I looked out at the faces watching me. Serenity beaming. Mehar dabbing at her eyes. The Kings and the Banks standingtogether like the family they’d become. Yusef near the back, still holding the hand of his security guard, watching me with something that might have been pride.
“A year ago, I was working double shifts at a restaurant, getting harassed by my boss, wondering if I’d ever be able to give my nephew the life he deserved. I had a dream—this dream—but I didn’t know if it would ever be more than that.”
My voice cracked. I pushed through.
“But I had people who believed in me. People who saw what I could be before I saw it myself. And I had love.” I found Prime in the crowd. “The kind of love that makes you brave. The kind that makes you believe you can do anything.”
He was watching me with those blue eyes, and even from here, I could see the softness in them.
“So thank you. To everyone who supported me. Everyone who believed in me. Everyone who’s here today to celebrate this moment.” I raised my glass of sparkling cider. “To Sweet Zin’s. And to new beginnings.”
“To new beginnings!” the crowd echoed.
I started to step down from the platform?—
And Prime stepped up.
He took the microphone from my hand. Turned to face the crowd. Then turned back to face me.
“I got something to say too.”
My heart started beating faster. “Prime, what are you?—”
“Eight months ago, this woman walked into my life and turned everything upside down.” His voice was steady, but there was emotion underneath it. Raw and real. “She challenged me. Frustrated me. Made me want to be better than I’d ever been. She showed me what love looks like. What family means. What it feels like to have someone who sees all your broken pieces and loves you anyway.”
He reached into his pocket.
My hand flew to my mouth.
“Zainab Ali.” He dropped to one knee. The crowd gasped. Cameras flashed. “I don’t deserve you. I know that. But I’m gonna spend the rest of my life trying to. Will you marry me?”
He opened the box.
The ring was stunning. A massive cushion-cut diamond surrounded by smaller stones, set in rose gold. It caught the light and sparkled like fire.
“Yes.” The word came out choked, barely audible. I tried again. “YES! Yes, I’ll marry you!”
He slid the ring onto my finger and stood, pulling me into his arms. The crowd erupted —cheering, clapping, cameras clicking.
I was crying. Laughing. Holding onto him like he was the only solid thing in a spinning world.
“I love you,” I whispered against his lips.
“I love you too, Goddess. Forever.”
He kissed me, and for one perfect moment, everything was exactly as it should be.
Then I looked up.
And my blood turned to ice.
He was standing near the back of the crowd. Tall. Broad. A face I’d seen in my nightmares for years.
“Aye yo Thad,”Justice called out to the man and dapped him up.
Thad
I’d never known his name before that moment.
