Slowly opening his eyes, Midnight heard the beeping of a machine next to him. The room was dimly lit by a light over the bed he was laying in, the blurriness of his vision finally clearing. He seen Gotti and Bambi sitting in the chairs, talking amongst themselves as Tiny stood at the end of the bed, slowly pacing back and forth.
He slightly moved his arm, causing all three of them to snap their heads in his direction, immediately rushing to his side.
"Oh Thank God!" Tiny exclaimed, walking up closer to the bed, the light now clearly showing her tear stained face. She leaned down and softly kissed my cheek, as Bambi grabbed his hand, the expression of grief never leaving her face as well.
"Ted who did this to you man?" Gotti asked him, anger filling his voice, gesturing towards his body. Mid cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak until Koi bursted through the door, Santos right behind her with a panicked look on his face.
"Get the fuck out," Bambi told her through clenched teeth, instantly balling up her fist.
"I tried to stop her Bam but she wouldn't listen to me," Santos spoke up, his eyes darting to Mid realizing the rest were surrounding his bed. "Mid! You awake! Thank God, I thought I was gone have to light this city up if yeen' make it,"
Koi ignored the glares from both Bambi and Tiny, only wanting to be by Mid's side. She made it to the house and seen the police cars blocking off his street and the front of his house off. Though he doesn't remember and passed out before anyone made it there, Midnight managed to dial 911 on his phone after he was shot.
Bambi was called as an emergency contact, her heart dropping after hearing that the only person close to a sibling to her, was being rushed to the hospital. When she received news about it, he was attacked in his own home, the first person she thought of was Koi. Although she had no proof that Koi was behind Mid being shot, that gut feeling she had about Koi from the beginning was now growing intensely.
"Baby," Koi sniffled, gently cupping his face with tears streaming down her face. "What happened?"
"You should know," Bambi spat sizing her up and down. Koi looked over at her with disgust on her face, tears still streaming down her face.
"You know what? Fuck you Bambi! I would never do anything to hurt Tedric! What the fuck could I possibly get out of setting him up?" Koi shouted at her, Bambi took a step closer as Gotti and Tiny went to grab her to pull her back.
"I never said anything about you setting him up, but since you wanna bring it up, did you? Sneaky ass bitch—"
"Stop!" Mid raised his voice, immediately wincing afterwards from the amount of strength it took to speak. He held onto his side where he was shot, catching his breath. "Koi didn't do anything Masiyah, I watched her lock the door when we left. She's been with me all day up until I went by Lotus house," he defended Koi, calling Bambi by her government name.
"So what you don't think she back to the house after y'all departed from each other, and let the nigga in?"
"Bitch I didn't even go—" Koi started to say until someone else walked in the room. They all turned to see Spade with Minnie trailing behind him. While the rest waited for Mid to awake from getting out of surgery, Spade and Minnie went back to the house to speak with the police. As much as both hated the feds, they pushed any ill feelings to the back of their mind for the sake of figuring out who was bold—or even stupid enough to kill their son.
"Everyone clear out, except Bambi." Spade said in a monotoned voice. Everyone with the exception of Bambi did what they were told, not thinking twice about upsetting Spade no more than he already was. Koi gave Midnight one last kiss causing Bambi to roll her eyes before she exited with the rest, waiting in the hallway.
Once the door shut, Spade deeply sighed and stood at the foot of the bed. A brief moment of silence falling over the room, as both Bambi and Mud waited for him to speak. "You and Bambi can't trust anyone right now, not even those you think you can trust. There's no way he was able to figure out where the power box was on his own, and there's no way he could have known you would've been gone all day unless someone told him. You have a snake in your circle, and you need to find out who it is." Spade said, finally meeting Midnight's gaze.
To say that situation itself had Spade stressed out was an understatement, it almost made him want to come out of retirement and wreak havoc in the streets over his son. But he felt as if this would be a lesson for him, though he noticed his son tightened up after losing Reese, he was starting to become a little too comfortable again with trusting those in his circle—and although he trusted Gotti and Santos, it was the rest he was still giving the side eye—even Koi and she was Midnight's girlfriend.
"He was lookin' for something in that house Tedric and it wasn't money like he claimed." Minnie added her input, sitting in the chair near his bed. Midnight deeply sighed and laid his head back on the pillow, his mind beginning to race. It would hurt him if someone in his close circle really did cross him, especially after he did a lot for damn near everyone in the crew. Whenever he got his hands on the person, they were going to wish they hadn't crossed the one person who'd break not only bread but their back for them.
