LIMITLESS

Chapter XXVI

Liban and Rayan talked often. Whenever alone, they would whisper and talk about other girls that had lived there. He told her about himself and the other guys.  He even advised her on what to do and what not to do while they held her there. But to her dismay, he never offered her any information about what was going on. He never told her who was involved and why they were doing this to her. She tried piecing the situation together herself. Her best guess was that this was Bayden's way of getting revenge on her for the whole Hakeem situation. She asked Liban a million times, but all he did was shrug. She had even asked him a few times to let her leave.

"I promise, we can make it seem like an accident." she whispered. "Tell them that you dozed off, and by the time you woke up I was gone."

"Are you crazy?" he asked. "I'm not throwing myself under the bus for you. You're lucky that I'm even being this kind. If you try and put me at risk so that you can escape, I'll easily turn on you and treat you like the rest of them do."

Rayan had been gone for so long that she had lost track of the days. She had grown hopeless. She felt as if she was never going to escape. These guys never left her unattended and were always strapped. Bayden must have been paying them a lot. The more she thought about it, the dumber she felt for ever befriending her. But she couldn't be blamed, she was desperate for a friend after losing Hani. She tried not to think of Asad and Samiya too much, due to the fact that she would burst into tears every time they crossed her mind. She missed her family so much. She prayed that they were safe and that they were looking for her. Rayan hoped that Asad was searching for her. She had faith that her husband would never give up. Little did she know, he was too busy coping with the situation himself.

                                 ...

"Thank you for all of your help." Asad said to Bayden. She had been coming over daily and helping with Samiya. "I don't think that I would have been able to do this alone."

"It's no problem. I actually enjoy this." she smiled. "She is such a sweet baby. I wish that I could spend all of my time with her."

Asad looked terrible. He hadn't smiled since the day that Rayan left. Weeks had passed and he was growing exhausted and physically ill. His family was worried. They regretted Rayan's whole existence and wished that they had never let her into their family so soon. They visited him and Samiya everyday, along with Rayan's father. But he was still skeptical. He wasn't sure if it was his love for his daughter or if he was just too smart to accept the fact that Rayan would run off with another man, but he knew that couldn't have been the reason. He called her cell phone everyday, he made numerous social media accounts just to message her, and he stayed up all night praying that his daughter would come back soon.

"I talked to Rayan's father earlier. He suggested that Rayan might have left because she was depressed. Did you get that vibe from her?" he asked. Samiya had gone to bed and the two of them were now talking in the living room.

"Not really." Bayden shrugged. "But those things are kind of hard to tell over the phone."

"I did some research and found that depression is common in women after having a baby. If that's the case, I wish that she would have talked to me instead of running off."

"I don't know. Maybe she just didn't feel ready for all of this." Bayden explained. "She got married and had a child at the age of eighteen. That's a lot."

"Nobody made her do it, though."

"Think about it, Asad. If it wasn't you she would have had to marry somebody else. I hate to say this, and it might come off as a bit harsh. But maybe she just settled for the most convenient option. If it weren't for you, it probably would have been Hakeem in this situation."