Last First Chance (Al-Ameen Family Spin-Off)

Company

ONE MONTH LATER

"And then?" I ask impatiently, almost climbing onto Naina's lap in my excitement.

"Nothing, I can't tell you all the confidential details of a case. At least not while Namrata's here," she winks teasingly. I fall into the couch with a dramatic frown.

"Why you are both working so late?" Namrata huffs. "Don't you have lives?"

"Armaan's out with his cousins. I don't know about Maheen though. She's just withering her youth away," Naina cackles. I throw a piece of popcorn at her face.

"Don't be mean Naina," Namrata chuckles, patting me on the back. "She's single and alone. Don't rub salt in her wounds."

"I'm fine you two, thank you for your concern," I scowl. Naina grins knowingly at me. Of course, Namrata had no idea that even though I was alone, I wasn't technically single.

Truly though, I was fine. In these last two months, Hasan's mom didn't really try to keep in touch either but thankfully his cousins were much more welcoming, and Hina would come over at least once a week to hang out with my cat and keep me company.

I really felt like I had discovered myself. Hasan and I checked in with each other regularly and he always made sure I was comfortable and taken care of. He allowed me the freedom to make myself feel at home in his flat and I began to understand what Maheen really wanted out of life.

What we did not talk about however was what happened on that balcony in Spain.

I was waiting to see if he would bring it up, but he never did. I guess for him it was also an experience to be had, but not discussed further, which is fair. I did say that I didn't want it to mean anything.

"Maheen," Naina gets my attention. I realize Namrata's gone to the bathroom so it's just us two in the office lounge area working late on some cases. "How are you doing without him?"

"Honestly Naina, I am okay. Hasan's given me the freedom to live my life without any restrictions, I owe him so much for that. I do miss the company though. My brother went back to the States weeks ago as well. It's just me and my cat at home."

"You should come over more often."

"And watch you and your husband be all cute and shit? I'd rather watch my cat clean his butt all day," I snicker.

Us three were helping Hasan's team out with their case. After Naina discovered that Armaan's family business was being corrupted by some management in their Dubai hotels, she did a deeper dive into the finances of it all with the help of some of her new in-laws who were senior level partners in their hotel chains. They discovered a whole slew of managers throughout their Middle East hotels who were taking illegal money from criminals in return for the hotels being used as criminal stomping grounds.

After a bunch of press releases and a major audit of all their businesses, the Al-Ameen family business was back on track.

During all this however, Naina found some leads into a human trafficking case that she passed on to folks here. Hasan and his supervisor dug deeper to find young girls being sent to the UK under the guise of houseworkers and they launched an investigation. Hence, Hasan's extended stay in Dubai.

"I don't think we're ever going to figure this out," Namrata groans, slamming a file shut and learning her head back on the couch exhaustedly.

I pick up the file and skim through it before she can stop me.

"Why don't you cross-reference geo tags from Snapchat and see if it aligns with where suspects have been seen. Maybe get someone undercover?"

Naina, who was busy texting a few seconds ago, suddenly jerks her head up. "That's a great idea."