Although what everyone else didn't know is once the one person besides Bambi closest to Mid, find out what happened—would unleash a new different type of hell that not even Satan himself wouldn't want to cross paths with.
Bambi strolled down the hall, crunching on ice as she texted a few family members back who were asking about Mid's condition. It was now the afternoon and Mid was resting again, after being given sone pain for his pain. The rest were sent home after a few hours, Spade and Minnie not wanting that many people to be in his space. Glancing up from her phone Bambi squinted her eyes seeing a familiar face walking towards her, but unaware of anyone else's presence due to her also looking down at her phone.
"Lotus?" Bambi called out in a questionable tone, not wanting to be too loud in case it wasn't really her. Lotus's head snapped up looking around until she locked eyes with Bambi, a confused expression now plastered on her face.
"Bambi?" Lotus furrowed her eyebrows, as the two approached each other and exchanged hugs. "What you doin' here?" she asked her, Bambi stared at her for a few seconds before letting go of a sigh.
"Mid was shot late last night," Bambi broke the news to her, Lotus's eyes almost bulged out of her head, her mouth dropping agape in shock.
"What?" Lotus said, unable to fully grasp what Bambi just told her. Bambi simply nodded her head and gestured her to follow, Lotus began following behind her without second thought, her anxiety now shooting through the roof.
She was with Mid last night, and couldn't understand how someone harmed him that quickly. Flashbacks from that dreadful night were beginning to flood her mind, the brim of her eyes began to water the closer they got towards the room Mid was admitted to.
Once they stepped off the elevator, they walked a little further down the hall until Bambi stopped in front of a door. She slowly opened it, walking inside first, before Lotus followed her in.
Lotus seen Spade and Minnie cuddling on the couch sound asleep, her eyes darting to Mid who was still resting. She reached out to grab his hand, caressing it with her thumb, closely studying the small bruises on his face that was left behind due to him defending himself.
Bambi watched as Lotus grimaced, wiping away a fallen tear. Mid stirred in his sleep for a brief second, his eyes fluttering open shortly. The two locked eyes with each other, Lotus giving him a sympathetic look, her eyes still glossy with tears that threatened to spill.
She opened her mouth to speak until she felt Mid firmly grip her hand a little tighter. "I'm fine Nevaeh," his raspy voice spoke up, she shook her head letting go of his hand.
"No you're not Tedric, we hadn't even been apart for more than an hour," she replied, gesturing towards his bandaged up body. "What happened?"
"I don't know," he said clearing his throat. Bambi walked over towards the table and grabbed the plastic pitcher that was filled with iced water and poured some into a styrofoam cup before passing it to Mid to drink. He gulped it down and thanked Bambi, sitting the cup down. "When I got home, my lights weren't cuttin' on and next thing I know I got the barrel of a gun pointed at the back of my head. I end up knockin' the gun out his hand and we startin' scrappin'."
"His reached for his and I reached for mine, last thing I remembered was shots going off. I don't know if I even hit him," he continued.
"You actually did," Bambi told him, stepping up a little closer to the bed. "There was a trail of blood going out your back door."
"I can't believe this," Lotus shook her head still unable to grasp what happened. She couldn't imagine losing Mid as well, especially coming back after losing Reese years ago.
"Lotus?" They heard Minnie's voice speak, Lotus turned and saw Minnie getting up from the couch, Lotus gave her a weak smile extending her arms out as Minnie walked over to give her a hug. "Aww baby, he's fine. He takes after Clarence, they can't get rid of him just yet." Minnie said lightly wiping Lotus's cheek with her thumb.
"Mama?" Mid called out to Minnie, "When they letting me out of here?" Minnie, Bambi and even Lotus all gave him a stern look, causing him to lightly chuckle. "Can't blame me for askin'."
"You need to rest, don't worry about this right now. I'll handle it," Bambi told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back later to check on you,"
Bambi and Minnie hugged, before Bambi tapped Lotus on the arm beckoning her. Lotus waved goodbye to Minnie, and Mid before following Bambi out of the room.
Once the door shut, Bambi turned towards Lotus. "We need to regroup," she said. Lotus nodded her head in agreement, remaining quiet. "Meet me at the house."
