"i'm a dynasty
the pain in my vain is hereditary
dynasty
running through my bloodstream, my bloodstream".

"iman, why didn't you just keep all of your maternity clothes from when you were pregnant the last time? I mean we all knew you were gonna get pregnant again...." roman asked his wife. they were currently at bloomingdale's as iman was buying new maternity clothes.

"you're just complaining because you didn't wanna come with me" iman said.

"I didn't but i'm still right" roman said back. "why didn't you keep your old maternity clothes?".

"like you just said.... they're old!" iman told him. "my body has changed and my style has also changed from 2016, hence why I gave those clothes away when I wasn't pregnant anymore".

"now.... which sweater dress is cuter?". she was holding up two of them.

".... the v neck one" roman told her.

"of course you'd choose that one, the one with cleavage!" iman chuckled.

"well your boobs are gonna get bigger while you're pregnant....." roman smirked.

"I hate you" iman scoffed, and roman kissed her on the cheek. he also wrapped his arm around his wife and they continued to walk around the store.

until they saw a familiar face, a face that they did not expect to see.

"oh my god" iman gasped.

roman immediately turned around and began to walk away from the person. he was infuriated by seeing them here, he was wondering why they were here considering that they don't even live in manhattan. it's been years since they've seen this person and yet here they are today seeing them again.

"roman please! roman don't go!" the person called out as roman and iman were rushing away from them.

"I just wanna talk! can I please talk to you guys?! please!".

"leave us the fuck alone" roman spat at them.

"cmon roman please, all I want is some time to speak to you" they said.

"do you want me to start some shit up in here?!" roman exclaimed.

they grabbed onto roman's arm to stop his tracks. roman immediately got tense but then realized that he couldn't even put his hands on them even if he tried. for one, it's a woman.

and secondly, it's his sister.

roman's relationship with his sister, and his immediate family as a whole has always been rocky. ever since he was a teenager and he started to sell, they've been on his back. they hated that he went to drugs in order to make a living for himself, and many, many arguments have happened because of that matter. roman, being the headstrong person that he was never stopped selling and never listened to his family on what was "best" for him. however, the relationships only got worse when iman entered the picture.

roman's parents in particular never thought that iman was "good enough" for their son. they basically didn't want a black woman marrying their son, and roman did not like the clear racism at all. they could've talked shit about him and his ties all they wanted but talking shit and disrespecting iman was what they were NOT gonna do.

the final straw for him was the family's reaction to iman's pregnancy. words were said, feelings were expressed, and it led to an huge argument between the two and the family. after that day, he left his family and never looked back. he went on with his life as jianni was born and he married iman. they hated it all, hated the fact that their son decided to settle down with her.

what made him even more upset was the fact that his sisters would never defend him through anything. they would also argue with him about being a dealer and a lord and they didn't even like or care for iman to defend her or him. roman felt like they never had his side, and the only sibling that ever had his back was his older brother, but he sadly passed away a few years back. he hated the rest of his immediate family and wanted nothing to do with them. now here he is, four years later seeing his estranged sister.

"what are you even doing in manhattan when you live in staten island?!" roman wondered.

"I work out here roman, it's only been four years you couldn't have forgotten that" his sister, summer said.

"I wanna forget everything about you" he groaned.

"you don't mean that...." summer mumbled.

"I do mean that, now leave me and MY WIFE alone" roman spat, trying to walk away before being held back again.

"I never had a problem with iman!" summer exclaimed, and with that roman was livid. saying all of this shit now when she could've said it four years ago.

"are you fucking kidding me?!" roman shouted, which caused some people to look at them.

"roman calm down" iman said holding his arm as he was getting real close and confrontational with summer.

"look... you wanna talk? meet us at our house".

summer was startled by that invitation and roman was looking at iman like she was crazy, SHE WAS! he pulled iman over to the side to promptly confront her about her sudden call of plan.

"iman what the fuck?!" roman spat at her. "don't ever do no shit like that!".

"you rather us cause a scene up in here and have everyone in our business?!" iman asked him.

"I rather do anything than letting her in my fucking house" roman said. "why would you even want her in the house?! she doesn't even like you!".

"she just said that she never had a problem with me, and i'm pretty sure if she did she would've never tried to get our attention" iman told him. "let's just.... hear her out. if it's good, then good. if it's not, we don't ever have to see her again.... okay?".

roman just stood in silence, his pride didn't want him to say "okay" or "fine" at all. roman is the type where he will forever hold a grudge and will hate someone if they cross him in the worse way. it happened with the twins, but years before that it happened with his family.

