“I know you don’t, because I can never speak truthfully about how she lost her life. It’s a part of my past that I’ve lied about so many times that I’ve started to believe it. I tell people she died giving birth, because I like to think it sounds noble, like she was a mother who sacrificed her life while bringing life into the world. Other times, I just say she was sick. People don’t ask about shit like cancer. I think of any lie to tell to avoid the truth. The lies paint a prettier picture. People don’t pry too much when they understand why a girl died so young. The truth is, my love for Raven is what killed her. I called the play that ended her life. I killed the girl I loved.” Ethic grit his teeth, as his nostrils flared. “She was with a bad nigga. I thought I had to protect her from him, help her escape from him. He used to put hands on her. I never understood how a man could destroy beauty the way he did. So, I intervened. I took her for myself. I always loved her, but she was a lot like Morgan: sheltered, naïve, spoiled,” Ethic stopped to chuckle, as he stood and went back to the window to watch over the three people he cared for most. “She got pregnant with Eazy, but she was so afraid of him, she went back. She gave birth to my son, while she was living with him. She told me he wasn’t mine. She lied. She named him after her father, and as an ode to me, gave him my middle name. Benjamin Ezra Atkins. I changed it to Okafor years later. I still remember the day she called me to come get her. She was terrified. I could hear it in her voice when she begged me to come. I decided right then that the nigga she was with had to die. I put word in the street that there was a ticket on his head. I couldn’t have known that she would use his car to come meet me. We were supposed to leave Flint. We were so close. We were supposed to have a life together; but instead, I saw the men I hired spray the Audi she was driving. It was a miracle that Eazy survived because he was in the back seat of the car. She died because I ordered an execution and I haven’t been the same man since. Men like us aren’t built for the good girls. It always ends badly.”

“And Morgan is a good girl,” Messiah stated, somberly.

“That she is,” Ethic agreed. He turned to Messiah and handed him a letter. Messiah read the heading. It was from Michigan State University. “She got in. They’re willing to allow her to come mid-semester. If you love her, walk away.”