Page 175 of Rose
Ahzii’s head snapped side to side. “No. This wasn’t a vision. It was real.” Her words tumbled out faster, shakier with each breath. “I saw him in the crowd while I was giving my speech… and that’s why I rushed off stage. He followed me to thebathroom. I looked him in his eyes, Ma. Iknowit was him. But how? I watched him take his last breath. Iwatchedhim die in that fire. How is he still alive?”
The panic in her voice rose with every word until her breathing turned shallow and erratic.
“Ahzii, calm down,” Bianca urged, scooting closer. Her voice softened into that steady, motherly tone that always used to bring her daughter back from the edge. “You’re going to make yourself have a panic attack. Breathe with me, shugga. Slow.”
Ahzii tried, but the air clawed into her lungs like it weighed a hundred pounds.
“Ma,” she pushed out between breaths, “I asked Kyre and A’Mazi if they buried his body… and they said no. Is that true? Is what I saw, what I heard, what Ifeltyesterday—was that really him? Really William?”
The room went silent. Bianca’s eyes glistened, but it wasn’t with surprise. It was something else. Something heavier.
“Baby…” Bianca’s voice cracked. “We wanted to keep this from you.”
Ahzii’s stomach knotted instantly. Tears blurred her vision as her chest rose and fell harder, faster. “Keep what, Ma? What are y’all keeping from me?” Her voice rose, each question sharper than the last. She needed answers. She needed themnow.
Bianca swallowed, her guilt thick in the air. “William’s body wasn’t found in the house.”
The words hit Ahzii like a blow to the chest.
“After the investigation, the detective told me they only recoveredonebody. So we believed it was William’s. But when the report came back… it wasn’t him. The body belonged to one of the robbers.”
Ahzii’s pulse pounded so loud it drowned out the rest of the world. Her grief twisted into something darker—rage, disbelief, betrayal—until it burned in her veins.
“But A’Mazi said he saw him,” she fired back, her voice trembling but sharp. “He said when he carried me out—before the police even got there—he saw William’s body. He said he was dead.”
Bianca’s face was unreadable now, her voice low and unsure. “I don’t know how William’s body wasn’t found in that house.”
Ahzii stared at her mother like she was looking at a stranger. Everything she thought she knew was splintering apart in her hands, and she couldn’t tell if the pieces were worth putting back together.
“So it was apossibilitythat my husband survived that fire… and neither of you said a damn thing?” Ahzii’s voice was low at first, but the heat behind it was building.
“Shugga, you were battling too much,” Bianca said, her own voice trembling. “You almost lost your life. Willow passed. We thought it was best to help you move on. There was no evidence of William being dead or alive, and we didn’t want you chained to… to loving a ghost.” Tears slipped down her cheeks as she spoke.
Ahzii’s frown deepened, her breath hitching as anger swelled in her chest. “So instead, I’ve spent the last yearmourningmy husband on top of my daughter—thinking I lost them both—when I could’ve known the truth and looked for him. I didn’t have to drown in this pain, in thisgriefof losing the two most important people in my life alone… when my husband is actually alive!” Her voice cracked into a shout, the words slicing through the air.
Bianca stood too, the guilt heavy in her eyes. “Ahzii, you don’t know that for sure—”
“The hell I don’t!” Ahzii’s eyes were red, tears streaming, her heart pounding so hard it hurt. “I looked him in the eyes yesterday. I touched his skin. Ikissedhim. William is alive. And you—you three—knew it was a possibility all along!”
Her hands shook as she snatched her keys from the coffee table. She couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t sit in this house with secrets pressing in on her like walls.
“Wait—Shug! Let’s talk—” Bianca started, but the door slammed before she could finish.
Ahzii stormed to her bike, the engine roaring to life under her. She didn’t care about the chill in the wind, didn’t care about the tears blurring her vision. She was going to find him. The man she thought had died. The man she had grieved. The man who had risen from the dead with part of her heart still in his hands.
???
Savior walked into Gold with one mission—lunch for Ahzii. She’d been gone since this morning, saying she needed to be with her mother, and he’d let her go because he knew she needed the space. But now it’d been hours. No returned calls. No answered messages.
He wasn’t the type to blow up someone’s phone, but this was different. The silence was gnawing at him.
He pushed through the door, greeting Chris at the front. “Wassgood, bruh. Pickup for Carter.”
“They finishing up now. Everything good with Ahzii?” Chris asked, his tone careful.
Savior gave a short nod, keeping his face neutral. He wasn’t about to spill his business in the middle of the damn lobby.
Then Sarai appeared, worry etched all over her face. “Savvy, hey.” She hugged him before pulling back, eyes searching his. “I tried calling you and Zii last night after y’all just rushed out. Is everything okay?”
