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CHAPTER TWO :
DREADING TOMORROW

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COOKIE

Cookie quickly rushed away from that reporter after she asked her about Lucious. Correction, El Diablo. That name alone sent chills down Cookie's spine.

What kind of person would be okay with everyone nicknaming him The Devil? But the answer was Lucious. He loved the negative attention and he loved having everyone fearing him.

And everyone did fear him. People talked shit about Lucious in hushed whispers, scared it might get back to him somehow. And some people also moved away from Cookie and her kids when they walked on the sidewalk, scared they might kill them.

Lucious gave the Lyon name a bad rep with his murders and that's why Cookie divorced his ass. A part of herself wished she never gave him a chance at all, but at least she got some beautiful kids out of it.

And Cookie really didn't know she was dating a ruthless killer. No one knew who Lucious really was because he was so good at getting away with murder.

You see, one day Lucious and Cookie were enjoying life, building Empire together and everything, and then the cops barged in saying Lucious was being arrested for not one, but multiple murders.

Cookie couldn't believe what she was hearing. HER Lucious was a killer? But it started to make sense because she always did find it suspicious how Lucious had beef with the jocks who had a crush on her in high school, and then all of a sudden they all ended up dead.

Everyone who had beef with Lucious ended up dead. Every time. But Cookie was too in love to say anything. And a little bit scared.

The cops also told her they believed Lucious killed his own mother when he was 10. They didn't have any evidence or anything, but they said it was more than likely true and Cookie believed them.

Lucious told her his mother was murdered but that's all he would ever say. He was always very tight lipped about the topic and now she knew why. Because he didn't want her to know the truth.

Cookie's kids also knew about Lucious being a cold-blooded killer. She sat down and had a talk with them years ago, and they hated Lucious just as much as the rest of the world. So he needed to do them all a favor and stay in jail.

But he wasn't staying in jail. He was coming out tomorrow, so right now Cookie was trying to get a ride home so she can warn her family. But Carlotta Brown ran up to her. "Cookie, what the hell was that about?!"

Carlotta's been Cookie's best friend since high school. When they arrested Lucious, Cookie felt like she needed a new partner, so she gave Carlotta his job. They were the Co-CEO's of Empire.

"What was what about?"

"That little interview! Why the hell was she asking you about El Diablo?!"

"Because he's getting released tomorrow," Cookie said.

Carlotta ain't having it. "No the hell he ain't! It's only been twenty years!"

"Yeah I know, but knowing Lucious, he got his sentence shortened."

Carlotta shook her head. "That man has too much power and it's actually disgusting how people bow down to a killer."

"Yeah he is a killer, which is why I need to go right now!"

"You're not coming back to work?"

"No. You're gonna have to handle things for me because I need to warn my kids, and most importantly Angelo!"

Carlotta snorted. "Lucious ain't touching Angelo."

Cookie spoke seriously. "Lucious touches whoever he wants to touch. Ain't nobody untouchable to him."

"Did you forget who Diana Dubois is? Trust me, Angelo is good."

Well Cookie wasn't taking any chances. She still needed to warn Angelo, but she needed to warn her kids first.

-

Cookie ran into her big family house where she, Hakeem, Jamal, and Royalty resided. Andre and Kingsley had their own houses, but they stayed there pretty often.

And yes Cookie still couldn't believe Lucious had a secret child all along, and she still couldn't believe she actually considered Kingsley to be another one of her sons.

"Jamal, Ro, Hakeem, Andre! Y'all here?!"

"Hi grandma!" her granddaughter Bella chirped as she played with her dolls.

"Hi baby! Where's your daddy?"

Hakeem appeared. "I'm right here."

Andre appeared too with Jamal and Royalty. "What's going on, Ma?"

"You all need to sit because we need to talk! It's urgent!"

"This is about dad, isn't it?" Ro asked.

"Yes it is. He's getting released from prison tomorrow."

Jamal wasn't happy. "What the hell? Why would they ever release that monster?! The streets literally call him the devil!"

Cookie sighed. "I don't know, baby. He's supposed to be in there for way longer, but I guess he got his sentence shortened."

"Yeah I don't doubt it. He probably killed whoever was in charge of his case to make that happen," Jamal dissed.

Hakeem snorted and Cookie wanted to laugh too, but it really wasn't funny. That man was a menace to society and to himself.

"Does he know where we live?" Ro asked nervously.

"He shouldn't. We moved out of that old house to lose him. But your father has a lot of pull so he'll figure it out if he really wants to."

Jamal said, "Well let's hope he doesn't want to."

"Oh he does. Why wouldn't he? He left Empire behind and he left all of us behind. He's gonna want all of that back," Andre warned.

"Na, El Diablo can stay where he at!" Then Hakeem looked at Cookie. "He can't come here, Ma! My daughter is here!"

Cookie reached over to touch his hand. "He's not going anywhere near my grandbaby. Believe that."

"Are you guys talking about grandpa?" Bella asked from the doorway.

Hakeem scolded her. "Bella, what did I tell you about being nosy?"

She frowned. "Sorry. I just wonder why grandpa isn't allowed near me."

"Well stop wondering because I ain't telling you! So stop!"

