“No, the business is not complete. It won’t be complete if I gotta stop what I’m doing to come back home and make sure you stay where you are. I don’t know what is going on with my wife. But I can’t guarantee you and the baby’s safety if you leave that house. Seriously, you’re in a safe house, Tasha. I can’t focus on this business way over here across the fucking continent and you on the other side somewhere calling yourself hiding with four kids by yourself.”

“I was only taking the baby, Trae. Someone is trying to take our baby. It’s all over the police websites and the Internet. I believe Mari is behind this Amber Alert. This bitch got me spooked. You think I’m supposed to just sit here and wait for children’s services and the police to come take my baby?”

“Don’t worry about that shit. I’ll take care of it. Just stay there with Don Carlos’s men. They will take care of you. Listen to me, Tasha. Don’t go and do something crazy. Do not leave that house! Stay your ass right there. Do we have an understanding?”

With Trae finally calling me, my spirit was feeling more at ease. I missed this. I missed him.

“Tasha!”

“Okay, baby, damn. I am not going anywhere. But can you call me more often? Is that asking too much?”

“I’ll make the arrangements. Just stay put, Tasha. Now tell me about our daughter.”

“She’s beautiful. She looks just like you had her and not me. She looks more like you than the boys. We got us a baby girl!” I picked up that Trae was relieved, not only to know I’d given birth to the baby, but most of all, that it was definitely his child.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see my little princess when she was born.”

“That’s all right. Angel stayed with me. I had a C-section, and I never want to have another one. Taylour —that’s her name—her middle name, I’ll let you pick that, she gave me a time, but she was worth every minute of it. She weighed eight pounds—even though she came a few weeks early. Can you believe it? Did you watch the delivery? Please tell me you got it.”

“Watch? I think I could deliver the next one, I watched it so many times.”

TRAE

What the fuck was Tasha talking about? An Amber Alert? Mari trying to take the baby?

Where was she getting this shit from? Was my wife losing her mind? Is this the result of this trip? I needed to have Kay get Angel on the phone so I could find out what was really going on. But for now, I was glad that the Don’s men had enough sense to get on the phone and call me.