25. Milan

Pulling up to the townhome in Moreno Valley, I put my vehicle in park and climbed out. I was vexed and ready to either fight or kill someone at the moment.

Walking to the door, I banged on it loudly before it flung open and Terri, Grady’s one-of-many bitches, stood there with a snarl.

“Told you about banging on my fucking door, Milan,” she said rudely as I sidestepped her to get in.

“Is he up there?” I asked.

“Of course.” She shut the door. “Wake my baby up and watch what will happen,” she threatened.

“Yeah, I can tell your husband you got your side nigga up in the attic.” I shot her a look, and she could only suck her teeth and switch off.

Pulling open the pantry door, I climbed up inside and then went up into the attic to see Grady sitting down with his knees up, peering out of the small window he had up here. He’d been staying here for a while now, never going much of anywhere in fear of being caught by Asif. Had he not been helping me, or so I thought, I would’ve ratted his ass out.

“Fuck you doing here?” Grady frowned, peering behind me.

“Calm your ass down.” I sat on the floor since it wasn’t enough space to stand. “I don’t have him with me. In fact, I can’t even get that nigga to answer the phone. You wanna know why?”

“Not really.” Grady picked at his nails nonchalantly.

“My pregnancy test came back negative, nigga!” I barked.

“So.”

“So I was supposed to be pregnant! Remember our fucking deal?” I spat, wanting to jump over there and beat his ass up.

Grady disgusted me, and I never liked him too much because he was a creep. But when I got desperate after losing Asif and he reached out to me again to assist, I took the bait. The plan was for him to get me pregnant, for me to make Asif believe it was his, and then I would suddenly miscarry once I had Asif back in my grasp. However, the plan couldn’t even get off the fucking runway, because this nigga’s sperm was shit. Now I had fucked him for no reason, and I was sick.

“And you not?”

“No! I sent that nigga a picture of some random pregnancy tests, but his overly skeptical ass took me to the doctor, and they told me the shit was negative, Grady.”

He stared at me before bursting out in laughter.

“Shit. Why yo’ stupid ass didn’t take a real test before going?”

“I did, but it was showing negative, so I figured it just wasn’t showing up yet. But I knew the longer I took to send him a positive test, the less likely he would believe me, so I found one off the internet.” Grady began laughing again, pissing me off. “This shit is not funny, Grady! I just lost my fucking chance with him! This is worse than before because he caught me in a big ass lie! How am I gonna redeem myself when you know that nigga has trust issues!”

“Calm yo’ obsessed ass down.” Grady chuckled. “Yo’ beloved Asif will be single very soon. I made a connection recently.”

“With who?” I frowned, suddenly interested, so I moved closer to him. A foul odor emitted from him, but it wasn’t one related to bathing; it was something else as if a person left rotted meat up here once upon a time.

“Stazi’s attempted murder victim.”

“Her ex?”

“Yeah.” Grady nodded. “Been following the case details and shit ever since she dissed me.” His mouth twisted a bit.

“Dissed you? You wanted her?”

That bothered me for some reason, despite me not wanting this nigga in the slightest. I just didn’t like the fact that niggas were into her for some reason.

“I did, and before that nigga, but see, Asif got only child syndrome. Nigga want everything for himself.”

I bobbed my head, agreeing with that. He had brothers and a sister, but he was an only child for a long while.

“So?”

“So I followed his girl and saw her take him to a physical therapist and approached the nigga there. We got to talking, and at first, he wasn’t fucking with me, but when I told him who I was and my background, the nigga was all ears.” Grady smirked as he recalled the memory, eyeing his dirty ass nails. “Came up with a plan to kidnap her ass after the trial is over. Doing it before would cause too much of a frenzy and garner too much media attention. Doing it after will too, but not nearly as much.”

“Kidnap her, and then what?” I asked. This could work well for me. I would comfort Asif, and he would fall for me again.

Shrugging ,Grady said, “Fuck if I know. The nigga just told me he’d pay me to snatch her ass up. Once I deliver her, he can do what he want to. He can’t walk, and low-key, he scared of Sif, though he won’t admit it, so he need somebody else to do his dirty work. I told him Asif and I used to be cool, so I know how he move, and it’ll be nothing for me to accomplish.”

