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CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN :
CORRUPTION

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HAKEEM

It's Friday which meant it was Hakeem's day to pick Bella up from school, so he was at the schoolyard. Bella's teacher was telling him some bullshit and he was getting sick of this.

"Where's Bella?" Hakeem demanded to know.

"She was picked up already."

Yeah of course she was. She's always mysteriously getting picked up when it was Hakeem's day. That's why he couldn't stand Tiana. She stayed having Noah being a daddy to his daughter!

Hakeem spoke angrily. "Yeah I should've expected that. Thanks anyway."

He started to walk off and she said, "Uh Mr. Lyon, the person who picked her up was-"

He didn't even let her finish because he already knew the answer. "Yeah I know who it was."

Noah.

-

Hakeem was on his way to Noah's house, but he got a call from a number he didn't recognize. He answered it cautiously. "Hello?"

"Hello son."

Hakeem halted and chills ran down his spine when he recognized the voice. Lucious. And he wasn't scared, he just really hated Lucious' presence. He was eerie as fuck.

"Why you calling my phone, Satan?!"

"Bella's teacher just called me."

What? "And why the hell is she doing that?"

"Because I told her to," Lucious said. "I knew you'd be wondering where Bella was, so I told her to let me know when you were there."

"I know where Bella is. With Noah."

"No. She's at my place."

That made Hakeem really freeze now. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me correctly, son. I picked her up from school."

"Why do you keep going near my daughter?!" Hakeem raged. "You need to stay your ass away from her!"

"Well Bella seems to like my presence."

"Well I don't, so I'm coming to get her! Where do you stay?!"

Lucious told Hakeem his address and Hakeem hung up and quickly headed there. Lucious got him fucked up!

-

Hakeem banged on Lucious' door like he was the police. The police were gonna need to be called when he was done with his ass though!

Lucious opened the door and Hakeem didn't even greet him. He just pushed him forcefully which caught him off guard. He caught his balance as Bella gasped. "Don't do that daddy!"

"Don't tell me to stop, Bella! He needs to stay away from you!"

"I don't want him to stay away from me! I like him!" Bella whined.

"We'll I don't!"

Then Hakeem grabbed Bella's arm and tried to force her out of the house, but she was putting up a fight. She kicked and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Stop it daddy! I don't wanna go!"

"You're not staying here, Bella! Let's go!"

"NO!!!!!!"

Next thing Hakeem knew, she bit the shit out of his arm which made his yelp and let go of her. Bella ran to Lucious and he held her as Hakeem scowled down at his arm. She left a mark and everything!

Hakeem glared at his daughter. "What the hell you biting for?!"

"I don't wanna leave! That's why!"

Hakeem had enough of this. "Little girl, if you don't!-"

He tried to grab her again, but she scratched the shit out of him, taking some of his skin off. Now he was really pissed because she was acting like a demon!

Lucious snickered. "You heard her. She wants to stay, son."

"Does it look like I care?! She ain't staying here with you!"

"Well I guess she's gonna bite and scratch you some more until all your skin comes off."

Yeah she probably will and Hakeem wondered who was teaching her that kind of behavior? Him.

You know what, Hakeem wasn't dealing with this shit today. So he left the house and headed to Tiana's. He'll let Tiana handle her bad ass daughter.

-

Tiana opened the door. "What are you doing here, Hakeem?"

He spoke gravely. "We got a problem, T."

"Uh, yeah we do. Where's Bella?"

"She's at Lucious house."

"LUCIOUS?!" Tiana shrieked. "As in El Diablo?!"

"Yes!"

Tiana's pissed. "You really left my daughter with him, Hakeem?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"She refused to leave! She's too attached to him for some reason!"

"She's five, Hakeem! All you had to do was pick her ass up and take her out!"

He couldn't. "Na, not with the way she was acting. She was acting like a demon!"

"Don't say that!"

"I'm serious! She was scratching and biting me! Look at my skin!"

Hakeem showed Tiana his arm. It was all red and some of his skin was off. Tiana's appalled. "What the fuck? Bella did that?"

"Yes she did! She was acting evil, Tiana!"

"Well no shit. She's in the devils presence."

And that's true. "Well I need your help getting her back."

Tiana sucked her teeth and grabbed her purse. "Man, come on! We're getting our baby!"

-

Lucious opened the door and said, "I see you're back Hakeem, and you brought company."

"Oh shut the hell up, El Diablo!" Then Tiana pushed past him. "Bella, let's go!"

Bella shook her head. "I'm not leaving, mommy."

"Yes the hell you are, so get up!"

Bella shook her head.

Lucious spoke again. "Why can't you two just let me be with my granddaughter?"

Tiana snapped at him. "She isn't your granddaughter! She's not related to your demonic ass!"

Lucious looked at Bella. "Are you related to me, Bella?"

Bella grinned hard. "Yes grandpa! You're my favorite person in the whole wide world!"

Tiana and Hakeem stared at her angrily. She couldn't be serious.

"Yeah it's time for us to go." Tiana picked Bella up and Bella was kicking and screaming again. She was crying her eyes out and Hakeem couldn't take it! She never acted like this before!

Tiana's out of the house now. Hakeem spoke to the devil. "Stay away from my daughter because you're changing her!"

Lucious smirked. "I'm not changing anything. I'm just bringing out what was always inside of her."

Hakeem hissed in his face. "Like I said, stay away from her or we're gonna have problems."

Then he stormed out and slammed the door behind him. He saw that Tiana managed to calm Bella down. "You finally made her stop?"

"I didn't do it. The doll she has relaxed her," Tiana told him. "Thanks for buying her it. I appreciate that."

Hakeem was lost. "I didn't buy her anything."

"So who did?"

"GRANDPA DID!" Bella blurted out.

"Oh HELL no!" Tiana snatched the doll and threw it in the trash. That riled Bella up once again and she threw a tantrum.

Tiana didn't care though. She just picked Bella up again and carried her all the way home. Meanwhile, Hakeem just shook his head at them. This was gonna be a long day.