All the remaining main members of the Kenyatta family sat around the table they had feasted upon beforehand. Their facial expressions varied from the recent news Devina had delivered.

Dame's face was serious and stoic, similar to Devina's. Precious had a mix of surprise and worry on her face, looking around at her family, hoping for someone to break the silence and say something. Rachel seemed to be the only one that had started smiling excitedly whilst staring at the cocaine, and RayRay meanwhile was just smirking at Devina with an unbelieving shake of his head.

Rosalyn looked at both the cocaine and her baby sister in utter shock as she tried to process the situation brought before them. Izzy was shocked as well, but he was more disappointed in Devina than anything else as he stared at her with a frown. Royal looked quite fearful and nervous at having such illegal substances in the vicinity, looking around for any hopes of some kind break in the silent tension.

Keem was frozen on the spot with a lack for words whilst staring at the two bricks sitting on the table. Eli, having being as shocked as his siblings, was the first to break the silence amongst them.

"Fuck..." Eli muttered, staring at the cocaine with wide eyes.

"I know how it looks, but I have this all under control." Devina told them, bringing back their attention to her, "I have a plan."

"A plan!? What kind of plan do you have is so crazy that bricks of coke have to be involved!?" Precious yelled.

"Especially with family." Izzy added, looking at Devina with an expectant stare.

"V, you have no idea what the hell you're getting yourself into. Shit like this," Rosalyn said, pointing to the cocaine bricks, "Never ends well for anyone."

"Everyone knows that it never ends well, because everyone did it the wrong way." Devina stated.

"And what? You do? Did you forget that you yourself has seen what it does to people? How it ruins people? Those that use it and sell it." Izzy questioned.

"We would've expected that you would've learned by now after what happened to Uncle Kendrick..." Royal told her.

Devina shot him a furious glare full of warning, "Don't you dare talk about him."

Royal was about to say something, but he caught himself after seeing Dame shake his head at him. He kept quiet and looked down as Keem sighed and finally looked away from the coke and towards Devina.

"What's this plan anyway? How the fuck are you going to be doing any of this differently?" Keem asked.

"I'll tell you, but I'll first have to have your full support and trust before I do so." Devina said as she looked around, observing their faces, "I have to know that you're in this before I put everything in motion."

Precious let out a laugh of disbelief as she looked at Devina as if she had grown a second head just by saying that.

"Put everything in motion?" Precious asked, "Devina you went to prison because of this stuff. You lost so much time out of your life because of a life just like this. Now after two weeks of being free you want to jump right back in?"

"What you're doing is bold, Devina. Stupid, but bold." RayRay comments.

"...So like, could I have one of them bricks?" Rachel asks, giving Devina a smile and wiggling her eyebrows.

"Rachel, now's not the time for your little jokes." Izzy tells her, "This is serious."

Rachel scoffed, "Nigga, I've always been serious. Everyone just thinks I'm too crazy or too stupid to take me seriously."

"Maybe you are just too crazy or too stupid for anyone to take seriously." Rosalyn said, giving her a pointed look.

Rachel laughed dryly, "Bitch, the fuck!? I know the literal prostitute of the family ain't calling me stupid. Ain't you the one going around sucking dick just to keep her motherfucking lights on?"

"You right. I be out here on the streets hoeing around for money I need to survive. I know that." Rosalyn said with a glare, "I also know that I'm fucking glad to be doing it out of necessity whereas my big sister Rachel doing it because she is and always has been a hoe. You the only bitch in this family born an all-natural slut who would never amount to nothing more than being a crazy ass junkie."

Rachel's smile was gone and any kind of playfulness around her demeanor had disappeared, having been replaced by a furious glare that was the definition of "If looks could kill."

"The fuck you say to me?" Rachel asked, her voice cold and calm enough to send shivers down a few of their spines.

Rosalyn didn't back down as she glared back into her eyes, "Oh, sorry. I forgot the stupid part. You're a stupid hoe that would never amount to anything."

Rachel let out a shout as she grabbed one of the knives they had used to eat with and lunged at Rosalyn from across the table. RayRay was quick to catch her though, holding her back as she went crazy and started swing around the knife at attempt to get to Rosalyn.

"I'll cut you, bitch! I'LL FUCKING CARVE YOU!!!" Rachel screamed.

"Show me then, bitch! Fucking show me!" Rosalyn shouted, standing up while taking off her earrings and picking up a knife of her own.

She was about to run up to Rachel, but Eli had been the one to hold her back as the two had a screaming match back and forth with each other.

The entire room had gone into chaos as Rachel and Rosalyn continued to scream and shout at each other. Precious was fully crying right now as she yelled for everyone to stop though it was a futile attempt. Royal had turned his anger towards Devina, yelling at her about how this was all her fault. Eli was now shouting at him to shut up as he continued to hold Rosalyn back.

RayRay looked to Izzy, shouting at him to help, but he just told him that he wasn't in charge of them, and they always did this to themselves. Keem argued with Izzy, reminding him that he had always been there to stop them, and he should do so now, but Izzy remained firm in his decision not to do anything.

