Page 110 of Justice II

“No.”

The answer came out before he finished lowering his hand.

“Julian was always nice to me. I just wanted Roman to know what it felt like to lose everything.”

Justice nodded.

“Aight. I’ll stay with you for a couple of hours but then I gotta go pick Storie up.”

“I can’t believe he killed my parents.” I started to cry.

“I know. But he can never hurt you again.”

He held me as I sobbed. I prayed I could one day forgive myself for bringing the devil into my family’s life.

35

Justice

Behind my eyes I had a throbbing headache. It had been a long night and I was just getting home. I wanted nothing more than to crash in my bed, but I received a call from Neasy. I sighed, hoping it wasn’t an emergency.

Please don’t be a call asking me to drive back up to Pittsburgh.

Storie barely made it upstairs. I’d just picked her up from Quest’s less than an hour ago. She was cold today but I knew that was because she saw Melody’s name on the caller ID. I was a grown ass man and could talk to whoever I wanted. But for now, I would keep Melody safe and away from Storie.

“Hey, Neasy,” I greeted.

“Daddy?”

I smiled when I heard Dream’s voice. There might not be an emergency after all.

“What’s up, babygirl? You miss me already?”

“Yeah but I wanted to tell you Cookie got sick.”

“Oh, no. What happened?”

“She ate chocolate. And it really messed with her stomach. Grandma had to take her to the dog doctor.”

I looked toward the stairs.

“Is she okay?”

“She had to stay there, but she’s gonna be okay. Grandma said.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. But she was throwing up.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. But put Grandma on the phone for me.”

I heard Dream call for her. While I waited, I thought about Storie coming out of the 7-Eleven with that candy in her hand. I had given her money for it myself.

Dark chocolate with coffee beans. I knew that chocolate and caffeine were both bad for dogs. Everyone knew that, especially Storie.

“Hey, Justice. Dream is settling in well here and we’ll get her enrolled in school tomorrow. I don’t know how that dog got into some chocolate. Must be something one of the girls dropped. You know dogs will eat anything if it smells like food,” she chuckled.

“I hope Cookie gets better. Let me know if you need anything else for Dream. I’ll be up to visit soon,” I replied.