The call ended, and I sat there in the quiet of that big empty house, my phone clutched in my hands, trying to process everything he’d just said.
Whoever had taken my sister from me, whoever had destroyed my life and my family and set this whole nightmare in motion?—
They were about to pay.
And I wanted to be there when it happened.
45
PRIME
I walked through the front door and there she was. My Goddess. Standing in the living room in a silk robe, hair wrapped up in a scarf, looking tired as hell but still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life. The moment she saw me, her whole face changed. That smile I’d been dreaming about for days spread across her lips and I crossed the room in three steps, pulling her into my arms and kissing her like I’d been starving for it.
Because I had been.
Her body pressed against mine, soft and warm, and I forgot about everything else. Forgot about Thad chained up in that warehouse. Forgot about Farah and her threats. Forgot about all the blood on my hands and all the blood still to come. Right now, in this moment, there was only her.
“Aye yo, can y’all get a room?” Quest’s voice came from somewhere behind us, dripping with fake disgust.
I didn’t even pull away from Zainab’s lips. “This is MY room. My house. My woman. My mouth. Mind your business.”
“It’s too early for all that,” Serenity groaned from the couch where she was curled up scrolling through her phone.
“Then close your eyes.”
I kissed Zainab again, slower this time, savoring the taste of her, the feel of her, the reality that she was here and free and mine. She melted into me the way she always did, her hands gripping the front of my shirt like she was afraid I might disappear if she let go.
“I missed you,” she whispered against my mouth.
“I missed you more. You have no idea.”
She pulled back just enough to look at me, her eyes searching my face for something. Answers, maybe. Or reassurance. I gave her both with another soft kiss to her forehead.
“The babies are up,” she said quietly. “Go see them.”
Idris Alexander Banks.
Kheris Zahara Banks.
My children. My legacy. My whole reason for breathing.
I stood over the bassinet in the nursery just staring at them, unable to move, unable to speak. These two tiny humans were half me and half the woman I loved, and even though they were barely three days old, wrinkly and small and making little squeaky sounds in their sleep, they were absolutely perfect.
Idris had my eyes. I could already tell from the way he scrunched up his face that he was gonna be trouble. Had that same stubborn energy I’d been carrying my whole life. This boy was gonna challenge me at every turn and I couldn’t wait for it.
Kheris had Zainab’s nose and her mother’s peaceful energy. Even in her sleep, she seemed calm and unbothered, like she already knew the world would bend to her will. She was gonna have everybody wrapped around her little finger before she could even walk.
I reached down and touched my son’s tiny hand with my index finger. His fingers curled around mine instinctively, gripping with a strength that surprised me, and something in my chest cracked wide open. I didn’t even know I had that much feeling left in me until this moment.
“I got you,” I whispered to both of them. “I got you and I’m never letting anything happen to either of you. That’s my promise. That’s my word.”
I meant it with everything in me.
Quest came into the nursery a few minutes later. He stood next to me at the bassinet, looking down at the twins with his arms crossed over his chest.
Then he made a face.
“What?” I asked without looking at him.
