But before I could even press a button, he grabbed my phone. Powered it off. Threw it to the ground.
“If you call the police, you’re dead. So is my sister. My parents.”
“So now what?”
“I’m leaving.” Nasir’s eyes grew bright. “I wanted you to hear it from me.”
He refused to let me help. He didn’t want me involved, even though I would have risked everything to keep him safe. No matter how much I pleaded, he wouldn’t say where he was going—only that once he left, he would need to stay gone.
Still, I pulled off my rings. My engagement solitaire, my twenty-four-karat gold bangles. My necklace. I shovedthem at Nasir. Leaving wouldn’t be easy. He needed all the help he could get.
He drew me to him. Kissed me. And if you don’t know what it’s like to kiss someone knowing it will be the last time, I hope you will never know it.
“I love you, Hena,” he said. “I always will.”
I buried my face in his neck. I promised not to say a word.
Then I watched him walk away, understanding that my life as I knew it was over.
22
•
They slipped out a side door. Hurried toward the conference room at the far end of the resort. Hena reached for the doorknob.
“Hena! Wait!”
Reza. He raced toward them.
Beside her, Nasir stiffened as he drew closer.
“You can’t go in there alone,” Reza said. “Not with him.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
Reza didn’t take his eyes off Nasir. Stepping closer to Hena, he lowered his voice. “He’s gone for years and shows up without warning? You need to be careful.”
A funny feeling passed over her. After ignoring her all day, Reza wanted to tell her who she could and couldn’t talk to?
“Do you know something I don’t?” she asked. “If you do, now’s the time to tell me.”
“I’m just saying three years is a long time to be gone. And to come back like this? Crashing your sister’s wedding?” Reza ran a hand through his hair. “Something’s wrong, Hena. You know it is.”
That much was true. Something was wrong. Deeplywrong. Which was why she needed to talk to him. Alone. She turned the door handle. Reza stuck out his hand to stop her.
“Why roll the dice?” he asked. “I’m not saying don’t talk to him. Just…be careful. Let me come in with you. As a precaution.”
“It has to be just us, Hena,” Nasir interjected. “Please.”
A crowd was gathering behind him. It was growing by the second.
“I don’t have time for this,” she told Reza. “Stay out here and stand guard if you want. I’m going in and I’m talking to him alone.”
They stepped into the room, and she locked the door firmly behind her.
Nasir’s breathing was shallow. This close up, she noticed he was thinner than she’d realized. His skin was sallow. There was a scar beneath his left eye. As she took him in, the shock slowly faded—replaced by horror.
“Why, Nasir?” she asked. “Why would you come back?”