Grace entered her parent's house, climbing the stairs to go look for her mother.

Samantha had made no effort to move out, deciding that Isiah was the one who should leave. Thinking that would be too easy for her, he refused, even continuing to sleep in the same bed as his estranged wife.

At least that's what he told himself. He actually wanted to sleep beside her, force her to be close to him.

It was an early Sunday morning so Grace was off but woke up at the same time as Josiah, wanting to visit her mother. Their bedroom door was open so she saw them lying beside each other, Samantha facing the door and Isiah facing the window.

It wasn't often that Grace thought about the state of her parent's marriage. Her mind was mainly on the relationship between her and her father, not them. Of course she'd noticed the hostility her father had towards her mom but she never thought to question why, thinking he was just a dick to everybody.

Samantha's eyes opened suddenly, looking towards Grace who was quietly standing there, "Grace?"

"Hi, mom."

Always the light sleeper, Isiah awakened as well but made no movements as to not alert them to the fact that he was listening.

"Why are you up so early?" She questioned after looking at the time, "Are you okay?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

Samantha blinked slowly, "You want to talk to me?"

Grace never sought her out to talk about any problems she may have been having, so this was a surprise to Samantha.

She nodded, "Yeah. If you feel like it?"

"Of course!" Samantha exclaimed sitting up, "Let me freshen up and I'll be downstairs in about 10 minutes?"

Leaving their room, Grace went first into her old room, sorting through some of her things that she'd left behind. She didn't miss living in this house at all. Nothing came with it but bad memories, ones she didn't care to ever relive.

After she'd stuffed more things she thought she'd want to take with her into a bag, she went into the kitchen where Celina was standing by the counter, mumbling to herself.

"Hey Celina." Grace greeted, "How are you?"

She paused, looking at the young woman who was finally from under her father's thumb.

Her heart ached that she was about to put her back there. 

Much like Samantha not going out of her way to hide things from her husband, Isiah didn't go to lengths to hide things from the housekeeper. They'd formed a sort of don't ask, don't tell policy.

Celina wouldn't ask questions, and she didn't tell people what she saw. And oh the things she's seen in this madhouse.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to tell Grace about Haiden, Shawn, and everything else she could think of, when Samantha descended the stairs, putting an end to their conversation.

Because while Celina was willing to tell Grace everything, she wouldn't tell her mother a thing.

And that was for Samantha's safety.

Smiling, she turned and pretended to be getting something from the fridge while Grace followed her mother onto the patio where they sat down, Samantha waiting patiently for her daughter to tell her what was on her mind.

"So last week, Josiah and I talked about some things from his past."

Grace didn't go into major details, just telling her mother what she'd learned about his stepfather and the abuse he'd done to Josiah.

Even though Josiah said he didn't think about it, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. It bothered her that a man like that could be inflicting that same pain on another woman and her child.

Samantha listened sympathetically until Grace was done talking, "How can I help?"

"I don't wanna ask dad, but I know you have your own lawyer right? From that time when we were about to leave?"

She nodded, "The statute of limitation is up on both the child abuse and domestic violence though, Grace."

Grace knew that since she'd looked it up already, "I know but I think that if he did it to them, he's probably doing it to someone else. Josiah said he never hit his biological kids, only him and Lia."

Samantha paused at the name, "Lia?"

"Yeah, his mom's name is Lia."

Grace had said Josiah wasn't the abuser's child so their last name wouldn't have been the same,  "What's his siblings' last name?"

"Harris."

She was hoping it wouldn't be true but it was too similar to be a coincidence. On the other hand, Shawn didn't seem like he would hurt a fly, one of the kindest men Samantha had the pleasure of meeting.

Had she decided to leave Isiah, it would've been for him.

It made her sick to her stomach to think that she could have risked her or her children's lives by bringing him anywhere near them.

Grace was watching her mom's reaction, seeing the tension in her body, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Samantha cleared her throat, "I'll have the lawyer look for him, see what we can do."

"Thank you."

"Of course. Have you spoken to Haiden recently?"

Samantha hadn't told Grace about what she knew pertaining to Haiden. Her reasoning was simple, she hoped that someday Isiah would repair his relationship with his children, and she knew if Grace found out about her father's affair, that would never happen.

Their talk was interrupted by the sound of a skillet crashing into the ground in the kitchen.

Both of them turned towards the door, and Grace stood up to go see if Celina was okay because there wasn't a time that she could remember that Celina had dropped anything in their home.

Little did they know she'd done it on purpose, to alert them to the fact that their conversation wasn't private.

But Isiah had heard everything he needed to hear.

• • •

For some reason, Josiah couldn't sleep.

Grace was resting soundly beside him, her head resting on his chest, a light snore coming from her every now and then.

He wasn't sure what was keeping him awake, but the bedside clock glowed back at him, time passing by quickly. At around 3, he gave up on sleep, slipping out of bed quietly to slide on pants so he could go for a walk, in the hopes that it'd relax him enough to get at least 3 hours of sleep.

Pulling on a shirt, Josiah left the room went up the hallway, only to pause when he thought he heard someone talking. As he went to take another step, he heard the distinct sound of Neriah's laughter before she likely remembered that it was late, quieting herself.

It was possible that she could've been on the phone with someone, but around 1 am she sent Josiah a text telling him that she was home like she always did whenever she worked at the club.

Since he'd heard laughing and not any other noises, Josiah walked closer to her door, listening to see if either of them would be so stupid to do what he believed they were doing.

Just as he thought, he heard a low male voice in the room.

Josiah and Malik hadn't spoken since their altercation some odd months ago, in which he made it perfectly clear that if he ever saw him talking to his sister again, he'd happily beat his ass again.

It didn't matter who initiated the contact, and it didn't matter if Neriah was stupid enough to entertain it, he found it to be more of a respect thing. Clearly, that respect was absent since he was with her before Josiah even found out.

After a minute or so of contemplating, Josiah knocked on his sister's door.

Silence.

"It's too late to be quiet. I already heard y'all." He talked through the door, "I'm just tryna talk right quick."

Neriah looked questingly at Malik who sighed and stood from the bed, walking to the door to unlock it and look at Josiah, "Wassup?"

"I just don't get this shit." He laughed, looking to Neriah, "What's wrong with you?"

"We're talking. As friends."

"At three in the morning?"

Malik cleared his throat, "Me and Brielle don't talk any more."

"Ian talkin' to you bruh. Don't say shit to me right now."

What bothered him so much about this situation, besides the fact that he felt his sister deserved better, was that Neriah had seen Shawn hit Lia on multiple occasions, heard the arguments about Shawn cheating, and she still was about to sit up here and take this shit.

"Josiah can you just let me make my own decisions? I'm happy you care but you're doing too much."

And exactly like their mother, he could beg her to leave, have multiple fights with him, but she wouldn't stop until she was ready.

Backing away from her room, he continued to the front door to go take his walk.

______

what in the hell is isiah up to?

thanks for reading 💕