"cmon roman, she's your sister".

roman rolled his eyes and groaned very audibly. he was annoyed with this and even more annoyed that iman wanted to let her into their home.

instead of giving a direct answer, he grabbed iman's hand and led her to the cashier to check out her clothes.

"is everything alright?" summer wondered.

"you wanna come talk to us? you know where I stay, go" roman said to her.

"okay..." she said.

after checking out, iman and roman left the store, walked to their car, and drove off to the penthouse. the tension was high and they weren't even the ones hating each other. this should be very interesting to say the least.

they arrived at the penthouse and summer was already there waiting. when she saw iman and roman, she got out of her car and faced them. they said nothing and went up to the top floor to their home.

walking in, iman went to the bedroom to put her bags away and then went back into the living room where summer and roman were staring at each other in silence. she was on one half of the sofa and roman was on the other. iman quietly sat down next to roman and looked at summer. the awkward silence filled the room for another few minutes before someone said something.

"so iman.... I see that you're pregnant again" summer said. "congratulations".

"thank you" she said back.

"do you know what you're having yet?" summer asked.

"no not yet, i'm twelve weeks" iman told her.

"oh wow... y'know I still remember when I found out you were pregnant with your daughter. that was four years ago... the last time I saw you guys" summer said.

the awkward silence filled the room yet again at that memory. that was really the last time they all saw each other. his family found out about the pregnancy via iman's instagram rather than a formal telling, and they were not pleased at all.

January 16th, 2016

"mom, look what I just saw on instagram" roman's other sister vanessa said to their mother patricia.

"what's going on?" she wondered.

vanessa gave patricia the phone and she couldn't believe her eyes at what she just saw.

it was an ultrasound from iman. iman just announced on instagram that she was pregnant, thirteen weeks along already. her son roman was expecting his first child, and instead of finding out the proper way by calling or telling his family in person, they found out via social media. the worse way to find out anything important.

"and he didn't have the goddamn nerve to tell us this?!" patricia exclaimed.

"she probably told her own family, meanwhile we get pushed to the curb" vanessa added.

"getting that girl pregnant in this short amount of time.... we just met this girl not too long ago and now she's expecting!" patricia scoffed.

"I honestly think that she was pregnant on thanksgiving when we saw her" vanessa said. "she was wearing that heavy sweater".

"and they still didn't tell us then!" patricia exclaimed. "this is some bullshit".

"vanessa, call your brother and that girl and tell them to come over for dinner tonight, i'm gonna call your father. invite your sister and other brother as well".

vanessa nodded and went on her phone to make the invitations. patricia was livid at this news, the fact that roman got iman pregnant made her so angry. how dare he get a girl pregnant out of wedlock, in less of a year of romance, AND how dare the girl be one that she didn't even like to begin with?! it was disrespectful on so many levels.

and she was gonna let that be known tonight.

it was time for the dinner and the doorbell rung. summer went to get the door and at the door was iman and roman. summer greeted her brother with a hug, and gave iman a very "flat" hi. iman was confused but let it go so she could move on with this impromptu dinner.

when iman and roman walked into the kitchen, everyone was in there and that included roman's parents who were giving the two the side eye.

"hello roman" patricia said to her son.

"hi mom" roman said, giving her a side hug.

"sup dad" he said the same to his father, giving him a handshake.

"hello to you too iman" patricia said very fake.

"hi mrs. anoa'i how are you?" iman said back, also fake.

"I would be better if you came to family dinner not wearing a sweater and leggings.... you could've dressed better than that" patricia told her. "you always dress so lazy around us".

"mom, cut that out" roman warned.

"i'm allowed to dress comfortably if I want to, and that's what I wanted to do today" iman simply said. she did not want to fight with her boyfriend's mother today.

"we all know why you wanted to do that" vanessa mumbled.

"excuse me?!" iman wondered, she heard vanessa's snide comment.

"dinner is ready" roman's father sika announced to everyone.

the tension was already high and things just started, and it was only going up from here....

sika made chicken and pasta with sides of cabbage and dinner rolls. at the table, it was very quiet and still tense. even with the way everyone was sitting, it was very blocked off. sika and patricia were at the two heads of the table, vanessa and summer were on the right side, and iman, roman, and his brother matt were on the left side. fitting since matt was the only person that actually supported roman...

