Tahj walked into his mothers house and went straight to the fridge.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Tahj turned to see his five year old daughter Lilly running towards him. He knelt down with his arms wide open and a grin just as big as hers waiting to scoop her up into a hug. Lilly was his pride and joy; the kind of love he would literally kill for. Everyone around town knew Lilly was Daddy's Girl and he loved it.

"Where's mommy?"

"She's upstairs waiting for you."

Tahj picked Lilly up in his arms and carried her up the stairs on his shoulders; marching and singing silly songs just to make her laugh until they got to the bedroom.

"Booooom!" said Tahj, making sound effects as they pretended to break the door down. Lilly giggled and played a long.

"Look mommy!" she shouted

"I see you sweety." Amber smiled seeing her daughter finally get the quality father time she had been dying for. To Lilly, Tahj was the best. Somebody she truly loved to be around. Proud to call him Daddy.

He lowered Lilly down from his shoulders and tossed her playfully on the bed.

"Ok, Daddy's tired. Your not as light as you used to be." he teased Lilly. "Hey baby?" he turned to Amber. She looked at him with her arms crossed.

"Lilly go to your room I need to talk to daddy for a min ok sweet heart."

Lilly ran off, closing the bedroom door behind her. Amber got up and walked to the other side of the room with her arms still folded.

"Tahj where the hell have you been? Lilly has been asking about you. You were supposed to be here two days ago. No phone call, no nothing!"

"I know and I'm sorry. Things got a little crazy with the boys and I had to lay low for a while."

"Dont take this the wrong way. Its been 10 years and believe me I've enjoyed every moment. I know how much you adore your family and you swore to your father that you w
would keep everybody safe, but you have your own family now. Your daughter needs you "

"I'm always there for Lily !"

"Yes. You always keep a smile on her face, you always make sure she has everything and you are a great father. But that isn't enough. "

"It ain't enough? Fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"She needs you, there, with her. With me. I'm running out of excuses to tell her why you're not there to tuck her in at night. Why daddy isn't coming when we go to the park. I can't tell her that daddy is gang banging and killing niggas."

"I'm NOT a gang banger."

"You might at well say you are. Running around doing your fathers dirty work.

"I didn't choose this life Amber It chose me. I was born into it. "

"Either way, Lily loves you and she doesn't need that worry on her shoulders."

Tahj paused. He couldn't get mad at Amber for what she said.

"I get it babe. I just have to be more careful and come home more."

"No, I want you out of the game."

"Amber, do you know what you're asking me to do? Getting out is like knocking on the devils door."

"I'm asking you to be there for your future fiancee and your daughter. I didn't know that was such a hard thing to do. I mean you do want to marry me right?"

"Of course I do you know that. Its not that baby. Its just easier said then done."

"Well if you want to marry me, then you have no choice. That's the only way I'll marry you, my only condition."

Tahj got up and wrapped his arms around Amber like he would never see her again. Holding her close like she was already slipping away. "I promise you, one way or another ill get out the game."

Amber couldn't stay mad for long. Tahj was her everything. With 10 years of history, the two were practically inseparable. The last thing she wanted was for Lilly to grow up fatherless. Tahj was a great father...whenever he was around but regardless Amber embraced him.

"Did you tell your brother yet?"

"About pops? I couldn't do it Am. It hurts just talking about it with you. It'll damn near kill him if I tell him."

"I know but Knowledge needs to know no matter how hard he might take the news. You would feel bad if he didn't get a chance to come to the funeral."

"You're right baby. Ill call him tonight and tell him."

-Stacy-

Stacy was relieved to see Knowledge emerge from the back of the house. She was two minutes away from beeping the horn.

"You ok?" he asked as he placed a paper bag full of money in her lap and started the engine. "Did they bother you?"

"I thought they were coming to do something but turns out they were just huddling to smoke."  Stacy opened the bag. "But enough about them, where the hell did this money come from?"

"I sold the other brick of coke. Shit costs a lot of money."

"So you're a drug dealer?" she looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm a hustler." he winked a eye at her.

By eight o'clock, Knowledge was pulling up into the parking lot of the Maddison Hotel. With the money from the coke, he paid for the suite and they both settled into the room. Stacy was overly happy with the king sized bed and the Jacuzzi that sat on the patio with the perfect view of the skyline.

"I have to go back to the house."

Stacy took her eyes off the jacuzzi and looked at Knowledge. "Go back? As far as we know they could still be there and you want to go back?"

"My shit is still in that basement. Shit that I can't just leave and allow somebody to take."

Stacy walked closer to him. "My father asked you for help because he knew he could trust you to do the job. How can you protect me if you get killed going back to that house?"

"I've never been that easy to kill." he joked.

"Ha, ha." she sighed dryly. "Fine, you got one hour If you're not back in one hour in coming after you."

