Kirjahaku

Life is good.I give all the credit to Alika Collins. Before Alika burst onto the scenes of my life, I was all about maintaining my empire. Business came first in every way. Protecting and maintaining my investments was what I prioritized. All work and my fair share of hard play-with the ladies. It was not uncommon for me to do frequent drive-by visits with a beautiful woman when I felt the urge to have my needs met. Sex was sport, and the women were on the sidelines providing whatever was needed to quench my thirst. I had long ago sworn off settling down into a monogamous relationship. Because why commit to being with just one, when I could do me and move easy without complicated scenarios. But this woman... this beautiful woman... came along and changed my entire outlook on life and love. She flipped the question of why commit, to why not commit? She is the substance that the dream woman is made of. Beautiful, smart, multi-talented, and she knows how to make her man feel like a man. Instinctively, I wanted to protect Alika. But it ended up being her, looking out for me. The Bonnie to my Clyde. I want to do life with her; to give her everything life has to offer.But nothing is going to be perfect for long...I have just been hit with a devastating, unforgivable blow-delivered by my own family. My sister, Jamie... I would kill for her. My father... even with our strained relationship, the reaction would be the same. For me, it's always been family first. But the news that I just got, told me loud and clear that the same rules don't apply with them. They broke trust, and have damn near broke the love; so cutting them off was the only option.Because of who Alika has become to me, I shared the news with her. I'm hoping that she won't want to run for the hills; but if she decided to do that, I couldn't blame her. It's a huge shift to the life that we have begun to build. But I have to see this through. I would have never walked away from a life that I helped to create. I plan to do whatever needs to be done to ensure that I stand at least a chance to get to know my daughter.But before I can even get the chance to right a wrong, someone has made sure that the world knows about her first. Somehow, the media has leaked information that they obtained from an anonymous source, and now my name is being dragged through the mud. A narrative is being spun, that is not true-that I'm a deadbeat father who tried to keep his Black baby, a dirty secret.That's not all. My father has gotten on the wrong side of yet another person, and they want him dead. It seems that I'm not the only person that has a deep disdain for the man. But right now, him being a target is not my problem. Just like everything else, Lance Michael Cambridge will figure it out. In the meantime, I need to do what I can, to undo the damage that he helped to create.

When my mother showed up on my doorstep under an assumed name-Gia Olivette-I didn't know what to think. And seeing her in the flesh, after so many years, I definitely didn't know how to feel. I had mixed emotions that teetered between anger, pain, and confusion. Twenty-five years had passed and not a word from her. All I knew was that when the five-year-old me went to bed the night before, my mother was there. She read me a bedtime story like she always did. Then the next morning, she hugged me tight before I left for school. But when I got home that afternoon, my mother was nowhere to be found.And she never showed up again...But now she's here, and with everything that has happened to me in the recent months, and seeing how far my father could stoop, I believe every word that she's telling me. Lance Michael Cambridge made my mother leave; he made sure that she stayed far away. And she agreed to his terms because of what he held over her head. But keeping her distance came with a condition-never bring harm to my child. That was where she drew the line... and she kept true to her word.However, because of the timing, my mother's freedom is in jeopardy. All eyes are on her because her arrival is on the heels of someone having made an attempt on my father's life.So now, it's my turn to protect her...What I won't allow to keep happening is the people in my life being violated in ways that damage them for life. Alika, my mother, my daughter... all violated in some kind of way. Two of them at the hands of the same person-my father. And now, the police have honed in on my mother as their prime suspect. There is one particular cop who just won't let up, and he has gone through extreme measures to make sure that he gets his brownie points. But he's barking up the wrong tree, and isn't aware of the lengths that I will go through to protect the ones that I love.But now that he's landed on my radar, he's about to find out.

You'd think after all that I've been through, the universe would show me a bit of mercy. I get that shit happens in life, and that it's not always going to go in a person's favor. But damn. At the beginning, I was on top of the world as the heavyweight champion. Undefeated, at that. And with the world at my feet, I was just kind of on autopilot. It was all about the octagon, the fame it brought with it, and the plethora of women that came as a part of that package. Relationships were not on my radar. I wasn't interested in being committed to anyone or anything-outside the ring. However, that all changed when I met Chanel Norwood. She filled a void that I didn't even know was there. Beautiful, smart, driven, and everything I could ask for in a woman. I fell quick, and I fell hard. I wanted to protect her, make her happy . . . make her mine. It didn't hurt that she also came with an extra bonus, in the way of family. My cousin, Lucas, who was like a brother to me, was murdered when we were teenagers. He died in my arms. To my family's surprise, a part of Lucas lived. That amazing "part", was brought by way of this amazing woman that I fell in love with.Life was fantastic.But just months after I retired from the ring, and decided to focus on family and business ventures, the unthinkable happened. Chanel was kidnapped. Grabbed from a mall parking lot in broad daylight I lost it. The fact that they even put their hands on her infuriated me. I couldn't think straight. I wanted heads What was I going to tell, Rai, her son? Her mother? My family? How was I supposed to feel when I wasn't there to protect the woman I loved, when she needed me the most?Once I was able to wrap my mind around it all, I knew exactly where to start. It was there, that I found out the severity of the situation. They had taken Chanel because they wanted me-back in the ring. They wanted me out of retirement, and only then would Chanel be released.I don't do well with ultimatums. My preference would've been to take it to the streets . . . right THEN and right THERE. Hand-to-hand, no gloves. Nothing clean, all gutter, and no Refs. But control wasn't mine. I couldn't dictate the way this situation played out. I had to follow their rules. All I could do was answer the call. And that call would be answered, without hesitation, because my baby is worth fighting for.But after that call was answered, and I had Chanel back where she belonged, trust and fuckin' believe that the story would get its own sequel. They didn't quite think out exactly who they came for. I'd be willing to bet my entire existence, that they will now, though . . .