"so uh, roman, how's life? how's everything?" matt asked to break the ice.

"life's alright" roman sighed. "the year just started so i got my plans and visions out... going smoothly".

"including a plan that you didn't wanna tell us" patricia mumbled.

"excuse me mom?" roman wondered.

"nothing" she sighed. "just nothing".

"mom... cmon just say it" vanessa told her. "it's the reason why we're here anyways".

"you're right" patricia said. "I can't hold this in any longer".

she stood up and looked right at iman and roman, specifically giving iman a dirty look.

"we know about your little secret" she said.

"what secret?" iman wondered.

".... is it a boy or a girl?" patricia asked her.

iman suddenly became frazzled once she realized what she was talking about. she also realized why she was so angry at her (besides the usual) and why they were even here.

they knew that she was pregnant.

".... don't know yet" she mumbled.

"the fact that you decided to let us find out from social media instead of formally telling us is so disrespectful" patricia ranted. "you are a disrespectful ass girl, you're disgusting".

"mom don't you dare put this on iman! she's not your daughter she didn't have to tell you shit!" roman shouted at her.

"and you're clearly not my son, allowing this shit to happen and continuing to be with this girl" she scoffed.

"what is your problem with me?!" iman exclaimed, getting up from her seat. "ever since we've met you've had this vendetta against me and for what?! i've done nothing but show respect to you and you never give it back".

"you're not good enough for my son, simple" she said.

"why?! cause i'm black?!" iman asked. "you wanted your son to bring a white bitch home?! well guess what, he didn't. deal with it".

"i'm not gonna deal with it because I DON'T LIKE YOU!" patricia yelled. "you come up in my house loud and disrespectful, disrespecting my entire family... how dare you?!".

"no how dare YOU?!" roman said, also getting up from his seat. "you're not about to disrespect my girlfriend and  the mother of my child!".

"you're gonna allow this girl to disrespect me roman?! are you kidding me?!" patricia exclaimed.

"mom you've been disrespecting me and everything i've ever done for as long as I could remember. you ain't no damn saint" roman said. "this whole house is full of fucking shit".

"they all hate me anyways, they can act like they don't but they do" iman added. "the only person that's ever shown me love and respect is matt, everyone else kisses ass and hates me for nothing!".

"you know that's not true" vanessa said.

"vanessa don't play with me. you know damn well you whisper snarky shit about me anytime you get the chance" iman spat at her. "you're also the main one kissing your mother's ass so don't act cute now cause i'm finally speaking up".

"don't talk to my daughter like that!" sika exclaimed.

"you're letting your wife call me anything so don't even say a WORD!" iman shouted back at him.

"it's okay sika. after all, she's nothing but a demon bitch that's about to raise a demon child" patricia said, and that was it after that.

iman let loose and slapped patricia in the face. gasps went through the entire house at what just happened. iman slapped patricia so hard that the entire neighborhood could've heard it. patricia was holding her face in agony and the family rushed to her side. iman looked at them, then she looked at roman, and she grabbed her coat and walked out of the house.

roman looked at his family and was livid. he was already over them disrespecting him but disrespecting iman was the last thing that anyone would do.

"fuck all of you" he grunted.

"roman!" summer gasped.

"summer shut the fuck up" roman spat at her. "you all are such fucking hypocrites, having the nerve to call someone disrespectful and a demon when the real demons are right here!".

"you know that girl is horrible" patricia growled.

"no I know that you're a fucking racist that hates her for no reason" roman spat.

"see... you can berate me all you want over the drug shit, but what you're not gonna do is villainize iman, especially when she's carrying your grandchild and is my girlfriend. fuck all that shit, i'm done".

"what?!" sika exclaimed.

"you heard me old man. you don't wanna respect iman? you wanna say she's raising a "demon child" which happens to be my child as well?! you won't be seeing them, and you also won't be seeing me" roman said.

"you're bluffing, you don't mean that" vanessa said.

"I do, the only person that's ever had my back in this house is matt. the rest of you can go to hell" roman scoffed, walking out of his parents' house for the final time.

he went outside and went to his car. when he got there, he saw iman in the back sobbing. he quickly got in and sat beside her, holding her and rocking her as she cried in his arms.

he hated that someone would make iman feel this way. he also hated that the people that caused this hurt and pain on her was his own family. this only pissed him off even more, and now he knew for sure to never see them again. this was the last straw.

it was truly iman over everybody.