“How much he paying you for that shit?” I moved away some, unable to take the smell for any longer.

“Fifteen bands.” Grady lifted his pants leg, and I saw a big white gauze with a rainbow of colors bleeding through, signaling an infection. Just then, the smell got louder.

Frowning at his wound, I said, “You willing to commit a crime like that for only fifteen?”

“Money ain’t coming in like it used to when I was a part of Money Fiends. Now I gotta stack and get paid any way I can. Once I get that fifteen bands, I’m saying bye to my family then fleeing the country before Asif catch on. What happens after that is between them two niggas.” He coughed. “Plus, he paid me for some other work too.”

I nodded, thinking it sounded good enough. I hoped Cedric killed Anastazia once he got her so that Asif couldn’t recover her. That way we could get back to our regularly scheduled program of us.

I knew it was over-the-top for me to wish death on that girl, but it was the only way. Asif wasn’t letting her go, and judging by the glow she was sporting and the way Asif had been visibly taking care of her, judging from social media, I knew she wasn’t leaving him anytime soon either.

She didn’t post much, but from what I did see, I knew Asif was handling her in all the good ways. You could tell when a bitch had a nigga taking good care of her, and Anastazia showed all the signs via her permanent glow and a few material things and surroundings I’d been able to peep. Even her daughter was living good. Therefore, only way to break them apart was for one of them to be gone from this Earth, and it had to be her.

“That would be so perfect for me,” I voiced, in deep thought. “You think he’d forgive me eventually?”

“What is yo’ obsession with that nigga? You fine as hell, yo’ pussy good,” he licked his lips, making me scoff, “and I know a plethora of niggas that would treat you like you worth.”

“Yeah, well, them niggas ain’t Asif.”

Grady smirked. “You mean they not rich as fuck and at the top of the food chain like him.”

“Whatever. I’m leaving. It stinks up here, and you need to get your leg looked at. That can’t be good.” I started crawling toward the opening of the attic.

“Can I get it one more time?” he jested—he had to be.

“Hell no.” I frowned. Not only did I not want to fuck Grady the one time I did, I wasn’t about to be fucking him in his boo’s husband’s attic. That was crazy to even say.

“Then I ain’t gon’ tell you when the kidnapping happens.”

“I have my sources, so I am sure I’ll find out some other way.” And with that, I left him and that funky ass leg.

“So, because Asif not fucking with you, that mean you can’t introduce us to his bros?” Bianni filed my nails.

“How would I do that without Asif, Bianni? I’m only around them when he’s around,” I explained.

“I guess.” She sighed. “Just seems like since your shit fell through, you don’t want me and Jalia to win.”

“Them niggas is married any-fucking-way, Bianni. Not like they’re about to divorce them uppity bitches and be with you or Jalia!”

“How you know? Niggas do it all the time.”

“No, niggas fuck on hos and tell them what they wanna hear all the time. I been around them niggas, and they are not leaving their wives.”

“Maybe not the other ones, but you can’t make me believe Cemone is only fucking Yolani. He got enough money and smarts to keep his side bitches quiet. Uncut too, but I heard he mean, so I’ll pass.”

“I don’t know who he’s fucking outside of her or if he is at all, but I know damn well he’s not gonna leave her for you or Jalia.”

“Oh, you got a master’s in Cemone Compton now?”

“No, but I’ve been around them boys enough to know what I see. He might fuck you but you not becoming the missus.” I softened the blow, knowing damn well Cemone wouldn’t even fuck her. He’d been a ho, but he was a ho with standards, and often, Bianni had hygiene issues.

“Well, just get me in the room with him. I can do the rest.” She focused on my nails, and I just watched her, still pissed she blabbed about the mommy issues knowing I’d explicitly told her not to.

“Why the fuck did you say Asif had mommy issues in front of him?” I blurted, unable to keep a lid on it any longer.

“Just came out.” She shrugged. “He was talking shit, so I had to humble him.”

“Or you wanted to make him upset with me.”

Dropping her hands, Bianni spat, “Look, don’t nobody give a fuck about you and that nigga enough to be coming up with plans to break y’all up. That nigga tried to fuck me, okay? You wanna be mad at somebody, be mad with him. Oh, but you’re not because you don’t want him dropping your ass. Oops, he already did.”

