CHAPTER SIX
got your back
Cookie
next day
After she talked to evil ass Lucious, Cookie went to her sister Candace's house because she didn't have anywhere else to stay. Thankfully, Candace had welcomed her with open arms. Her other sister Carol was there too, and they were happy to see her. Unlike Hakeem.
Cookie walked down the stairs and saw her sister's sitting at the kitchen counter. Carol chirped. "Hey, sis! Want some coffee?"
"Sure, Carol."
Carol quickly went to make her coffee. Cookie waited for it, and there was nothing but an awkward silence between them. "Okay, you bitches are being awkward," Cookie said.
Candace spoke. "It's just...we're still in shock."
"But we're so happy you're free. You didn't deserve to be in there," Carol added.
"I sold drugs, Carol. Yes I did."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to take the fall for that trash they call a man," Carol countered. "He should've went to jail, not you."
"Or they both should've went. We could've taken care of the kids," Candace said.
Cookie just sighed. "Look, it was an in the moment decision based on emotions. I loved Lucious with all of my heart, and if he had left for seventeen years, I would've lost my mind. So yeah, I wanted it to be me, and not him."
Candace questioned her. "Do you still love him?"
Carol handed Cookie her coffee as she thought about that question. Did she still love Lucious? She didn't think so. How could she love someone who had abandoned her after she'd been so loyal to him since the day they had met? And Lucious had made it clear that he didn't love her anymore, so she didn't either.
"The only thing I love is my kids."
Carol nodded. "That's good. Leave that man alone."
"I can't leave him alone, Carol."
"Why not?"
"Because I deserve my company," Cookie declared. "My money helped Lucious build Empire, so I want my 50%!"
They just laughed.
"What's funny?"
Candace laughed some more. "You know that man isn't going to let a woman help him run a damn thing."
"He doesn't have a choice. I deserve my half."
Carol agreed. "Yes you do, sis, but maybe you should focus on your kids first. You need to catch up with them."
She was right about that. "Yeah I do. My baby Hakeem despises me because Lucious wanted to lie and say I was selling drugs for no reason."
Carol was disgusted. "I can't stand that trash they call a man."
"I sure can't either," Cookie said. "And Hakeem's just like him, so you see the issue. The other three seemed welcoming though. Especially my little princess!" She smiled at the thought of her baby girl. "I'm so glad she turned out okay. It must've been hard being surrounded by men 24/7."
Candace spoke. "We would've been around, but Lucious cut off contact with us. He didn't want any Holloway's near his kids."
Cookie responded to her. "Well, us Holloway's are back together and we're a force to be reckoned with. Lucious isn't going to stop a damn thing anymore."
Then she stood up and they questioned her. "Where are you going?"
Cookie just smirked. "To see my princess."
Royalty
Royalty was laying in bed, still feeling so disgusted. She didn't eat with the rest of the family anymore; she ate in her room because she couldn't stand seeing Lucious' face. From now on, she was calling him Lucious and not dad because he was a liar. She hated liars.
She was even more angry because Jamal was right. Lucious let them lose their mother for seventeen years with no shame at all. Royalty didn't even think he missed her, honestly.
Well, she missed Cookie. Lucious better not try to keep Cookie away from her because she wasn't going to let it happen.
Speaking of the devil, Lucious stood in her doorway and she gave him her best resting bitch face. "Ro-"
She cut him off. "Where's mom?"
"Does it look like I keep track of that woman?" Lucious retorted.
"That woman has a name. You should learn it," she fired back.
"And you should learn some manners because this is still my house. So you better figure out what you wanna do with your life because you're not gonna be sulking in this room all day!" Lucious yelled.
"Whatever, Lucious."
Then he walked away. Royalty rolled her eyes, planning to listen to some music, but she heard Lucious yelling at someone. "Why are you in my house again?!"
"My kids live here, do they not? I have every right to be here."
Cookie.
Royalty ran out of the room to them. "Mom!"
"Hey, baby!" Cookie hugged her tight and rocked back and forth. Then she held her face. "Oh, you're so beautiful! You get it from me, and not The Grinch Who Stole Seventeen Years Of My Life."
Cookie scowled at Lucious and he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Hurry up and talk, and then get out of my house. You can take Royalty's ass with you for all I care."
He walked away and Cookie yelled at him. "You better stop disrespecting my daughter, Lucious!"
"He's just mad because I don't wanna be an Empire artist anymore," Ro told her.
"But why, baby?"
"Because he's a liar!"
"You do know Empire is much bigger than Lucious, right?" Cookie said.
"How? He owns it."
