He nodded.
I tried calling Zainab. Straight to voicemail.
Again. Voicemail.
Again. Voicemail.
“Fuck!”
I called Camille next. She answered on the second ring.
“Prime? I thought you were flying back?—”
“I’m home. Zainab’s gone. She’s not here. I need you to call the courts, call the monitoring company, call whoever the fuck you need to call and find out what happened.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“I mean she’s not in this house! She’s got an ankle monitor and she’s not here! Something happened, Camille. Find out what.”
“Okay. Okay, I’m on it. I’ll call you back.”
I hung up and grabbed my keys.
“Where are you going?” Yusef asked.
“To find her. Stay here. Lock the door. Don’t let anybody in except me or your aunt. You understand?”
He nodded, and I saw the fear in his eyes. The same fear I was feeling.
I stopped at the door and looked back at him. He was standing in the living room, clutching a shopping bag in his hands.
“What’s that?”
He looked down at the bag like he’d forgotten he was holding it. “I… I bought something. For the baby. A stuffed elephant.” His voice cracked. “I wanted to surprise Auntie Z.”
That hit me harder than anything else. This kid, who’d been through hell, went to the mall to buy a gift for a baby that wasn’t even born yet. Because he loved Zainab. Because he loved our family.
And now that family was falling apart.
“That’s real sweet, Yusef.” I kept my voice steady even though I was breaking inside. “She’s gonna love it. I promise.”
I left before he could see my face crumble.
I drove like a maniac.
Running red lights. Weaving through traffic. Checking my phone every thirty seconds, hoping for a call, a text, anything.
Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was in a cigar bar with my brothers, toasting to our mother’s downfall. Feeling like a king. Feeling like I’d finally won.
Checkmate, I’d said.
What a fucking joke.
I called every hospital in a twenty-mile radius. No one matching Zainab’s description had been admitted. I called her sister, but Mehar didn’t answer.
Nothing. Nobody knew anything.
I was losing my mind.
