Page 69 of Malachai
I blinked once, my throat going dry.No.I knew he wasn't about to say what I knew he was about to say.
Daddy nodded his head like this was nothing but good news. “Him got same power like Malachai. Maybe more. But him smarter. More controlled. No threats. No breathing down everybody neck because him wife decide she waan air. You free, gyal.”
I stared at him, the entire room suddenly feeling completely unreal.
“So…” My voice came out flat, stripped of all warmth. “You shoot the husband thatyouforced me to marry, just so you can marry me off to someone else? What am I to you, Daddy?”
I didn't even feel sad. I didn't feel the grief I probably should have. I just felt numb.
Daddy's expression hardened instantly, his eyes flashing with sudden rage. “Yuh are a pawn!” he exploded, slamming his open palm against the heavy wood hard enough to make me flinch in my seat. “Yuh tink dis life is about love? About feelings?” Hepointed at me aggressively. “Everything round yuh exist because men mek hard choices!”
“So I'm just property?”
“You are my daughter!”
“I'm a person!”
“No,” he snapped viciously, his voice dropping into a venomous register. “Yuh are a responsibility.”
Silence slammed into the room like a physical wall. My chest tightened so hard it genuinely hurt to draw a breath.
“You don't control me anymore,” I said quietly, gripping my gun as I prepared to stand. “That ended the second you pushed me off to Malachai. I'm not doing a single thing except going back to that hospital until my husband either wakes up or dies. Then we'll revisit this conversation.”
Daddy laughed. It was a dark, terrible sound.
Then, slowly, deliberately, he reached down and opened the top drawer of his desk. My breath caught in my throat as he pulled out a sleek, black handgun.
Zaire shifted instantly beside me, his posture locking up. “Daddy—”
“I shoulda kill dis rebellion outta yuh long time ago,” Daddy snarled, raising the barrel until it was leveled directly at my chest. “Yuh too emotional. Too much like yuh mada.”
The gun pointed straight at my heart. I froze. My own father was holding a weapon on me. My favorite cousin was the one who had put three bullets into my husband.
The door clicked, and Cooly walked into the study, slipping his hands casually into his pockets. He was fully dressed now,his black designer hoodie pulled up. I wondered briefly where Diamond was, but I couldn't bring myself to care.
Daddy didn't lower the gun.
Cooly looked at the weapon in Daddy's hand, then his gaze slid over to me. That unhinged, confident little smirk never left his face. He tsked softly and shook his head.
“This is why I don't deal with my family anymore,” Cooly said, his voice smooth and conversational. “It's all the same. Treat blood like currency. Trade wives. Trade daughters. Trade lives. All for power. All for control.” He laughed softly under his breath. “No fake love songs. Just transactions.”
He stepped closer, his eyes locking onto mine.
“I could make you a queen, Midnight. Not a pawn. Not a trophy. A queen. I'd give you New York. I'd give you freedom. I'd give you everything he never could, without the chains. All you have to do is say yes. Marry me. Walk away from this madness.”
“Take him offer, gyal,” Daddy ordered from behind the barrel.
I looked at my father like he was completely insane.
“Look at your options here, Midnight,” Cooly said, gesturing lazily around the mahogany room. “One man has you sitting in a hospital waiting room crying.” His dark eyes narrowed slightly. “Your own daddy has a gun on you because you said no.”
His gaze stayed anchored to mine, intense and unyielding. “I'd never point a gun at you. I'd never punish you just for needing to breathe.”
I stared at him. This was the man who had helped me when I was a ghost. I had genuinely considered him a friend. I didn't even feel a specific type of way about finding him with Diamond minutes ago. But the answer was still the same.
“No,” I said quietly.
Cooly just nodded once, his expression entirely unbothered, like he had expected it all along. “Fair enough.”