"so why do you wanna speak to us? I know it's not just to reminisce..." roman asked her.

"I actually wanted to invite you to something. you, iman, and your daughter" summer told them. "my birthday is this weekend and i'm having a dinner at my house, I would love for you guys to come".

"will your parents be there?" iman asked her.

"no, they won't" summer told them. "the only person that will be there that had an issue is vanessa".

"okay... I guess that's not that bad" iman sighed. "I just don't want your parents to be there".

"trust me, they won't" she said.

roman was giving her a look to study if she was lying. summer would always have something for her birthday and unless it was strictly for friends, the parents would always be there.

"I just wanna apologize for any harm that I may have caused towards you iman. I was wrong, I should've never joined in on the hate towards you, especially when it was for nothing" summer explained to her. "it pains me that all these years have gone by and the family is divided".

"roman i'm sorry as well. as your big sister I should've been there for you, I should've had your back through it all and I didn't. you didn't deserve the amount of the shit that they threw at you, and i'm so so sorry".

iman and roman sat in silence to marinate summer's apology. iman felt like the apology did come off very sincere, and she was starting to think about how as jianni is getting older, she would start to ask about family. that would include why she's never seen roman's immediate family.

roman however still didn't trust none of them. once you cross him it would take forever for him to forgive and trust you again. the same was going right now for his sister.

"I wanna do this for jianni" iman said. "I do feel like it's the right time for her to meet you, everyone else on your side, and even vanessa... so I think that it'll be great if we attend your birthday dinner".

roman gave iman a look and iman nodded at him. everything he did was for her, and it even had to mean this.

"my wife and my kid are the most important things to me.... so i'm doing this for them. i'm not forgiving any apologies until I see some proof that things are different" roman told her.

"that's fine with me" summer said. "thank you so much for giving me another chance. thank you, thank you, thank you".

"do you still have my number? I will text you all of the details".

"we blocked everyone's numbers after that night...." iman told her.

"oh... well uh, unblock it please so I can give you the information?" summer nervously chuckled.

"okay" iman said.

"I will see you two on saturday" summer said, walking out of the door and leaving.

iman and roman went into their bedroom and both let out a loud and heavy sigh.

"god that was tense" iman sighed.

"i'm only doing this for you" roman said. "I don't even know why you wanna forgive them so quickly but".

"I never once said that I accepted her apology or "forgave" them. i'm doing this for the sake of jianni and for the sake that she feels like she has some more family, a full family experience" iman told him.

"they ain't family until they prove themselves, so we'll see on saturday" roman said.

yeah, we will see....

"momma where are we going?" jianni asked her mom as they were getting ready for summer's dinner party. iman was in jianni's room doing her hair in her vanity mirror.

"a birthday dinner party" iman told her.

"we eat dinner at a birthday party?" jianni wondered, naive as ever.

"well... yes! yes you do" iman chuckled.

roman walked into jianni's room holding a pair of white air force ones and a pair of black and white jordan ones. it was all to go with his white and black true religion polo shirt.

"iman, which ones?" he asked her.

"..... jordans" iman told him. "looks better".

"oooh daddy! we're matching!" jianni exclaimed, seeing that he was wearing the same colors as the burberry dress she had on.

"I see babygirl" he smiled. "you're my twin for a reason".

"mommy why aren't you matching with us? we can be triplets!" jianni said.

"right, you could've worn that v neck sweater dress I like" roman smirked. iman rolled her eyes and ignored that comment.

"well I wanted to wear monochrome brown colors" iman defended. "but next time we can match jianni".

"iman put her hair in a bun so we can really be matching" roman laughed.

"oooh yes! I want a bun!" jianni exclaimed.

"okay, and i'll put your little black bows in too" iman told jianni which made her smile.

iman finished doing jianni's hair and she also took a picture of jianni and roman with their matching black and white outfits to post on her instagram story. anytime those two had any kind of bonding moment it made her so happy. hopefully the happiness will continue throughout the day as they go to summer's house.

summer lives in staten island so they drove the thirty six minutes out there. iman's nerves were running high, roman still didn't trust anyone, and jianni was on her ipad in the back, completely unaware of any drama that was going on. she didn't even know whose "birthday dinner party" she was attending. regardless, it was gonna be something.

they arrived at summer's house and walked up to the doorstep. iman was still very nervous and roman could tell because when he grabbed her hand to hold it, it was heating up and he knew it would get like that whenever she was nervous.

