They’d been through a lot together. While Sincere was doing his bid, it was Terry who protected Kisa after she was robbed and beaten during her first pregnancy. He even drove her to the hospital when she went into labor with Kai.

He loved to remind her of that night. “Just like when you called yourself, telling me the quickest way to Harlem Hospital, from Esplanade of all places! And I been in Harlem my entire life.” He burst into laughter as if it tickled him just to tell the story. “What killed it, though, is that the hospital is ten blocks straight down Lennox.”

“Oh, don’t act like that, Terry.” Kisa giggled joyously. “I wasn’t too sure if you knew anything that night, the way ya big tough ass nearly passed out when you seen that my water had burst all over the carpet.”

That fond trip down memory lane came to an abrupt halt when the rear window of the wagon shattered to pieces. What the fuck? Kisa thought, while immediately springing into action. She unfastened Kai and Christen’s seat belts, tossed both of them to the car floor, and threw herself atop them. She hovered over her children as bullets pummeled the car. The only thing on her mind was protecting her kids from the oncoming bullets.

She was so focused on her children, that at first she couldn’t hear Terry repeatedly calling, “Kane! Kane!” He yelled while weaving the car from side to side on the dark two-lane street, trying to avoid the hail of bullets. “Kane, where’s ya burner?”

Kisa reached beneath the front passenger’s-side seat, where she kept her Ruger SR9. She leaped back onto the backseat with her knees planted firmly and began returning fire rapidly. Unable to get a clear shot on the gunman, who was shooting wildly from the passengers-side window, she aimed for the front of the car. Her bullets ripped through the car’s engine with precision.

The next two shots she fired blew out the tires of the gunmen’s car. She watched as the car spun out of control then slammed into a tree. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she tried to catch her breath.

Before she could even recoup her breath, she felt her own car careening off the road. “Terry!” she screamed out, as her body flung helplessly against the door.

The car came to a sudden halt as it slammed into a ditch. Kisa checked her kids to make sure that they were okay. They were fine but a bit shook up.

“Terry, are you okay? What happened?”

Terry was unresponsive. As Kisa peered closer, she gasped when she saw the gaping hole in the back of his head. “Oh God, he’s dead,” she muttered. Don’t fall apart now, bitch.

She looked down at her children. Kai was holding her baby brother tightly while her eyes were transfixed on Kisa in disbelief.