Ryder's P.O.V:
I keep my arm wrapped around mom's shoulder as I watch the papparazi take pictures of her from far. I look away from the papparazi as they call us from far away.
They won't even leave mom alone whilst shes visiting uncle DeShaun's grave. Whilst she's mourning the loss of another close friends that she lost within just seven months of Karla and Chris. I don't think i've ever come across someone so heartless and cold.
I don't know how mom does it sometimes. I don't know how she leaves the house when she's hurting and when she knows these assholes will be waiting for her outside to follow her everywhere she goes and take her pictures.
"They'll be gone soon." I say when I see mom look towards the papparazi. Iris follows our gaze before she lets out a sigh and shakes her head.
"I doubt it." Mom mumbles. She lets out a soft sigh and look back down at the grave stone. "Oh DeShaun...." I hear her whisper. I swallow hard as I keep my gaze fixed on the grave stone.
It still hasn't settled in with me yet that uncle DeShaun's gone. I didn't know him for very long but he treated me like one of his own kids. He treated me and Iris like we were blood.
Mom missed the funeral. She couldn't go and she wasn't the only one. Iris hates funeral ever since she witnessed our dad get buried. I went, only to find out that dad wasn't there. They were about to go bury his casket without dad until I stopped them.
I begged uncle DeShaun's wife to wait for dad to show up. She was angry at dad at first but then agreed to delaying the funeral half an hour for him. I found dad in the studio working on a couple of unreleased songs that him and uncle DeShaun's wrote together. Dad was acting like DeShaun was still alive. He was ignoring that fact that he got killed in a shooting.
After an hour, I finally convinced dad to go the funeral. Although I hate him right now for what he did to mom, I stayed by his side whilst they lowered uncle DeShaun's casket into the grave. After the funeral, I stayed with dad one night and then came back home. We haven't had contact since the funeral which was over a week ago.
"Your dad's probably all over the place." Mom whispers lightly.
"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him since the day of the funeral." I shrug when mom turns to face me.
"What?" She shakes her head lightly.
"I don't like seeing his wife around him when i'm there." I state. I notice mom swallow hard slightly when I said his wife.
"Kim didn't do anything wrong, Ryder." Mom says as she wipe's her tears aways with the tissue in her hand. "Besides, your dad needs you now more then ever. Spend time with him. Look after him." She adds. I look away from her and down at the flowers in her hand. "Don't do it for me. Do it for DeShaun." She sighs, making me turn to face the grey gravestone. "Go on sweetheart." Mom nudges Iris.
I stay quiet and keep my gaze fixed on the gravestone as Iris stands up and place flowers by the grave. She runs her hands over the grave stone and mumbles something before she stands up and walks towards my car. I hold my keys out for Iris, making her walk back towards me before she takes the key. Iris walk's away quietly towards my car as I wait for mom.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you." I hear mom say softly as she places the flowers down next to ones that Iris just placed. "Thank you for everything." She adds before she kisses the graves stone. Letting out a sigh, she quickly bites down onto her lower lip to stop herself from crying as she stands up and walks away.
Marshall's P.O.V:
I stay quiet as I watch Paul walk around my studio. I can see him speaking. His lips are moving but for some odd reason, I can't hear him. His words won't reach me. My minds too busy thinking about DeShaun. It's too busy thinking about death.
My eyes follow Paul as he walks towards the brown couch and takes a seat. That was Proofs favourite seat. He would always end up sleeping on that couch when we would work into the middle of the night or when he and his wife would end up arguing.
Everything reminds me of Proof in this studio. That pen he would always use to write down notes. His hat that his first ever fan gave him. The white Jordans that he got Nathan for christmas. The gold chain ontop of the table by his book. This whole room is full of things that belong to my bestfriend who's no longer here.
It hurts. It hurts so much knowing that hes gone. My whole body hurts. I feel like I can't breathe. I'm in so much pain and I can't handle it. My body can't handle this. I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep. I want to forget about this all. I want to rest and sleep but I can't because of the pain in my chest, the pain in my heart.
It still hasn't settled in with me yet that I will never see him again. It hasn't settled in with me that I will never talk to him again or see him. It all feels like a dream. Some sort of sick and twisted dream that I can't wake up from. I wish it was a dream.
I stand up from my leather chair and walk towards the framed picture of me and the rest of D12. The pictures was taken after an interview we did in England. I let out a small sigh as I stare at the picture of my bestfriend who has his arm wrapped around me and Kuniva.
We made a good a team.