"are you okay?" roman asked her.

"I have no idea why i'm so nervous, I was the one that agreed to this" iman sighed.

roman leaned in and did what he would always do whenever iman was nervous, and that was kiss her. he gave her a kiss to reassure her, and it would normally work as it would calm her nerves.

"I love you" he said, rubbing her hand in the process. "and I got you always".

"I love you too" she smiled, and then she rung the doorbell.

summer came to the door and was so pleased to see iman and roman. but when she looked down at jianni, she began to get emotional. here was her four year old niece that she's never met. she was realizing that she missed out on four years of seeing them, including four years of jianni's life.

"hi sweetie!" summer said to jianni.

"hi" jianni softly said.

"jianni this is your auntie summer" iman told her.

"oh... hi auntie summer!" she exclaimed.

"hi jianni, how are you?" summer asked her.

"good" she smiled.

"that's good... you guys can all come in now" summer told them.

they walked into her house and they saw the rest of roman's family. his cousins, aunts, uncles, some of summer's friends. with the exception of his cousins, he hasn't seen his aunts or uncles on his mom's side in years. he basically cut off all of his elders once the incident with his parents happened. roman being here was going to be such a surprise.

"thank you guys so much for coming, it means so much to me" summer told them.

roman's other sister vanessa walked up to the two and she couldn't believe her eyes. summer had told her prior that they were coming but seeing them in the flesh? she couldn't believe it. she was in such shock.

"roman...." she began to say. "hi".

"vanessa..." roman said.

"it's been a while" she sighed. "four years?".

"four years too late" roman mumbled.

"... and i'm sorry for that" she said.

"are you my auntie too?" jianni wondered.

"yes jianni, this is your auntie vanessa" summer told her.

"hi auntie vanessa!" jianni exclaimed. her naive mind had no idea of the clear tension that was happening.

"jianni?" vanessa said, looking down at her and then up at iman. then she really was in a shock when she saw iman's belly, showing that once again she was pregnant.

".... she looks just like you iman".

"yeah..." iman said with a weak smile.

".... i'm sure everyone is going to be pleased to see you all, let me show you around" summer said to them.

roman let out a heavy sigh as now he would have to see some family that he's avoided and cut off for years, and it looks like he can't avoid them now.

roman has spent the time talking to his aunts and uncles, apologizing for all the years of not seeing them. he wanted nothing to do with anyone that could've had a vendetta against iman or even him because of his parents, and that included the elders. he was angry and hurt and realized that he misplaced his anger on people that had nothing to do with anything. it turned out anyways that they didn't even hate iman or him. four years lost, and hopefully he could make it up.

regardless though, the dinner party hasn't been bad at all. it was a lot better than expected. jianni was enjoying herself playing with her cousins and iman was even mingling with some of his aunts and cousins. the two most important people to him were satisfied and that's all that mattered to him.

the "dinner" part of the dinner party was about to begin so everyone sat around the tables in preparation of the food. summer got a catering service to serve baked chicken, salmon, pasta, salad, dinner rolls, and spaghetti for the kids.

"so who's going to do grace?" one of roman's uncles asked.

"I was thinking that roman should do it, if he doesn't mind" summer said. "it would mean a lot, it's the first time in forever that you've been at a family gathering with most of us".

"uhhh...." roman began to think. "fine, i'll do it". everyone bowed their heads and closed their eyes as roman was going to recite a quick prayer.

"dear God, thank you for this great food and thank you for this great dinner party that summer has hosted. thank you for blessing her with another year of her life that she will be able to cherish. also thank you for the life that you've given us and all that you do. may we all get into this food as we get into our lives each and every day. in Jesus name we pray, Amen".

"amen!" everyone said together as they sat down and ate their food.

"that was an good prayer roman" iman told him.

"I know.... I haven't done one in a while i'm surprised it came out that good" he chuckled.

"well I can tell that summer liked it, she looks like she's about to cry" iman said as she pointed out at summer, who looked very emotional.

