“You won’t. I need it. Please, Prime, I need?—”
He gave me what I asked for. Deeper strokes. Firmer grip on my hip. His fingers found my clit again, rubbing in tight circles while he fucked me from behind.
“You gonna come for me again?”
“Yes— I’m close?—”
“I feel you squeezing me. This pregnant pussy so good, Zai. So wet and tight and perfect.”
The pressure built higher, higher, until I couldn’t hold it anymore. I shattered with a cry, my walls clenching around him, milking him.
“Fuck— Zai— I’m?—”
He buried himself deep and groaned against my neck, spilling inside me. I felt him pulsing, felt the warmth spreading, and it triggered another small aftershock that made us both moan.
We lay there after, tangled together, his hand still on my belly. Our daughter kicked against his palm like she was saying goodnight.
“I love you,” he said. “So fucking much.”
“I love you too.”
He cleaned me up after.Warm washcloth between my legs, so gentle it almost made me cry again. He got me water, made me drink the whole glass. Then disappeared and came back with a plate of leftover Roscoe’s because he knew I’d be hungry again.
I ate a cold waffle in bed while he rubbed my feet, and I thoughtthis is what it’s supposed to feel like. Being taken care of. Being loved.
When I finally drifted off, I felt safe. Whole. Home.
But sometime in the dark hours of the night, I woke up.
Prime was snoring softly beside me, one arm still draped over my waist. The candles had burned down to nothing. Through the window, the city lights still glittered below us.
I stared at the wall, eyes bouncing to the ceiling—stone arches, because castle—and let my mind wander where it had been trying to go all day.
Thad.
He was still out there. Still breathing. Still living his life like he hadn’t put a bullet in my sister’s chest. Like he hadn’t stolen Zahara from this world, from Yusef, from me.
The police never found him. Never even came close. They’d identified my sister’s body as mine and closed the case. Wrong victim, case closed, sorry for your loss.
But I knew who he was. I knew his face. I knew he worked for that underground gambling operation where I used to serve drinks and keep my mouth shut.
I knew he was the one who pulled the trigger.
My hand drifted to my belly, where my daughter was finally still.
I had a family now. A real one. Prime, Yusef, this baby girl who would be here in two months. I had people who loved me, who needed me to be free, to be alive, to be present.
But I also had a dead sister who deserved justice. Who deserved more than a cold case file and a grave with the wrong name on it.
Thad had to pay.
I didn’t know how yet. Didn’t know when. But I knew it had to happen.
I looked at Prime sleeping peacefully beside me and decided not to tell him. Not yet. He’d try to stop me. Try to protect me. Try to handle it himself.
But this was my sister. My blood. My debt to repay.
Tomorrow, I’d start figuring out how.
