Page 12 of The Impossible

“I know. So, you’re getting married. At least he’s fine and you’re getting away from Dad and Pop. That’s all I wanted for you.”

“I know, but I’m a bitch right? I haven’t thought about Christian once until you brought him up.”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t be thinking about his ass either. Hold on, wait. Let me FaceTime you. I wanna see the ring.”

I was about to tell her no, but her FaceTime was already coming through.

“Really, Paige?” I answered.

“Uh, hell yeah. Let me see my brother-in-law’s taste. Had you said no, I wouldn’t be asking. Now flip the damn camera.”

I did as she asked and held my hand out for her to see.

“Hot damn, it’s massive. Like that’s my mortgage.”

“Mine too.”

“Not anymore, especially if you end up living with him in the palace,” she joked.

“What am I going to do, P?” I sighed.

“You’re going to get married, right? You agreed. And you’re gonna finally cut off our father and grandfather. You should have never been a part of a business deal, but you were. At least it was someone you like.”

“Um, no. I don’t li⁠—”

“Girl bye. You’ve liked him since we were young and they kept pushing y’all to do outings during family time. Plus, lowkey, he’s still fine and you are not blind. You don’t like what he does, but there will be no desert pussy at the thought of your fiancé.”

“Paige!”

“Don’t Paige me, girl. You know what’s up just like I do.”

My sister and I talked for a while longer, with her, of course, lifting my spirits while I was still overprocessing. I was engaged to Hondo Carter and every time I thought about it, I almost passed out. I guess I just needed time to allow this to sink in. Who was I kidding, even when this wasn’t so new, I’d still be somewhere trying to pinch myself.

CHAPTER 4

Hondo

Open your eyes. You were born for this shit, son.

I watched Otto speak to a few of the young niggas while my mind was elsewhere. I had a new distraction, one that made my life much more dangerous. Thinking about her when my mind should have been on business and what was in front of me was a bad idea. It wasn’t like I didn’t know the type of power Nic had over me, because I did and that was why I stayed away from her for so long.

It had been a week since I dropped her off, and besides updates from my men and the one call she made to tell me to stop having her followed, we hadn’t spoken. Her call was more of a tantrum, telling me she wasn’t a child and didn’t need a babysitter, to which I replied she wasn’t being babysat but instead protected. She didn’t like that shit at all and had hung up on me. I meant to go by her place that night and smooth things out, but time got away from me, and before I knew it, the wee hours of the morning had shown.

“Yo, did you hear anything I said, Hon?” My brother’s voice broke through my thoughts.

“Nah, I didn’t. Don’t matter though, as long as they did.” I cut my eyes in his direction, then back at my phone. The screen had gone dark since it last had my attention.

“It’s starting, huh?” he asked with a smirk indented in his features.

“What’s starting?”

“Your inability to think about anything but the woman you’re set to marry. I haven’t seen Patience in ages. She still wears those thick ass glasses?”

I cut my eyes at him. “Nah, she’s fucking beautiful.”

He laughed. “Can’t take your word for it, because even when she wore those thick ass glasses, you thought she was beautiful. Gotta see for myself.”

“You ’ont have to see shit for yours—” I started, but my phone alerted me to a notification. I glanced down, a text message from Shawn. He was one of the main guards in charge of Nic’s safety.