"Think about it, Jerome. You were seeing her around that same time, weren't you? Taking her out, spending time with her. Y’all were fucking right?"
I could see his mind working and him doing the math.
"She told Sosa he's the father," he said slowly.
"Of course she did," I said. "What was she gonna say? That she was sleeping with an older man when they were broken up? That she didn't know who the daddy was? She picked the safe choice. The young choice. But that don't make it true."
I watched the idea take root in his mind like poison. I watched him start to believe it.
"How would I even know?" he asked.
"You get a DNA test after the baby's born," I said. "But if you want my opinion? That baby's yours, Jerome. I can feel it. my son aint never got a girl pregnant before. I use to think Sosa couldn’t have any kids."
“I’m thinking, the timing is a little close.” He said and I smirked. And just like that, I had him.
When Sontae was born, I made sure Jerome saw pictures. I made sure he saw how light-skinned the baby was, how his features looked nothing like Sosa's and I made sure he started wondering, started questioning, started wanting.
And then I made my move.
"You ever think about legacy?" I asked him one night in bed after we had just finished fucking. "About what you're leaving behind when you're gone?"
"Sometimes," he admitted.
"You don't have any kids, Jerome. No one to carry your name. No one to leave your empire to."
"I know," he said quietly.
"But what if you did?" I said. "What if that little boy is yours? What if you have a son and you're just... letting Sosa raise him?"
I saw it click in his eyes. I saw the want, the need, the hunger.
"I need my boy, Shaunie," he finally said. "If he's mine, I need him."
"Then let me get him for you," I said.
"How?"
"Leave that to me," I said, kissing his neck. "Just tell me what he's worth to you."
He looked at me long and hard. "Two million," he finally said. "You get me my son, and I'll give you two million dollars."
Two million dollars.
And more importantly, the satisfaction of taking everything away from Yah-Yah the way she'd taken everything from me.
Setting it up was easier than I thought. I knew niggas from another crew who hated Sosa, who'd been looking for a reason to move on him. I gave them the layout of the house, told them when the cookout would be, and told them exactly how to make it look real.
"Make it violent," I said. "Make it look like a real kidnapping. Shoot somebody if you have to. Just get the baby." And they did exactly what I asked, After they grabbed Sontae, I waited until the next day, then I met those niggas at the meet-up spot, I paid them their cut, I grabbed my grandson and drove him straight to a safe house where we stayed until it was time to move him to Miami.
The finger was my idea. I knew Sosa wouldn't pay, my child was too prideful, too cocky, too stubborn, and too convinced he could negotiate his way out of anything. So, I needed to make it real. I needed to make them believe Sontae was gone.
I bought a toddler size prosthetic finger online, wrapped his Spider-Man Band-Aid around it, and sent it in a box. I wanted Yah-Yah to fall apart.
And it worked, now Sontae was where he belonged with his real father Jerome. And I finally got my dream man, and there was nobody in this world who was gonna come between what I had going on. It was my time to be happy, my time to have real love. It was finally my fucking time!!!
“To Be Continued…”