Empire State of mind

Chapter Thirty: Trouble

Not proofread

Shelby's POV

I sit with Jamal in our father's now old office as Jamal tells us he promoted Becky, I smile and give Becky a high five as well as I lean back on the couch and feel a weight lifted off my chest

I'm comfortable in my decision on staying an artist

"Congratulations Becky" Andre says sadly

"Congratulations...I've been meaning to ask you, what type of black girl named Becky" Hakeem says bitterly and I roll my eyes

"My moms white" Becky says confused before walking away

"Ignore him Becky....Hakeem why you gotta act like an ass" I say and he ignores me

"So what's the deal boss man" Andre says and Hakeem chimes in and I poke Jamal causing him to smack my hand playfully

"Nah nah nah stop all that, it ain't even like that...ion know y'all I feel like he really loves us, I do...I mean he built this whole empire for us" Jamal says

"Yea I mean I feels he's genuinely sorry for the shit he's pulled" I say

"Hell of a gift he gave you" Andre says and I can feel the bitterness in his voice, man didn't even want it anymore but now he want it, I can't with him

"I don't understand, if dad not dyin then why he even pick a successor...don't make no sense" Hakeem says confused

"Probably because he realized the company needs a fresh face...I don't know I mean death can make you think of crazy things" I say and Hakeem brushes me off

"You barely know he so don't act like you do" He rebuttals and I just shake my head and laugh at his goofy ass

"Actually Shelby, it's because we're a company that's about to go public and what it does is that it saves us in case some random white dude wants to come and try and buy it from under us..right Dre" Jamal says and I just nod

"Share holders like to know there's a succession plan sure" Andre says lowly

"Point is I need y'all's support, I don't even think I wanna do it if I don't have it" Jamal says

"You got mine, i for real didn't want it when I really reflected, I haven't been a artist for long enough plus I'm not ready" I say and Jamal smiles at me

"So if we not cool with it then you not gon do it..is that what you sayin" Hakeem says and I look at him crazy

"What I'm saying it that I'm not him and you know that, but every single decision that I make-" Jamal says but Andre cuts him off

"Every single decision you make" Andre says sarcastically

"Yea Dre,your the MBA so tell me if you've ever heard of a corporation where the buck doesn't stop somewhere" Jamal says and Andre looks at him with an unreasonable expression

"Well what about my album, will I be in charge of how my album gets dropped and what gigs I do to promote it" Hakeem says and I look at him

"Weren't you finna leave" I say and he rolls his eyes at me, see this is why I can't be boss right now, I'd drop his ass

"Hell yea...but I do think that your album should be pushed back like one to two months" Jamal says and

I start tuning out the rest of this talk since I'm really not interested in what Jamal finna  do, my album is ready to drop and

Suddenly I hear Andre start clapping causing me to look up from my phone, this nigga been so smug lately

"Perfect" He says and I roll my eyes
———————

I stand in Luscious office as he talks about Jamal running the company

"We made a deal, you let her back in the company" Jamal says

"That was before" Luscious's says as he glares at Cookie, I look to Cookie who looks guilty

"Before what" Jamal says and I nod in agreement

"Before your mother tried to kill me" My father says causing me to look at Cookie

"You know your fathers a pathological liar" Cookie says and I frown my eyebrows, my father goes on to say he had security camera in his room

He pulls up the video of Cookie and i in his room and I see myself leave and then after I see Cookie try and put a pillow over my fathers face, I look at Cookie who's stumbling over her words

"And Shelby....we have a lot to talk about" He says to me as Cookie tries to explain herself but Luscious's calls in Jerome

"He killed Bunky for Shelbys bitch ass mama"She says and I go to say something but my father grabs my wrist before I can

"See son...babygirl...sometimes you gotta be willing to sacrifice your queen in order to win the game" He says to Jamal and i as we both look from him to each other

Jamal leaves after to clear his head and my father looks to me

"So I'm guessing the cameras have audio" I say looking at him seriously

"You found out about Bunky in the worst way....I killed him because he put the hit on your mother and your boy shot her...I only kept it from you to avoid the police coming after you" My father says causing me to look at him

"You could have told me" I say angrily

"But you would have had to lie to the police and I wasn't about to have you in that situation" He says and i sigh knowing he's right

"I'm sorry but I had to do what I had to do..to protect my daughter" He says as he gets up and comes over to me

"And by the way...I know what happened with Ankia...there will be hell to pay for that" He says causing my eyes to widen, he gives me a kiss on the head before leaving out of his office

Fuck man

A/n oof and last episode of the season yuhhhh Ariana

Enjoy:)