Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 112567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
I directed my view to the balcony opening. The sun had yet to peek over the horizon. A deep indigo served as the sky.
I need to get ready.
Sipping more coffee, I turned on my phone.
Instantly, a symphony of beeps and vibrating occurred, letting me know that I had a flood of voice mails, texts, and missed calls.
Fuck.
I looked down at my phone and spotted five missed calls from Chloe followed, along with a barrage of text messages. Each text was a desperate plea for understanding, for context, for some reassurance in the face of our abrupt and unexplained departure.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
A pang of guilt hit me. I’d been so wrapped up in grief, shock, and Lei’s insane world that I had forgotten to check back in with my sisters.
They still don’t know about daddy. How will I tell them?
Ten missed calls came from Jo.
Damn it. I am going to have to talk to them before Jo rushes back here.
The final missed call was the most unsettling. It came from Banks, earlier this morning.
Shit. That can’t be good. What’s up with that? Did something happen?
Banks, always maintained a calm, composed demeanor and seldom felt the need to check in unnecessarily. His call was a sharp reminder of the escalating seriousness of the situation.
Good morning to me.
I finished my coffee, walked over to the closet table, and set the cup down.
Time to fix this.
I went into the group text that I always kept with Jo and Chloe and began typing. They wouldn’t be up this early, but it would be good for them to wake up to a message.
Me: Hey, guys.
Me: I love you and I am fine.
Me: I didn’t have my phone
Chloe: Wtf?!!!
I frowned and typed.
Me: Stop cursing.
Jo: Where are you?
Chloe: For real!
Me: I’m in Glory.
Jo: But where? I had my chick take me to the apartment.
Jo: You weren’t there.
“What, Jo?” I scowled. “Oh my God. What if Leo had been there?”
Me: Keep your ass in Paradise, please.
Chloe: Why can you curse, and I can’t?
Me: Because I’m grown, and you’re not. Jo, where are you now?
Jo: In Paradise.
Me: Good. Stay there.
Jo: But why is some old Chinese guy living in our spot and cooking rice.
I froze in my spot.
The phone beeped again.
I pushed through the shock and read the message.
Chloe: What’s up with that? Are we renting the place?
Trembling, I dialed Jo’s number fast and placed the phone against my ear.
She answered on the first ring, “Moni, what is going—”
“What happened with the old man, Jo? Tell me everything.”
“What?”
“The old man, Jo.” I shivered. “What happened? Are you okay?”
The sounds of some cartoon tv show played on her side. She must have been watching television with TT which meant they had all stayed up last night, worried about me.
Damn it. I dropped the ball.
“First of all, Moni. Dude was mad cool, so yes. I’m fine.” Jo actually sounded like she was smiling. “Leo even gave me a grand and told me that he was protecting our place.”
You two are on a fucking first name basis.
“O-okay.” My heart boomed in my chest. “Tell me everything that happened—”
“No, you tell me what is going on. Dude is basically living in our place with a bunch of monks, playing 50’s rock and sipping wine—”
“What?!”
“Yeah. You didn’t know that?”
“Umm.” I placed my hand on my forehead. “Okay. So. . .that’s Leo—”
“Yeah, that’s what he said.”
“And umm. . .Leo got rid of the Snow and Dutch problem—”
“He said that too. What I’m not getting is how you even wound up meeting dude in the first place—”
“Remember that I went to look for Dad at his spot in Chinatown?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s how I met Leo.” I trembled. “He gave me some money and helped. Now let’s get back to you. After you talked to Leo, then what happened?”
“Leo wouldn’t let me go back with my chick. He said that he didn’t like her vibe, so he sent her off and one of his monks brought me back to Paradise.”
My eyes watered. “So. . .you are. . .okay?”
“I already told you I was fine, Moni. What the fuck is an old man going to do to me?”
I exhaled all the tension I had been holding in my heart. “Stop cursing.”
“Anyway, the monk likes hip hop.”
I scrunched my face in confusion. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I synced his car to my phone and played classic Tupac. He went crazy, yelling out all the words.”
“Umm. . .o-kay.”
“We arrive in Paradise and that’s when things really got ballistic.”
I went over to the bed and sat down on it. “What do you mean?”
“Even though he was a monk, dude had a rich blue Cadillac with an iconic gold grill. Plush cream leather. State-of-the-art sound system—”
“Jo!”
“What?”
I gritted my teeth. “Get to where shit got ballistic.”
“Oh yeah. We enter the South and people start following us on bikes and wearing green clothes. Next, Banks rolls up with a whole crew holding guns. The monk parked in front of the house, and you should have seen Bank’s face when I got out of the car.”