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Kaine Turner took a sip of his coffee as his wife, Ajani brushed the top of their five year old sons head. The morning was crazier than usual being that the five year old was preparing to go off to kindergarten for the first time and being that Knox was the oldest child it was an special occasion.
"Mama I'm fine. Stop" Knox said in a dry tone. Ajani took a step back and eyed her eldest son before fixing his backpack. Her youngest son, Three year old Kieran sat in his booster seat finishing up his breakfast while holding a nerf gun in his lap.
"We gotta go or we're gonna be late. Both of us" Kaine scolded as he leaned over and kissed his wife on the lips passionately. The couple had just welcomed their daughter Anari, four months earlier and the baby was currently in her bouncer sucking on a pacifier.
Knox ran over to his baby sister and squatted down kissing her cheek. He touched her hand before looking up at his parents with a cheesy grin. Kaine looked at the time on his watch before he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose setting down his coffee.
"Is Aaron still not up? He has class in an hour" Kaine pointed out referring to his eighteen year old brother who lived in the guesthouse and had started his freshmen year of college. Aaron had planned to become an engineer but had went through some changes personality wise over the passed year and partied all of the time now.
"Go wake him up while I get some pictures to send to my parents of Knox on his first day. It's a compromise and it give me more time with my likkle bwoy" Ajani smiled pinching Knox's cheek as he frowned ready to leave the house already.
Kaine made his way out of the black door of their home and marched across the pool area. He could hear a notorious B.I.G song playing from inside the small home and composed himself before barging into the house.
Much to Kaine's surprise Aaron was up and dressed with a blunt hanging out of his mouth as he packed up his school bag. He wore his hair cut low and had gotten a few tattoos on his arms, he'd even sprouted and grew taller than Kaine himself and grown out facial hair.
"If you wanna see Knox before we go, come now" Kaine said catching Aaron's attention. Aaron blew smoke out of his mouth before he leaned over and put the blunt out in the ashtray.
"I'll come, just give me a minute" he said and Kaine nodded and shut the front door back. On his way back to the main house, Kaine smiled and grew exited about going to work. After being a kingpin he went to always carrying a gun with him to now have one at all and owning a small landscaping business and running it. Not because his family needed the money but because it gave him something to do and he was able to help other drug dealers who wanted to leave the game have an honest job as well.
Kaine worked and was able to be home with his family in the afternoon to help with dinner or take care of his kids so his wife could relax and work on her catering business.
"Kieran be nice!" Ajani scolded as he refused to hug his brother. Knox kept trying to give his younger brother a hug and Kieran would mush his face away in return.
"Did you take all the pictures you need?" Kaine questioned and Ajani smiled as she showed her husband the pictures she'd taken.
"Alright you both should really get going. Johan needs a ride to work too, his cars in the shop" Ajani called as Kaine took a hold of Knox's hand. He sighed and agreed to pick up his brother in law before he and his son were finally able to leave the house.
Kaine and Johan had started the business together and for the most part he'd grown up a lot and had a steady girlfriend named Robyn who he'd been with for the past six months, however kids and marriage still wasn't on his radar, yet.
"Papá, what if I don't make friends?" Knox questioned showing his self doubt. Kaine hit the alarm on his car before opening up the back door and helping Knox inside.
"Be yourself and I promise you, you'll make lots of friends. Remember what I told you about being nice to everyone, even if they don't deserve it?" He questioned and Knox nodded his head.
"I'll be nice" Knox repeated and Kaine smiled growing exited for him to start school. Kaine felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked over it at Aaron who was holding his own backpack on one shoulder.
"Have a good day nephew, love you" Aaron said as he waved at Knox who returned it eagerly and smiled.
"Love you too A-A Ron" Knox called as Aaron chucked up the deuces and headed to his car. Kaine shut the back door before watching his brother for awhile knowing that he was bottling a lot of things up and had grown distant.
Ajani chucked it up to Aaron growing Ito adulthood but Kaine felt it was something else but never wanted to force his brother to talk about his problems in fear he'd push him away. As long as he wasn't getting carried away with drugs and could balance school Kaine gave him his space.
As Kaine started his car up, he glanced across the street towards the home where Moriah and his family lived and wondered how his morning was going.
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Moriah Scott watched his two year old daughter Marley get her hair combed out as she cried. He lifted his spoonful of cereal before making eye contact with his daughter who stopped crying and sniffled staring at her father like he'd come to her rescue.
When Moriah however continued eating Marley started up crying again kicking out her leg. She was still dressed in her pajamas and would most likely be late getting to preschool. It was the same routine every morning and her parents already knew what to expect from their tender headed child.
A baby monitor sat on the table and from it Moriah could hear one his fraternal twin children grunting. The twins named Naomi and Nolan were six months old, being only two months older than his nieces newborn daughter.
"I got the twins" Moriah proclaimed as he sat his spoon down and stood up from the table. Marley reached for him and instead of picking her up he leaned down and kissed her cheek before walking passed.
As he jogged up the staircase he collected some of the toys that sat on the stairs and eventually tossed them into the playroom to be picked up later.
Moriah and Nandy had little personal time together but after their kids had been born he'd developed a lot of respect for his wife and fell deeper in love with her.
