Page 49 of Mr. Calloway

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is that a deal?” I asked.

With a tight-lipped smile, she nodded. I walked over to where I kept the doctor's paper, picked it up, and handed it to her.

She glanced over it and looked up at me. “What’s this?”

“You see it. I need you to fill this out.”

“Do you still have?—”

“It’s none of your business.”

She glanced down again and started talking. “I will tell you it isn’t my family. It’s Clark’s. Your great-grandfather had cancer, June. I have no clue how it skipped Clark, but that’s where it stems from. Give me a pen.”

I felt sick to my stomach. Everything about Clark and his legacy was poison. How was it that it skipped him? Was that even possible? I knew there was no way of stopping what was clearly in my DNA, but everyone around suffered as long as he was breathing, and I needed him gone.

“I’m going to kill Clark,” I blurted out.

She finished filling out the paper and handed it to me. “I know.”

She reached into her purse and handed me two envelopes. “May I see the boys? I want you to open these once I’m gone.” She smiled.

I wasn’t sure if she was being truthful about Clark because I still didn’t trust her, but I was content knowing she cleared up a past that had been haunting me.

I called out to Z. While we waited, Cynthia reached and hugged me. I wasn’t sure if she thought I would embrace her with love, but I stood there.

“There is no place like home,” she whispered. “He knows no other place but home,” she said as she now pulled away from me.

When Zaria came down the steps, she cut her eyes at me.

What the fuck is this?

Trust me, Z. Go grab Peace.

I knew Z was skeptical, but I was a man of my word, and that didn’t just apply to my agreement to allow Cynthia to see the twins but also to my vow to kill Clark.

Clark

PRESS PLAY

“I knew it. Thank you. Oh, don’t worry. They will be safe,” I said before hanging up the phone.

I had just added another piece to my puzzle, knowing it would be everything I needed to bring the Tyrant down. This war was coming to an end, and I knew that with this, he would be begging me to take the leash off his neck.

I glanced around my office before everything I knew of this place was gone. Since Cynthia was adamant about selling the place and I wasn’t moving smartly when I added her name to the deed, I unfortunately had to see it through.

The home I believed would transform my heart became a place of lovelessness for years. It was now being shopped around to someone else. Everything I knew was slipping through my fingers while karma was sitting back, enjoying the view. However, I was going to be the one laughing in the end, showing karma who was really the fucking boss.

When I heard the front door open, I shot up. No one had been here for days, so who was taking it upon themselves to enter my kingdom unannounced?

“Clark!” I heard Cynthia’s voice.

A piece of me was oddly happy to hear her. I eagerly hurried into the foyer to greet her.

“Sweetheart,” I called out.

Unbothered by my words, she looked at me as if she wasn’t happy to see me. Was there nothing there at all? I knew I had my moments, but Cynthiaalwaysfound space in her heart for me, even on my bad days. Or was it the idea of going through this war alone that bothered me? She had been my backbone for over thirty years. With every dirty deed, every scheme, and even the moments I was on my best behavior, she stood beside me, and now we stood here like strangers.

“I came to tell you that I have decided not to sell the house.”