All of them continued to scream, yell, shout, and argue with each other, all except Dame and Devina. Dame having not moved from his seat as he kept a serious stare on her, expectant to see what she would do. Devina on the other hand watched her family fight with a rising anger that she held back wanting to let loose.

"Shut up..." Devina muttered, but her order fell on deaf ears as they continued to fight.

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A WHORE THAT NEEDS HER ASS WHOOPED, ROSALYN!" Rachel shouted, trying to fight of RayRay, "LET ME THE FUCK GO!"

"Yeah! Let her go! I'mma show her who the fuck she dealing with right here and now!!!" Rosalyn shouted as Eli continued to push her back.

"Can y'all please just stop!?" Precious cried.

"Fucking do something, Izzy!" Keem yelled.

"For the last damn time, no!" Izzy shouted.

"Let them go! Let them hash it out!" Royal yelled, "We're beyond saving anyway!"

"How 'bout you shut your ass up before I come over there and do it for you!?" Eli yelled as the two of them glared at each other.

"Shut up." Devina said a little louder this time and Dame tilted his head to the side, seeing as how she was starting to shake as her grip on her back tightened.

This fell on deaf ears once again as they continued to bicker and argue amongst each other and then it happened.

Devina lost her cool.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" Devina shouted, surprising them and now garnering their attention with all of them going silent. The glare she sent each and every one of them was beyond furious, but it also looked tired.

"Look at y'all...the Kenyattas. A big fucking family of fuck ups." Devina stated, gesturing to each and every one of them with a dry and cynical laugh, "I mean, Eli can't find a damn job because he's too stupid and impulsive to learn from any of his long list of mistakes. Walking around like a hot shot that's worth a damn when in reality he's broke, unemployed, damn near homeless, and seen as a joke by not only his family, but also the rest of this fucking city."

Eli looked at her with an offended expression that masked the hurt her words had stricken him.

"Hakeem over here had the biggest dreams out of all of us and he never achieved any of them because he cared." Devina said, looking at Keem, "He cared too fucking much about his dying mother to think about his future. Now she's gone and here he is slumming it and wasting all of his potential by trying to stay away from the rest of his family because he don't wanna be reminded about what he could've been compared to what he is now."

Keem glared at her as he took a swig of a nearby beer bottle.

"Then we got the little golden boy over here that goes by Royal. Mr. Too motherfucking good for the rest of us. Well, I've got news for you, big man. Just because you found God, doesn't mean everyone forgot about your past sins. We don't talk about it, but we know what you did, and no amount of praying will ever make any of us and especially you forget." Devina stated.

Royal looked down in guilt as he clenched his jaw with shaky hands.

"Isaiah." Devina started as she looked at him with a scoff, "Just like Hakeem you were born for some type of greatness, but you fucked it up. You got too prideful. Let I all get in your head. Let that ego get bigger than you already were. You were that guy. The everyman that everybody relied on. Now...you're nothing. Sad. Washed up. Wasting your days watching the next generation prepare themselves to live a life you couldn't get to live."

Izzy just folded his arms and stayed quiet with a reserved and furious glare directed at Devina.

"Rosalyn," Devina started as she looked at her.

"What? What the fuck do you got to say about me?" Rosalyn asked with an angry look and her jaw clenched.

"Nothing that you already don't know. I don't have to say anything to or about you because you're trapped. Stuck in a life that you shouldn't be living. You want more. I know you do. You and I both know that you were never born to be under someone's thumb. You're a fighter, Rosalyn. You just don't have anything to fight for." Devina stated.

Rosalyn steadied her breathing as she wiped a single tear off of her face.

"Then we got Rachel and Raymond." Devina said, looking at the both of them, "The dynamic duo of dumbasses. The both of y'all are crazy enough to steal, kill, deal, and do more fucked up shit over the simplest sleights that life deals to you. You're both going to die, and you're both going to do that knowing that as crazy as both of y'all are, you were still small time. Two idiots that just got by. No one will remember you. No one will care about you. Hell, I doubt anyone will even bury the both of y'all."

Both Rachel and RayRay glared at her, Rachel tightly gripping the knife in her hands and directing her anger now at Devina.

"Precious...for you...I just feel bad for you." Devina told her, "I pity the fact that such a good and kindhearted soul like yourself has to work so many hours for minimum wage. The bare essentials to barely get Leon to school and some scraps for y'alls dinner. Don't you see it, Precious? You're reliving momma's life. You were there when she lived where you are now and sooner or later, you're going to end up just like her."

Precious continued to cry, unable to look Devina in the eye and opting to stare down at her lap.

"And last, but not least, Damien" Devina stated as she looked at Dame who rose an eyebrow at her, "The head nigga in charge, right? I ain't got much to say about you because you've been through it all. You suffered through it all. You're past your prime and you just think you can't go back."

