With Love, Zayn✅

15.

DUSTE,

JIGAWA STATE,

NIGERIA.

Zayn didn't know why he helped Batoulah.

Perhaps, it's the fact that she helped him too. Or maybe it's the fact that he hates seeing someone treated the way she is, especially by the woman who seemed to be giving off the bad vibes. Whichever it is, he did not regret helping.

His gaze moved to the man who called him, as did everyone else. The face seemed familiar, and it took a while for him to remember where he saw the man before. Unlike the other police officers, he was in a mufti; and standing close to Salma's husband who threw him a curious glance too.

The man moved away from that spot, heading towards Zayn before he saluted. Though they don't serve in the same country, he still respected Zayn as an individual and as his superior in the army. "Sir!"

Zayn offered the man who is a friend of Kamal, a nod. He then extended his hand out for a handshake, to which the man accepted quickly.

The man then turned to Salma's husband, "Bashir, this is Captain Ahmed Zayn Abdullah Danbatta, only son to Alhaji Danbatta, and a military officer in the US"

Bashir, Salma's husband felt his eyes dilate slightly. Sure enough, he has power. But it's nothing compared to Zayn's. And with the way they had been treating him in the past few days, he wondered if Zayn came for a payback. Nonetheless, he took in a supposedly discrete breath before he offered him a nod.

Zayn ignored him; focusing his gaze back on the man.

Salma's mother took a slow step away from Zayn, though her glare never wavered but just like Bashir, he paid zero heed to her. To him, they really don't deserve as much as his attention.

"What's going on?" Zayn asked the man, voice coming out gruff though he didn't intend for it to be like that. It must've been from the fact that the woman irked him, but he's trying to reign it in. It has been so long since he felt that much of an emotion.

The man sighed deeply, "Bashir's daughter went missing a couple of hours ago and there's no trace of her"

Zayn's brows drew in. Batoulah told him about it already but that didn't stop his mind from racing with different thoughts just like earlier. "Isn't there a footage from any camera around?"

The man shook his head somberly. "None. Most of the cameras don't work, and the ones that do...well, we got nothing from them" Everyone else has the same look, except Salma's mother who looked furious. "I know it's not in my place to ask this of you but can you help us? Now that you're here that is"

"Absolutely not!" Salma's mother answered before Zayn could. From what the man said earlier, she didn't need to be told twice to know that Zayn is the younger brother to Kulsum, her daughter's old best friend.

And after everything that she'd done to her, there's no way she would entrust to help them.

"That's not for you to decided" Bashir's mother, who had been quiet since she came spoke up, throwing a glare at her son's mother in law. Honestly, on more than one occasion, she thinks about how unlucky her son is to be married into such family. "That girl is my granddaughter too. And if this young man decides to help us, then so be it"

Especially with a family history such as theirs.

Why did they even agree to the marriage in the first place? If she had known this will be the outcome, then she wouldn't have bothered to give into her son's pestering.

"And how do we know he has nothing to do with it, huh?" Salma's mother threw back, raising her voice slightly as she glanced at Bashir's mother. Then she turned her gaze to Zayn and the lady behind him. "Or maybe..." She clicked her finger at her step daughter, "...he connived with that she-devil over there to plot all of this? They can't be trusted"