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Tasha was now wondering what other drama could unfold. About fifteen minutes later the pastor had gained control
     of the funeral. Everyone was back in their seats except for Marva. Nana now had that same blank stare that Marva had. They
     both were spooking her. The pastor began his eulogy and he began speaking highly of Shaheem. It was obvious he knew very little
     of him.
    *  *  *
    Trae lay in the cut as he watched everyone leave the burial site. He couldn’t bring himself to go to the funeral. Instead,
     he had spent the day getting high and reminiscing about the good times. He, Kaylin, Kyron and Shaheem had plans on taking
     over the city when they were young and getting in the game. Shaheem’s favorite words were “I got you, Cuz.”
    He stepped out of the car, zipped up his jacket and pulled his fitted cap down low. The climate on the East Coast was much
     cooler than in California. New York always seemed to remind him of how cold the world could be. He had a bottle of Corona,
     Shaheem’s favorite. He smiled at the thought of Tasha looking around. He knew that she felt his presence.
    “Daddy will be home in a few days,” he mumbled as he trudged up the walkway, stopping in front of the burial plot. He stood
     there.
    Just a day after Trae had arrived in Queens, word of Shaheem’s murder had already spread throughout Hollis. During Shaheem’s
     four-and-a-half year bid he had bumped heads with Magnificent, a ruthless drug dealer from Newark, New Jersey, who had gotten
     caught up in a buy-and-bust investigation in Spanish Harlem.
    Magnificent had already served a year of his five-year sentence before Shaheem arrived. Magnificent had managed to take control
     of his tier. He paid off the guards, along with a few jailhouse enforcers, and made examples out of anyone who didn’t see
     things his way. That was until he got a taste of Shaheem Macklin.
    Shaheem quickly turned the tables on Magnificent by giving him a serious beat-down in the prison yard in front of many spectators,
     which allowed him to take control of the tier, not to mention that he doubled the guards’ salaries. Magnificent was at the
     mercy of Shaheem until he was paroled. It was obvious that Magnificent refused to let prison beef stay behind prison walls.
    As Trae stood over Shaheem’s burial site, a weird feeling came across him.
    Why did God spare me? And my pops? We were both in the game and retired from it. That shit rarely happens. My Aunt Marva and
     all of her roots and shit said she and our ancestors would save us. But why couldn’t she save her own son?
“Damn,” he mumbled. Trae pulled out the blunt as he sat on the ground next to Shaheem’s plot. “Dawg, I got your favorite.”
     He pulled the brown paper bag off the Corona and poured some out.
    Then he took a huge swig of the brew. “It’s ice cold, just like you like it.” He got choked up.
I can’t do this.
    “I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to have your back. I’m sorry. You got my word that I’m going to fix this shit. I’ma
     make it right. I won’t stop until I do.” He emptied the rest of the bottle of Corona and tossed it out as far as he could.

CHAPTER SIX
    T asha’s due date was less than three weeks away, but the triggerman who had taken Shaheem out was still breathing and to Trae
     that was unacceptable, so he was anxious to go out on the hunt. The hunt for blood.
    His parents’ family room was where Trae, just like his father, went to clear his head. Trae slid the glass doors shut and
     turned on the dimmer. Tasha had gotten him hooked on scented candles so he lit a vanilla-scented one, grabbed a blunt and
     stood in front of the window staring up at the New York moonlight. He still couldn’t believe that he was out of the game,
     married; living in Cali, and any day now would be a father. He couldn’t help wonder what the Creator had in store for him.
    He inhaled on the blunt filled with purple haze and smirked. “Lord, I hope