Sheila hurried back into the bedroom so that she could pick up the phone. She didn’t want Ace to call and find out that she had another nigga in her house. She knew that the money would stop if he knew her little secret. “I got it!” Sheila replied anxiously as she picked up the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hey, baby,” Ace said on the other line in a low calm voice. He was at a payphone in Wyoming right outside of the motel where he was being held until the upcoming trial. He looked around to make sure that the federal agents didn’t see him at the pay phone. They weren’t supposed to allow him to use the phone at all, but he snuck out while they were asleep to talk to his baby mother. “I miss you,” he added.

“I miss you too, baby,” Sheila said as she walked out of the room and gave Mecca a signal to be quiet by putting her finger on her full lips. “Where are you at, Ace? I have been worried about you. I haven’t heard from you in months,” she said as she stood in the kitchen with one hand on her hip.

“I can’t tell you that right now, Sheila. But anyway, how my shorty doing?” he asked in concern as he kept looking over his shoulder to check and see if the coast was clear.

“He’s fine. He’s in there sleep right now. He misses his daddy though. I have been worried sick about you. I can’t get a phone call or anything, huh?” Sheila asked with obvious irritation in her voice.

“I’m in some heavy shit right now, but everything is going to be okay in a couple of weeks,” Ace said, thinking about how he would start a new life in Wyoming under the witness protection program. He planned on taking his ‘hood rat baby mama and settling down so they could raise their son together. He thought that neither Carter nor Zyir knew about his son, but the streets were talking, and it didn’t take much for Zyir to find out Ace’s little secret. When Zyir found out about the baby, he quickly put Mecca on Sheila.