Rozalyn 8: Rozalyn

By Myss Shan

Rozalyn and Tamar are back..

 

Tamar is faced with issues continuing to surround his home. With his boys growing up, they're more than desperate to prove to their father that they are ready to enter the family business. However crucial mistakes put them in harm's way and has Tamar scouring to find out who is responsible.

 

Rozalyn is finding that her new budding career as a lawyer is everything that it should be and more. Things are looking up for as a lawyer and in her home until blast from the past threatens to yet again ruin the union she has with Tamar. 

 

Cuba is still back and forth between whether she wants to stay with Khi after the infidelity he displayed. Falling in love with Rozalyn's security had never been in the plans. She finds herself stuck between doing what's right and doing what feels right when her secrets are forcefully brought to the light. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Myss Shan
• Release date: Jun 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223511793

Myss Shan

Shan, born in Louisiana but raised in Dallas, Texas is a 33 year old mother, national bestselling author, and co-owner to one of the top African American Independent Publishing companies, Shan Presents.  She found the love of writing in elementary school when she picked up a journal and started writing stories to hide the pain she felt from her family life. Writing had become an everyday thing for her and she quickly found that it was what she was born to do.  In 2011, she finally got the nerve to publish her first book giving the readers a hot urban fiction drama named Rozalyn that instantly became a bestseller.  In 2012, Shan signed on with SBR Publications, becoming the first lady of what had become one of the biggest publishing companies in the African American Literature. She released her first book with SBR titled Hated by Many, Loved by None and went on to sale thousands of copies that led her to being ranked 164 in the world. For that same title, Shan earned the award of Urban Fiction Book of the Year from AAMBC, and has since then published many more titles with SBR publications.  Shan has so much more in store for readers and also plans to crossover into children's books, acting and directing movies. She is working on her first movie that is derived from her bestselling novel Hated By Many, loved by None. Through her movies, and through others she is now be able to live out her dream of acting. 

Book preview

PROLOGUE

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It was going on ten in the morning and Tamar, and I had just left our last therapist session. We had been going at least twice a week for the past two months and I swear it had changed things for us tremendously. One of our assignments from last week had been to write hate letters to each other although neither of us would see what the other wrote. We were to say all the things that we were mad, hurt, or disappointed in each other about.

 Once we were done, at the end of the therapy session, we had to go outside and burn the paper allowing those negative feelings to burn forever. It was a way of expressing the past, and letting it go at the same time. Now that we had made it to the end of our sessions, we completed our last assignment, which was to write each other love letters this time.

These letters we gave to one another, and I couldn’t wait until I got a moment to open mine. It was two pages long, and the thought of Tamar having that much to say to me was causing me to feel butterflies dancing around my stomach.

His hate letter had only been half-a page, and even though I had tried hard to see what he’d said, I was glad that I didn’t. The therapist was right. We spent too much time thinking about old shit that would forever keep our relationship stuck in place. I was ready to move on to greater things, and I never wanted to be at a point where I felt like I had to fake divorces or any other erratic shit. We were too grown to be doing things like that, and now that I knew our kids was really watching us, I wanted to be better for them.

What time you gonna be at the church? Tamar asked as we walked hand and hand to the black Trackhawk that sat in the lot.

I’m about to head there now. I have to go stop by the old office right quick to finish up a few last-minute things, so I don’t have to go back there anymore, I told him, and noticed how he looked me over, so I stepped closer to him to fix his tie as a distraction.

He was wearing the hell out of a navy-blue tuxedo, and I had to lick my lips to keep from fawning over him too much. His cut and beard were lined to perfection, and the cologne that seeped from his body damn near had me in a trance. We were on our way to Dox and Lani’s wedding, where he would be the best man along with Khi and Dox’s brothers.

I was so glad that the two of them had figured things out, because Dox was family, and I wanted the two of them to have a relationship. Tamar could pop shit all day long like he wasn’t fucking with Dox, but I knew better. He admired him just as much as he did Khi, and I knew being that his brothers were no longer around, he valued the relationship he had with his boys.