I'm still waiting for someone to tell me that this was all a joke. I'm still waiting for Proof to pop out of the the closet or come out from under the table whilst he's laughing at me and shouting 'Man it was a prank! I got you good, doody. You should of seen your ugly face!' Whilst he laughs in the goofy way he does but that won't happen.
"...The contract might-" I quickly turn around to face my manager. Paul stops talking when my eyes land on his. He goes quiet as I just stand there and watch him. One thing that kept me awake at night was the contract. It always kept me awake but after Proofs death, I haven't stopped thinking about it. "Marshall?" He calls me.
"The contract." I repeat.
"Yes?" He sits up.
"Tessa....She...She won't stop talking about how the contract killed Chris and Karla and Nick left because he believes the same." I state. My whole world turns upside down when Paul swallows hard. "You..." I slowly trail off and breath out heavily as I run my hand over my hair. "Is she right?" I ask. "Is Tessa right about all of this? Did the contract kill them!" I shout.
"Yes." Paul says quietly. My mouth stays open slightly as I just stand there and stare at him. "I didn't know that they would hurt anyone." He quickly defends himself.
"Oh my..." I trail off.
"I didn't think they would kill her friends, Marshall!" He shouts, making me turn away from them.
"You...They killed Chris and Karla because we fell in...Love..." I say in anger.
"You shouldn't have loved her." Paul says quickly.
"YOU FUCKING KILLED THEM!" I scream. "YOU KILLED MY CHILDREN'S BILOGICAL PARENTS!" I scream.
"Marshall! I had no idea they would go that far!" He yells back as he stands up.
"Man, bullshit!" I shout as I throw the side table across the room. "Bullshit!" I scream as I turn to face him.
"I would never do this to you or Tessa." Paul walks towards me.
"Yeah? How do I know you're not bullshitting me?" I ask.
"I'm your manager and also you-" He says, making me talk over him.
"And Leroy is Tessa's managers too." I shrug. "You both got together and planned this-" I start and get cut off.
"I'm your friend first and then your manager!" Paul raises his voice a little. "I'm your family first not your business partner!" He says. "Tessa and Leroy are just....Business partners. That's all they are and thats all they ever will be. Of course Leroy would fuck her over and ruin her life and career just to keep his own career going." He adds.
"And you? Don't you care about your career?" I ask.
"I couldn't give two shits about it after they killed Karla and Chris." He shrugs and lets out a sigh. "They've done this before...The creators of the contract have killed other people too over some sort of contract." He says as he runs his hand down his face. "I knew about those kind of people in the industry but I just....Never thought I would come across them." He says quietly.
"I can never look at my kids knowing that I was the cause of their mom and dad's death." I say. "What will Milo and Jameson think of me when they find out the truth?" I ask.
"No...No Marshall, they can't find out." Paul says quickly. "No one can know we had this conversation. No one should know that I told you about Karla and Chris." He adds.
"You can't expect me not to go to the fucking cops. I want those bastards locked away." I say in anger.
"They will ruin you and everything you have." Paul hisses.
"Let them!" I shout.
"Think about your family." Paul shakes his head. "Think about your kids, Marshall. You can't go against them." He adds, making me go quiet.
"What do I do?" I ask.
"Keep everyone safe by staying quiet." Paul grabs a holds of my shoulders. "Just sign the final contract and move on, Marshall." He adds. I drop down on the chair and look away from Paul.
"The night of DeShaun's death..." I say slowly and trail off.
"You should rest, Marshall. You've been here for hours. Come on, i'll drop you off." He says as he picks up his car keys, making me shake my head.
"I went to see Tessa at the hotel she was staying at." I say quickly and notice Paul freeze in his spot. He knows where this conversation is going to lead to. "...Did they know I was there?" I ask.
"They know where we all of us are all the time. They always have someone watching us." Paul says quietly, making me nod. My eyes flush with tears as I chuckle sadly.
"So they knew that I was with Tessa before DeShaun died?" I ask.
"Yes." Paul nods.
"Was it them? Did they do it?" I ask. Paul stays quiet as he stares at me blankly. "Did they kill DeShaun because they spotted me and Tessa in the same fucking hotel suite, Paul. Did they take him away from me just like they took Chris and Karla away from Tessa!" I say in anger. I don't bother wiping my tears away. It stays quiet for a few long minutes before Paul finally decide's to answer me.
"Maybe." Paul finally whispers.
"I killed my bestfriend-" I start and get cut off.
"Marshall, I said maybe. Maybe they killed him. You can't blame this on yourself. In fact, you and Tessa can't believe all these attacks on-" Paul says, making me talk over him.
"I killed my own bestfriend by seeing Tessa that night, Paul." I say slowly as I stare at Proofs picture.