“I don’t wanna talk about him or his brothers or anybody in his circle anymore.”

It got quiet, Bianni resuming working on my nails before she paused.

“I will be right back. I got a new gel topcoat in my bedroom.” Bianni got up hurriedly as I sat here waiting for my nails to be designed.

Her phone lit up with a text message, and my eyes were like magnets to it. I saw it was from some nigga named John, most likely one of her many low-level tricks. Bianni could never get a man who was actually caked up.

Realizing she would be gone, and I was curious, I scooped up her iPhone 11 and typed in her code that I’d witnessed her put in hundreds of times. I’d never cared what this phone possessed in the past to use it, however.

Venturing to her texts, I started to scroll through and look for Asif then stopped. She would never be able to get his number, making me feel even dumber for confronting him about trying to fuck her, when I knew Asif would never. Not only was he too big on code and loyalty to fuck my cousin, but like I said, Bianni wasn’t up to snuff enough to nab a nigga like Asif.

Going into her social media app, I went right to the direct messages, seeing Bianni took thirsty to a whole new level. She was messaging all types of niggas, only the bums pretending for social media being the ones who responded and fucked, according to these messages.

I finally located Asif, seeing she barraged him with messages that he never responded to, and because I could unsend them, I noticed he hadn’t read them either. Asif wasn’t a social media guy, so reaching out to him via DM was shooting blindly in the dark.

When I landed on the latest message of her telling him I’d fucked Grady, so it was cool for him to smash her, my stomach bottomed out. Not only did I feel betrayed by my cousin, who I’d stupidly trusted all these years, but she’d told Asif.

Remembering he hadn’t read it, I quickly unsent the message, feeling some sort of relief. If Asif knew I let Grady fuck, it wouldn’t matter if Anastazia was gone; he wouldn’t touch me.

Bianni walked back into the room, freezing in place once she spotted me holding her phone. I didn’t care to conceal the shit from her at this point because I was livid.

“Bitch, you told Asif I fucked Grady!” I threw her phone at her, knocking her on the shoulder as I rose to my feet.

“Why the fuck are you even in my phone!” she hollered.

“That don’t fucking matter! You supposed to be my bitch! Not only that, my fucking cousin, and you telling this nigga about mommy issues and how I fucked another nigga!”

“So what! He don’t want your ass anyway!”

“He don’t want you either, bitch! If he did, he would’ve fucked you the first night we saw him, but he didn’t! You will never be able to get the caliber of niggas I get, Bianni! No matter what you say or do, no man who fucks me will ever fuck with you!”

That clearly pissed her ass off because she charged toward me, and though I wasn’t much of a fighter, I had to defend myself. She rained blows down on my head while holding me in a headlock with the opposite arm, and I repeatedly punched upward as hard as I could, landing hits on her face.

This continued, us whirling in circles while grunting, punching, yanking at hair, and calling each other bitches until she fell to the floor, hands still in my hair, and I grabbed her gel nail dryer to hit her with.

“Stop, Milan!” she screamed, nose and lip leaking.

I wasn’t aware of how I looked, but my face was in pain, so I was sure I didn’t look much different than her.

Dropping the dryer, I stepped over her and stormed to the door.

“I’m done with you, Bianni.” I yanked the door open, not giving a fuck about my snapped off nails as I grabbed my purse from her dusty ass couch.

“Wait, Milan, I am sorry!” She called after me.

People outside of her apartment probably thought she gave a fuck, but she only wanted to make up because she liked the potential connections I brought her and Jalia. Because of my association with Asif and my looks, I often got into rooms with many eligible hood bachelors, so Jalia and my cousin used that to their advantage.

Jalia not as much as Bianni, because she was cute and put together, but Bianni used my name constantly to get in places and around certain niggas. She’d even pretended to be me on social media before in order to fuck with some ball player, all for it to fall through when he requested a FaceTime before he paid to fly her out.

As I hopped into my car, Asif crossed my mind like normal, but mainly his words, telling me constantly that Bianni was jealous of me and how I shouldn’t trust her. I always laughed it off, feeling like he just didn’t understand or like her and was suspicious of everyone. But he was right. Asif was always right about people.

