The news rocked Ahmeek. Touched him right behind his gangster, where he kept the sentiment for his family. Messiah lived there. His entire chest ached. He was unmoved on the outside, but his heart exploded inside. He felt like someone had snatched his stomach out. He bit into his bottom lip, nodding as he finally put together a clear picture of the puzzle in his mind. He gripped the sides of the chair, fighting emotion, but he showed none. Rage and devastation swirled in him. It was a hot-boy summer, and he was about to cool niggas off. It was time to make it rain. Bullets. Murder Meek wanted to change the forecast and make it rain bullets. This feeling, this news was the worst thing he’d ever felt. It was worse than Mo cutting him off. It hurt more than the discovery of Messiah’s empty hospital room all those years ago. It ached more than the day his father got locked up. This shit was the worst pain he’d ever dealt with.

“This is what we’re gonna do. You gon’ go inside and find a real quiet spot. You gon’ put your fucking pistol in your mouth and pull the trigger. I’ma sit right here until I hear the shot. You got three minutes. One to say goodbye to your son. One to kiss your bitch. One to build up a little courage, cuz the shit gonna feel impossible to do. It’s going to be the scariest shit you’ve ever done, but you gon’ eat that bullet, or baby boy and wifey gon’ pay that price for you.”

“Meek, man…”

“Nah, G. Too late for all ’at.” Ahmeek pulled out his phone and set the timer. He turned the screen to Beans. Three minutes and not a second more. “Make the most of it.”

Beans stood from the table, and Ahmeek sat there watching the numbers of the timer wind down. It went ten seconds past the deadline. Tension filled him. He didn’t want to execute Beans’s woman and child, but he would if it came to that. Before it even became a consideration.

Boom!

“Beanssss!”

The sound of Tammy’s wails filled the air, and Ahmeek stood. He walked back to his car, catching Beans’s son before he rushed into the house.

“Yo, sit here. Sit on this step and don’t move, you hear me?” Ahmeek said. “Don’t move until your mother comes for you. Shit might get hard for you. Shit might hurt a lot after today. You or your mother ever need something, you come see me. You hear me?”

Beans’s son nodded as tears filled his eyes.