Glancing back, Reza’s shadowed figure loomed in the distance. He’d hopped the fence. Of course he had. Now he was running toward her.
“Nasir. He’s at the wedding. And Reza—” She struggled to choke the words out. “He’s not who he said he was. I’m in danger, Haris.”
Haris clenched his jaw. “Get in. Let’s go.”
Noman,Uncle of the Groom
Yes, he’s alive! Yes, this is wonderful news.
We’d been so worried. It’s awful to say, but with him gone so many years, we assumed the worst. In our defense, his mother said as much. Did you see her? That poor dear. The relief that was written all over her face.
But…I have to point this out.
We all saw it.
You saw it too, didn’t you?
The look on Hena’s face when she realized Nasir was back?
Did you see how disappointed she looked?
And you saw, didn’t you? How quickly she fled?
24
•
The headlights of the SUV sliced through the night as they sped down the unlit back roads. Haris glanced at Hena worriedly. She bit back tears. If she started crying, she might never stop.
Reza. All this time. It was him.
The betrayal was so enormous it defied words.
She had trusted him. She had let him into her suite. Her bed.
Her heart.
That evening on the sailboat, she had said she couldn’t read him. She’d been right. All this time, he’d been in the background, waiting for the right time to strike.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Haris asked.
She did not. She wanted to pretend it never happened, but that was impossible.
“You were right,” she told him. “About Reza.”
Through halting stops and starts, she filled him in on everything he needed to know. About Nasir’s return. How Reza used her to lure him out of hiding.
“I’m not sure I’d have believed it if I hadn’t heard it with my own ears.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.
“We’ll deal with this. We’ll figure it out,” he said. “What matters is you’re safe now.”
“What about you?” The sickening realization dawned on her. “You’re helping me, which means you’re in danger too now.”
“No one knows about my cabin,” he reassured her. “Once we get there, we’ll tell Milcheck. I know how terrifying this all is, but you’re going to get through this, I promise.”
She wanted to believe him. She did. But tension coiled beneath her skin all the same as she braced for whatever might come next.
They turned onto Alligator Alley, famous for its darkness and the stars littering the sky. Forty minutes later, his headlights shined against a dilapidated wooden fence. The SUV slowed as his tires crunched against gravel.