Page 57 of On You 2

“Nah, I don’t want to know about the end because you're making me feel uncomfortable. Just let me out so I can get back to my child.”

I started tugging at the door.

“Not right now, Jas, just relax. Please don't make it hard.”

I balled my fist up, getting ready to punch this bitch when I heard someone tap on the window.

When I looked out, a man was standing out there with a gun pointed directly at me.

“Maleka, what is this about? What are you doing! You set me up!”

“I won’t let them hurt you I promise. Just stay calm and do what they ask.”

She replied, and I almost fainted. This shit can't be happening right now. I need my brother, I need Amir.

Chapter 13

Amir

At first, I tried to stay calm after they left. I sat on her couch staring at the television without actually watching anything, checking the time every few minutes while waiting for the phone call telling me Khalil was alive. But the longer the silence stretched, the more uncomfortable I became. Twenty minutes turned into forty-five. Forty-five turned into an hour. Eventually I grabbed my phone and called her.

Straight to voicemail.

I frowned and called again.

No answer.

By the fourth unanswered call, I was pacing around the living room dragging my hand through my hair while my thoughts kept getting darker. Every possible bad scenario started playing through my head at once until one of my calls finally connected.

“Everything good?” I spoke quickly while standing up straight. “Did you drop it off yet?”

Silence filled the line for a few seconds before she finally answered.

“No, Amir.”

Something about her voice immediately made my stomach drop.

“Where are you at? You having trouble finding the spot?”

Another pause followed my words before she sighed heavily into the phone.

“Amir, baby I’m not going to drop off the money.”

For a second it felt like my brain stopped processing words correctly.

“huh?”

“Amir, I tried with Khalil for years. I tried to tell him the streets are cruel and unforgiving, but he has too much of your father in him.”

“What do you mean my father. You told me he wasn’t Mecca’s.”

Confusion sat in my chest and I’m sure on my face because of her words.

“I lied to you and I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, Amir because you don’t deserve to be lied to, but Khalil is Mecca’s son,” she admitted quietly.

“And I see the same thing in him that I heard was in you and your siblings all those years while I worked in that house. Violence, pride, rage, destruction. You and Khalil became exactly what I feared would happen when I laid down and pushed you two out. That's why for years I tried to tell myself he was Hassan’s child just to not see that in him.”

“Ma, what the fuck are you talking about? You said that he and Rami were.”