Ethic pushed her behind him. Tension cut through the chill in the air.

“Lower those guns off my goddamned daughter!” Alani screamed.

“We’re just here for Ezra Okafor.”

“That’s me. Whatever this is about, it doesn’t involve them. They’re kids. It’s in everybody’s best interest if you and your men put those guns away. It doesn’t take ten officers and riot gear to approach me. The longer this lasts, the worse it’s going to be in the end, remember that,” Ethic stated.

The lead officer approached him and apprehended one wrist and then twisted it behind Ethic’s back before handcuffing the other.

“No! Wait!” Alani shouted.

“Go in the house, baby. Get them inside. Don’t worry. I’ma be home soon. It’s nothing for you to worry about, I promise. Get everybody in the house,” Ethic instructed. He was calm. Unbothered. He kissed her lips as Bella cried as she watched the police walk Ethic to the back of a police car.

“You got some ID?” an officer asked.

“No! Get off my property. He’s a kid! He doesn’t have to give you anything. You have no cause to ask him for anything!” Alani shouted as she shifted her focus to Hendrix and Bella. She aimed the camera at his shield. “This is harassment—Officer Bennett, is it?”

The officer snatched the phone. “I said put the phone down!” he yelled.

“Aye, man!” Hendrix protested as he and Bella watched the officer rough Alani up a bit. “Get your fucking hands off her, man! She’s pregnant! You ain’t got to handle her like that!”

Another officer accosted Hendrix, gripping him by his collar and then slamming him hard onto the hood of his car.

Hendrix grimaced as the hand to the side of his face pressed him harder into the steel frame. His legs were kicked open.

“You got anything on you that can injure my officers, boy?” the cop asked.

Hendrix didn’t respond. He just locked in on Bella, who was standing just yards away. He saw her lips moving, but he couldn’t hear her. He was trying to prepare himself for what would happen next.

“What do we have here?” the officer asked, finding Hendrix’s pistol. “Felony possession of a firearm and a controlled substance.”

Bella looked on in horror as Hendrix was placed in handcuffs. He heard her protests as Bella’s face dipped in panic. She was crying, and he had to close his eyes because he hated it. He detested the sight of her tears.

Bella ran into Alani’s arms, sobbing as the police took her father and Hendrix away. “What’s going to happen to them?!” she asked frantically.