ACT TWELVE – MORNING AFTER
INT. PRIVATE HOTEL SUITE – HOUSTON – 7:04 A.M.
The blinds are half-drawn, letting in slits of orange sunlight over a table still littered with half-empty glasses from election night.
Micky stands at the minibar, hands wrapped around a coffee cup.
Her nails are immaculate. Her hands are steady.
But she knows they’re still warm from what she did before dawn.
The suite door slams. Marley storms in, his suit jacket still wrinkled from the night before.
MARLEY
(quiet but sharp)
“Tell me why Tre is gone.”
Micky takes a slow sip before answering.
MICKY
“Because he was in the way. And because you weren’t moving fast enough to take him out.”
Marley’s eyes darken.
MARLEY
“You decide that for me now?”
MICKY
“I decide what keeps you standing. That’s always been my job.”
⸻
AT THE TABLE
Marley sits down, pulling a chair so close the legs scrape the marble floor. Micky stays standing for a beat, then walks over and sits across from him.
The silence between them is thick.
MARLEY
“You think you can keep making moves like this and not tell me?”
MICKY
“I think if I told you, you’d try to stop me. And I wasn’t letting Tre breathe another day.”
Marley leans forward, his forearms on the table, staring hard at her.
MARLEY
“You cut me out, Michelle(Mickey hated when he called her Michelle she knew that that meant anger and disappointment). Fourteen years, and you cut me out like I was just another piece on your board. You can’t run your own empire and mine without telling me what game we’re playing.”
Micky’s eyes flicker, and suddenly… they start to water.
She blinks hard, confused by the sting.
She hasn’t cried since 2015 — the day her father died.
Where were these tears coming from?
She wasn’t scared.
She wasn’t angry.
Maybe… she was hurt.
Hurt that Marley could be looking at her like she was just another threat.
Hurt that she could actually lose his trust — the one thing she thought was untouchable.
MICKY
(voice low, almost a whisper)
“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. Maybe I thought I was protecting you. Or maybe I didn’t want to see you look at me like this.”
Marley doesn’t respond right away. He studies her like he’s seeing her for the first time in years — not just the queen who runs his streets, but the woman underneath all the steel.
MARLEY
“Chris Royal’s the mayor. That means Texas is ours. Me and Chris — we had a plan. But before I take the state, I need to know…”
He locks eyes with her.
MARLEY
“…what the fuck you got going on, Micky. And if it’s gonna burn down what we just built.”
Micky’s eyes are dry now, but her chest still feels tight.
MICKY
“It’s only burning if I say it is.”