Lesser Evil

8| The Villain

I eyed the woman in front of me, equal parts aggravated and exasperated.

"You aren't eating." I pointed out, using it more as a conversation starter. I'd wonder later why I desired to talk to her.

She shook her head and pushed her plate away— in my direction. "I don't want to. I don't get what we're doing, Shaz." The question mark on her face reappeared. It had been permanently etched onto her face in the past six days when I offered her the spare bedroom up here and treated her more like a guest than a captive. I'd totally lost it but I was past caring anymore. Something was obviously messed up with me, I hadn't even touched my drugs in those days because I was afraid that she would... I had no idea.

"What are we doing?" I chose play dumb like every other time.

The table rattled from the force with which she got up and stared down at me, nostrils flaring in anger, eyes flaming. Even her cheeks had heated up, that's how angry she was. I found her quite cute.

A dumbass was what I was.

"Just let me go! Instead of catering to me like...like..."

"Like what, princess?" She'd stopped reacting to the nickname now. It had been derogatory but now I wasn't too sure.

"Like we live together, like this is my home." Home. This place was barely a home to even me, but with her around it wasn't that bad. A stupid, foolish part of me wanted to say 'why can't this be your home?' but I silenced that part just as quick as the thought came.

I stood up as well so now she was the one looking up as I stared down at her. "Because I just can't." I willed the softness in my voice to go away and replace with something more stern so she would just get the point.

In return, Ayat only blinked before she turned and stormed away, the door to her room slamming shut behind her. I ran my hand through my hair, sucked in a few breaths and went out the door. I knew she wasn't going anywhere now, not when her last hope in the form of her father had been crushed when he didn't pick up her call that day. She'd told it to me herself four days ago when we were having a somewhat normal conversation.

Sometimes, I hated leaving the house just as much as I hated staying inside of it. Nowadays, I didn't mind the house either.

Something was definitely wrong with me.

Clenching and unclenching my fists, I made my way out of the house and through the alleys until I was between at least a hundred people walking in both direction. I didn't look up at anyone of them and surely they couldn't see me well either under my hood as I continued to stroll mindlessly, sometimes kicking rocks if any showed up.

I didn't even realize when I stopped in front of the utility shop that was a more legal front for selling illegal drugs. The owner was a bastard, that's for sure. But I wasn't anyone to judge after having done plenty of illegal things in my life, and I was only starting to notice all my deeds after a certain someone entered—was forced to enter—my life.

But I paused in front of the glass door. My hand twitched by my side to hold onto the metal door. My body lurched forward, getting excited at the ecstasy it would get if I gave in.

But I would not. I wouldn't give in even if I felt myself trembling from the force it took to keep my feet rooted on the ground.

When I felt the owner's eyes on me from the inside, I turned and walked into the opposite direction, not stopping until I was somehow standing in front of the store where I had to take Ayat back from.

What I saw on the rack caused me to freeze as all air got sucked out of my lungs.

What. The. Fuck.

My hand never flew faster as I grabbed the newspaper on the rack and read the headline with wide eyes.

MIRZA JAFFER RELEASED FROM JAIL!

Mirza Jaffer. The third-in-command and brother of Fariz Jaffer, the leader of the human trafficking ring. For him to be released meant that the defendant lawyer in his case had given a statement in his favor...

That defendant lawyer was Hassan Hashmi. Ayat's father.

Fuck.

Instantly, I called the number that Fariz had used to contact me and waited for five seconds before he picked up the call.

"What happened to Hassan Hashmi?" I cut straight to the chase.

"Wouldn't you love to know?"

"What. Happened. To. Him?" I gritted out, emphasizing each word. Truthfully, I gave zero shits about this man, but Ayat... She would be crushed. I shouldn't even care.

"I assume you found a newspaper?" His assumption was a hundred percent correct but I didn't tell him that. "It's a shame that my brother's release made the headline instead of Hassan Hashmi's death."

Hassan Hashmi's death. Those words were all it took for me to cut the call and flip through the newspaper to find the news of his death on the second page. A car accident was it they made it look like. Bullshit.

I wasn't a fan of this man, he was too prideful and egoistic. Too confident in himself. He had been sent several threats from Fariz as I'd found out. The first one was for his own life. The second being for Ayat. He ignored the second one as well as he ignored the first one and the three others after that, each accompanied with a candid picture of Ayat from different days, right before the time the threat had been sent. Just so that Fariz wouldn't think of Hassan as a coward, Mr. Lawyer had refused to hire any security for Ayat. If it had been anyone other than I who had reached her... A dull ache spread through my chest at that thought. At the visual of her hurt in any way.

I set the newspaper back on the rack and headed in the direction of my house, keeping my steps slow and lazy. Whenever Ayat found out about her father's death, I didn't want to know how bad her reaction would be.

I continued my steps until I was inside the house, silently eyeing the girl who was frantically pacing back and forth in the hall with one hand pressed to her forehead and the other on her hip. She was so deeply lost in whatever she was doing that she didn't even notice me come in.

"Princess, you're making my dizzy." I commented, walking closer to her. Her head snapped in my direction and she stopped in front of me, those brown eyes of hers glazed over. It sent a spark of confusion through me, then a whole damn current of surprise when her hand came to rest on my arm.

Could this day get any weirder? I think not. Unless she confessed how deep her love ran for me. That would probably make it the weirdest day of my existence, even if I would enjoy it.

"Look, Shaz, I don't know hat your deal is, but let me go, please. You once mentioned that you have to give ne to someone so—so just release me, okay? And I'll ask my father to give you all the money that you were supposed to get from your... exchange. I won't even go to the police, or tell anyone, just let me go." She was still hung up on this. Let me go. Those three words that I had come to hate, the words that never left her tongue.

It angered me that she still felt like a prisoner when I'd bent all my rules for her, given her everything that I had. I had even started contemplating giving her to Fariz, which was so unlike me to back out on deals. But really, I was trying to make her life as comfortable as possible before she inevitably landed in Fariz's hands because there was no escaping him once he'd set his eyes on someone.

His next target just unfortunately had to be my princess.

I shoved those thoughts aside and let my rage take reign instead as I slipped off her hand from my arm, moving away from her. Why, just why couldn't she understand that I had already given her everything I could? Releasing her wasn't an option, especially not now that her father was dead. Once she was out of my sight, she would fall right into Fariz's ring, and I would be able to do nothing to protect her.

"Stop asking that from me." My voice came out deadly calm. If she was scared, she didn't show it.

"My father will—" Flames of fury burned through me, blinding all my senses at the mention of her father again.

"Your father is dead!"