Things for everyone was just starting to get back to some type of normalcy again. The FEDs had backed away being that they had no one that was willing to snitch on Tamar. Tamarion’s case had been dropped due to not having a viable witness and no real evidence amongst other shit. They had finally taken the freeze off everyone’s account, and just like I expected, Tamar was back going harder than ever.

I knew not to take him seriously when he’d said that he was ready to hand over things and step back. Although he claimed that he was only grooming his men to take over, I had no real expectations. Tamar loved this life too much to ever let it go, and I knew that if I wanted to be with my man then I had finally better accept it for what it was.

Don’t be over there bullshitting. Be on time, for real, Roz, Tamar told me and pulled me into him.

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on my forehead before forcing me to look up at him. He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine before sliding his tongue into my mouth. I closed my eyes, and allowed my tongue to dance with my husband’s, hoping that I was reciprocating the love he had for me back to him.

I love you wifey, Tamar told me, and I smiled big.

I love you, too. Don’t read your letter yet, Tamar. You better wait, I told him, and he chuckled knowingly.

I knew like hell that the letters were burning a hole in both of our pockets, but we agreed that we would wait until tonight once we were in Aspen. Dox and Lani decided that was where they wanted to spend their honeymoon so of course, Tamar offered to fly everyone out on the private jet. He’d paid for the entire trip, and even had Lani her own Trackhawk waiting for her when she returned home.

I ain’t gonna open it. I’mma wait for real, Tamar said, but I knew that he was lying.

I shook my head and got on the tips of my toes to kiss him one last time before leaving. He opened the door to the truck and helped me get inside before walking over to his car where Black and Cap sat waiting for him. Soon as I was inside, and the door closed behind me, Kingston pulled out of the lot and into the Miami streets.

To your old office, right? Kingston asked and I looked at him through the rearview mirror and nodded.

It only took us about twenty minutes to get to my office, and soon as Kingston pulled into a parking spot, I climbed out of the truck. He went to get out as well when I put my hand up to stop him, letting him know that I was good.

I’m actually not going up. I just need to talk to my client for a few minutes, I told Kingston while briefly landing my eyes on the Navigator that sat a mere foot away.

He nodded before checking his surroundings and leaning against the hawk. I smiled briefly and walked over to the Navigator just as the back door opened. I climbed inside and pulled the door closed behind me. The weed aroma hit me instantly followed by the smell of Christian Dior cologne.

         Sup, you damn sure ain’t making it easy to get in contact with you, Jaheim said, and I glared up at him.

         I told you that it wasn’t anything that I could do to help you. Either your brother is going to snitch, or he isn’t. What do you think me, or my husband can help you with? I questioned growing agitated that I was even having this conversation right now.

         Jaheim had been blowing me up ever since the last time Young Bino damn near blew his head off that day in my office. Since then, he’d been pressuring me about taking his brother Naseem’s case, thinking that I would do my all to get him off to save my husband. I wanted to, but I knew Tamar would kill this man and his brother before he allowed them to bribe me or him. I didn’t even tell Tamar about Jaheim for that reason, and I was glad that Young Bino never mentioned it. I didn’t want to create more trouble for Tamar when it seemed like there was already enough.

 Now, you know damn well that’s a lie. Come on ma’, I been following your son’s case and I know he’s guilty. Y’all got him situated, now do the same for us. We not asking for too much. All you gotta do is sit down and have a real conversation with me and Naseem, and you will see it’s not even like what you’re thinking. We too fuckin’ real to turn state on any nigga, but my brother wouldn’t be in this situation if he wasn’t looking out for Tamar. Now all we doing is asking his bogus ass Cartel to stand on what they say, Jaheim stated, and I sighed.

Why you can’t just talk to him? Or why not have your father reach out to him? They talk almost every day, I told him, and he glared over at me.

I haven’t talked to my pops in years and neither has Naseem. He don’t give a fuck about us…but look, just ten minutes. Talk to him. Listen to what’s going on and I promise you that if you still feel the same way, then I don’t mind stepping to Tamar man to man, Jaheim said, sounding convincing and against my better judgment, I obliged.

