Chapter 25
·
“Hena. Please relax.”
Relax?
She couldn’t relax. Every nerve in her body was crackling. Her pulse pounded in her head. She tried to draw in a breath, but her lungs were tight. Too tight.
“I can explain,” he said, his demeanor maddeningly calm.
The image appeared in her mind’s eye, unbidden: Nasir’s battered face, the shattered look in his eyes, the purple bruises, his shaking hands. His bloody fingers.
It happened here. In this room.
Her insides churned. This couldn’t be right. It made no sense. This was Haris.
“Fine,” she said. “Go ahead. Explain. Tell me you weren’t the one hunting Nasir. That you’re not the reason he had to go on the run.”
“Hunting him?” He looked hurt. “I’d say it was more like he was hunting me. Always crawling back, asking for more money—again and again. Never a thank-you. Not once.”
Her guts twisted. This wasn’t an explanation.
It was a confession.
“You were the loan shark.”
He grimaced. “I don’t like that term. I’m there for people when they need me. When they’ve run out of options. I help them. Like your father did.”
My father.
Looking at her expression, he laughed gently. “You didn’t know? Yeah, I worked for him. Everything I am, everything I’ve built—it’s thanks to him. He was the best in the game.”
The blood drained from her face. She shook her head, her brain fighting to process his words. He watched her with something like pity. His eyes flicked around the cabin before landing back on her.
“I was curious if you’d recognize this place. He never brought you here, did he?”
Hena moved to speak, but nothing came out. Her hands fell to her sides, her fingers curled and digging into her palms.
“This cabin is his. Or it was,” he amended.
“I helped him with the less savory aspects of the work we did. I dealt with those who took his generosity for granted. After his death, when no one claimed it, I decided to look after it. It’s my way of honoring his memory.
This cabin looked after me as much as I looked after it. ”
She felt sick as this information settled in. Haris was one of her father’s “kids”?
“He used to terrify me at first, if I’m being honest,” he continued. “He was larger than life. You know that better than anyone. But I grew to respect him. I don’t know who I’d be without him.”
“He taught you how to do his dirty work.”
“Careful.” His expression darkened. He took a step forward and yanked the phone away from her.
“Don’t bite the hand that fed you. Everything you have—your fancy townhome, your car, the shoes you wear—it’s all because of your father.
His sacrifices and his dedication to his family.
You were so fucking lucky. Just born into it.
And dirty work?” He scoffed. “He taught me how to live in the real world. Lucinda worked for him too, you know. It was good seeing her again after all this time. She was a critical part of this. A bit squirrely at first, but she responds well to direct instruction. She came around.”
Lucinda. She’d had her doubts. She’d pushed them away.
“Your father thought we’d be perfect together,” he said.
“I think it’s part of why the idea of you and me had staying power.
He said if we got married one day, I’d be family.
The son he always wanted. It started as a joke, but he got more serious about it as time went by.
He said this way, he could pass everything down to me. To us.”
The son he’d always wanted. That tracked.
A sour taste burned in her mouth as she flashed back to the night beneath the lemon tree.
She could still feel the weight of her complicated grief, the ache of losing a man she hated but who held the force of gravity with his presence.
Haris had sat beside her, so careful, so comforting.
She remembered how he’d draped an arm around her and how she’d leaned into him, desperate for something solid to hold on to.
And then—
How his hand had grazed her cheek so tenderly. He’d leaned in and kissed her. So soft. So gentle. It was an impulsive moment, but not an unwelcome one.
Now she realized it had been anything but impulsive.
The room suddenly felt too cold.
“Your father promised me the world,” Haris said.
“Then he died, and I lost it all. I’d planned to honor his wishes, but you got yourself tangled up with Nasir faster than I could blink.
He took what was meant to be mine. Which is fine.
The path got harder, but I kept going. Everything works out in the end, right? ”
Tears slipped down her face. She leaned against the wall to catch her bearings.
“Nasir loved you.” Her voice broke. “You…you tortured him.”
“I didn’t torture him.” When he saw her expression, he clarified. “Right. The nails. I’d told my people to get the information I needed. They got a bit carried away. I had a talk with them.”
“You have a hit out on him. You can stop it. Let him be.”
“Trust me, I hate that it has to be this way. It hurts me he had to be taught the lessons he did, but I have no choice.”
“You were his best friend.”
“Best friend?” He let out a low chuckle.
“What are we, sixth-grade girls? You think we wore matching heart necklaces too? Look, I loved him like a brother. Still do. But he fucked up. Started talking. There’s only so many times someone spits on you before you have to do something about it, friend or no friend.
I’m a nice guy, but I have my limits.” He checked his watch.
“As soon as my people get a clean, clear shot, they’re taking it. ”
“He wasn’t talking to anyone. He swore it.”
“He lied. Mr. Goody Two-Shoes wanted to help other people. Warned them not to work with me. Word gets around. What was I supposed to do? A damaged reputation is not something money alone can fix, can it? He’s the one who declared war.
” He stepped closer. “If I can be brutally honest for a second? You did him no favors. Your money. Your loyalty. No matter how royally he fucked up, you were always there. I guess you have a soft spot for broken things.”