As he opened the nursery he peeked inside before turning on the lights in the room. Moriah checked on both twins and noticed his son was still asleep. He quietly picked up his daughter before cutting the lights off in the room not wanting to wake Nolan.
"It's always you" Moriah whispered eyeing the baby who looked like a replica of his wife. She was already the plotting type, he could tell and he wouldn't be surprised if she was rebellious when she got older.
As Moriah made his way down the stairs the doorbell rung and unlike years ago when he would've panicked, Moriah made his way to the front door and pulled it open already knowing who it was.
Ajani stood in front of him holding Kieran's hand. Her son looked up at him with the same almond shape eyes as Kaine and his older brother before he smiled evilly.
"Thank you for offering to take him to preschool today. I have to go, Anari has a doctors appointment in forty minutes" Ajani said nodding towards the running car.
"Yeah no problem. You'll pick up Kieran and Marley this afternoon right?" Moriah called and Ajani nodded before running back to her car.
Kieran came inside and dropped his backpack filled with toys on the ground. This was a usual occurrence and since they lived across the street from one another it was always easier.
Moriah carried Naomi into the kitchen while Kieran followed. When Marley who'd just got her hair finished noticed him she smiled and waved at her cousin who paid her dust like usual.
"I'm thirsty" Kieran proclaimed and Nandy opened up the fridge and took out a capri sun. He reached for it but she pulled it back from him and waited. "Please" Kieran said after staring her down and she gave it to him.
"Come, let's go get dressed so we can go" Nandy called taking a hold of Marley's hand. As they left out of the kitchen Kieran went over to the fridge playing with the magnets and keeping to himself, like usual.
Naomi started to cry and Moriah pulled out his phone and started to play 'Keep Ya Head up' by 2pac as he gently bounced her and walked around the kitchen. Like clockwork his daughter stopped crying and laid her head on his chest.
It was Impossible to think that three years prior he had no kids and wasn't that thrilled about being married. Now he couldn't picture himself without kids and he knew for a fact that his brother Elias was probably laughing at him wherever he was.
After his uncle died, Moriah had wanted to live. He wanted to be happy and after not having to worry about the drug business he was finally able to do that and able to sleep through the night without getting a phone call interrupting his sleep.
He was even proud and sometimes watched Kaine leave the house dressed in his work clothes and drinking coffee as he went to be a productive member of society.
Their kids were old enough to start remembering things and Moriah wanted his children to know this side of him and not the side of him he was years ago when he was unhappy and trying to keep his family alive.
His parents were currently traveling together and stopped by whenever they wanted and every holiday the entire family came together and got caught up with one another. Usually their was a bunch of group chats going on of scheduling play dates or strip club trips whenever Calvin was in New York or Moriah was in California.
Cal had kept his word and was there for his children, all of them. His wife had gone back to work and he was a stay at home father making school lunches and attending practices. He'd also grown accustomed to cooking all of the time.
Zaire had gotten married, Marco continued to get better and Darius was still Darius. As for Sharif, Sincere and Q they weren't as close as they use to be with one another and hung in different circles.
Sincere moved to Jamaica to be around Jesse and escape and Sharif was growing popular as a rapper out in Cali. Q however shocked everyone by going to school to eventually become a doctor, watching O die really changed him and he kept to himself.
Silas on the other hand moved into Moriah's parents home while they're not living their full time and was pretty much grandpa Silas to all of the grandchildren and told them about any family member they wanted to know about that had passed away.
Everyone's favorite of course was knowing about Ohaji. Knox always let everyone know that he was his apprentice and he'd gotten the nickname O from him.
Moriah however saw a lot of his uncle in everyone. He couldn't even smell weed without growing emotional from time to time in remembrance.
Moriah wandered over to his fridge and looked over all of the pictures that some of the magnets held up. His eyes raked over all of them until he came to a picture of he and Kaine when Kaine was only fifteen and he removed it from the fridge with his free hand and handed it to Kieran.
"That's me!" The three year old proclaimed and Moriah laughed and squatted down some with his daughter coming close to Kieran's level.
"That's your dad, my son" Mo explained and Kieran looked down at the picture of Kaine frowning with his arms folded.
"Papá looks like me" he said as he leaned into him and took a hold of Naomi's hand and watched her before he let go once she sneezed.
"Bless you" he said simply as he turned back to the fridge. Most people would say they saw a lot of Moriah in Kieran but he felt like the child would be his own person, he was just very cautious about people which was good.
"Okay Mo, I'm about to run them to preschool, you got the twins?" Nandy questioned her husband who seemed to be in his own world.
"Yeah" Moriah responded snapping out of it. Nandy walked over and kissed Moriah's lips before she motioned for Kieran to follow her as she grabbed Marley's hand.
Moriah watched the trio leave before he smirked to himself and kissed his youngest daughters forehead deciding to get in all of the quiet time he could before his son awoke from his morning nap.
Life would go on without the people that they'd lost, even if it hurt. Their death wouldn't be in vain though and they'd make sure their children would never have to suffer the same fate again.
This family had been through hell and back and things would never really be the same again, but they had each other and they would eventually heal together, they always did.
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The End
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Aaron's book 'Trade' is now up. Be sure to check that out along with my new book ' First Degree'