"Yes, but it's not about your father. It's about the music. That's why your brothers haven't quit; they love what they do."
Royalty gave her a confused look. "So you want me to join Empire?"
"That's up to you, baby. Do you love music?"
"Yes."
"Do you wanna be a singer?"
"Yes."
"Then you should. Don't let that man mess with your money. He already messed with mine," Cookie grumbled.
Royalty frowned. "Dad already told me my pay won't be as high as Hakeem and Jamal's."
Cookie wasn't happy about that at all. "Oh really? Well, I'm not having that! We ain't sexist in this family, Lucious!"
Royalty heard him yell, "What are you talking about, Cookie?!"
Royalty chuckled as Cookie held her face again. "I got your back, baby."
Royalty grinned and held her tight. "I'm so happy you're back. I missed you."
"I missed you so much. I'm so glad you turned out to be great." Cookie held her by the shoulders now. "You're going to be a star, baby. I just know it. So join Empire, and show them why I named you Royalty, okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay, let's tell your father." They went into the living room. "Lucious! Your daughter has something to tell you."
Lucious didn't even look at Royalty. "What? She's moving out? About time."
She corrected him. "No. I'll join Empire."
He looked at her and smirked.
Hakeem
Hakeem was talking to another Empire artist, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a girl strolling by and he could recognize those curls from anywhere. Royalty.
He quickly followed her. "Ro! What are you doing here?"
She turned around and smirked. "I joined Empire."
Huh? "Wait, you signed the contract?"
"Well, Lucious gave me a new contract, so I signed that one."
"What was wrong with your old one?"
"The pay."
That made him snicker. "Oh. Let me guess, Lucious lowered it?"
Royalty smirked smugly. "Nope. It's now the same as yours."
"What the fuck?"
Now she snickered. "Yup. Thanks to mom. Anyway, I have to see Tiana. Bye!"
She skipped away and Hakeem was still puzzled. Thanks to mom? She couldn't be talking about that deadbeat. But he guessed she was because he saw Lucious talking to security, with Cookie by his side.
Oh hell na.
"Pop! What's the deadbeat doing here?!"
Cookie raised her hand to smack him, but Lucious grabbed her hand. "It's one thing to act a fool in my house, but you're not acting a fool at my company!"
"Our company, Lucious!"
"It's not your company! Pop built this by himself!" Hakeem argued.
"With who's money, genius?" Cookie retorted.
"Both of ours!" Pop said.
"Which is why I deserve 50% of the company!" Cookie demanded.
Pop just huffed. "We're not talking about that here."
Now Hakeem was mad. "You're gonna give her 50%?!"
Cookie glared at him. "Mind your business, Hakeem. This is grown folk talk."
"I am grown!"
"Not too grown to get an ass whooping!" Cookie threatened.
He challenged her. "Go ahead. Pop is gonna send you right back to jail."
She was about to beat his ass, but Lucious intervened. "Cut it out! Both of you! You're embarrassing me!"
Hakeem crossed his arms at him angrily. "Pop, we need to talk."
"Yeah, he needs to talk some sense into you!" Cookie shouted.
Hakeem rolled his eyes and he and Lucious entered the conference room. He sat down. "Yes, Hakeem?"
"You're giving Royalty the same pay as me?"
He just said, "Yes."
"Why?!"
"Because I wasn't in the mood to fight your mother on it," Pop said.
"You need to fight her. You're letting her run everything!"
Pop scowled. "Cookie isn't running a damn thing as long as I'm here."
That was a lie. "Oh really? Because you let her come to the mansion whenever she wants. And you said she wouldn't come near Empire, but she's here."
"She's only here for Royalty. And Cookie shows up at the house because you're her kids, Hakeem. She wants to see you guys," Pop told him. "Am I happy about it? No. But it's clear I can't stop her."
"Yes you can! You're not trying to!"
He slammed his hand on the table. "Royalty wants to see her mother, Hakeem! I'm not about to take that away from her!"
Hakeem kept arguing. "She doesn't need to see her. We haven't seen her for seventeen years, and we were doing fine. Besides, Cookie is nothing but an abusive bit-"
"Do not finish that sentence if you know what's good for you," Pop hissed.
Hakeem sucked his teeth. "You know I'm right. She smacked me."
"I don't care. I may not be able to make you love your mother, but you will respect her."
Was he serious? "Wow. You're switching sides?"
"There are no sides, Hakeem. Cookie's always going to be your mother, and I can't change that."
Hakeem waved his hand dismissively. "Man, whatever. I'mma handle it since you won't." And then he stormed out.
"Hakeem!"
