I pulled Yusef into my arms again. Held him even though he didn’t hold me back. Rocked him the way I used to when he was a baby, when a nightmare would send him screaming into my room in the middle of the night.
“It’s okay,” I whispered against his hair. “You don’t have to talk. You don’t have to do anything. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. We’re gonna get through this, baby. Together. I promise.”
He didn’t respond. Didn’t move. Didn’t even seem to register that I was there.
I held him anyway.
Eventually,Yusef fell asleep.
It took hours. Hours of sitting with him. Holding his hand. Playing soft music in the background. Talking to him about nothing and everything, filling the silence with my voice even though he never responded.
When his eyes finally closed—when his body finally relaxed against the pillows—I tucked the blanket around him and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“I love you,” I whispered. “More than anything in this world. Nothing’s gonna change that. Nothing.”
I crept out of the room and closed the door softly behind me.
Serenity had already gone home. Mehar had retreated to her room. Prime was somewhere in the house—I could hear him moving around.
I went to the master bathroom. Splashed water on my face. Looked at my reflection in the mirror.
I looked terrible. Eyes red and swollen. Face puffy from crying. The face of a woman who had just gotten her son back and lost him at the same time.
I was brushing my teeth when the door opened.
Prime stood in the doorway. His expression unreadable. In his hand?—
The pregnancy test.
My heart stopped.
“Found this in the trash,” he said quietly. “Were you gonna tell me?”
I set down my toothbrush slowly. Turned to face him.
“I just found out,” I said. “Last night.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was waiting for the right time. I was going to tell you the moment Yusef was safe.” I gestured helplessly at the door, toward the room where our broken boy was sleeping. “But then I saw him. Saw what Rashid did to him. And I didn’t know how to… how could I celebrate new life when…”
My voice cracked. The tears I’d been holding back all night finally spilled over.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you. I just?—”
Prime crossed the room in two strides. Cupped my face in his hands. And when I looked up at him, I saw something I’d never seen before.
Softness.
Prime Banks… the man who killed without flinching, who had sawed off a woman’s ear without blinking, who had faceddown his own mentor without showing an ounce of emotion, was looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
“You’re pregnant,” he said. His voice was thick. Reverent. “You’re having my baby.”
“I am.”
“We’re gonna be a family.”
“We already are.”
