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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN :
WAR

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COOKIE

Hakeem and Cookie headed to the conference room and waited for everyone to file inside. And when Cookie said everyone, she meant everyone. Every single Empire employee needed to be there because they needed to have a serious conversation.

Hakeem just told her that Alex wanted to quit and that wasn't sitting right with Cookie. She didn't want her to quit. Not because of her talent, but because she belonged there more than Lucious did!

Cookie really wished she could get rid of that man, but she couldn't. The security guards were scared shitless of him so she had no one to forcefully remove Lucious from the building. And she had no one to make sure he stayed out.

Yeah Hakeem could do the job, but Cookie'd rather not put her son in danger like that. Because Lucious wouldn't hesitate to kill Hakeem at all. So they just had to accept the fact the devil was there to stay.

But the last thing Cookie wanted was her employees being scared to come to work, so she guessed there were only two options she could give them. Stay or leave. And she really hoped they didn't leave. But if they wanted to, she wouldn't stop them.

Everyone's in the room now. Treasure spoke up first. "What's going on, Cookie?"

"It's been brought to my attention that some of you feel unsafe because of Lucious' return and wanna quit?"

Cookie saw Star and Simone look at Alex.

"Lucious shouldn't have a return. He shouldn't be here at all," Noah stated.

Hakeem said, "I actually agree with him for once."

"Well look y'all, I can't get rid of Lucious. The security guards are too scared to handle him, so nothing is stopping Lucious from walking in here. So he's here to stay. But trust me, I hate it as much as you guys do. I really do."

Star shrugged. "I ain't letting that man mess with my coin, so I really don't care. So what's the next step, Cookie?"

"Well I don't wanna force anyone to be here if they don't wanna be, so who wants out? The door is right there."

A bunch of business employees walked out in a heartbeat. Cookie's heart dropped, but she didn't stop them. Thankfully no artists left though.

"Alex?" Cookie said.

She looked at her friends, then at Cookie. "I'm staying, Cookie. I'm in this until the end."

Now Cookie was really relieved. But all of that relief shifted into angst when Lucious entered the room. "What's going on in here?"

LUCIOUS

No one said a word to Lucious after he asked that question. They just stared at him, their expressions ranging from fear, to disgust, to annoyance. "So no one's gonna answer me?"

Cookie caught an attitude with him. "What the hell do you want, Lucious?!"

"I'd like to know why some employees just walked out."

Hakeem dissed him. "Look in the mirror and you'll find the answer."

Cookie spoke. "Hakeem-"

But Hakeem left the room and everyone else followed his lead, avoiding eye contact with Lucious. Now it was just him and his woman in the room.

He questioned Cookie. "So those employees walked out because of me?"

"They sure did and they're not coming back. They quit."

That made Lucious angry. "They quit?! And you let them?!"

"Yes I did. I don't have any shackles on them. They're free to go if they want."

"But I don't understand why they're quitting because of me. I didn't do anything."

"Are you really about to act like your nickname isn't the devil?" Cookie pointed out.

Lucious wished people would get over that. He wasn't the devil all the time anymore and it was because of Cookie. He didn't wanna lose her again.

"Well don't worry baby. I'mma fix this," Lucious promised her.

"If you really wanna fix this, then you'll never step foot in this company again! But you won't, will you?"

Lucious wouldn't. "I belong here, Cookie. You and I started this together."

"Well as long as you're here those employees aren't coming back, and we might lose more for all I know. So just stay out of this, Lucious. I don't need you making things worse."

"Alright, but if you're gonna be holding meetings, I wanna be included."

"Why?"

"Because I'm CEO too. We're a team."

Cookie shut him down. "You're not CEO. Carlotta is."

There goes that name again. The name Lucious hated the most right now. And if he hated your name, you better start running because that meant he was coming for you.

And he was coming for Carlotta because she really thought she could take his position from him with no consequences?! He started this shit, not her!

So you need to step down peacefully Carlotta, before things get violent, Lucious thought.

But he did promise Cookie he wouldn't kill unless absolutely necessary, so he was gonna try to talk some sense into Carlotta first. And if that didn't work...well, they can't say he didn't try.

-

Lucious found out where Carlotta lived and he'd been waiting outside of her house for hours because she wasn't home. But she just arrived and she had some woman walking with her.

The other woman said, "Oh hell no, Lottie! Why is El Diablo sitting on your doorstep?!"

"That's what I wanna know, Cassie." Then Carlotta took out her gun and pointed it at Lucious. "You're really trying me, Lucious!"

Lucious laughed which made Cassie's eyes widen. "You're really laughing with a gun pointed at your face?!"

"I'm laughing because she's not gonna shoot me."

Carlotta challenged him. "What makes you think that?!"

"Because you actually have a conscience," Lucious said while he stood up. "That's the difference between me and you, Carlotta. I feel no remorse after I kill, but you will."

"And I also know you're not gonna shoot me because God will never forgive you. I mean, didn't you just come from church?" He laughed some more. "The fact that you believe in God has me laughing too."

Carlotta scowled at him. "Yeah we know you don't believe in God. You're the devil."

"Yeah he is, so you better shoot him before I do!" Cassie demanded.

Lucious took a step towards them, not scared at all. "I'm not here to hurt you, Carlotta. We need to talk."

"I don't talk to the devil! I talk to God!"

"Well is God talking to you right now?" Lucious asked her. "Oh he is, huh? He probably wants you to put the gun down before it ends up being pointed right back at you."

That made Carlotta looked him up and down before slowly putting the gun down. "What do you want?"

"I need to rule my Empire with my woman and you're in the way, Carlotta. And if you don't get out the way, you're gonna feel what hell is like because these streets don't call me El Diablo for nothing."

"Didn't you just say you're not here to hurt her?!" Cassie exclaimed.

"And I'm not. No one has to get hurt today. All you have to do is resign, Carlotta. Voluntarily."

Carlotta snorted. "Well there's one thing wrong with what you said. This isn't voluntarily. This is force. So I'll pass."

Lucious was taken aback by that. "You'll pass?! Did you not hear the part where I said I'll show you what hell feels like?!"

"The only one who's gonna feel what hell is like is you if you don't get the hell away from my house!" Carlotta fired back. "Because you may have this whole city shook, but I ain't ever gonna tremble over you!"

"SO KEEP IT MOVING! She ain't resigning!" Cassie concluded.

He just snickered and walked past them. "Oh this is gonna be very fun then."

"What is?!"

"This war."

Carlotta wasn't backing down. "Oh trust me, you're messing with the wrong bitch Lucious! You don't wanna go to war with me!"

"No I think you don't wanna go to war with ME!" Lucious countered. "Did you forget I'm the most dangerous man in this city?!"

"But I guess you did forget. So like I said, this is gonna be very fun. Because I already know how this war ends," Lucious told her.

"Yeah? How?"

And he just said, "With you losing."

And believe me Carlotta, you're gonna lose a lot, Lucious thought.