Page 162 of Pregnant By A Rich Demon 3

“Rich people,” Saroya said from across the table, sipping orange juice like she hadn’t already changed into a completely different outfit than she arrived in. “Rich people do that.”

Honor came in last, hair wrapped, walking like every step hurt a little, groaning as she dropped into her seat.

“I’m about to have to beat Terrance’s ass,” she announced to the whole table.

“Why?” I asked, already laughing before she even explained.

“Because I’m about to walk in that house looking like I been laid up with a shark all night, no call, no text, nothing. He gon’ have questions.” She shook her head, reaching for the biscuits like she needed the strength. “I don’t even have a lie prepared.”

“You won’t have problems,” Amai said, sliding into the seat beside me, calm as anything. “If you do, call me.”

Honor looked at him like he’d lost his whole mind.

“I am not calling your crazy ass on my husband, Amai.”

“That’s fair,” Amai said, and even he laughed at that one, easy and unbothered, reaching for his coffee like the whole exchange hadn’t happened. “Don’t call me if I can’t shoot somebody.” He shrugged.

And for a minute, just a minute, sitting there with my sisters, laughing around a table full of food I hadn’t cooked, in a house too big for the four of us but somehow warm enough to hold all of it anyway, I let myself believe this was just what mornings could look like now.

I knew better, even as I let myself enjoy it. I knew the gate outside still had men posted at it. I knew the quiet wouldn’t last past breakfast, not really. But for right now, with Raven arguing about eggs and Honor plotting her lie for Terrance, and Saroya laughing so hard she nearly choked on her orange juice, I let the morning be exactly what it was.

Enough.

Saying goodbye to my sisters was never quick. It was never going to be quick, not with the three of them, not with everything that had happened in that house over the last day.

Raven hugged me first, quick and hard, the way she did everything, like affection was something you had to sneak up on before it got soft on you. “Call me if that man do something crazy,” she said against my ear. “And I mean crazy-crazy, not regular Amai crazy. I know regular Amai crazy is just Tuesday for y’all now.”

“I’ll call you,” I said, laughing.

She pulled back, looked at me a second longer than she needed to, and I saw all the love and pride she had for me. Something soft she wasn’t ready to admit to. “Tell Priest I said bye,” she added, too casual, and walked off toward Saroya’s car before I could say a word about it.

She knew damn well she got that man’s number last night. I knew my sister.

Saroya’s hug was longer, steadier, the kind she’d been giving me since we were kids, and she was the one who made sure I ate breakfast before school. She held my face in both hands like she was checking for cracks.

“Go see Mama today,” she said. “Today, Truth. Not tomorrow, not when you get around to it.”

“I’m going today.”

“I mean it. She been asking about you every day like you fell off the earth.”

“I said I’m going.” I kissed her cheek. “I promise.”

She studied me a beat longer, satisfied enough, and let me go.

Honor hugged me last, looking flawless in the sundress from the boutique, her wrap slightly crooked from sleep and chlorine and wine. “I had the best time,” she said into my shoulder. “Don’t tell Terrance I said that.”

“Your secret’s safe.”

“It better be. I got a marriage to protect.” She pulled back and grinned, wide and unbothered. “Love you, girl. Even though you out here living better than all of us combined.”

“I love you too.”

They loaded into Saroya’s car, still talking over each other, still laughing about something from the night before, and I stood in the driveway with my arms wrapped around myself, watching the car ease around the circle and start down the long path toward the gate.

The morning light hit the windshield at an angle, and for a second, I couldn’t see anything but reflection—just light bouncing back at me, and then the car moving on, small against all that green, until the gate opened and swallowed them whole and closed again behind them.

Something in my chest sat warm and full, the way your stomach feels after a good meal you didn’t rush through. I stood there a minute longer than I needed to, just breathing it in.