Page 63 of Quasim II: King Inferno

“What if they come and take me?” I could tell this was something that kept him up at night, worried about when someone would come take him.

“They gotta get through me first… who are we?”

“Infernos,” he had this huge smile on his face, excited that he was included in that powerful last name.

“We go down easy?”

“Hel… nope!” He quickly corrected himself when Quasim lifted his brow and stared at him and then laughed.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet ring box and opened it. When he opened the box, I gasped as I looked at the ring. “Simmy, it’s beautiful.”

The emerald cut red diamond sat on a gold band with six diamonds on it. Three on each side. “Each diamond holds a place. One for your mother, one for your son, and one for this baby. The other side is one for me, one for Elijah, and one for Harley.”

As if I wasn’t a mess already, when he explained the significance of the ring and diamonds, I couldn’t breathe. I fanned myself with my hand as I tried to calm down. “I…I… this… I…” I couldn’t get the words out because I was such a big mess.

He kissed my lips a few times, as he hugged me. My hands shook as he slid the ring onto my finger, and it fit perfectly. “A red diamond is the rarest diamond, and you, my queen, are rare.”

I kissed his lips and hugged him tightly.

Fireworks let off from behind him, and I looked up at the sky. That was when I saw Capri, Quameer, Ryder, Gams, Cappadonna, Alaia, Aimee, Capella, and Jaiden.

Kiki, Hassan, and Yasin stood on the balcony as they cheered, while Kiki wiped her face. “Pri…”

Meer removed his arms from around her, and she rushed through the roses and hugged me tightly. “You deserve all of this, Queen Inferno… welcome to the family, B.”

I hugged her so tight because we had been through some shit, and here we were. We found our way back to each other, and now we were both going to be married to brothers, sharing the same name. I’ve always felt like Capri was a sister, and now she was really about to be.

Meer came over and hugged me, kissing me on the cheek. “Queen Inferno.”

“Meer.”

“All you, B. This is your moment, and God, do you deserve this more than anyone that I know.” He hugged me tightly.

“Congratulations, Auntie Blair,” Ryder hugged me tightly, and I kissed her curls.

“Thank you, Ry.”

“Uncle Simmy, you’re crying. You never cry,” she rushed to her uncle, and he picked her up. She wiped his face and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Har.”

I looked at her and smiled, as Sim hugged his niece and kissed her head. Elijah leaned his head on me, and I looked down at him. “Never leave me, Ms. Blair?”

“Never ever.” I promised and squeezed him.

“All I’m saying is, even though we family… I need you to book me through my assistant, since you need my services as an officiant… we charge for last minute shit, too.”

“Roy, please!” Alaia yelled and laughed at her husband.

Quasim

I heldthe ring in my hand as I paced the small room on the yacht. Here I was, in the middle of the damn ocean with the love of my life, and I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t open my fucking mouth to tell her that I loved her. Loved her from the moment I laid eyes on her, prayed for her, and dreamed about her often.

I couldn’t open my mouth to tell her that she scared me because she made me dream again. Made me believe in miracles when I stopped believing in them after losing my daughter. Blair made me see a future with her where I was called daddy again by a small human that was half me and half her.

She did all of that.

She sat across from me in a fancy restaurant with the best view of the house, looking beautiful with red lipstick on, wearing a slip dress that I spent half the dinner imagining slipping off her body. She opened her mouth to tell me that she wanted to have my babies and marry me.

I froze.

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