“So your hate for Nasir leaked onto me? You messed with me this entire wedding. The accusations on the slideshow…How could you, Haris?”
His face reddened. “Yeah, the slideshow. I’m, uh, sorry about that.
” He looked genuinely abashed. “When my people told me about you and Reza…” He shook his head, jaw tightening.
“Fuck, Hena. Seriously? All I’ve ever tried to do is be there for you, but you go and hook up with someone you’ve known all of five minutes. A guy like me has no chance, do they?”
The slideshow was her punishment.
“I shouldn’t have done it,” he continued. “When I’m emotional, I get impulsive, but that’s no excuse.”
“Now what?” she asked, her voice low. “What do you want from me?”
“What I want, you cannot give me.” The longing plain in his eyes. “But I’ve had a few days to think about it, and I’ve decided I will settle for what is my due.”
His due. She tried to compute but couldn’t.
“Lucinda will bring us the paperwork in the morning once things calm down at the resort. By this time tomorrow, you and I will be man and wife. For a little while, anyway. Your father’s wish come true.”
Was he insane? Had he absolutely lost his mind?
“Shoot.” He pulled out his phone and typed. “We also need to update your will. Your life insurance too. Should be simple enough.”
Her head hurt, a pounding that threatened to overtake her senses completely.
“You think anyone would believe this?” she asked.
“Weddings are the perfect place to plant rumors,” he said.
“At first it was just to mess with Nasir. Really twist the knife. Last I heard, the wedding guests took it way further. Now the story is you and I were secret lovers for years, throughout your relationship with him. Come morning, the paperwork will prove it. It was a happy marriage, even if it was tragically short. It’s a shame you took your own life. ”
His words sent terror down her spine. They should have prompted her to run as fast as she could.
So why couldn’t she move?
“What have I ever done to you?”
“Other than not love me back?” His voice was gentle, tinged with regret. “Nothing. I would have rather been part of your family with you.”
She felt sick. She needed to escape. She took a trembling step toward the door.
Haris pulled a vial out of his shirt pocket. It was empty.
“You’re welcome to try,” he said. “But you won’t get far.”
So that was why she was dizzy. Nauseous. What did he slip into her drink?
“It’s been a pain to plan around you,” he said.
“Reza was a particularly tricky complication I didn’t expect.
Did you know your mother hired him to look out for you?
Seriously. Paranoid much? It was weird from the start.
Him and Khaled were friends, but I found it odd he was slotted in at the last minute as a groomsman.
I eventually got it out of Khaled, though. ”
Reza. A tear slid down her cheek. He had told her the truth. He’d been trying to protect her.
Taking in her expression, he smirked. “Yep, never told you, did he? You really know how to pick them. Anyway, once I realized, I knew we had to get you away sooner than later if we wanted to smoke Nasir out, but you slammed into that cake on the island and spooked my guy within an inch of his life.”
Black dots clouded her vision. Focus, Hena.
“I marry you in secret,” she said weakly. “Then I’m dead. Leaving you everything. You don’t think anyone will have questions?”
“I’m still working out the kinks,” he admitted.
“But I’m thinking I stayed with you because I loved you.
Through your depression. Your manic episodes.
You must have been manic when you fucked up your sister’s wedding.
The snakes were weird, but inflicting your sister with an allergy attack?
That’s sociopathic. My best guess, at least what I’ll tell the police, is once you came down from your mania, you saw what you did.
You were devastated. Because you’re a good person deep down.
And, well, you decided to end things. There won’t be a body—too many questions—but the suicide note will lay it all out.
Shouldn’t be too complicated. Disappearances run in your family, don’t they? ”
Her eyes darted to the windows. The door. Her mind was screaming. Telling her to run. But her body couldn’t. Not now. Not when the room was spinning. Then she saw it tucked in his pocket. The black grip poking out.
A gun.
Her lungs seized. She took a stumbling step toward the front door. Her breathing felt ragged.
Haris clucked his tongue. “So glad I remembered to keep a vial in the glove compartment,” he said. “After what you did to my guy last time, I knew I’d need it. You’ve got bite.”
A shiver rippled through her.
“I really am sorry for this,” he continued. “This isn’t personal.”
This isn’t personal.
The boathouse. The intruder. Haris had sent him.
He took a step toward her. “Let’s get you to bed. You’re going to crash.”
Her vision was blurring.
The memory replayed. That man. His hands clamped around her neck. How her body slumped against the vanity. He had been there on Haris’s orders.
No. She gritted her teeth as Haris’s hand went to her shoulder. A surge of adrenaline raced through her. She summoned everything within her, and with her last bit of strength, she kneed him as hard as she could.
His face reddened on impact, eyes widening as he keeled over, groaning.
She shoved open the door. Her heart raced wildly. She stumbled onto the wooden walkway. Darkness churned beneath the slats.
Panic filled her body. Now what?
She took in the gentle sway of the trees. The woods. They were only a few feet away. If she could make it there…if she could hide out…
Too late. Her body hit the ground.
She heard footsteps. The outline of his boot by her head.
“Well,” Haris said, breathing heavily. “I guess I’ll have to hurt you after all.”
She heard the blow before she felt it.
The world went dark.