✴️

|Saturday, November 20, 1987|
|Matthattan, New York|
|Times Square Theatre|
|8:25 pm|

Prince

"Lovely weather we're having, huh?" I try to ease the tension between Cat and Sheila as we rode in the limo for the past hour. This traffic just couldn't get any worse, especially now. They both briefly look at me, then each other, roll their eyes and look away. As expected; Why do I even try with these two?

At the moment, we were on the way to the premeire of the 'Sign O' The Times' movie at the times square theatre. Everyone that was included in the movie and on tour was going to be in attendance, which explains why the two women that were this close to killing each other were in the car with me. Michael was busy with his tour in Australia, and the kids were currently staying with my mom back in Minnesota while I was away. Our relationship wasn't all the way there yet, things like that don't just magically heal over night but it was off to a great start.

If I'm being honest, I didn't want to come to the premeire; I guess I was just nervous that no one was going to like it and I didn't want to be there to watch. However, after Cat begging me not to leave her alone with Sheila and the rest of the band for some reason, I gave in. I was a little confused though--I mean, I knew she didn't like Sheila but she use to get a long with the rest of the band well, why is it that all of a sudden she doesn't? Something was up. I never forgot about that awkward moment at Tyka's funeral where everyone was looking at Sheila like she was the one who was at fault. It was weird, the truth just had to come out sooner or later.

"I know you guys aren't friends, but I want you to be on your best behavior. I'm not going to tolerate any arguing, this isn't the time or place. You got me?" I warn them in a strong threatening tone, wasn't my intent but I was serious at the same time. They've gotten to heated arguments--fights before and I've had to stop every single one of them.

"Okay, dad." Cat said in bored, yet slightly playful tone. Ignoring her smart remark, I shake my head and lean back into my seat.

"You both look stunning by the way," I complimented them.

"Thanks," They both said at the same time. Once they realized that, they sighed and their irritation grew by each other's presence.

"Don't start." I put my hand up along with a tired expression on my face. Thankfully, they had stopped and we arrived just on time to the theatre.

〰️

|Times Square|
|Tad's Steaks|
|10:45 pm|

Later on that night, me and the band had decided to have a little after party of our own in celebration of the movie release. I couldn't lie, I wasn't too confident about how others were going to react, because it's not like concert films are made everyday. However, the overall feedback was what I hoped for and everyone enjoyed it. A small part of me still thinks I could've done better, but that was the perfectionist in me talking. Nothing was completely perfect in my eyes.

While I was having a conversation with my bodyguard, Chucky, I saw Sheila from the corner of my eye stand up, holding her glass.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" She asks politely. Our conversation came to a halt and my attention was drawn to Sheila.

"I'd like to make a special toast to Prince," She raised her glass with an appreciative smile, "I just want you to know that it's truly been a blessing to work with you for the past few years. I know I've told you this many times, but you've taught me a lot as an artist and even as a friend that has helped me in so many ways I'm not sure how to repay you for. I appreciate you, love you, and this film was amazing. You never fail to impress."

I bashfully smiled, hiding my face a little bit from the sweet speech. Everyone raised her glasses with her, firmly agreeing with what she said and took a sip of their drink.

"I love you too." I mouthed to her with a soft grin on my face, and then took a sip of my own champagne.

When I put my glass back down, I noticed that Cat couldn't help put roll her eyes at Sheila's gesture as she played with her food on the table. Two seconds later, Cat got up, and gathered her belongings. I furrowed my eyes, "Cat, where are you going?"

She walked over and gave me a side hug and I confusingly hugged her back from where I was sitting, "I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore. I have to go."

"What? Cat wait-" I grabbed her wrist as she tried to leave. Everyone stayed dead silent, watching Cat with nervous expressions while the look on Sheila's face wasn't shocked at all.

"Here she goes running, again." Sheila huffed under her breath, waving her off. "Jealous bitch."

"Sheila," I warn her. Cat stands still in my hold, and she slowly turns around to look at her. Chucky looks down at his lap, feeling a bit awkward by the altercation as Cat stares at her in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" She said, not sure if what she heard was correct. Sheila shrugged, "You heard me."

"If anyone is a jealous bitch, it's you. Phony ass hoe." Cat slams her purse on the table, making everyone except for Sheila jump in reaction. Thank god we were in a secluded spot in the restaurant, but the thing I was more concerned about was how things even escalated. I was very aware that they didn't like each other, and wasn't new to breaking up fights in the past, but for Cat to snap out of nowhere like that was very out of character. Something must of triggered her to do so, what the hell was going on?

