Ally sat on the floor with the back of her head leaning against the locked bedroom door. Razaa stormed out of the house hours ago and had yet to return. She let out a nervous breath. Eddie would have been furious if he knew she had talked to either Alyah or Razaa. In the past few hours, she’d talked to both. To one she lied and the other told the truth. All of it in the hopes of saving them. She couldn’t change the pains of their past, but if she was lucky she could help them have a future.
Alyah never believed Ally possessed a good bone in her body. Telling her anything to disprove her theory was a waste of everyone’s time. Hopefully, the tale Ally weaved would scare Alyah enough to send her and her son into hiding by the morning. If she didn’t, Ally wasn’t sure how any of them would come out alive tomorrow.
Then there was Razaa. The boy had become a man. A man that if Eddie got his hands on…
Ally pushed the thought away. Anything could happen, and she hoped he was somewhere researching Umber and the information she gave him. She let out a long sigh. He was involved in all of this. Somehow, he had a hand in David and Amir’s deaths. She wanted to hate him, but the only person she hated was herself. Ally rested her head in her hands. If Razaa realized the truth… If any of that boy she once knew still existed within him, he would help Farah and the baby. With any luck, the realization would happen before Shariff returned.
Those hopes plummeted the second a car pulled up the drive. She rose to her feet when the vehicle’s door slammed shut. Someone entered the home, but unlike Razaa’s, these shoes didn’t squeak. The footsteps wandered around the house before heading in her direction. By the time her door unlocked, she’d positioned herself at the foot of the bed, hands in her lap, waiting.
Shariff stood at the entrance, a shopping bag in his hand. “I leave you alone for a few hours, and when I return, my guard is missing in action. Did you manage to kill him as well?”
She shrugged. “Murdering guards seems to be one of my superpowers.”
He laughed and sat beside her, putting the tote he carried between them. From inside, he pulled out a clear plastic bag of chips. He ripped open the package and tipped it in her direction. “Hungry?”
Her stomach growled, but Ally shook her head and continued to stare out the open door.
Shariff popped a chip into in his mouth. “You can leave if you want. I never forced you to stay.”
She rolled her eyes. “Promising to kill or sell the people I love if I leave is the same as chaining me to the bed.”
“Chain you?” He laughed and tossed another chip into his mouth. “I’m not a fan of all the bondage stuff. I tried it a few times. Too many sharp objects and too much planning involved. Want to know what I find attractive?” He grabbed the bag between them and poured the contents on the floor in front of her. “A well-dressed woman.” Brightly colored fabric, each in individual clear plastic bags, lay around her feet. “Hence, I picked up some new things for you.”
She didn’t move, instead stared out at the front door for Razaa to return.
Shariff picked up one of the items and dropped it on her lap. “New jeans. They should fit you better than the ones you’re currently wearing.”
He grabbed a royal blue piece and stacked it on top of the jeans. “A new kurta that won’t look like you borrowed someone else’s shirt. This one should fit you in all the right places.”
One by one, he identified the clothing and added it to the stack until the tower of packets almost tipped over. Ally grabbed them before they fell and laid the stack beside her. “I will be dead by tomorrow. Why bother buying me a new wardrobe?”
He scrunched his face. “You don’t know for sure you will die. And even if you do, it’s more reason to spend your last day looking your best. Which reminds me.” Shariff picked up the remaining packet from the floor and pulled out a peach fabric. When he held the dress out for her to see, the matching shawl and pants to the outfit fell across her feet.
The piece was silk with embroidered flowers across the bodice, its sleeves sheer. She eyed the delicate roses weaved into the chest of the outfit, but more than the fabric, she noticed the way he looked at her eagerly awaiting her reaction. In so many ways, he remained a child, hungry for affirmation.
Disappointment flashed across his face when she didn’t give him what he wanted. He laid it across her lap. “You have to look nice when you meet your father-in-law for the first time.” He grinned. “I know he’s very eager to lay his eyes on you.”
Her stomach twisted. She could only imagine what the man who spawned the two brothers would be like. Ally stared at the embroidered fabric in her lap, honing in on the bitterness in his voice. “I’m sure he’s just as eager to see you?”