He nodded and sat the gun on the dresser for her and walked to the door. "Like you said, your father trusted me."

Stacy folded her arms as he closed the door behind him. She moved the gun to the night stand, resets her phones timer for one hour and flopped on the bed to watch tv.

It was just turning 9 o'clock when Knowledge went to the trunk of his car and reached for his gun in the secret pocket he had custom made just for his gun. He checked it to make sure it was full before he drove off.

When he got there, some of Cyrus' shooters were still there camping out. He checked his watch. It was 9:15. "45 minutes to get back." he told himself. He changed into a black shirt to blend with his dark pants, making it hard to see him creep around the side of the house in the dark.

One of Cyrus' best shooters, Stephan, stepped outside for a smoke break when he saw something shiny glisten from the moonlight. He stretched his neck forward and sees what looked like a man climbing into a window.  He shook his head and looked harder thinking maybe the weed was making him see things. He threw what was left of the blunt into the grass and walked to the window.

Majority of the men were laughing and drinking in one of the rooms closer to the front door. Carefully, Knowledge crept up to the staircase and tip toed up to Stacy's room. He took a few of her panties, and change of clothes.

"Hey Fred, have you been in this room yet?" one of the men shouted coming up the stairs.

Knowledge moved quick behind Stacy's door peeking through the crack to see where the men were. He checked his watch again....9:20.
The men kept walking, going into Johns room. This was the perfect time. He slipped out from behind the door racing towards the steps when he felt something fall out of his arms.

He stopped and turned around. The men were coming out of the room! He quickly ran back and just barely grabbed the shirt with two fingers before the men could see him and slid back down the steps. He jumped over the rail and landed in front of the door to the basement.

Slowly making his way down, he kept an eye and ear open for any noise.
When he got to the bottom he could hear at least two men conversing in the back room of the basement. Pressing his back against the wall, he eased his way over to the couch where he laid his bags. Just as he touched the strap of the bag, one of the two men come up behind him.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing here?" the man asked with his hand on his gun.

Knowledge turned around fast and charged the man. Tackling him to the ground and knocking him out cold before he had a chance to call for help. Hearing the loud thud from the room, the second guy got up to check things out. "Will?" he called out.

He stepped into the room and looked around. Neither Will nor Knowledge was anywhere in sight. That was until he looked in the far corner and saw Will's unconscious body stretched out. He ran to Will to check for a pulse but found none. Will was dead and now he had to find out how. He took his gun out and carefully scoped the room moving slowly back towards the door.

SMACK! Knowledge kicked the door forward, forcing the mans face to collide with it. "Ahhh!" the man hollered and bent over. Knowledge crept up and connected his knee with the mans face. His head rocked back and he fell hard to the floor.

Knowledge checked his watch it was after 9:30. He picked up his bag, stuffed Stacy's clothes in it and made his way back up the steps. He walked backwards looking in front and behind him going back to the open window he came through.

"Who the fuck are you!"

Knowledge looked behind him and saw Stephan there with a gun pointing at him. Knowledge tucked his gun back in his waist and threw his hands up to surrender.

"Just wait, we can talk about this."

"We ain't got shit to talk about." said Stephan. "Hey!" he called out to the rest of his crew.

Knowledge was suddenly surrounded by Cyrus' shooters. He was a bit nervous. He told Stacy he would be back in a hour. He thought of something quick and grabbed Stephan, unarmed him and used the gun to hold him hostage. The shooters all aimed at Knowledge. He looked around the amateur group of men and held Stephan close to him. He was willing to use Stephan as a shield if he had to. Whatever it took to get back to Stacy.

"I just came to get some stuff that belongs to a friend of mine. Now if you don't mind ill be on my way."

"I'm afraid we can't do that son." said the lead shooter Arius. "See this house belongs to us now so that means you're trespassing. And we take no prisoners. Now what you could do for us is take us to that pretty little friend of yours and we can all bring her back here and have some fun with her."

Knowledge was offended. He just met Stacy and yet he felt the strong urge to defend her in her absence. "Fuck You!" he told Arius.

Knowledge was ready for anything. This was the moment they were going to attack! He could see it in their eyes. But he was smarter than them. Fighting back would only lead to death. With less than 20 minutes to get back to Stacy, he thought of something quick.

He takes the gun away from Stephan's head and aims it freely and shoots hitting one guy in the leg! While Arius and the crew were distracted by his screams, he pushed Stephan into the men and dived through the window. Arius, realizing they had been fooled cocked his gun back and fired at Knowledge.

"Ill kill you!" he screamed.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Stacy's timer went off letting her know Knowledge's time was up. She steps into her shoes, grabs the gun and opens the door to leave out. She knew it was risky for her to leave in search for him but he was all she had right now. He risked his life twice for her already. She had to do something. And at this point it was Now or Never!