"How am I a phony?" She questioned, folding her hands together with a slight tilt of her head.

"Because you are! You've been lying this entire time, Sheila! All of you have!" Cat shouted from the top of her lungs, making the sound echo throughout the entire room. The looks across the table lowered, not being able to maintain eye contact with her. Sheila glared at her, crossing her arms.

"What are you talking about, Cat?" I looked at her dumbfounded, lost as ever. It was honestly starting to make me a little nervous. Cat sighed, face palming her forehead.

"Listen, Prince. There's something I need to tell you," She stared. "I promised Michael that I wouldn't say anything-"

"You promised him what?" I said sternly, extremely caught off guard by Michael being involved. Hold on, what did Michael have anything to do with this mess?

"Yeah, Cat. What?" Sheila challenged her. Cat dropped her purse and got ready to charge at her but I quickly caught her wrist again. Chucky looked down at his lap in guilt, having an idea what she was going to say but didn't want to get involved since he could get in trouble as well, due to the fact that he also knew partly about how they got married but didn't know it was Sheila's fault.

"I'm not gonna' ask you again, Cat." I warned, starting to get a little pissed off. Not only at the fact that this seriously was the worst timing for this, but it seemed like something was going on that everyone knew about, including Michael, except for me. That's the thing I hate the most, is being clueless or lied to.

"Now this is the last time I'm asking you, all of you. What is going on?" I demanded with a little bass in my voice. After that, it was silent, you could almost hear a pen drop. Chucky took a sip of his drink, Sheila had an unreadable expression, Cat definitely looked like she was holding a lot back and the rest looked like a gun was being held to their heads.

Before I opened my mouth to speak from waiting too long, Levi quickly spit out, "I drugged you and Michael the night before you guys got married."

My eyebrows furrowed, and I stared off into space, not being able to fully comprehend what he said. Everyone at the table looked shocked by his response, the only person that seemed to not get much of a reaction was Sheila.

"Huh?" I said breathlessly, feeling like I was having an out-of-body moment. Cat shook her head quickly and threw her hands up in the air, "Levi. Are you kidding me right now?"

"He's telling the truth," Boni hesitantly said. "He had told us a week after it happened. We had no idea though."

"Hold on, wait-" Cat said in a pissed off tone but got interuppted by Eric.

"He said that it was to try to expose your relationship with Michael." Eric explains. "We didn't want to ruin things between you guys, so we thought we would keep it a secret."

Cat remained speechless, looking at all of them with a shocked expression, meanwhile I had no idea what to think at this point. What the hell was I hearing? My head was spinning, and my mind was going in circles. I even felt a little dizzy; None of this made sense. Absolutely no sense, why? why would my own band, people that I trust, would intentionally do this to me? Michael knew this whole time how we got married and didn't want to tell me? Including Cat? The two I trust the most? I was at a loss for words. This couldn't be true, no way.

"So they're all trying to save your ass right now?" Cat questioned Sheila, pointing a finger at her briefly before she ran her hands through her hair. "Come on, guys. This is bullshit!"

Cat turned to me and grabbed my hand reassuringly, "Prince, this is all bullshit, okay? Sheila has been lying this entire time and she is the one who started this mess!"

"Oh come on, Cat. Even if I did start it, why did you keep it a secret from him? Why didn't you do something about it, huh?" She put her hands on the table and leaned forward.

I felt tears starting to brim my eyes, and I looked away to hide it from everyone. When I wasn't looking, I heard glass break and a bunch of screams, I turned back around and saw that Cat had rushed over to the other side of the table to put hands on Sheila. They were on the ground, throwing punches at each other while everyone else tried their best to break them up, including my bodyguard.

I had zero energy in my body. I didn't think I would have the strength to get up from my chair, but I did, slowly. As I watched everyone try to break them up, I took a deep breath, and wiped my tears away. I have to get out of here, I said in my head. I didn't care if I had to leave by myself without any security. I was leaving, going to my hotel and getting the fuck out of New York. I was done. I pushed in my chair, and stormed out of the room without anyone noticing.

Just wait until I see Michael.