Dame let out a low hum as the room remained silent and ruminated on everything she had said. Her words weighing heavy as she continued to glare at each and every one of them.

"Devina." Damien finally spoke, breaking the silence and garnering their attention, "You were in prison for 15 years...how can you be so confident in talking about our lives when you didn't even live yours?"

"Because unlike any of y'all, I did what I fucking could to make sure that I knew what I could do to help my family when I got out. Y'all lived it and I observed it. I observed all of it to the point where I know where I'm going to end up and where y'all are going to end up. With or without me." Devina stated, "I didn't bring everyone together because I needed y'all to do this. I wanted y'all to be in this with me. I wanted y'all to know that there is a way for your lives to get better. I could've started all of this without you, but I didn't, because you're my fucking family, and I love each and every one of you."

"You have no idea what you're asking of us, Devina." Rosalyn told her.

"I do. I know the risks and I know the rewards." Devina stated, "So, I'm going to say it for the last time. I have a plan. It's going to work. It's up to you now if you want to be a part of this. If you don't, that's perfectly fine, live your lives how you want, but just make fucking sure you don't get in the way of mine because I am ready and willing to fight for it all."

With that final statement, Devina picked up the bricks and shoved them back into the bag as they watched her. She zipped it up and slung it over her shoulder and looked back at all of them.

"You have an hour to decide." Devina stated as she started to leave the room, "Make sure it's worth it."

~

Devina sat on trunk of her car, writing in her notebook. The car had been parked across the street of Dame's club and both it and its owner had sat there for close to an hour, her family still inside the place.

Her phone started to ring, and she put down her pen and closed the notebook, taking out the phone and answering the call.

"Hello?" Devina answered.

"Ayee! Is that the M'Lady Vengeance herself?" The person who had called asked.

"I'm guessing you heard the song?" Devina asked.

"Of course, I heard the song. I helped produce the damn thing." The person said with a chuckle, "Never had shit, never been this, never yeah, never yuh. Girl you were straight spittin' on that track. Shit was flames."

"Couldn't have done it without your beats, Crystal." Devina said with a small smile, "Thank you for working with me."

"Nah, thank you for choosing me. Who would think a community college kid in debt and an ex-convict could make a debut song that managed to chart! I mean we were exactly number 200, but shii that's still great for your first song!" Crystal said excitedly, "Now, I'm ready to see what else you got cooking. If you can keep this kind of heat up, then you'll worldwide in no time."

"You gonna stick with me for that long?" Devina asked.

"Never had shit! Yuh! Never knew shit! Yuh!" Crystal rapped sloppily as he laughed and Devina softly smiled in amusement, "So, when we recording again?"

Devina spotted Izzy stepping out of the club and her chippier mood, went back down and she sighed.

"Vengeance?" Crystal asked, hearing her sigh.

"I'll text you. Stay alert." Devina said as she ended the call and made eye contact with Izzy.

The two stared at each other for a moment and he shook his head, turning down the sidewalk and walking away. Rachel and RayRay were the next to exit, RayRay just giving her a short nod while Rachel sent her a spiteful glare and flipped her off as the two of them got into their car and drove off.

Royal was the next to get out and he didn't even bother to look at her as he walked the opposite way Izzy had gone. Rosalyn was the next to walk out and she looked conflicted as she looked into Devina's unwavering stare.

Devina gained a bit of hope as Rosalyn marched across the street, and she was surprised by the tight hug Rosalyn had given her.

"Good luck..." Rosalyn told her as she stepped back and looked her over with a sad smile, she held Devina's head and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

With that, Rosalyn walked away from her, looking back at Devina a few times, until she turned a corner away from view. As Devina continued to stare at the street Rosalyn went down, she clenched her jaw to stop herself from crying.

"Hurts like hell, huh?" A voice asked and she looked to her right, seeing Keem and Eli standing in front of her, "Being alone."

"You have no idea..." Devina muttered.

"Well...I kind of do." Keem said with a sigh as he leaned against the old car.

"Where's Dame and Precious? They didn't come out." Devina asked.

"Precious is just waiting for Dame to close up, before he drives her home." Keem explained, "They ain't staying."

"And the both of y'all are?" Devina asked.

"We talked about it, and realized that if you did this alone, no matter the plan, you were going to end up dead." Keem stated.

"With us, you at least got people you can trust to make sure shit don't go sideways." Eli said with a shrug.

"And, you're sure? Even after everything I said?" Devina asked.

"Shit was from the heart, right? Felt like you needed to get that off your chest." Eli told her with a small chuckle.

"And besides," Keem said, lighting a cigarette and smoking it, "You weren't even lying. Just reminding us of the shit we try to forget about."

Devina sighed once again as Eli sat on the trunk next to her.

"So, what's the plan, V?" Eli asked, "How are we going to do this shit?"

Both Eli and Keem looked at Devina with expectant looks. She looked at the both of them then back down at the backpack on her lap, slowly smirking at their future prospects.

~

Raydar