Page 72 of Rose

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Ahzii said, her voice tight, “but I’m about to find out.”

She turned, moving fast. A’Mazi spotted her before she got too far and stepped in her path.

“Mazi, can you take me back to the beach house?” Ahzii’s voice was steady, but her eyes burned.

“You want to go back there?” he asked, frowning.

“I have to go back there.”

He didn’t understand, but he recognized the look in her eyes—pure fire. Whatever she was walking into, he’d walk through it with her.

Bianca stepped toward her twins. “Where are you two going?” Her voice was tight, motherly worry seeping through.

“We’ll explain everything later, Ma. Promise,” Ahzii said, kissing her cheek before turning away.

Savior’s parents and Aunt Marley slipped back into his room, but Kyre intercepted them in the hall, tears still streaking her cheeks. “Baby, where’s she going?” she asked A’Mazi.

“Just call us when Savior wakes up. We’ll be right back,” he said, kissing her quickly before catching up to Ahzii.

Once they slid into his car, she spoke without looking at him. “You got your piece, right?”

“Yeah… but, Zii—what are we about to do?”

“To kill for the one man who always killed for me.”

That was all she said before the back doors opened. Sarai and Sincere climbed in without invitation.

“Bitch, you didn’t think you were about to go alone,” Sarai said, settling into the seat.

Ahzii smirked. “William’s not dead. He just texted me.” She held up her phone, showing the messages.

Sincere glanced at the screen shocked but snorted. “Your type is crazy-ass men, huh?”

The quick laugh that followed barely cracked the tension.

“Once you take a life, Shug, that shit stays in your soul forever. There’s no going back. You sure you’re ready for this?” A’Mazi asked, his eyes ahead but his tone dead serious.

“Mazi, the man who loved me harder than anyone… who healed me in ways I didn’t think I could be healed… is lying in a bed fighting for his life because of a man who’s lied to me since the day we met. I’m killing that nigga.”

Sarai grinned. “My brother did say you were gonna be unhinged before he changed your last name.”

Ahzii just shook her head, her chest tightening at the thought of Savior’s voice, his arms, his kiss.

“Drive, Maz.”

Her tone left no room for hesitation. A’Mazi hit the gas.

As the Charger ate up the road toward the beach house, the plan began to form. Savior had always been her savior, now it was her turn to be his.

“William!” Ahzii’s voice cracked through the beach house the second she stepped inside. Her nerves were razor sharp, but she had to do this—not just for Savior, but for herself and Willow.

No answer .

Only the low hum of a TV drew her toward the living room.

Then he appeared—a man with a cane, burns searing the left side of his face, bald head glinting under the light.

“Who are you? And where is William?” Ahzii asked, swallowing the lump in her throat, trying to mask the tremor in her voice.

Outside, Mazi sat parked on the beach in full view of the glass windows, eyes locked on her every move. Sincere had already cut every working camera, and Sarai was crouched at the back door, waiting for Ahzii’s signal.

“I am William, Beautiful,” the man said, his voice cold and steady.

Ahzii’s brows knit together. “But… I was just with William. He was here earlier.”

He stepped forward, and she instinctively stepped back.

“That was my twin brother, Darius. God rest his soul. He had to play as me, to make sure you came here, stayed here. He’s been keeping an eye on you… while you smiled in that nigga’s face.”

Her stomach turned. Memories she thought were hallucinations slammed into her, seeing him at the park… the restaurant… her showcase. “That was him?” she whispered, voice shaking.

“Yes. I told him to make you believe it was me. Look at me now.” He motioned to the scarred half of his face. “If I had shown up as myself, you would’ve run.”

Ahzii had known William had a brother, she never met, but she didn’t know he had an identical twin. And if what he was saying was true… then the man Olivia swore was dead was actually Darius. Her mind refused to process it fully.

“I… I don’t believe you,” she said, forcing steel into her voice.

Lazarus—William—lifted his shirt, and she flinched at the movement. “It’s me, Beautiful. The only man you love.” Over his heart, burned but still clear, was her name inked into his skin.

Her stomach dropped. It was enough to confirm. But her heart rejected it.

“No.”

His eyes narrowed. “What?”

That’s when she pulled the gun from her waistband, her hands trembling but her aim locked.

“The only man I love is lying in a hospital bed because of you. I don’t know who the fuck you are.”

His laugh was low, humorless, and dark. “So you let that nigga and his family come between us?”

“No!” Her voice shook with fury. “You lied to me! You had me believing you were this loving man who liked tech and baseball, who… who cared about me. I gave you my heart, my soul, my—my baby. And you were a fucking terrorist. A killer!”

Her tears were falling now, but she didn’t lower the gun. For the first time, she saw his bravado flicker under the weight of them.

“Beautiful—”

“Don’t fucking call me that!” Ahzii snapped, her voice sharp as glass. The gun in her hands didn’t waver.

He started to move toward her.

“Take another step, and I’m shooting. ”

Lazarus froze. Tears welled in his eyes, his gaze locking on her like it did the first night they met, full of the same devotion, the same hunger.

But Ahzii didn’t see her husband. She didn’t see the man she once kissed under the stars or curled up with while their daughter kicked inside her.

She saw the monster who burned her life to the ground. A killer. A liar. A terrorist.

“Just… let me explain. Please.”

Months ago, she would’ve run into his arms. Now, she hated him enough to put him in the ground.

In her head, she heard Savior’s voice, clear as the day he trained her on that beach. Keep your arm extended, Allure.

She extended her arm.

“Please… Ahzii, put the gun down,” Lazarus begged, holding his hands up, his cane dangling at his side.

Breathe, and let it go, baby. Savior’s voice again, steady, patient, lethal.

She inhaled deep.

Lazarus took another step.

She let it go.

The gun roared, the shot slamming into his stomach.

The recoil jolted her back against the couch, her finger still tight on the trigger. Sarai burst through the door at the sound, but Ahzii didn’t even look at her. Her eyes stayed on Lazarus, watching him gasp for air.

Intend to take their life, Savior’s voice echoed inside her. Because if they came for you once, they ’ ll come again.

And she knew he was right.

William had come for her before. If she didn’t finish this, he’d come again.

She squeezed the trigger one more time straight into his heart.

The life drained from his eyes instantly.

The bullet carried everything she’d been holding inside—her rage, her grief, her pain—and when it left her, so did her strength. She broke, sobs shaking her to her knees. Sarai rushed to her, wrapping her arms tight around her.

“You did it, Zii. He’s gone,” Sarai whispered against her hair.

Sincere and A’Mazi stormed in, their eyes dropping to the body sprawled in its own blood.

“I need him. I need Savior,” Ahzii choked out into Sarai’s shoulder.

Sarai nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Take her to the hospital,” Sincere ordered, already scanning the room. “Me and Mazi will handle this.”

A’Mazi tossed Sarai his keys before leaning down to kiss Ahzii’s forehead. “I love you, Shug.”

“I love you too, Boobie. Thanks for always walking through the fire with me,” she whispered back.

Sarai pulled her out the back door, the two of them speeding toward the hospital. Behind them, A’Mazi and Sincere erased every trace, until nothing remained but flames and the Devil who’d finally been sent back to burn.