〰️

|Tuesday, November 23, 1987|
|Santa Barbara County, California|
|Neverland Valley Ranch|
|11:30 pm|

Michael

I turned the keys into the lock, making my way into the house. Once I stepped in and closed the door, I noticed that the lights were all off. I furrowed my eyebrows, "Why are the lights off?" I questioned myself.

I dropped my bags, and walked towards the lamp. Once I reached to turn it on, a hand in the darkness beat me to it. I jumped, and inhaled sharply as I held my chest.

"Shit," I said under my breath. Prince sat in the chair next to the lamp, with an unreadable expression on his face. I couldn't tell if he was upset, happy to see me, or maybe tired? It was so confusing that it threw me off.

"Hey, baby." I greeted, furrowing my eyebrows a little bit, "What are you doing up so late?"

Prince continued to stare at me with no signs of life. I rubbed my arm nervously, wondering what was wrong with him. It's not like I got home late from cheating or something. He knows that I'm touring.

"And why are you sitting in the dark?" I say. Prince broke his eye contact with me, playing with the ends of his shirt.

"How did we get married, Michael?" He asks bluntly. My eyes slightly widened and my blood turned cold, fuck.

"Huh?" I blurt out. Prince looked up back at me, and this time, his stare was intense.

"You heard me," His voice barked darkly. I quickly looked around in guilt, trying my best to come up with a lie.

"I don't know-"

"Don't lie to me," Prince said sternly. "I'm not stupid, Michael. You don't think I remember you going to ask Cat about what happened but yet you never told me?"

I shut my eyes, and sighed. Dumbass, I cursed to myself in my head. I was caught red-handed, there was no way I could try to cover this up now.

"Listen, Prince-" I say but I quickly get caught off.

"No, you listen." Prince demands, then gets up from his chair. "You know, at the time, I didn't care to bring it up because we were already fustrated with each other to begin with that day. After while, it didn't really matter to me how we got married because I loved you and I wanted us to work."

"Babe-" I try to reach for his hands but he roughly pulled them away from my grasp.

"But it's been all starting to make sense to me. Something as serious as us being drugged? You and Cat knew this whole fucking time who did it and how our marriage happened, and you didn't want to tell me?" Prince questioned, with the tone in his voice slightly getting louder.

"I didn't want to ruin what we had! Please listen to me, how did you even find this out?" I beg him, trying to calm him down before he got any louder.

"It doesn't fucking matter how I found out! The fact of the matter is, I found out through every other person involved except for you!" He stresses, shouting at the top of his lungs. I reached out, grabbing his hands successfully

"You're going to wake the kids." I warn him softly, "You have to let me explain, it's not like that at all. Don't see it this way-"

"I have no other way to see it, Michael." He brushes off my grasp once again, but this time even harder. I stared at him blankly, slowly starting to get upset, no longer being able to keep my cool. It's like I couldn't even get a word out and it was honestly pissing me off.

"You know what?" I bring up matter-of-factly, "Don't get mad at Cat, because I was the one who told her not to say anything, maybe because you wouldn't believe me or her in the first place! If I were to tell you that Sheila was the one who was responsible for all of this, you would brush it off and cover her ass like you always do!"

Prince crossed his arms and tilted his head, "So you, and Cat are telling me that Sheila is responsible, meanwhile the whole entire table said Levi was the one behind it? Make it make sense, Michael. Cause it doesn't."

I shake my head slowly in disbelief, running my fingers through my curls, wanting to pull them out. What the hell was he talking about? Was he even listening to me? This is what I meant right here.

"What do you mean Levi was the one behind it?  it was Sheila! What part of that are you not understanding? She's been jealous of our relationship this entire time and she's been out to get me ever since. That's fucking bullshit, and it's clear that if he confessed that, he only did it to protect her. It's like all of you have this security blanket over her, why do you keep kissing her ass? why do you always take her word over mine?"

"It seems to me like you're jealous. How many times do I have to tell you? I love you and only you! I don't have feelings for her anymore. I've never taken anyone's word over yours, but how could you blame me now, especially since you've been lying to me this entire time! Now you're trying to blame this all on her? I've known her for a long time, and she wouldn't do anything like this. It seems to me that you're just insecure." He spits out.

I scoff, staring at him in disappointment while taking in everything he said, "I'm insecure?"