He chuckled. “The old man made no attempt to visit me in over fifteen years, but now when there is a possibility his dead son might not be dead, he’s had a sudden urge for a family reunion.”
Shariff picked up the sheer shawl from the floor and pressed it tight against her chest. He leaned over, his face close to hers. “Beautiful.” He dropped the fabric in her lap and ran his hand up her arm, slowly making his way to her bare shoulder. “When I saw it at the store, I imagined it on you.” Goosebumps pebbled her skin as his fingers moved over her. “And then I envisioned taking it off you.”
She raised her chin and held her breath while he traced her collarbone. “You need to make up your mind, Shariff. One minute, you’re telling me you don’t want your brother’s leftovers. The next, you’re sharing your fantasies of undressing me.”
“I know.” He rested his forehead against her temple and sighed. “My two heads are at war with each other. One screaming to stay away and the other screaming to sink himself inside you.”
She clenched her fists around the scarf in her lap as a shudder rocked through her.
Shariff wrapped his arm around her hips and slid her body closer. His lashes brushed against her cheek when he blinked. “Those two typically play nice together, but over you, it’s been an ugly battle.” His breath hit her skin. She fought the urge to push him away and wipe him off her.
“Speaking of fantasies, last night I had the most lust-filled one about you.” Shariff ran the pad of his thumb over her lip. “And we were fabulous together. Want to hear about it?”
Ally swallowed the terror and shook her head.
His hand wrapped around her neck and traced up and down the length of it. “I’m starting to wonder if I had you, maybe these fantasies would stop.”
Her heart pounded an erratic beat. She wound the sheer scarf around her hands until the fabric was tight and imagined it wrapped around his neck, crushing the breath out of him. “A taste of me is not going to be enough. It’s not usually how things work.”
He laughed and pressed his lips against the corner of her mouth. “For some reason, that intrigues me even more.”
She shuttered her lids as he kissed along her jaw, moving down her neck. Just as Ally raised her hands and prepared herself, the front door opened. She dropped her palms back in her lap and watched Razaa.
The mask had returned. He entered the home and slammed the door shut behind him. He stared around the house until his eyes locked with hers. His gaze shifted between Ally and the man currently kissing her neck.
Shariff pressed his lips on her cheek, making a loud smack before he moved away. Even then, he kept a possessive hand on her back. “Where did you disappear to?” he asked in Urdu to the young man.
Razaa walked to them, his hands stuffed in his pockets, and jutted his chin at her. “She wouldn’t stop talking.”
Ally shifted in her seat. Would he tell Shariff about what she said?
Shariff laughed, while his fingers brushed lazily up and down her spine. “Yes, it is a problem I’m having with her as well. She is a woman of a thousand questions.”
Razaa stood a few feet from them and crossed his arms. “Most brother-in-laws do not touch their bhaabis the way you are.”
Shariff’s hand stilled. He rose from the bed and scowled at him. “I am not like most. Now am I?”
Ally sucked in a breath as he approached Razaa. Shariff walked past him and stopped at the doorway. “It’s time to go, Bhaabi. Everyone at the house must be wondering where you are. And Razaa, pack up the clothes on the bed for me.”
The young man nodded and did as he was told. Ally remained glued to her spot, looking up at him as he put the packets in the shopping bag. Razaa avoided her gaze. A few dots of red stained the pale yellow collar of his tee.
“Did you hurt yourself?”.
Other than a slight pause before returning to his task, he showed no indication he heard her.
Ally cleared her throat and spoke loud enough for both of them to hear. “Can I say good-bye to Farah and the baby before we go?”
Razaa’s gaze met hers, but he did not answer.
“Thirty seconds,” Shariff said from down the hall. “And I will be standing in the room the whole time.”
By the time they entered Farah’s room, the mother stood in the middle of the space, the baby in her arms. Her gaze darted between Ally and the man standing behind her.
Ally went to her and wrapped an arm around the young mother’s shoulder. “I will be back for you two,” she whispered.
Farah pressed her cheek into Ally’s. “Don’t worry about us. Please be careful.”
Ally nodded and wiped a tear off of Farah’s cheek before walking out of the room.