"cause I thanked god for giving her life" roman chuckled. "I do mean it though".

iman gave him a kiss on the cheek at how well roman was doing today. he was giving his family a chance again after being away for too long and things were going so well. a reconciliation was happening and it meant a lot, jianni was going to have even more supporting family.

but not all things are meant to last right?

as everyone was eating their food, the doorbell rung and summer went to go get it. she went up to the door and when she opened it, she couldn't believe who was here.

it was her parents. patricia and sika were at her doorstep right now, and they did not look happy.

"what are you doing here?!" summer exclaimed. she didn't invite them knowing that roman and iman would be coming so why were they here now?

"I should be asking the questions around here.... why didn't you invite us to your dinner summer?! we're your parents" patricia asked her.

"because I didn't. you guys can't come in we're all eating" summer told them in an attempt to stop them from coming in.

"so what? you invited the extended family but didn't invite us?! you're foul summer we're coming in" patricia said, pushing right through summer, with sika following.

they walked through the house and arrived into the dining room where everyone was eating. all eyes went onto patricia and sika, and their eyes went onto iman and roman.

"well, well, well..." patricia chuckled.

iman and roman immediately became tense as they looked at the two people they despised. the family knew about the drama that happened between them all, and now four years later they were about to all relive that faithful night where everything changed.

"what the fuck summer you said they weren't gonna be here!" roman exclaimed.

"I didn't invite them roman, I swear I didn't. they just surprised me like they're surprising you" summer told him.

"then who invited them?! WHO?!" he yelled out again. everyone was startled at roman's aggressiveness. they weren't used to this, it's been a while since some of them even seen him like this.

"I did" vanessa admitted.

"of course you did" iman scoffed. "once a kiss ass, always a kiss ass".

"I didn't do it to cause any harm" she mumbled.

"oh yes you did vanessa, you hate me just as much as they do" iman said. "you're always lying about that, stop lying cause we all know the truth".

"vanessa why would you do that?!" summer exclaimed.

"she had every right to do that, don't jump on her because you were wrong!" patricia said.

"I wasn't wrong, I didn't want any problems because I wanted to reunite with my brother!" summer told her mother.

"i've missed out on four years of seeing him, and I missed out on four years of seeing my niece, YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER over the most pettiest shit ever. don't you wanna get over that shit?!".

"grandma?" jianni said as she walked out to face patricia. patricia was staring at her in shock. she saw that she was a toddler at this point, and that she looked just like iman. her granddaughter looked like the one woman she despised.

she had nothing to say to iman or roman, she continued to stare at jianni and jianni was staring at her. iman just hoped that jianni wouldn't remember this day when she gets older, she could tell it was going to get worse.

iman got up and coached jianni to go back to her seat at the kids table and patricia let out a gasp when she saw iman's body. she let out a gasp when she saw that iman was pregnant again.

"how many have you had at this point?" she scoffed. iman looked at her and looked down at her belly and began to hold it trying to cover it.

"you're covering it like I already don't know" patricia said. "always fucking lying".

"how am I lying and we haven't had contact with you in four years? you are no longer apart of our lives, I owe NOTHING to you" iman said. "but you owe a lot to me".

"you owe a lot TO ME! and that includes driving my son away from me! this would've never happened if you would've never came into the picture" she said.

"all of this still would've happened because I was already sick of you" roman added in. "you disrespecting iman was just the final straw, I refuse for anyone to treat her in any bad way".

"what is with you and this woman?! you're so willing to disrespect your own family for her!" patricia yelled.

"this woman is my wife and she IS my family!" roman spat at her. "you no longer became my family the minute you began to shit on her because she's black".

"no one is racist roman cut it out" sika said, actually chiming in.

"oh really.... give me a valid reason why y'all don't like iman then?" roman said. "i'll wait".

they were silent.

"just like I thought" he scoffed.

"mom, dad, you have to leave" summer told them. "vanessa you too".

"why me?! I just said I didn't mean any harm!" vanessa exclaimed.

"you meant harm by inviting them to my house when they weren't wanted" summer said back to her. "now leave... NOW!".

"fine... this is ridiculous summer" vanessa sighed. "they just now came back into the picture and you doing me dirty for them?!".

summer didn't say a word and that just let vanessa know everything that she needed to know. so respectfully, she got up and walked to the door. summer requested for her sister and her parents to leave, but only one was willing to do that.

"hello?! she just told you two to leave.... LEAVE!" roman yelled at them.