Jaheim nodded for his driver to leave, and I veered through the back window to see Kingston rushing to the Hawk so that he could follow behind us. Naseem was supposedly only a few miles away, ducked off in a hotel that they’d been staying in. The only reason I was here, even entertaining Jaheim was because no lie, I was a little worried.

If this nigga and his little brother decided to turn on Tamar, it could be over. It was no telling if Naseem had been ordered to do something at the direction of Tamar. Even though I knew it didn’t come from him firsthand, I knew the law would come down harder on Tamar just for being the one that ordered it. They were already trying to get him with Kingpin charges, and if Naseem turned, this would be perfect for the FEDs. It would be just another charge they could add to the file that I knew they were building.

You dropped something, Jaheim told me, pulling me from my thoughts.

I glared up at him, and then to his hand to see that he was holding the letter that Tamar had written for me. It must had fallen out of my jacket pocket. I quickly took it from his hand, ready to place it into my purse until I decided to take a peek. I wasn’t going to read it all and save some for later so that I could display real emotions later tonight.

I unfolded the two sheets of paper and immediately chuckled at Tamar’s chicken scratch handwriting. It was worse than Taeanna’s writing, but I found it sexy as fuck. The fact that my husband had taken the time to write me a lengthy letter melted my heart and told me that he truly loved the fuck out of me. I hoped that when he read mine, that I was able to convey how much that I also loved him.

A couple of months ago we both admitted to some things that we’d done while I was away in New York. Even though I NEVER slept with KaeDee, we did kiss on several occasions. Tamar admitted that he slept with a few different women, but never carried on anything serious because he knew we wasn’t done.

 I wasn’t even hurt because I knew what it was. I had to play cold towards him so that I could finish what I started. He did what he did with the information he had that time.  Like my therapist said, if we wanted any chance at a happy future, we had to leave the past in the past and that was what we both we were doing.

I was still working for KaeDee’s firm but was moving into my own private office to keep down any confusion. I agreed that I wouldn’t have any type of alone time with KaeDee and would only talk to him for business. At the end of the day, we were all in this shit together. Whether Tamar wanted to admit it or not, he knew that me becoming a lawyer was the best thing for us.

I brought my attention back to the letter and was about to start reading until Jaheim spoke up again.

It’s the hotel right over the bridge, he let me know.

I looked up at him and smiled just as we started to cross over the bridge that led towards South Beach. I turned so that I could look out to the water, and immediately my eyes widened when I saw a car coming towards us. I jumped back but knew that it was nothing that I could do.

The impact from the car came fast and hard, causing my body to jerk into Jaheim’s. The pages of the letter flew from my hand and spilled onto the floor of the car. Everything had happened so fast, and I was thankful that I seemed to still be alive. My heart pounded rapidly against my chest, and it felt like I had drums playing directly inside my ear. 

Fuck! Jahiem yelled out, as he swiped away glass from the shattered windows. You alright?

Yea…I…ahhhhhh! I screamed just as I had looked up to see the same car coming at us again.

It was like they had placed the car in reverse, only to put it in drive to come at us. This had to be on purpose. Jaheim’s driver tried to get the car to move, but it was stuck from the impact. I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer just as the car hit us again, this time hitting us hard enough that we flipped off the bridge.

Fuck.

I swallowed back the lump that formed in my throat and prepared myself to take my last breath. I didn’t even cry. For some reason, I felt at peace. I was just happy that I had been able to accomplish some of the things that I had always dreamed of. Becoming a lawyer had always been at the top of my list, and I was glad to say that I had done that. Even though I had made mistakes along the way, I felt like I had been a great mother and a good wife. I was happy that I could at least leave this Earth having left nothing but good behind for those I loved and loved me to remember.

As the Navigator made its final flip, I took in a deep breath and was shocked when Jaheim grabbed my hand. He held onto it tightly and I looked over at him just as the ocean swallowed the Navigator whole. Within seconds, the entire inside of the car was filling with water. My whole chest sunk into the bottom of my stomach.