Prince looks down, shrugging while crossing his arms, being silent. My eyes start to well up with tears, not because I was sad, but out of frustration. My mind was completely blown by my husband not being on my side, maybe I was wrong from keeping it from him all this time, but blaming this all on jealously was beyond me. I didn't know how else to explain it, or what to say to him at this point. He proved my point, once again.

Before I could say anything, the door bell ringed, startling the both of us. Prince and I both looked at the door, and I raised my eyebrow a little, a little confused as to why it would be ringing at this time of night. I sighed, looking back at him briefly, "I got it."

Prince watched me as I walked to open the door. I twisted the knob, revealing a hispanic man that was just about my height and looked my age, wearing professional attire with a badge underneath his collar.

"Good evening, Mr. Jackson. I'm José Garcia, detective of the Santa Barbara County Police Station?" He greets, holding out a hand for me to shake. I could just feel Prince's eyes burn a hole right through me from behind, shit. Yes, I had decided on my own that I was going to get to the bottom of all the crazy shit that's been happening as of late, something Prince also wasn't aware of, but I didn't regret it. However, I didn't know they were going to show up so late. This was a really, really bad time.

"Nice to meet you, sir." I say politely, with a hint of nervousness in my voice and shook his hand, "I thought you were going to come a little bit earlier sometime this week?"

"I was, but my hands got tied with a bunch of other cases. I hope this isn't a bad time," He says, not wanting to intrude. Um, is it a bad time? Hell yes it was.

Whatever, this needed to be done anyway. I shook my head, stepping aside, "Not at all, please. Come in."

I closed the door behind me, and saw him going to greet Prince as well. I could tell that he was extremely pissed, but he stayed calm and remained nice to him.

"Let's get started, shall we? I wouldn't want to keep you both here all night." He chuckled, I nodded, guiding him to the living room. Once he walked away first, me and Prince faced each other.

"I told you that I didn't want to do this investigation shit, Michael!" He whispered sharply at me.

"Can you just trust me? For once?" I stress to him, not wanting to start another argument. Prince bit his lip harshly, looking like he wanted to strangle me.

"If I'm being honest, I don't even know if I can trust you anymore." He said coldly, storming away into the living room. His words cut through my heart like a knife, and my feelings were deeply hurt. I closed my eyes, counting to ten before taking a deep breath. Just let it go, Michael. I got myself together, and followed them into the living room.

〰️

"So before we dive into the details about Tyka and her death." He continues, with a notebook on his lap, "Has there been any strange or bizarre events that took place before that?"

I side-eye Prince a tiny bit meanwhile he does the same. We sat on opposite ends of the couch, far away from each other and the tension was so thick that it was impossible for it to be cut. It was obvious that he wasn't going to say anything, so I spoke up, laying everything out on the table nervously, knowing that Prince never knew about the phone calls or the tapes I got over the past couple of months.

"Yes.." I trailed off. José nodded, wanting me to continue while Prince's facial expression went from an angered one, to a lost one. He slowly turned his head towards me and listened.

"A little bit before me and Prince started dating, I had gotten a tape that was left on my doorstep." I bit my lip, replaying the tape in my head which sent shivers down my spine, "It was just recordings of different parts of my house. Someone knocked on the door before that, but when I went to check, there was no one there."

He wrote down what I was saying in the notebook, "I noticed that you also have a gate to be let inside the ranch. Is there anyone that you've given access to in the past that might've done this possibly?"

I shook my head, "No. I've only given that information to my family, a few of my close friends and Prince. I don't believe any of them would do such a thing."

"Who are your close friends, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Elizabeth Taylor, Brooke Sheilds, Eddie Murphy." I list off, I had a couple more but I didn't feel the need to name all of them since I didn't believe that they had anything do with this.

He nodded, continuing to write notes in his notepad. Prince stared at me in shock, not being able to believe anything that I was saying. It looked like he wanted to say something to, but he held his tongue.

"Was there anyone you've been seeing or was close to briefly before Mr. Nelson came into the picture?"

I glanced at Prince, and his eyes dropped to the ground, turning himself away from me. I sighed quietly, "Yes, I was talking to a woman named Denise Matthews at the time, Vanity to make it more familiar."

"Have you ever invited her over to your home? Or given the access information to her?" He asked.

"No, I haven't." I answered both questions, "But I did invite her to my family's house for New Year's."

"And where does your family live?"

"They live in Havyenhurst. About two hours away from me." I inform him. He writes down notes quickly and proceeds to ask me more questions.