"you guys are being so difficult, ruining my party" summer sighed. she was beginning to get upset at everything happening right now. it was not supposed to go like this, especially in front of her family and friends.

"you ruined your own party inviting him over us" patricia spat at her. "that's your fault".

"you invited the crackhead with the whore wife and kid" sika added in. sika was getting bold now, but he got too bold because the moment he said that, roman charged at him immediately.

roman just charged at his seventy five year old father for the words he just said. imagine calling him a crackhead, imagine calling his wife and kid a whore.... just imagine! his father just did some violation and for what?! to impress his wife? because now she was looking real regretful as her husband was getting beat up.

roman was punching his father nonstop, he COULDN'T stop. his relatives and even vanessa and summer were trying to get him off of the old man but roman wouldn't stop. it got bloodier at every punch, roman could've killed the man if he wanted to.

the little kids were crying in a scare, the family and friends was in shock. summer was in tears as her birthday dinner went to hell, vanessa was also in tears seeing her brother and father physically fight, and patricia was regretting her crude words right now. but the two people that were scared most of all? iman and jianni.

"ROMAN STOP! just stop!" iman yelled at him. she didn't want him beating on his father like this. even throughout everything she knew that the one thing that she hated the most was roman's very high temper and that he could snap at any minute.

roman wouldn't listen to her though, he wasn't listening to anyone as he was still punching his father.

until one voice stopped everything.

"DADDY STOP!" jianni cried out.

roman let go of sika, and he looked down at his father's bloody face. bruises, cuts, and blood was everywhere. he then looked at jianni, who was standing in front of him with tears in her eyes, petrified. she then began to cry, wailing out as any toddler would. she was scared of her father.

she was scared of her father.

jianni quickly swooped jianni up, holding her as she cried in her arms. roman was just looking at the floor at what he just did. he then looked around at everyone in the dining room who was just at a loss for words. he also looked at his sisters who were in tears, and even his own mother who was consoling her beat up husband.

they were all looking at him like he was a monster.

iman picked up their belongings as jianni was still crying in her arms. iman was trying so hard to keep it together, not to break down herself. the fact that jianni even had to witness all of this made her so upset. this was the last thing that she wanted to happen.

"I WANNA GO HOME!" jianni cried.

"we are baby, we are" she said.

she walked into the dining room and got roman to leave. she looked summer in the eye and gave her such an apologetic look.

"i'm so sorry" iman whispered.

they all walked out of the house and got in the car to drive home. iman was in the drivers seat as roman was in the passenger seat. jianni was in the back seat still crying her eyes out and it only got louder as she was looking at roman.

"jianni babygirl i'm so sorry" roman pleaded to his daughter in the back, who still was crying. seeing her father act like that truly scared her, and him realizing that she may have been afraid of him made him so upset.

"iman she hates me, she fucking hates me" he mumbled.

"roman don't say that, please don't say that you're her father" iman said, as the tears began to fall down her face.

"iman I scared her so bad in that house she'll never forgive me.... she thinks i'm a monster!" he exclaimed. "I did her so wrong... I did you so wrong".

stray tears fell down his face and now the whole car was an emotional wreck. this family has been through it, just the amount of shit that they've gone through spoke so many volumes. the amount of shit that they went through today spoke so many volumes. now here they were exactly like it was four years ago, crying in the car.

iman eventually drove back home and once they got there, she put jianni to sleep. hopefully in the morning she'll be okay, but who knows.

roman was staring up at the ceiling, still feeling so guilty. he felt like he did something right only to be so wrong, and only for it to upset someone he cared for the most.

"she loves you roman, don't ever doubt that" iman told him, laying up under him as they both looked up at the ceiling.

"I fucked up so bad" roman said. "I wanted to do right by you two and-".

"you still did, you defended our honor as you always do" iman said. "you're still our hero".

"you know I never get regretful like this iman" roman sighed. "but seeing jianni cry because she was scared of me fucked me up so bad...".

"just know this... when she gets older and we can eventually tell her about all of the shit that we've been through, especially with your family, she will understand. she will be so happy that her father always defended her and would do anything for her" iman told him.

"she will also know that you were willing risk it all for her mother so they could come together and make a beautiful family... she will know that you are the greatest man i've ever known, that she'll ever know".

"I love you roman, and I got you always" iman said, looking up at him.

"and I love you too" he said back, giving her a passionate kiss.

"you really are my ride or die".