I made it home and cleaned myself up, only having a split lip and a fucked-up hairstyle but not much else. I took a shower then pried these half-done nails from my fingers before putting on a knit dress from Savage X Fenty and pulling out my phone.

I went right to Free’s page because he posted a lot, mainly when he and the crew were out during leisure time. Free would never post anything detrimental or when work was being done, but if it was a party, club, or anything of the sort, he was damn near vlogging. Asif usually stayed out of view, but usually, he would be around.

So when I saw Free posted that they were eating at Roscoe’s off Maine, I quickly hopped up, gathering my things to get to the car. I usually would never go to that Roscoe’s, too ghetto and dangerous, but I felt safe being anywhere Asif was. He was too respected and feared for niggas to try anything in his presence.

I sped over there, spotting the establishment before turning into the parking lot that had seen better days. Upon locating Asif, my heart rate sped up.

Entering fully, I spotted the usual trio of Asif, Low, and Free, eating. The young waitress was hanging by, flirting and smiling all hard anytime Asif spoke to her. He peeped me but paid it no mind, continuing to order like I wasn’t here.

“Hey.” I stopped at the table, purposely coming between the unprofessional waitress and Asif.

“’Sup.” Free nodded, and Low did the same, minus the verbal acknowledgement.

The boys finished ordering, and when the girl asked me if I wanted something, I placed an order, wanting a reason to stick around.

“You can’t speak?” I whispered to Asif.

He smelled so good, and damn was he fine with that thick beard and his dreads hanging loosely. Right now, he wore a wife beater, tattooed guns on display, and his Money Fiends chain hanging.

“Why you here?” His face twitched a bit like he was disgusted to see me.

“I missed you, daddy, and I want you to know you were right about Bianni. That bitch is a hater. Now she’s started lying on me about stuff to make me look bad.” I shook my head just as the waitress set the drinks down on the table. I instantly took a sip of the Sunset, which was my favorite from here.

Low and Free, bored with my and Asif’s same song and dance, started talking about some other shit.

Asif took a sip of his Sunrise and leaned over to whisper, “The DM already popped up on my iPad notifications weeks ago when she sent the shit. You a little late for damage control, love.” I felt like my stomach was in my ass upon hearing his words. Pulling away from my ear, he said, “Get ya shit to go, and don’t hit my line no more, aight?”

The tears immediately began to produce and fall as I realized what was happening. I had lost Asif for good, and I’d rather die.

“Baby, no, please. She is lying. I have never fucked Grady,” I whimpered.

“You fucked Grady?” Free’s eyes widened as Low stared me down, both men waiting for my answer.

“Where he at?” Low asked. “We been looking for that nigga.”

“How would I know? I have never once fucked him.” I turned my lip up at Low then turned back to my man. “I haven’t been with anybody else since I been with you, Sif.”

When the waitress came over to the table, Asif said, “Aye, pack her shit up in a container when it’s ready.”

“Sure thing, handsome,” she replied with her bop ass.

“Asif, no.” I sobbed. “I will do anything, baby. Do not do me like this. Please.”

Rising to his feet, he took another sip of his drink and started for the door. I was right behind him, begging loudly like a fool, but the last thing I gave a fuck about was how I looked. I wanted my man, and if I had to look crazy in public to get him, I would.

“Milan, I’m not gon’ tell you again, love, ain’t no more me and you, and I don’t wanna hear from yo’ ass no more. If you see me out, act like you don’t know me. You gon’ hate it if I have to tell you again, ’cause I ain’t gon’ be as cordial. I’m trying with you out of respect for the shit we did have, but you ’bout to make me lose all my fucking patience and home training.”

I was a hysterical mess by this point, with an audience from the restaurant and the parking lot since he held the door open.

“I fucking hate you!” I roared and began swinging on him, hitting his broad chest repeatedly.

Gripping my wrists, he held them tightly and simply gave me a slow head shake, warning me. I heeded to it, seeing a killer before me, and snatched my wrists from him before storming off.

This was the worst day of my life, and I didn’t know if continuing on was even worth it.