"Has there been anyone who you haven't gotten along with lately? Or someone who makes you uncomfortable?"

I didn't hesitate to hold back on this question at all. I had a feeling that she was the root of all the evil going on and I was going to find out, "We've never had an argument or disagreement one on one per-say, but she does make me feel very uncomfortable to say the least. I also think she's the one responsible for everything that's been going on, her name is Sheila Escovedo. One of my husband's band mates."

"Of course," I hear Prince mutter under his breath. I glare at him from the side as José speaks.

"Anything else about her that I should take note of?"

"Actually, yes." I admit, "Me and Prince were put into a very dangerous situation not too long ago. On the night, which was the last night of his tour, afterwards we had went out with his band. I remember Sheila wanting me to partake in this drinking game so badly, and I did, we both did actually. The next day, long story short, we were both hung over and found out that we got married since the news was everywhere. I would've had no clue what happened unless our friend, Cat Glover, had told me, and thank God she was there. She said that Sheila had put something into our drink, and the rest of the band knew except for her. Of course I believed her because everything started to add up. I always thought Sheila disliked me, and was jealous. She always gave off this negative energy whenever I was around. How she knew we were together? I don't know, but it only makes sense that it was her."

"Did Cat do anything to stop the situation from happening?" He questions.

I nodded, "She did."

José looked at me with an expression that looked like he wasn't fully convinced with what I said, but he didn't want to push the question further. He decided to keep going.

"What else happened after that?"

I gulped, looking down and played with my fingers a bit. It was starting to get even more difficult for me to discuss, this was way harder than I thought.

"I, um.." I trail off, rubbing the back of my neck. The mysterious woman's ear piercing scream replayed in my head, and no matter how many times I tried to shake it off, I just couldn't.

I cleared my throat, "I received a phone call when I was house hunting with Prince in Wyoming. I have no idea who it was from, but there was a woman screaming. She sounded so familiar, and she said my name, also saying repeatedly that they were making her do it?" I sighed, closing my eyes briefly, "And afterwards she told me to watch my back."

José looked at me with a stunned expression, but nothing that was overly surprising since he dealt with crazy shit everyday. Prince snapped his head over to look at me and his eyes were widened, "What?"

"Were you aware of any of this, Mr. Nelson?" José asked him politely, Prince's eyes continued to stay fixated on me. He slowly shook his head, "No..in fact it seems like he hasn't told me a lot of things." He remarks the last part in anger.

I sigh heavily, feeling extremely guilty all over again. I rested my face in my hands while Prince said, "Why didn't you tell me this? How is this even possible?"

"I've heard of this happening many times. It never matters where you are typically, you could be halfway across the country and whoever is stalking you or a serial killer could trace you in a second." He informs. Prince blinks twice, staring blankly at him while I slowly raise my head up.

"You.." Prince stops, "You think we're involved with a serial killer?"

José raised his eyebrow, getting ready to write. I immediately recognized that Prince had said "we're" making me assume that he was going through some weird shit as well, but he refused to tell me.

"Have you experienced anything similar like your husband?"

Prince looked down, playing with his ring on his finger before he hesitantly said, "No."

"Be honest," I remind him impatiently since I could sense that he was lying. Who on earth lies to a detective?

Prince cut his eyes at me and shifted in his seat to face me, "I think I can speak for myself, Michael. I said no." He said impatiently back, getting up from his seat. José looked at him with concern while I stared at him with a tired expression, getting sick of his attitude.

"It was nice meeting you, José. I'm actually going to go bed, I'm pretty exhausted." He says nicely to him. José nods at him, understanding. Prince smiled small at him but when he looked over at me, his smile dropped and he gave me a dirty look before walking away.

I squeeze the bridge of my nose in frustration, slightly rolling my eyes before looking at José with an apologetic expression, "I'm sorry about that."

"No worries." He waves me off, not wanting me to think twice about it.

〰️

|Wenesday, November 24th, 1987|
|10:23 am|

The sunlight in the blinds hovered over my eyelids, waking me up from my sleep. I yawned, rubbing my eyes and slowly sat up. I blinked my eyes a couple of times and looked to the left, noticing the empty space beside me. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering were Prince had went. We slept in the same bed last night, neither of us went with the couch treatment, so where was he?

