Trife Life To Lavish Part 2 Genesis & Genevieve...Am I My Brother's Keeper by Deja King

work with," she answered
casually, putting her phone on silent. Nichelle knew that
Akil was going to be worried sick thinking that somebody
snatched her up, so she felt the least she could do was send him a text letting him know she was okay. She would deal
with the heated lecture he would no doubt blast her with,
when she saw him again in person.

    "I missed you," Renny turned towards Nichelle and
admitted.
    "I missed you too."
    "I didn't realize just how much until seeing you again.
Those billboards don't do you justice."
    "Really ...I thought they actually did me too much
justice. They have me without one flaw which of course is
impossible."
    "I'm not talking about that. Those pictures don't show
the innocence in your eyes that I see so clearly when you're
right here next to me."
    "That's ironic, because with all I've been through the
past couple of years I don't feel so innocent anymore. From
Carmelo and my mother getting killed, seeing Tierra get
shot and you leaving me, I think the better word to describe
me is damaged."
    "You're not damaged and I didn't leave you, you left
me-remember."
    "Did you really leave me a choice? Our entire
relationship was built on lies."
    "Us being in love wasn't a lie."
    "Then what took you so long to come back for me?
You never even called me."
    "I was trying to protect you, Nichelle."
    "You keep saying that but never explain how. I'm here,
in front of your face now. Tell me exactly what was going
on and why is your cousin Arnez so determined to get his hands on me?"

    When Renny came to the red light, he stopped and
stared at Nichelle. "Can we get into that later?"
    "No! I've waited long enough. I have to walk around
with a bodyguard twenty-four-seven because of Arnez. I
don't even feel free, it's like I'm a child. The least thing you
can do is tell me why. I also want to know what happened
to my best friend. It was like I lost both of you at the same
time."
    Renny put his head down, and then looked back up
when the light turned green, continuing to drive. "Nichelle,
I never wanted things to end up like this for you but a lot
of times we have no control over what happens in our lives.
Please believe I had nothing to do with that bullshit scheme
Arnez concocted. When I found out, I tried my best to
protect you. That's why I sent Tierra to go get you, but
things didn't work out the way I hoped."
    "How did you find out what Arnez was up to?"
    "I started putting shit together. After we had dinner
at his crib that time, a few days later he started asking me a
few questions about you. I didn't think too much of it. The
business we're in, and the fact he knew we were serious, I
figured he wanted to do a little checking around, looking
out for my best interest. Then he started asking questions
about where you grew up, your mom, and I made the
mistake of telling him where she lived. I swear Nichelle, I
had no idea he planned on even talking to your mom, let
alone killing her."
    All Nichelle could do was shake her head. Replaying
all this over again was bringing tears to her eyes. But she wanted to know exactly what happened; she needed to
know in order to bring some sort of closure to all the chaos.
"So how did you finally put it all together?"

    "I had to meet Arnez at this safe house and I got there
earlier than planned. I heard noises coming out this back
room and when I went to open the door to see what was
going on, it was locked. Chanel told me that Arnez was in
there handling some chick that worked for him who had
stolen some money and drugs. So I went outside and made
some phone calls and told her I would be back when Arnez
was finished."
    "Were the noises you heard coming from that room,
my mother?" Nichelle asked in a horror stricken voice.
    "Yes, but it wasn't until she was already dead I found
out. About twenty minutes later, Arnez came out and said
an emergency came up and he would need to reschedule
our meeting for the next day.