Page 37 of Caden the CEO
“I wish you would get it together,” Dreya said with a grin. “You’ve been crying since I came out the room.”
“I can’t help it!” Dru almost yelled as everyone laughed at her.
Along with Caden, Niko, and Lorenzo, Stevie and Marilyn were there as well. When Dru learned Dreya was nominated for homecoming queen, she decided to go all out. The house was decorated, and she had enough food to feed an army.
“Let me just take a few pictures, and then we can go.”
Dreya groaned and rolled her eyes playfully, just like her sister. “Fine, but hurry. I’m already nervous, and I don’t want to be late.”
“You ain’t got no reason to be nervous, Sis,” Caden said. “You’ve already won.”
“Amen!” Marilyn said, waving her hand like she was in church.
While she and Dru took several pictures, the men headed outside. Once they were done, Dreya went to the guest room she was sleeping in and grabbed her purse. She must have postedpictures online, because Dru looked at her phone and saw a text from Tina, and the sight of it immediately made her regret unblocking her number.
Egg Donor:
Since you and my mama wanna do whatever for Dreya, y’all can have the lil girl. Y’all saving me money anyway. That dress is ugly and I can tell Nya didn’t do her hair!
For a brief moment, Dru considered not responding at all. Then, she decided to see if she could bait Tina into saying something they could use against her at the hearing. Tina was always quick to justify and defend her actions, so as long as she didn’t catch on to what Dru was trying to do, Dru was sure she’d be able to get her to say something incriminating.
Who hurt you? Why did you even have us? What are you good for except abusing, selling, and berating your daughters? The dress is beautiful like my sister. You’re just mad because you don’t have her to offer to one of your sick ass men.
Egg Donor:
If I wanted to, I could! My rent is due. Run me my money, or I’ll have a van of niggas waiting outside the school for your sister.
“I’m going to kill this bitch,” Dru grumbled, tightening her grip on the phone to keep from throwing it.
“What’s wrong?” Caden asked, wrapping his arm around her from behind.
“She’s fucking sick. You don’t joke about no shit like that,” she said, handing him her phone. “And the sad part is, she’sprobably not even joking. I really wanna go beat her fucking ass.”
“Hey, we ain’t doing this tonight.” Caden tossed the phone to Lorenzo and took Dru into his arms. His voice lowered when he continued. “We’ve prepped the petition, and we are on the judge’s docket. Tina will be served with the petition soon, and we’ll see who has the last laugh. All she’s doing is trying to get under your skin and ruin your night. Don’t give her that power. Tina has a higher chance of making it into hell tonight than getting near you or your sister.
“Fuck her and that text. She literally just sealed her fate and gave up her parental rights, trying to be funny. She made it clear she doesn’t want Dreya, and that she’s damn near prostituting her. Focus on that.”
Dru’s head shook as her tears fell, but she quickly swiped them away.
“I just . . . ugh.” She inhaled a deep breath. “She’s triggering me, and that’s on me. I really hate that bitch, bae. I wish she would just die.”
“I can make that happen,” Caden said with a smile, and that was the only reason Dru laughed. “In all seriousness, go get yourself together before Dreya comes out. She deserves to have a good night tonight. We’re not going to let Tina ruin that.”
“You’re right,” Dru conceded. “If she sees me like this, she’s going to know something is up. Let me go to the bathroom real quick.”
“Alright, sweetheart.”
Caden gave her a sweet, tender kiss before releasing her. As calm as she was trying to feel, her fists balled, and it took everything in her not to punch the bathroom mirror. Their court hearing couldn’t come quick enough. Things were working in Dru and Dreya’s favor, and the last thing Dru wanted to do was say or do something that would make her look unfit inthe judge’s eyes. So as much as she wanted to tell Tina to pull up to homecoming so she could give her the ass whupping she deserved, she decided to block her number again, and keep it that way this time.
Pride consumedCaden as he watched Dreya teach his mother and Marilyn a TikTok dance. Dru was outside with the guys smoking. Even with the stresses of being a CEO and his fraction of The Syndicate, in that moment, for Caden, life was perfect. After Dreya won homecoming queen, she decided she wanted to stay at her school. That made her decision to live with Marilyn make even more sense. As caught off guard by the decision as Dru was, she’d handled it gracefully and understood where her grandmother and sister were coming from.
What Marilyn had said was true.
Dru had spent her life surviving and existing.
Now, it was time for her to live and thrive. Caden had taken it upon himself to ensure that happened, andnothingwas going to get in the way of that.
After taking a quick video of Dreya, Marilyn, and Candace, Caden went outside. While Niko and Lorenzo joked and talked shit, Dru was puffing and passing a blunt with Nikolai as they talked about the garden Dru wanted him to start for her.