"Prince?" I called out, pulling the covers off of me and turned my body so that my feet landed on the cold floor. As soon as I was about to get up, a white note titled 'Michael' caught my eye.

I quickly picked up the note and caught onto the familiar handwriting.

"Michael

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened last night. If I'm being honest, I'm lost for words and not quite sure what to say. You haven't been honest with me, at all, and I'm really disappointed. We're suppose to trust each other, and be a team, but you've been hiding so much from me, extremely dangerous things that could've costed our lives, most importantly yours or the children, and that's not okay. All I need, it's just time right now. I need time on my own to think things over, and I think you need that time as well. I'm going to Minnesota with the kids, so you won't have to worry about anything for the time being. I love you, but please understand where I'm coming from.

- Prince "

I threw my head back in frustration, throwing the note to the side. Yeah, like I'll ever understand where he was coming from. I understand that we were upset with each other but I don't agree with him just leaving out of nowhere, with our kids. I hated that I felt like everytime I tried to open up to him, when he stresses about me not telling the truth, it's like I'm talking to a wall. First, he denies the Sheila situation, secondly, instead of maybe sticking by my side to figure out this investigation, he leaves, like I haven't gone through anything tramatic. I needed him more than anything.

I also knew that he was hiding something, I knew he was. Which also pisses off at the fact that he says that I'm the only one who doesn't speak up, he's quite the hypocrite. I couldn't believe him, why couldn't we just talk about it?

I sighed, rubbing my face. I needed to get out of here just to clear my mind. I scooted closer to the end-table and picked up the phone off the hook, dialing my sister's number. It ringed three times before she finally picked up, "Hello?"

"Can I come over, please?" I beg tiredly, twisting the cord between my fingers.

〰️

|Bakersfield, California|
|Seven Oaks|
|12:00 pm|

I shoved my keys into my pocket as I walked up the steps to Janet's house, almost tripping over one of them due to how out of it I was. I caught myself on the nearby wall and cursed to myself, "Shit.."

I straighted my posture and ringed the doorbell, waiting a couple seconds before she opened it. She smiled but then her face dropped, looking out the door to see my '1984 BMW' parked in the driveway.

"No way, you drove all the way here?" She questioned with her eyes widened. I gave her a weird look, and shrugged.

"Yeah?" I said nochantlantly. She laughed, holding her stomach before she turned around, walking into the house. I followed her inside, closing the door behind me while rolling my eyes.

"I'm surprised you made it alive." She smartly doged me. I wave her off, sitting down on the stool in her large, spacious kitchen while she looked through her cabinets.

"Whatever," I chuckle. "Where's your boy toy at?" I refer to her boyfriend, René Elizondo.

"I could ask you the same question," She shoots back, turning around with a wine bottle in her hand. My head started to ache just by the mention of him, especially with the argument we had. She poured the wine into a glass before sliding it over to me.

I took the glass and swallowed the whole thing in five seconds. Janet paused to take a sip out of her glass, staring at me blankly. She slowly took a sip and set it down, "It looks like someone really needed a drink."

I sighed, putting the glass down, "I'm sorry, I just feel really stressed out right now."

Janet smirks, "Seems like someone is a little sexually fustrated."

I furrowed my eyebrows, shaking my head at her, "What? No. Jesus, why are you so dirty minded?"

"They don't call me Ms. Jackson if ya nasty for nothing." She shrugs while putting the wine bottle away.

"Clearly the hickey on your neck proves your point." I say, just now noticing the rather large mark on her skin. She freezes in place, touching her neck before turning to face me quickly.

"Are you serious?" Janet says in a panicked tone, then she rushed to the mirror in the living room that was connected to the kitchen to look at it. I titled my head, putting my hands up in a 'what?' position.

"What's wrong?" I questioned, a little confused as to why she was freaking out over it. She sighs, running her fingers through her hair before she walked over to me.

"Michael." Janet says sternly, grabbing the both of my shoulders, "You have to keep this a secret. Please." She says while shaking me in between syllabus.

"Okay, Okay, Damn." I laughed a little bit, shooing her away so she would stop shaking me. Janet took a seat beside me and rested her forehead on her hand.

"This wasn't from René.." She reveals. I stare at her blankly for a little bit, not being able to comprehend what she was saying until the lightbulb hit me quickly. I widened my eyes and covered my mouth briefly before I responded, "Shut up, so you've been-"

"Yes," She threw up her hands in frustration and guilt. "I have, it wasn't intentional. Things just led to another."

