Shorty paced the kitchen floor, waiting for Sal to arrive. It felt like it was taking an eternity for her to get there. Shorty called everyone from Strick to Chaz’s friends and cousins who stayed in Brooklyn. Unable to reach any of them, she resorted to her last option and dialed Kennedy.

“What up, sis?” Kennedy cheerfully answered, always happy to hear from her sister-in-law.

Shorty inhaled deeply, then quickly exhaled her response. “Ken, I know you not feeling Chaz right now, but please, for me, I need you to go to Brooklyn and stop him …”

Kennedy’s signal on her cell faded for a few seconds. “Can you hear me, Shorty?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I couldn’t hear you. My phone was breaking up. What were you saying? Stop Chaz from doing what?”

“I need someone to stop him from hurting Ria.”

“You can’t be serious, Shorty,” Kennedy said fighting back the urge to laugh. “You know there is not much at all that I won’t do for you. I’m so done with your brother and his baby mama. I refuse to ever get caught up in their domestic issues, especially when it doesn’t involve me.”

“It does involve you,” Shorty replied.

“How?”

“’Cause the reason you got that abortion might just be a lie.”

“What are you talking about?”

Shorty gave Kennedy the brief version of the story as quickly as she could. The more Kennedy listened, the more she cursed herself for killing her child based on Ria’s antics. She felt that if Chaz had simply cheated, with time she could’ve gotten through it; but having a baby on her was something that she just couldn’t rationalize. Learning that there was even a remote possibility that Ria was not pregnant infuriated Kennedy. “Say no more, sis,” Kennedy told Shorty, “I’ll go out there, and if it turns out that gutta bitch did fake this pregnancy … your brother is not the one you have to worry about.” Kennedy terminated the call and looked over at Eisani, who was driving, “Take me to Brooklyn, E.”

“Who?” Ria questioned, pressing the listen button on the intercom.

“It’s me, buzz me in.” Chaz responded, trying not to sound anxious.

What the fuck is he doing here, Ria wondered. Ria knew Shorty suspected something by the way she’d looked at Ria’s stomach and asked all those questions. I know Shorty done said something to Chaz with her hating ass. I can’t let this fall apart now. I’m too close. “I’m busy; besides, the girls aren’t here.”

Thinking fast, Chaz replied, “I know. Shorty called. She said you forgot to pack Chastity’s inhaler.”