Chapter 44 Zainab
ZAINAB
Via the phone we finally decided on names for the babies. We knew that we wanted to name our daughter Kheris, which means grace, charm, and favor. She was named Kheris Zahara Banks. And for our son we chose Idris, after the fiery African ruler. Idris Alexander Banks.
He was still a bit mad at me, but we were working through it. And I still found it hard to believe that we actually had twins. For real. Two sweet babies that were ours.
It had been three days since he left to handle Thad, and in those three days my luck had completely changed. I considered the twins my good luck charms.
Nurse Elise helped me into the wheelchair they’d brought for transport.
“You ready, sweetheart?” Elise asked, adjusting the blankets around the twins in my arms.
I looked down at them. My daughter, with Prime’s lips and my nose. My son, with Prime’s eyes and his daddy’s energy, even at three days old. They were both sleeping, tiny chests rising and falling in perfect rhythm.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’m ready.”
Camille had worked a miracle. Emergency bail granted based on the deplorable treatment I’d received in custody—the medical neglect, the civil rights violations, the fact that I’d been forced to give birth in a jail cell like an animal while corrections officers ignored my screams for seven hours.
She’d gotten the media involved, turned my story into a national conversation about the treatment of Black women in the criminal justice system.
By the time she was done, even the prosecution was backing off.
I still had to stay in California for the murder trial. But I wouldn’t be on house arrest. I could go home to the rental Prime had set up. I could be with my family. I could nurse my babies and bond with them properly.
The guard who’d been posted outside my door stepped aside as Elise wheeled me toward the elevator. He’d been decent, this one. Didn’t talk much, but he’d let Prime and Camille visit longer than he was supposed to.
“Take care of yourself, Ms. Ali,” he said quietly as I passed.
“I will.”
The ride down to the lobby felt surreal. Like I was moving through a dream, watching myself from somewhere outside my body. The last two months had been exhausting and insane.
But now I was free. Sort of. Free enough.
The lobby doors opened, and I saw them.
Quest was there first, standing by a black SUV with tinted windows. Beside him was Serenity, bouncing on her heels, practically vibrating with excitement. And next to her—
Rita.
Prime’s grandmother. The woman who’d welcomed me into the family like I’d always belonged there. She was wearing one of her signature floral dresses, a hat perched on her silver hair, tears already streaming down her face.
“Oh, baby,” she said, rushing forward as Elise wheeled me through the doors. “Oh, my sweet baby girl. Let me see them. Let me see my great-grandbabies.”
I couldn’t help it. I started crying too.
Rita leaned down and looked at the twins, her weathered hands trembling as she reached out to touch their tiny faces. “Lord have mercy,” she breathed. “They’re beautiful. Just beautiful. Look at that boy. He looks just like Prentice when he was born.”
“They ain’t that cute. Look a lil half baked…” Quest laughed.
“Oh hush up, boy! They look better than you did when you first came out. Had that cone-shaped head. We spent weeks shaping that missile,” she teased as she playfully jabbed Quest.
“You better get to shapin’ those babies heads tonight, then!”
“Quest, leave my kids alone before we fight in this parking lot,” I laughed.
All babies are a lil weird looking when they’re newborns. They just spent months in a cramped space. My babies were beautiful and they just needed a lil time out the oven to plump up.
Quest stepped forward, his face softening in a way I rarely saw from him. “How you feeling, sis?”
“Tired. Sore. Happy to be out.”
“I bet.” He looked at the twins, and something flickered in his eyes. Something almost like longing. “Prime’s gonna lose his mind when he sees y’all. He’s been going crazy not being able to be here.”
Serenity finally couldn’t contain herself anymore. She rushed forward and threw her arms around me—carefully, mindful of the babies—and squeezed.
“I’ve missed you, Zai. And look at my new niece and nephew. Quest, it’s your turn next.”
“Nah, but I’ll be the best uncle to these two.”
“Help me get her in the car,” Quest said, taking charge. “We need to move. Too exposed out here.”
They loaded me into the SUV—me and the twins and Rita, with Serenity up front and Quest behind the wheel. As we pulled away from the hospital, I watched the building shrink in the rearview mirror and let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding for weeks.
I was out.
I was really out.
Finally we arrived at the grandiose home that Prime had rented for us. It felt so good to be back and I wasn’t going to do anything else stupid to fuck this up.
Serenity helped me out of the car while Rita carried my daughter and Quest carried my son. We walked up the front steps slowly, my body still weak and sore, and pushed through the double doors.
And there he was; Yusef rushing to be close to me!
“Yusef.” I opened my arms, and he ran into them, wrapping himself around me so tight I thought he might never let go. “Oh my God, baby. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too. I still feel so bad about it all. It was my fault.”
“We are not doing that, okay? I made the decision to let you leave. This isn’t the time for regrets.This is for celebration. Your cousins are home. I’m home. And I’m gonna need your help.”
“I’m gonna be the best big cousin. I can’t believe it was twins all this time. I’m gonna teach them both to play chess and the piano.”
“I know you will. You ready to meet your cousins?”
He nodded, and I led him over to where Rita and Quest were standing with the twins. Yusef looked down at them with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Wonder, maybe. And something else. Something deeper.
“They look like a mixture of you two.” Yusef was quiet for a moment. Then: “My mom would have loved them.”
My heart cracked clean in half.
“She would have,” I agreed, my voice thick. “She would have spoiled them rotten.”
“Just like you spoiled me.”
I gave him another hug, but I started to feel weak. So he quickly led me to a sofa. Quest, Serenity and Rita all followed. I missed this family so much.
Grandma Rita shared all her wisdom that she learned raising four kids, plus several grandchildren. Serenity just chilled, but she was glued to her phone. And Quest left, said he had something to handle for Prime.
We ate well and Yusef played piano for us. It was such an amazing homecoming. The only thing missing was my Prime.
That evening, after Yusef and Serenity had gone to bed, after the twins had been fed and changed and settled into their bassinets, after Rita had finally stopped fussing over me and gone to lie down herself, I sat on the living room couch and stared at my phone.
Prime had been calling every day. Multiple times a day. But this call felt different. Important.
When his face appeared on the FaceTime screen, I felt some of the tension in my shoulders release.
“Hey, Goddess.”
“Hey, baby.”
“You look good.” His eyes moved over my face like he was memorizing every detail. “How you feeling?”
“Sore. Tired. Happy.” I smiled. “The babies are sleeping. Everyone is here and taking care of everything. I’m… I’m okay, Prime. I’m really okay. I just miss you.”
“I miss you too.” He paused, and I could see him wrestling with something. “I’m coming back in the morning.”
“Quest told me. Said you have something? A smoking gun?”
“Yeah.” His jaw tightened. “Thad confessed about Zahara but said he didn’t pull the trigger. We found the guy who did pull the trigger.”
My whole body went cold. “What?”
“It’s complicated. I’ll explain everything when I get there. But the point is, Camille’s gonna have what she needs to blow this case wide open.”
“Who is he?” I managed.
“I’ll tell you when I get there. Face to face. This ain’t the kind of conversation you have over the phone.”
“Prime—”
“Trust me, Goddess. Okay? Just trust me. I got this handled.”
I did trust him. With my life. With our children’s lives. With everything.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “I trust you.”
“Good. Now go get some rest. Kiss my babies for me. And Zainab?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you. All four of you. More than anything in this world.”
“I love you too.”
“I’ll be there by morning. And when I get there…” His eyes went dark, that dangerous edge creeping into his voice. “We’re gonna finish this. Together.”
“Together,” I agreed.
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.