"Okay," Lotus replied watching as Bambi walked away.
Once Lotus took both of her grandparents home, and made sure they were settled in, she told them she'll be back within two hours. Her nerves were starting to become bad, between finding out what happened to Mid and still worrying about Gigi—it was safe to say that her anxiety was on ten.
Lotus into the driveway of the house, seeing Bambi leaning against her car, a focused look on her face as she texted on her phone. She killed the engine and got out of the car, making sure to hit the alarm.
Bambi ripped her attention away from her phone, tucking it away in her back pocket. Neither one of them spoke, only proceeding to walk towards the front entrance of the house. A few guys who stood guard at the door nodded their heads at them, both of the girls returning the gesture.
The house was very quiet, not a soul in sight as the girls continued to walk towards the conference room. Before they made it any further, Bambi stopped Lotus.
"Lotus, right now you're the only person I trust. And I'm going to tell you the same thing Clarence told me and Tedric, we can't trust anyone right now." Bambi stressed, grabbing both of her arms.
"Not even Gotti and Santos or even Tiny? You don't think they could've had something to do wit' this right?" Lotus furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She understood that they may not be able to trust everyone else, but Gotti, Santos and Tiny had been down with them since the start of it all. She couldn't possibly think they would cross Mid in that way—but then again she witnessed day one's cross day one's and she couldn't put anything past anybody.
"No, I know—I mean think they wouldn't hurt my brother but you can never be too sure these days. Nobody knows where my brother lives, and you and I both know he's secretive as hell. That guy knew the layout of Tedric's house Lotus, and only someone who has been in his house more than a few times would be able to tell him that." Bambi explained, her eyes starting to water. Lotus softly bit her lip and grabbed her into a consoling hug, soothingly rubbing her back.
Bambi looked up wiping under her eyes with the knuckles of her thumb, sniffling. "I thought it could've been Koi but he claims they've been together all day—but I know Lo. Something has always been off about her, from the moment Gotti brought her in. I've tried to give the girl a chance but she just has that sneaky vibe to her, I can't shake it."
"And no one is saying that you should ignore it Bam but if he's telling you to look in another direction then we need to do that. Can't focus on her if she hasn't really done anything except be a shady ass bitch," Lotus shrugged, causing Bambi to let go of a laugh. Silence fell over them as Bambi got herself together, she blew out a breath fanning her eyes with her hands.
"They can't know a real nigga be cryin'." Bambi joked, Lotus shook her head smiling, proceeding to follow her inside the conference room.
Bambi pushed both of the doors open, everyone already seated and standing around in complete silence. Bambi pulled her gun from behind her waist and placed it on the table, sitting in the chair at the end of the table that Mid usually sat in.
"So as y'all know, my brother was shot in his own home late last night. He's fine, he's in stable condition. Right now he's resting, but until he's back on his feet, he handed the baton over to me for the time being." Bambi began, staring down at her gun placed in front of her.
"So...what's gone happen until then?" Jon Jon asked her, as the conversations faded in the background, Lotus stood off to the side, closely watching everyone in the room. Whoever seemed too calm, she made a mental note to keep an eye out on them. She knew the person who set up Mid wasn't going to be nervous, especially since they weren't the one who pulled the trigger.
After looking over the different faces, she finally made eye contact with him. They both stared at each other for a brief second, before he broke the eye contact between them. He picked his phone up off the table, and began to text before glancing up at her again.
He looked across the table at someone, Lotus following his gaze. She saw Koi briefly looking in his direction. Narrowing her eyes, Lotus tilted her head.
At that very moment, the beast awoken.
The beast awoken? Chile everyone and they mama boutta die now. 😂
Who y'all think the person was that Lotus made eye contact with?
Y'all think Koi still has something to do with it?
From now on I'll be writing the book in third person, I no longer like writing in first person. It's not for me y'all, I really tried but it's hard. Updates will be more faster now since I'm writing in third person. Allat switching back and forth between different character povs, whew chile I give props to whoever can really do that shit.
I'm a detailed person and I can't write certain shit that I would usually if I were writing in first person.
That's all for now though, I'm gonna be releasing another book soon, and I knooooow y'all will like this one, because for some reason y'all love complex male characters 😂
Anyways!
Y'all be easy!
See y'all in the next chapter - Wynter 💙