Six months later...


The booth was brighter now. Bigger. Branded. Clean white banners with gold foil script reading:


Glossed by May May

Power. Beauty. Rebirth.


Maya stood beside Zaire at her pop-up in a local Target store. She’d signed a distribution deal with a national beauty brand that specialized in spotlighting small Black-owned businesses. Her table was sold out in two hours.


A line of young girls waited for a photo with her.


Behind them, a display case showed her new bestselling gloss set:


THE BLOOM KIT


Phoenix Ash


Soft Armor


Floodproof


First Light


Legacy

For the girls who survived, and the girls still fighting.


Tia ran her own candle business now—Flame & Frame—and they partnered monthly for women's shelters and youth programs.


Grandma Nettie was planning a block event called The Women Who Raised Us.


And Maya?


She was no longer just surviving.


She was seen.


She was safe.


She was building.


Because sometimes, the ones they try to break become the blueprint.


And in the cracks of concrete—


Roses still rise.