PROMISED TO HIM
CHAPTER 18
ROY SMITH
He stood like a dare at the threshold, jaw set, eyes sharp enough to cut. The room smelled of stale whiskey and tension, every corner holding old conversations we hadn’t finished.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from my wife?” I said, slow and low, each word a warning.
Jayden’s smile was too easy.
“Roy, you don’t love her,” he said, like that settled everything.
Something in my chest snapped. I didn’t think — I moved. My fist met his face; blood sprang from his nose and painted his lips. He staggered back, angry, not broken.
Mayi pushed in between us, small and stubborn.
“Roy, stop. He’s your brother,” she pleaded, hands on my chest, voice shaking.
“He lied to you,” he said, every syllable hard. “He used you. He wants the shares — not you.”
Jayden’s voice went raw. “I love her you can’t do anything about it Roy.”
He turned to Me as if that explanation absolved him. “i kissed her . And she kissed me back.”
Mayi’s face folded. Her confusion felt like a knife.
“Did you kiss him back?” I demanded, and the question sounded cruel even to me.
Before she could answer, I saw that smirk on his face
“I’ll kill you,”I hissed, and i found my hands on his throat. The world narrowed to the heat of his grip, the metallic tang of fear.
I shoved him off. We collided — bodies and fury — the noise of it sharp in the small house. Mayi tried to wrench us apart and in the scramble she slipped on the floor. Time lurched — a sick, hollow moment as her body hit the tiles floor
“Mayi!” The shout ripped out of me. Instinct took over and I shoved Jayden so hard he stumbled back.
My hand closed on the pistol by the table without thought. I didn’t aim to kill; I didn’t want blood. I wanted him gone. I fired into the air — a single, brutal crack that split the room. Jayden dropped his hands and fled, boots pounding the drive, swallowed by the night.
The house exhaled. I downed whiskey like it could burn away the tremor in my ribs, the liquid scorching but useless against the adrenaline in my veins. I climbed the stairs as if through fog.
Mayi was already upstairs sat on the bed, knees hugged to her chest, hair falling loose around her face. A smear of blood colored her temple; her lip quivered. Guilt hit me harder than the punch I’d thrown.
“Did you kiss him back?” I asked again, but the question had shifted now — no longer an accusation so much as a plea for something solid to hold onto.
Mayi lifted her head and met my eyes. “Was he telling the truth?” she asked, voice thin. “only shares matters to you?and torturing me?”
“I won’t torture you anymore “
“You could start by not strangling your brother and firing guns in the house,” she said quietly.
The accusation landed like a blow.
“Mayi, I—” I began, but whatever I was about to say felt thin and useless.
She touched the cut at her temple with a trembling finger. “You nearly killed him,” she said. “You could have killed him.”
How do I tell her that I will kill That boy no matter what she says
“I scared him off,,” I said, because admitting that I’d wanted to do worse was a thought too ugly even for me.
We sat in a thick silence that tasted of regret and something like fear. The house, with its familiar creaks and secrets, offered no comfort. Outside, headlights blinked once at the gate and then were gone. The chessboard of our lives had been shaken.
I rested my back against the bed.
“I’m sorry,” I said finally. It wasn’t a great apology,
“I’m sorry I frightened you. I’m sorry I hit him.”
Ohhh this boy will pay dearly for making me say these words that I haven’t told anyone in my life
The night settled around us, thick and watchful. I went to bed that night with the image of Jayden’s face burned in my skull
When morning came I saw message from Mom asking if everything was okay, and the knowledge that Jayden hadn’t vanished without leaving traces. The shot would be talked about. My family would ask questions. A rival might see an opportunity. The line between private hurt and public war had narrowed.
I lay there, chest tight, the taste of whiskey and guilt thick on my tongue,