FULL CIRCLE

11.

🎶 Now playing: Willing To Trust by Kid Cudi and Ty Dolla Sign.

Feeling like a criminal in a cop car, Justine stared at Antonio until he was out of sight in the rear view mirror. She opened the window of the car, letting the wind blow in her face, somewhat hoping it would dry up the tears that refused to stop falling.

~

Antonio greeted the following morning with an early jog before heading over to some weights in the garage. His productive morning continued with him and Ms Maya checking the books over a Zoom call, as the store had been closed for about a week since the incident, due to waiting for full clearance from the police. "It might be costly but we need to install a camera system in the store once we reopen," Ms Maya went on for the third time since their call commenced.

"And you know what Antonio," she looked back at the camera with furrowed eyebrows as if she'd just remembered something. "I know she's your girlfriend and whatnot but we need to get rid of that Justine girl. I had a chat with her the other day and she just does not seem to get it. Very dodgy character."

"Mama, I broke up with her, but I do know she needs the money to help out with her grandma, that's why I said she could keep some of her shifts..." Antonio trailed off with strong avoidance of Ms Maya's eye contact. Seeing that he wasn't letting up, she sighed and decided to sweep the topic under the rug.. for now. "Anyway, how was the performance, and how are you feeling since the whole thing happened?" She asked sweetly. They had now indirectly transitioned into a more casual chat.

"Felt amazing to do what I love, to be surrounded by very special people," he smiled to himself. "Wish you had been there though." He expressed deeply as Ms Maya let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, baby now you know I'm too old to be out that late with you youngsters," they paused for a laugh. "Your mother would've been so proud of you. Following your passion regardless of your circumstances. I'm proud of you too." She spoke up, earning a heartfelt smile from Antonio in return.

Their catch up session was cut short by Ms Maya needing to answer another call. Antonio dropped off and went back to scanning the statements and invoices. "Hold on," he spoke softly to himself as confusion took over him. "I didn't sign any of this..."

A sudden racket echoed through the house, seemingly coming from his father's home office. Shaking his head in annoyance, Antonio only got through half of the staircase before acknowledging that Morris had been verbally threatening someone yet again along with Devon. He cursed under his breath and tried to call Reign, who would show up any minute now since he'd asked her to come over so that they could speak.

Hurriedly sending a text after she didn't answer the phone, he asked to come over to her place instead and that suggestion failed dismally after she appeared from the kitchen door, as he'd asked in their texts from the prior night. Catching him standing on the stairs, she joyfully walked up to him to embrace him. "Hey," she softly spoke before placing her hand over his neck.

"Hi... I tried to call you. You didn't get my call?" He asked as he led her upstairs. She innocently shrugged as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. "Do not disturb, my bad. Did you need something?"

Antonio rubbed his palm over his face to ease his frustration. Reign studied his body language quietly before looking around his room, seeing what looked like invoices and statements from his shop laying all over the place. "No, uh- I know I said we'd talk and I called you all this way to do so... but something came up." He spoke honestly, trying to internally piece together his forged signatures with Morris' back and forth downstairs.

"Isn't the whole point of me coming over to talk? I know we still have to clear out a few things about... your girlfriend, last night, your arrest, but just say the word if you need help..." she offered, still not understanding why he was so tense. "Okay Tone, what is going on?" Reign responded, failing to contain her irritation from his cryptic responses.

"I don't know, okay?! I have a feeling my dad might be behind my arrest, there's a bit of a situation happening downstairs, a whole lot of fraud going on at the shop, I don't know..."

Reign pulled a face of confusion once again before shaking her head, heading to the door that was now closed. "You need to sit and think about the people around you. All this drama following you is going to ruin everything you're working on, and I can't sit around and wait for you to decide what you want-"

"Reign, come on. I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"No, Tone. I can't-" A banging noise sent her into a screaming panic. She painfully pressed her hands against her ears as Antonio pulled her by her bent forearm to calm her down. He concluded that a shot had been fired from downstairs. With Reign against his chest, he walked into his bathroom and locked the door, trying to hush her cries.

Reign's breathing hitched as the noise from downstairs carried on. It was two or three male voices exchanging harsh words with some glasses breaking here and there. Antonio kept his palm firm around her mouth to muffle her cries. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He whispered in her ear, as her head rested on his shoulder.

Loud footsteps rampaged the staircase, sounding like he'd been searching the property. Antonio's bedroom door swung open as the man continued to walk around the room before quickly walking out after acknowledging that he'd find nothing useful.

Reign managed to quickly calm herself down after the intense series of events. She held onto Antonio's forearm firmly as they both waited for the dust to settle. Loosening his grip on her, Antonio's head hung low for what he'd just put her through, even though his only fault was sending her his home address. Reign kept a small distance between them as she quietly fixed her face. "Can I get you... anything? Water?" Antonio asked softly. If anything, she felt triggered. Those few minutes of survival mode ran her thoughts back to the orphanages and constantly being in and out of them.

She couldn't bring herself to speak, or to look at him. She was falling so hard for him and yet everything was heading in a downward spiral. Maybe this was all the signal she needed to disassociate with him...