“Yo, Hassan, what the fuck is this?” Bimmy asked.
“You already know, Bimmy,” Hassan replied casually.
Bimmy smirked. He didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand what was going on. He’d fucked up. His actions were coming back to bite him in the ass. He and Hassan locked eyes. Hassan held a .9mm. There was no escape from the inevitable. This was it.
“Yeah”—He chuckled slightly then said, “Just do it, muthafucka!”
Hassan elevated the gun to Bimmy’s eye level and fired. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! He didn’t stop until he’d emptied the entire clip into Bimmy’s head and chest.
The man who was once his best friend, his right-hand man, was now lying face up and dead on the basement floor. Now he and Leaky had something in common.
Hassan felt no contrition—murder was murder, but this was payback. He was done. He was out.
Pearla was right—how long would it take before he saw himself on the other end of the barrel? He was ready to start a new chapter in his life. He was about to become a father, and he saw that there was no more loyalty in the game anymore. Everybody was turning out to be a snake, and there were too many snitches to count.
***
Later that night, as Hassan lay in bed with Pearla, he told her that Bimmy and Kwan were finally dead. She breathed a sigh of relief.
The next morning, Pearla went into the bathroom to get ready for the day while Hassan was still asleep. She wanted to make him breakfast in bed. Cash was completely out of her system, and she was grateful to have gotten another chance with Hassan.
The thing that worried her was the paternity of her baby. She needed to do the math on the calendar, but first, she needed to find out how far along her pregnancy was.
She stared at herself in the mirror and placed her hand against her belly. It was still flat and sexy. She sighed. She was just hoping that when she went to see her doctor that the pregnancy time frame would accommodate Hassan.
She went back into the bedroom to find Hassan standing in front of the bed and grinning like a child. “What? Why are you smiling like that?” she asked, looking so happy.
“Because I love you.”
“I love you too.”
It was then that Hassan presented the black velvet box. Hassan crouched down on one knee in front of her and opened the case. Inside was the most gorgeous diamond engagement ring she ever seen.
Pearla’s eyes and mouth opened wide with astonishment. “Oh my god!” she uttered.
“I want you to marry me,” he said.
Pearla was in tears, and of course she answered, “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you!”
The following day, they went down to the justice of the peace and made it official. They were now a married couple.
That same week, they flew to Jamaica so she could meet his parents. They settled at his parents’ lavish beachfront property in Montego Bay, the capital of St. James Parish on Jamaica’s north coast. They explored Doctor’s Cave Beach and Walter Fletcher Beach.
Pearla got to meet his folks, and they fell in love with her too. She was in paradise. Jamaica was a lovely, exquisite island. She didn’t want to go back home. She had fallen in love with Hassan’s family.
Although Bimmy had tried to have her killed, she had also fallen in love with April’s kids. Both of their parents and grandmother were dead, so they had no legal guardian. Someone needed to look after them, and she didn’t mind it. Once back in the States, she and Hassan planned on petitioning the court to become the legal guardians.
Pearla was about to have a family, and she was so happy.
Epilogue
Seven months later
Hassan sat at his mahogany desk in his home office and watched Pearla and the kids splash around in the heated pool outside on a beautiful, fall day. Pearla’s pregnancy was clearly showing as her belly protruded in her two-piece bathing suit. He smiled at his newfound family. He had completely left the game behind to focus on his record label, Heaven Records, and he had some talented rappers and singers on his roster. His company was blowing up legitimately.
He leaned back in his high-backed leather chair and thought over the choices he had made in his life, especially the one he made with Pearla.
His lawyer had come through with the paperwork for the kids, along with another envelope that Hassan had asked him for. He stared at the envelope and looked apprehensive about tearing it open and reading what was inside.
His lawyer, a trusted long-time confidant, saw the look on his face. “Listen, Hassan. I had my legal secretary compile the information, so I don’t know what it contains. But maybe you should leave the past in the past.”
Hassan sighed. He had never felt so nervous in his life.
“It’s your call, Hassan. I’m simply the messenger,” the lawyer said.
Hassan had asked his lawyer to retrieve all the text messages from Pearla’s iPhone from the dates he was at Rikers. The information inside the envelope was either going to show that Pearla was true to him while he was locked up, or that she had been fucking Cash, or even Bimmy. He had a fleeting thought. What if Bimmy was right, and everything that he told me was true? What if Pearla lied to me? What if Bimmy had a good reason to want her dead? And what if Bimmy was truly my only friend?
These were very nerve-wracking thoughts for him. He loved Pearla and didn’t want to read anything damaging inside that envelope. If everything was a lie, it would break his heart.
Hassan sat in his chair staring at the envelope and contemplating what he should do. He looked out the window again, and his eyes stayed on Pearla having fun with the kids. She was beautiful. She was all smiles. She had been good to him. She’d convinced him to leave the game behind, so they could start a family. But what was her truth?
Hassan lifted himself up from the chair with the envelope in his hand and tossed it into the fireplace. He groaned while watching it all burn. He decided to listen to his attorney and let the past be the past. He was a new man living a new life. Why take a sneak back?
Hassan managed to smile. It was time to grow, forgive, and move forward. Life was a series of choices, and he had made his. He chose Pearla. He chose to live happily with his new family in the house that hustle built.
The House that Hustle Built, Part 3 Page 21