I took in another breath right before my entire body was under water. The navigator was still sinking, moving so fast that neither Jaheim, the driver, or me could even do anything to stop it. Once the truck finally reached the bottom, it started to float more slowly and that was when I felt myself being jerked by my arm.

My eyes had been closed and I quickly opened them to see that Jaheim was pulling me through the window of the car that had been broken during the impact. He motioned his arms for me to swim to the top and looking up, it seemed so far away. It was dark, cold, and felt lonely as hell.

As much as I loved the ocean, I didn’t know if I could entirely love it now. This was some of the scariest shit I had gone through in my life. Looking around, unable to see much of anything caused me to panic. I tried to swim but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. All I knew was that I was running out of breath.

With each second that went by, I felt myself getting weaker and weaker. My energy was gone, my arms could no longer move as well as my legs. The beating of my heart slowed before suddenly it had completely stopped.

Rozalyn! Rozalyn! Can you hear me!

My eyes shot open at the same time as what seemed like a gallon of water flew from my mouth. I desperately looked around thinking that it was all a dream until I realized that I was laying on the ground. Tamar, Jaheim, Black, Captain, and Kingston all stood over me, staring down at me with desperation written all over their faces. Out of nowhere, I started trembling uncontrollably and coughing like crazy.

Fuck, you scared the shit out of me, Tamar stated as he practically snatched me up from the ground. He held me in his arms and damn near squeezed what little life I had left out of me. Fuck, Rozalyn.

I thought I was dead, I cried into his chest. Oh, my God. Somebody just tried to kill us. I could’ve died!

You good, baby. You good now.

Oh, my God, I cried even harder, remember how fuckin’ dark it was down there.

I looked around once again, trying to make sure it was real and that I hadn’t been dreaming. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I just knew that had been the end for me. It was so much water, so much darkness, and so much uncertainty that I didn’t even know how I made it out.

I glared over at Jaheim, noticing that he had fell back onto the ground and was trying to catch his breath. I also noticed that Black was soaked with water dripping from his entire body.

How…what happened? How did I get out? I asked Tamar and stared down at me.

Jaheim’s pussy ass…Black helped a little, but that hoe ass nigga already had you out, Tamar stated, and I could tell that he was mad that he even had to say that.

I looked back at Jaheim once more, wanting so bad to go over to him and thank him, but I knew better. I would just have to give my appreciation at another time. Our eyes met and I winked at him before I rested my head back onto Tamar’s chest.

I didn’t even get to read my letter, and now it’s gone, I cried, tears running down my face.

Fuck that letter…all I care about is you being good, Tamar told me. Black walked over to us and handed Tamar a huge blanket. He wrapped it around my body, and ran his arms up and down my body in an attempt to warm me up. I didn’t know if I was shaking because I was cold, or if I was still scared.

I really wanted to read my letter, Tamar.

We’ll read yours together and I will try to remember most of what I wrote. We can’t worry about that right now. Come on…I got Dr. Alahim ready to meet us at the house to make sure you’re good, Tamar told me, and I looked up at him.

What about the wedding? I’m okay…I just need to change, and we can go to the wedding.

Babe, that shit is dead. We just got word that Khi was shot… ain’t gon’ be no wedding today.

6 Months Later…

Drop your location, she think she me or sum

Put on my chains, now she think she me or sum

She keep a Glock in her bag, she think she me or sum

VVS rocks with the cash, she think she me or sum  

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Yea, yea, yea, I said hyping my little brother Zavier up as he did some lil’ dance while his twin Zyir filmed him.

We were standing in the middle of the fuckin’ hood, passing a blunt back and forth while listening to that track Me or Sum by Nardo Wick featuring Lil Baby and Future. Our parents would straight kill us if they found out we were out this way, but shit, we snuck out and away from security all the time.

All that living like the president’s kid was cool when I was a young jit, but now that I was older, I needed my freedom. I was a couple of months away from being grown and didn’t need my people tracking my every damn move. My pops would tell us all the time that we were a target, but I felt like I could handle my own out here. Even though we bumped heads from time to time, the nigga taught me well and prepared me for the game as well as this street shit. I kept the blick on me, along with a few toys in the car that I would love to play with in