“Just get him settled, man,” Messiah said. Meek looked up, and he could see the distress in Messiah’s face.

“Nah, you got it,” Ahmeek said. He kissed the top of Messari’s head. “Ya’ daddy gon’ take real good care of you. I’ma see you around, homie. Love your mama for me, a’ight?” He hated that his eyes burned. This felt a lot like letting go. An excruciating goodbye. He stood and walked out the door. For the first time, he wished he had never gone to London to see Morgan. It was the first time he weighed what had been lost, and it pressed on his soul tremendously.

Morgan sat in the car, gripping her steering wheel, squeezing it repeatedly as she lingered in the parking lot of her building. She glanced over at the car she was parked next to. A navy-blue Jaguar. Bash’s car. He was inside. He was waiting, and Morgan didn’t realize how intimidated she was by him until now. Messiah had stolen her shields. The twins stopped Bash from being able to take things too far. There had been threats and tension, but she knew he tempered his reactions because of the twins. He hadn’t touched her in a while, and it made her think that the few times he had hit her had been a mistake he regretted. Now that she had to face him alone, Morgan was afraid. She had been trying to work up enough nerve to enter her own apartment.