Royalty hit him. "Hakeem!"

And now Bella's crying like crazy and she ran upstairs. Royalty sucked her teeth. "Now look what you did!"

Hakeem sucked his teeth too. "Man, I ain't mean to! I'm just angry! I don't want that man to be free!"

Cookie spoke. "None of us do, but blame the corrupt justice system."

"This don't make no damn sense." Jamal shook his head and left.

"You should go upstairs too, Hakeem. You have a daughter to apologize to."

And as for Cookie, all she could do was sit there and wait for the inevitable. Lucious was really gonna be released and he was gonna come straight to her. She knew he was.

God, she really didn't want tomorrow to come.

HAKEEM

Cookie was right, Hakeem needed to apologize to Bella. He made her cry and that ain't cool. He didn't want her to fear him like how everyone feared El Diablo. So he went to her room and she was sitting on the bed staring at him sadly. "Hey baby girl."

Bella pouted. "I don't wanna talk."

"We need to talk. I don't want you mad at me."

"You yelled at me!"

"And I'm sorry. Daddy just gets angry sometimes, but you know I'd never yell at you purposely right?"

"I guess..."

"So can you give daddy another chance?"

"Only if you promise to never do it again."

Hakeem pinky swore with her. "I promise. And can you promise me something too? Can you promise not to tell mommy about this? Let's just keep it between us, okay?"

"Okay daddy." And then she hugged him tight.

Hakeem broke the hug. "Alright, let's get you ready. Mommy's coming to pick you up."

And then he heard Cookie yell, "HAKEEM, TIANA IS HERE!"

There her ass go. Hakeem couldn't stand that girl. He already knew this encounter was gonna go south because it always did.

"Hakeem!" Cookie yelled.

"Tell her to come up here! I ain't going to her!" Hakeem yelled back.

"I don't know who you think you're commanding little boy, but it ain't me," Tiana said from the doorway.

"But you still listened."

"Because my daughter is here." Then Tiana pushed him out of the way and hugged Bella. "Hi baby!"

"Hi mommy!"

Tiana examined Bella's face real hard. "Nu uh! Why was my daughter crying?!"

Hakeem lied. "She wasn't."

"So why are her cheeks wet?!"

"Because she washed her face."

Tiana stood up and snapped at him. "Do you think I'm stupid, Hakeem?! You think I can't tell when something's wrong with my child?!"

"AIN'T NOTHING WRONG WITH HER!"

"Yo, I'mma need you to lower your voice when talking to my girl!" someone said from behind.

Fucking Noah.

Hakeem glared at Tiana. "Why the hell is Noah Shook in my house?!"

"And why is Hakeem Dandelyon tryna start something he can't finish?!" Noah fired back.

Hakeem was ready to go at it now because he was tired of that dumbass name, but Tiana got in between them. "First of all, this ain't your house! This is Cookie's house!"

"Okay. Well since you're bringing your man to COOKIE'S house, then I can get Star over here too!"

Tiana rolled her eyes. "Boy bye, ain't nobody worried about Stardi B."

"You seem pretty bothered to me."

Noah's annoyed. "Can we just get Bella?!" Then he smiled at her. "Hi baby Bella!"

He tried to hug her but Hakeem stepped in front of him. "Don't ever touch my daughter in your life."

"Then don't touch my son!"

"Well someone has to because you damn sure ain't!"

Noah got in his face now, fuming and everything. "Say that again?"

Tiana grabbed him. "Stop. He ain't even worth it. Let's go Bella!"

Bella held Tiana's hand and Hakeem followed them out to make sure Noah ain't touching his daughter.

"Say bye Bella!" Tiana said when they got downstairs.

"Bye everyone!"

"Bye baby!" Cookie said.

Then Tiana opened the door and they saw Star standing there. Hakeem smirked because now it was his turn to show off. "Wassup baby."

"Hey." Star kissed him.

Tiana gagged dramatically.

"What the hell are you doing here, Star? Don't you need to be taking care of my son?" Noah said angrily.

"Don't YOU need to be taking care of YOUR son?!" Star fired back.

Tell em bae, Hakeem thought.

"I take care of my son more than enough! I was just with him yesterday!" Noah said.

Star argued with him. "Yesterday is not today, Noah! And you seem to always have a hard time grasping that which is one reason why we broke up in the first place! Because you swear being a half assed daddy is cute!"

Tiana groaned in annoyance. "Yes y'all broke up and now he has someone better, so goodbyeeeee."

"Alright and so does Hakeem, so goodbyeeeee."

Tiana covered Bella's ears just so she could say, "Bitch, kiss my ass."

"Na, Noah's already doing that. But don't forget he kissed mine first."

Noah rolled his eyes and walked off. "Alright, bye Star. You doing too much."

"That's all I know how to do!" Star bragged.

And then they left.

Star smirked at Hakeem now. "Now that they're goneeee. Hey."

She wrapped her arms around Hakeem and he held her by the waist. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to surprise you. And I'm sorry about what I just said about Noah-"

Hakeem cut her off. "It's cool. I ain't even stressing them at all because we're on a whole nother level baby."

A whole nother level. Tiana and that deadbeat wasn't touching them at all. And they never will.