He ignored Lucious and looked around. He spotted Andre, and he was just the person Hakeem needed to talk to right now. "Dre!"
Andre was focused on a folder. "Yes, Hakeem?"
"Cookie's here."
"Yeah, I saw her."
"Pop won't make her leave, so can you?"
Andre looked at him. "If Pop can't make her leave, I damn sure can't."
Hakeem was so annoyed. "Why are you all scared of her?"
"I'm not scared, Hakeem!" Andre yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone was looking at them now, and Andre pinched his nose. He grabbed Hakeem's arm and dragged him away. "Look, you think I want Cookie back? I don't. Her presence is bad."
"Yeah, for Empire."
"And for me," Andre added. "She's going to steal my position! I know it!"
"That's why we gotta get rid of her!"
Andre shook his head. "We can't get rid of our mother, Hakeem."
Hakeem threw his hands up angrily. "So she's going to keep popping up?!"
Andre shrugged. "We have to hope and pray Cookie gets rid of herself. Maybe she'll do something stupid and get sent back to jail."
"Yeah..." Hakeem spotted Cookie drinking coffee, and she was glaring right at him. Well, if she wants to glare, he can glare right back. And maybe he couldn't get rid of her today or tomorrow, but she would disappear.
Abusive asshole.
Jamal
Jamal was in the studio, but he wasn't singing anything. He was sitting down, staring at his phone sadly because he'd been calling Mateo for five minutes straight, but he wouldn't answer.
Mateo had been dodging Jamal ever since Lucious barged into his room and yelled at him. Jamal was still angry about it. He really fucking hated his father, with his lying ass.
He tried to call Mateo again, but it went to voicemail immediately. Jamal sighed and left him a voicemail. "I know you're dodging me, Mateo, and you have every right to do so. What Lucious did was fucked up, but I promise I told his ass off afterwards. I'm never going to let him disrespect you, so answer the phone, okay? We can work this out."
"Plus, Cookie is back, and I found out the real reason why she went to jail. I can't deal with this alone, so call me."
"You okay in here?" Cookie said from the doorway.
Jamal quickly hung up. "Oh hey, Ma. I'm surprised Lucious let you in."
That made her roll her eyes. "Your father doesn't control me, boy. Anyway, who were you talking to?"
"Uh...no one." Jamal would tell her about Mateo, but she didn't know he was gay. He didn't wanna alarm her.
Cookie walked up to him. "Really? Because I heard my name."
"I was leaving a voicemail for a certain someone who won't answer my calls."
"Aw, you like somebody?!" Cookie asked. He just nodded sadly. "Well, I'm sure she'll call you back. Maybe she's busy."
"Yeah..." Except, it wasn't a girl. "Anyway, I'm waiting for Lucious to get me my condo."
"What's wrong with the mansion?"
"Lucious won't allow me to invite...her over."
Cookie shook her head angrily. "The things I'm hearing about Lucious today...let me tell you, I'm glad to be back. I'm going to make sure he gets you your condo."
He smiled. "Thanks, Ma."
"No problem, baby!"
"Are you okay though? With everything that's happened?" Jamal then asked.
She wasn't okay at all. She looked troubled now. "You lose your soul when you feel like the world's forgotten you. And the world has forgotten me. I came here today, and no one knew who I was. Lucious let them forget."
Jamal frowned. "How was it in there? In jail?"
"Child, I was counting the days honestly. Even though it was hard to tell what day it even was. But when I got out, I wasn't expecting my children to hate me."
"I don't hate you, and Ro doesn't either," he told her.
"Hakeem does, and I'm not too sure about Andre. He was smiling in my face, but I saw him talking to Hakeem, and they didn't seem too happy."
Jamal just said, "This whole thing was sudden, Ma. We didn't know you were getting out. No one gave us a heads up or anything."
She apologized. "I'm sorry for popping up out of nowhere. I just wanted to see my babies. It's been so long, Jamal."
"I know. But I'm glad you're here now."
"So do you hate your father?" she asked.
He just chuckled. "Lucious and I haven't been okay in a long time, Ma. That's why you going to jail sucked. You were the only one who protected me from him."
She held his face. "I'm going to keep protecting you, baby. Believe that."
"I sure do believe you. You beat Lucious' ass when he threw me in the trash when I was five."
"And I'mma beat his ass again if he doesn't get you your condo! So let me handle this!" Then she kissed his head and walked out while yelling, "Lucious, you better get my baby his own place! I ain't playing! And it better not be cheap either, with your cheap ass!"
Jamal laughed like crazy. Oh, how he missed her.