wise gave her an ‘are you crazy’ look. “Fatima, baby, I’m your boss. Your other bosses are your brother and cousin. You can work from home and what you can’t do from home, fuck it. Neither one of your jobs is more important than this.”
It wasn’t a random shooting. If the gun had been pointed specifically at her or her family, then it was very intentional. Not only did she not know why, an innocent bystander had been killed. Calvin was supposed to be at the group home. He wasn’t even allowed out of the home unsupervised unless he was going to school. At only seventeen-years-old, he had no business even being in the club. Calvin was sent to a group home because his mother couldn’t handle him. Justice was livid. Fatima said a silent prayer for whoever was on the clock when Calvin snuck out of the house because they would no longer have a job and if it was male staff, Justice just might lay hands on him.
The state was going to investigate for sure and want to know why staff didn’t notice that Calvin was out of the house. The business wasn’t in Justice’s name, but he still didn’t want anyone snooping around and asking questions. It was all one big mess, and everyone was perplexed and pissed. Thank God Yaminah, Kadafi, Jaiseem, or the other woman that had been shot didn’t die. But Calvin…
Fatima felt sick to her stomach. She no longer wanted to stand, so she walked over to the couch and sat down while her father and Esco peered at her.
“I know this is a lot, baby, and that’s why we’re doing everything I can to get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, Esco is to go anywhere you go aside from your bedroom and bathroom. I trust him. He’s good people, so treat him like family, and make him feel at home. I also need you to listen to him. He’s in charge.”
All Fatima could do was sigh. Even if she wasn’t okay with it, it wouldn’t matter because there was no arguing with Wise. If she told him she didn’t want Esco babysitting her, he would just make her come to his and Natalie’s house. Being in the comfort of her own home was the better option for her, even if she did have to have company.
“Got it,” she stated in a low tone.
Wise nodded at Esco before turning to leave Fatima’s house. Fatima was trying to figure out how life had gone from sugar to shit so fast when she realized that he was still standing. “You can have a seat,” she mumbled.
Esco moved across the room bringing the scent of his cologne with him. There were worse people she could be stuck with, but Fatima’s nerves were too all over the place to be completely focused on the fine man in her living room. The silence between them was pretty awkward. After about three minutes, she spoke.
“My arm has been throbbing all day, so I’m going to take some pain medication and take a nap. There’s food, snacks, and drinks in the kitchen. Help yourself. And thank you for saving my life.”
“That’s what I get paid to do. No thanks needed.”
Fatima pivoted and went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. What in the entire fuck was going on?
Chapter Seven
Esco smiledas he stared at Star’s face on his phone screen. She was telling him all about her day. Esco was his own boss, and he made his own schedule. Since he had custody of Star, he generally didn’t take jobs that would require him to be away from home for more than a day, but Wise came to him with an offer that he couldn’t turn down. He was offered four times his hourly rate to be Fatima’s personal security. There was no way Esco was turning that money down. Star would be good with his mother on the days and nights he had to work.