"Wait, with who?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

Janet didn't say anything for a little bit until she muttered, "Bobby Brown."

You should've seen the look on my face when I heard his name. I was caught off guard, but then again not surprised since it was my sister we were talking about. I remember meeting Bobby along with the rest of New Edition in 83' or 84' when they were on the come up. I was just confused as to how they even crossed paths, and how René hasn't found out about this yet.

"Bobby Brown?" I repeated in shock, "For how long?"

"It's been on and off for awhile.." She admits, "We almost got caught on my birthday, he showed up to my house surprising me with a Mercedes."

I folded my lips together, trying my best not to laugh but I ended up doing so anyway. She hit my arm harshly, "It's not funny."

"I'm sorry! It's just- wow. He got you a Mercedes?" I repeat in amusement, "This doesn't sound like a little fling to me, sis. I think he actually has feelings for you."

"I know," She threw her head back in guilt.

"Why are you even sneaking around anyway? Do you feel the same way or something?"

"I'm not sneaking around." She corrects me. I gave her the 'really' look, making her roll her eyes.

"Okay, fine. I am." She continues, "But I'm not proud of it. I do have feelings for Bobby, we have a lot of fun and he makes me feel things that René hasn't in a long time. I love René but I feel like we've grown apart. I just haven't said anything because I know this would break his heart and I don't want to hurt him."

I shrugged, understanding what she was saying, however, cheating wasn't the way to go. I felt like she needed to tell him the truth before things really got out of hand.

"Even if I really wanted to be with Bobby, you know mother and Joseph wouldn't approve." She brings up, and she was definitely right about that. However, I didn't agree with it. I loved my parents don't get me wrong, but Janet was old enough to make her own decisions. It's more of Joseph's doing than my mother's, and if I was being honest, I think the problem is that he didn't want her or any of my sisters to be with a black man, which puzzled me to the fullest.

"I love them to death, but you're twenty-one. If you want to be with Bobby, then I say you should go for it. However, you need to tell René the truth and be honest with him.." I trail off at the end of my sentence. I look down and close my eyes, due to the word 'honest' hitting me like a ton of bricks.

"You okay?" Janet looked at me with concern, patting my shoulder.

"Yeah," I chuckled, nodding my head. "It's just that Prince and I are kinda going through the same thing right now. That's  the reason why I came here."

"I'm sorry about that, bro.." She said in a comforting way. "There wasn't any cheating involved, right?"

"No," I laugh and then explain without addressing the real situation since I didn't want her to possibly get involved. "Last night, we basically just got into an argument about honesty and miscommunication. That's all, really. He left this morning and went back to Minnesota with the kids, wanting space."

"Space? But you guys are married. You didn't talk about it first?" She asked while furrowing her eyebrows. I shook my head, agreeing with part of what she says.

"I guess I'm not too mad about him wanting space, everyone needs space once in awhile. I just wished we could've talked about first before he just up and left, you know?" I vent to her, feeling a mix of sadness and fustration.

Janet stayed silent for a little bit before she welcomed me with an idea, "Hey, how about this?"

I turned to her, and then she continued with her point, "Tito is planning to have Thanksgiving at his house this year. The family will be there, and you guys should come to. This will be a great chance for us to finally meet your nephews, and maybe you guys can talk? Find a common ground?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," I quickly shake my head. "He's not going to speak to me. Besides, I haven't spoken to mother or Joseph ever since I got married to Prince. Have they said anything about me?"

Janet sighed heavily, nodding her head and looked at me with a non-hopeful expression, "Yes, and they were not happy about it at all. But you know how religious they are, I don't think you should worry about it. You're their son, they still love you. Maybe you could talk to them as well."

Fuck, just like I thought. When it comes to having religious parents, there was no way of convincing them otherwise. I couldn't talk to them, no way. They took it very seriously, especially Joseph. I doubted that they would accept me.

"Girl, they're probably thinking that I'll go to hell for marrying a man." I said amusingly, but still with a hint of nervousness.

"Trust me," She begged. "Just think about it, okay?"

I looked at her for a second before painfully nodding my head, having no choice but to give it some thought.

