10. The Promise Fulfilled #4
Kira was beginning to feel like all of this was Jazz’s fault.
She knew she was happy. She knew she had finally found peace…
and she fucked it up. Without thinking, rage took over.
She grabbed a skillet and immediately charged at Jazz, lifting it high, aiming straight for her head, as if Chill didn’t have a gun pointed in her direction.
Jazz’s eyes widened, her body freezing for a split second as Kira came at her.
Chill stepped back, giving them space. He had no intention of breaking it up.
He wanted to see how it played out. For his own sick enjoyment.
And for the first time since he’d been there, he smiled with satisfaction.
As Kira swung wildly, her phone slipped from her hand, hitting the floor with a sharp crack.
Glass shattered, furniture, scraped and slammed.
The room erupted into chaos. Chill laughed from the sidelines, holding up his phone, making sure to capture every second of it.
And then all you heard was pop! Pop! The whole room went still.
Sincere didn’t have time to ask questions.
When he called and heard nothing but screaming and chaos, he immediately turned around, ready for war with whoever when it came to Kira.Chill aimed first as soon as he saw him, but Sincere was quick enough, hitting him once in the shoulder and then in the leg, making him drop the gun.
Sincere kicked it away from him as he called the police, and the girls rushed to get towels to hold pressure on his wounds.
Luckily for him, he survived. But what he knew now was that Kira was protected and was not to be fucked with ever again.
Even with Jazz finally coming out to tell her side, things would never be the same between her and Kira.
One year later, Kira was in her baby’s nursery, sitting in a rocking chair, cradling her in her arms as she wrote.
If there is one thing I need you to understand, it’s this, love yourself first. Not halfway.
Not when it’s convenient. Fully. Because the world will try to convince you that you are everything you are not.
And if you don’t know who you are, you will believe it.
Pay attention to people. Not just what they say, but what they do.
Everyone smiling in your face is not for you.
And everyone who walks away was never meant to stay.
Life is going to break your expectations. Things won’t always go the way you planned. People will disappoint you. Some will betray you. And some losses… you will never fully understand. But don’t let that harden your heart. Let it make you wiser.
You cannot take everyone with you. I know you’ll want to. I know you’ll try. But some people are not meant to grow with you, no matter how much you love them. And holding on to the wrong people will cost you yourself.
Listen to me when I say this, secrets can be dangerous.
The wrong silence, the wrong loyalty, can destroy lives.
Real love and real friendship do not hide in the dark.
They protect you. They don’t put you in harm’s way.
And love… real love will never make you question your worth.
It will never leave you confused, begging, or broken.
Real love meets you where you are and pours into you the same way you pour into it. Don’t ever settle for less than that.
I have survived things I never thought I would.
I’ve walked through storms that should have taken me under.
And the only reason I am still here… is God.
Every time I thought it was over, He made a way.
Every time I felt like I could not breathe, He carried me through.
So, when life gets heavy, and it will, remember whose you are.
You come from strength. You come from survival. You come from a woman who refused to give up. And He will do the same for you, my precious baby girl.
Love Mommy
She closed the journal she planned to give her daughter on her eighteenth birthday, its pages filled with pieces of her soul, her journey, her lessons, and the truth of how she came into this world.
Kira couldn’t believe all the bullshit she had tried to outrun in Detroit had followed her all the way to Harlem.
For years, she had carried the weight of it, letting it shape her, break her, and rebuild her.
But now, she could finally leave it behind.
Not because the pain had disappeared. Not because the scars were gone.
But because she was no longer the woman who had been wounded by it. She was a newlywed.Mrs. Holloway.
The wife of a good man. The mother of a beautiful daughter.
A woman who had walked through fire and somehow emerged stronger than the flames.
For the first time in a long time, she felt whole.
She felt safe. She felt free. Kira had no regrets.
Not a single one. Every heartbreak, every betrayal, every loss, every impossible choice had led her here.
To this life. To this love. To this peace.
A soft smile curved her lips as she thought about the future.
About the stories she would one day tell her children and grandchildren.
Stories about resilience. About faith. About surviving the things that were meant to destroy you.
And when they asked her about the greatest love story she had ever known, she wouldn’t tell them about fairy tales or happy endings.
She would tell them about Harlem. About a love that found her when she was broken.
About a man named Sincere who taught her she was worthy of being loved completely.
About the life they built with scarred hands and hopeful hearts.And she would tell them that sometimes the most beautiful things grow from the places that hurt the most. Because in Harlem, Kira didn’t just find love. She found herself.
The End