Rebuilding Our Empire

We're Getting Close

At the Mansion

Jamal's POV

I'm sitting at my parents' house, trying to come up with some new music. I have a sound in my head but I can't seem to find the right words to fit it. Sometimes I really miss the beauty of making music with Tory because she helped me out a lot after rehab. That beautiful soul is gone too soon in my opinion. Although I blame Eddie, I can't even call him Uncle Eddie anymore, I just can't find myself on the same war path as Dre or even Dad. I meant what I said about us putting the past behind us and rebuilding. This family has been through so much all because of my parent's past or the people they knew in the past. It's time for us to finally be happy as a family. Forget all the people who want what we have, they can never have us.

I sit back and think about how life would've been had Dad not made it as big as he had. What would it have been like had mom not did a 17-year bid? I used to think about this a lot as a kid, mainly because I missed my mom being around and I hated how bad dad was after she left and all the women. I remember this 1 woman and she spent the night once and dad hadn't moved mom's clothes out yet. This woman thought she could just shop through mom's clothes and no one would say anything. She put on dad's favorite dress that mom used to wear when she really wanted something from him. Once she hit the bottom of the stairs, Dre looked at her and said, "Bitch why do you have on my mama clothes?" Next thing I know, Dad turns around so quick and made his way to where she was faster than I've ever seen dad move. He snatched her by the neck and pushed her towards the front door, not before unzipping the dress and pulling it off her. Shorty didn't have anything on under the dress and dad didn't care. He pushed her right out the door, in the snow, and locked the door.

I laughed at the situation back then. Honestly what kid wouldn't? But thinking back over it, sometimes I wish that we didn't have to deal with stuff like that. Someone always wanting to replace our parents, one of them or both. We grew up watching women want to replace the one and only Mrs. Cookie Lyon, now we have to go through the rest of our adult lives watching people want to be replace the one and only Lucious Lyon. It gets old and tiring. I just want peace. Why can't we enjoy our parents being together and happy while we focus on our careers? I shook those thoughts out of my mind and went back to writing. I looked in the corner of my eyes and see Malcolm standing in a corner. "Where is my mother, Malcolm? Aren't you supposed to be guarding her?" I asked without looking up at him. "I was just about to ask him the same thing Mal," My dad said.

"Wait dad, you don't know where mom is?" I questioned. He shook his head no and we both looked at Malcolm who still had said nothing. "Well sir, she left with you and Webb, so I thought it would be good for me to stay home and make sure everything here was secured properly. I apologize if I was meant to still be with her. That was my fault," Malcolm apologized. I swear I hate this dude. I can't believe mom let him hit. He so damn dull and annoying. Everything he does and says is uniform. There is nothing spectacular about him. "You weren't here the whole time after they left. I saw you leave after taking a call. So, I'm gonna ask again. Where is my mother?" I stand up at this point.

Malcolm shifts and finally speaks out, "I have no idea where Mrs. Lyon is. I assume she is wherever you left her sir." Malcolm looks at dad and dad walks closer to Malcolm. "Don't you have GPS trackers set up or are you already slacking on your job?" Dad yelled at Malcolm. "I was not able to switch phones before you two left. She still has her old phone right now. That's where I went earlier. To get the new phones that will replace the Lyon family's current phones. Is there a chance she's with Puma still?" Malcolm calmly insinuated. Something about his story doesn't sit right with me. I think he knows where my mom is. Dad loosened the glare he was holding and answered, "She would've told me if she was. She knows I don't like them being alone for long. I could call, but knowing the past encounters between me and
Puma, man, he probably wouldn't even tell me whether she was there or if she left. He likes to try to make me believe Cookie would choose his stalkin' ass," Dad went on. I gave him a confused look when he said stalking. "Dad what the hell are you talking about?" I had to ask. Both Dad and Malcolm were staring at me. Malcolm seems like he knows a bit more about Puma other than he used to write Lyrics for my parents back in the day.