〰️

|Chanhasssen, Minnesota|
|Paisley Park|
|2:00 pm|

Prince

I wrote down a couple of lyrics in my notebook, adding to the list of songs I had already written for my next album. This song was titled 'Glam Slam' and everything I wanted to say in the song was written down on paper but I was working on getting the tune where I wanted it.

I pressed my finger on a key, trying to find the rhythm of this song. I pressed onto the A, and I sighed, "Nope." Then I pressed onto E, making a sound that made me cringe, "Hell no."

As I kept experimenting, the phone rang off of the hook. I rolled my eyes, getting up from the bench and impatiently took the phone off of the hook, I hated being interuppted when I was writing.

"What's up?" I speak into the phone.

"Um..Hey." The recognizable voice replied. My annoyed demeanor went out the window and changed into a more awkward one, since we weren't really on good terms at the moment.

"Michael.." I sighed. "If this is about-"

"It's not, I promise." He cuts me off, "Look, I know you're still upset with me right now, but I need to ask you something."

I bit my lip, leaning against the wall, contemplating whether or not I should let him finish. I shrugged, just giving in. Go ahead and just let him finish. I stayed quiet, signaling for him to keep going.

"Tito and the family are going to have Thanksgiving at his house this year, and I really want you and the kids to come. You are my family now and it wouldn't feel complete without you guys here." He says, with a hint of sadness in his voice. I frown slightly, hating the fact that we were fighting during a time where it was about being together and getting along.

Despite us being in argument, I couldn't just not show up. This would be the first time the kids would meet their cousins, aunts and the rest of their family, so I couldn't take that away. I just knew it would be awkward between us, especially around his parents. Jesus, his parents. I didn't even really think about that, did they even want me there? It was clear that from the phone call I got from his father, that I still didn't tell Michael about, that he wasn't happy about our marriage. I had a feeling that this was going to be a messy family reunion.

"What about your parents, Michael?" I remind him uncomfortably, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Don't worry about it," He reassures. "It won't be an issue, I swear. Please? Can we just be cordial just for a night?"

I thought it over for a couple seconds, honestly thinking if this was worth it or not. I sighed, not being able to disagree. I nodded, tightening the grip onto the phone a little, "We'll be there."

I hear him sigh in relief on the other end, which kind of made me grin a little bit, but it quickly faded, realizing that I still wasn't happy with him. We were both awkwardly silent for a little bit before I cleared my throat, "Okay, well. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright.." He replied dryly. Deep down I wanted to say I love you, but a huge part of me was telling me not too. So, I didn't.

"Bye.." I trailed off, getting ready to hang up the phone.

"Bye," He says. We both hang up the phone at the same time, and I rested my head against the wall. I should've said I loved him, I told myself.

I lifted myself off of the wall, and walked into the living room where the kids were. I leaned against the wall, eavesdropping on their silly conversation with a faint smile on my face.

"Denise is so beautiful." Montece says in awe, being the little gentleman that he was. Lenard smacked his lips and waved him off, "Nah, man. Whitley is where it's at. She's so fine." He gushed as they watched 'A Different World'.

I look at the TV screen and saw the two women. I chuckled a little bit, but then my eyes fell to the ground, feeling a little gloomy. This was one of Michael's favorite shows, and his favorite characters were Denise and Whitley. He also had a tiny crush on Jasmine guy as well, fuck. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss him, just a little bit. I eventually snapped out of it and got their attention, "Hey, you two."

They both turned around to face me while they were on the couch, "I want you guys to get your things together, we're going back to California for Thanksgiving on Friday at your uncle's."

"We're gonna' see our cousins?" Montece says in excitement. I nod, and I immediately noticed that Lenard wasn't thrilled at all.

"What if they don't like us?" He questions, in a slightly guarded tone.

"They'll love you," I correct him. Lenard shrugs, getting up to go pack and Montece follows behind him.

"I can't wait to see Michael," I hear Montece say faintly as they both leave the room. I smile softly to myself as I watch them disappear upstairs, adoring the relationship they had with Michael. I sighed, walking over to the couch and sat down. I guess this wouldn't be too bad after all.

✴️

A/N; You probably were a little caught off guard by the picture at the top. Remember, each picture, note, or anything that is left at the top is a clue and relates to the story. If you can recall a couple chapters ago, Tyka was killed by a person in a rabbit mask, which explains the picture above. It's not only one person, but it's multiple person wearing them, which means there are multiple people behind this, even people who you might least expect. Who do you think is involved? ;)