2ElenaThe first thing they teach you at police officer training when you are given a handgun with a small caliber is to always monitor the safety. Always keep the safety on when you are not aiming at something or someone you want to kill. If it’s off, then you plan to kill the person. One of my agents rasped through the hidden mail van into my earpiece. “Target A is moving towards the club. Agent Zero and Three, take position.”“Copy that.” I rolled my neck and flexed my shoulder, happy to find the comforting weight of two pistols in my holsters. I unzipped the puffer coat and blew air on my cupped hands. Agent Three, Daniel, stayed alert on my side wearing sunglasses and taking my hand in his when potential suspects, members of the gang whose leader we were about to catch, walked past us. It was a cloudy day in Manhattan, New York. We had planned to catch Antonio Fazio, a dangerous gang and drug ring leader. Rumors of his goonies murdering, raping, torturing people who wanted ou
3ZayedI could taste the hot, citrusy air, the smell of sand, leather and the warmth of sunlight as sweat slid down my back, pressing against my light shirt when I moved over the horse. Clenching the reins, I directed the horse towards the sand dunes, the ends of my hair that curled out of my keffiyeh ruffled with the wind, and I wondered if I deserved it all. The freedom, being a Sheikh, or the air that I breathed. Guiding the horse, I breathed loudly and patted his mane, switching from the fast gallop to silent walk in the empty desert. The bleeding sunset painted the barren land with tints of yellow, orange and red, its heat blistering, but I relished in it. Thoughts of Azmia, the upcoming wedding, safety of my friends, filled my head. My hands tightened on the reins as I tried to relax, thinking about my childhood. ***My stomach growled at seeing the buttered bread at the shop. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, hoping for a miracle that it would be full of gold coins. But mir
4ElenaThe room was in chaos. And not the people running around and everything falling apart in disarray. One of my guards was lying on the floor, clutching his side, the doctor and two nurses cowering in the corner. I kept my gun pointed at the nurse who entered during my phone call. She was standing beside Antonio’s bed, the heart machine beeping and going towards flatline. Smells of medicine and blood lingered in the air. “Close all the gates in building A,” I spoke to my ear piece, keeping my aim steady. “Call backup and stay on the guard. We have—”“Now, now,” the woman spoke, her voice soft yet firm, flashing her hazel brown eyes at me. Her hair and face was covered, but I could notice the intense emotions swirling in her eyes. “There’s no need for backup, Agent Elena. I am not here to hurt anyone.”“How old are you?” I asked her instead, flickering my eyes at the slit on Antonio’s throat, his eyes half open. He was dead. So it must be a personal matter that she came here to k
5ZayedI dreamt of emerald eyes and an endless sea of blood. The thick metal taste hovering in the air, salt of silent tears and the warmth of a small body pressed against mine with our hands covered in sticky blood. A shift beside me woke me up with a gasp, my hand already fisting the hilt of the knife underneath the pillow. My chest heaved and sweat ran down my temple, my heart pounding in my ribs, my head throbbing with the headache. Taste of alcohol and muskiness of last night’s activity made me present. The woman moved, her dark curls brushing over the arch of her spine as she hugged a pillow in her sleep, unaware that I was seconds away from hurting her. Harming her. The same person who had charmed her into the bed she was sleeping in. Fuck. That was a close call. I let go of the hilt and hid the dagger, its blade sharp enough to pierce any armor, in the nightstand drawer and leaned back on the headboard. I willed myself to calm down and passed a hand over my face. Thankful
6ElenaThe marble clacked under the heels of my boots. Stone pillars and golden chandeliers lined the ceiling of the marble pathway to the cabins of Omar Ali. One of the most powerful Sheikhs of Azmia—well, the second most powerful, considering the most powerful, is a cranking idiot, Zayed. But Omar Ali was the oldest and the smartest one. My father.My fist clenched and felt the brush of balmy, dry air that somehow hovered in the middle of April.“How nice of you to finally visit your family,” Ahmed, our advisor, scrunched his nose as I ventured inside my father’s room. “How nice of you to invite me to my home for the first time in twenty years,” I replied with a saccharine smile, the feel of the pistol on my back making it tolerable. Without the metal impression of it, I would feel as if I was not in my own skin.My mother, who was walking ahead of us, came to a halt and turned towards me, her expensive gown, clanking jewelries and her frowned face, glaring up at me. Her golden ha
7ZayedAs soon as I heard the stutter of the guard, I knew something was very, very wrong. The eerie feeling hovered around me, clinging to my skin as I marched towards the Court Room. Zain’s words rang in my head. How he had commanded the guard to make sure everyone was safe before asking me to stay with him. Too bad I didn’t know how to listen to him. I was breathless from the run from his study to the Court Room, eager to see what the whole commotion was about. The morning sun was disappearing behind the clouds when I entered the throne room. Guards had already secured the area with guns strapped to their hips and talking to their ear-pieces to find who did—Who did what?“Sheikh Zayed, the area isn’t safe yet. Please stay in—” I cut off the guard with a raised brow and a smirk. “I don’t like to repeat myself, Aatif. Let me through.”Even though I had prepared myself to see the worst, the sight that met me made my stomach clench. The fruits I had for breakfast turned rotten. It
8Elena“Did you check for any clue outside the Palace?” I asked one guard from the earpiece. “There must be something if Zayed bled so much.” So much so that the idiot couldn’t stop babbling nonsense until his body drowned him into unconsciousness. “Nothing, ma’am. We will look again in the morning.”I disconnected the earpiece and sighed, staring at the man on the bed. How could he look like an angel while he is sleeping and a devil when he is awake? Seeing him fall with his blood dripping down the wound had made me want to punch him after I made sure he was okay. Why did he have to run after the murderer and get himself stabbed? Idiot. I closed the glass doors of the balcony to stop the cold breeze from waking him up. Doctors had checked up on him while I stayed in the earshot with Zain and Khalid. He was stabbed in his liver and he would get better in a few weeks. He was lucky that the murderer hadn’t stabbed him in his pancreas or worse—his heart. I dimmed the lantern lights
PART TWO“You are a fool if you think I would ever let you fall, my darling witch.” 9ZayedThere was blood on my hands. My face and my new tunic that Salman Al Latif had given me. He was going to get mad. I heard a sniffle and moved my head to see the little girl with golden hair looking at the man at our feet. “Are you hurt?” I asked her, her pretty green eyes blinking at me. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, and I didn’t like the sight of a frown on her face. I didn’t know why, but I just knew I didn’t. “No, I am not hurt.” Her voice was so small compared to when I had heard it before. The scream that tore from her throat, asking for help when I had found her in the dark unlit room held by that stranger. I stepped closer to her and raised my hand. I didn’t move when she eyed my hand, wondering if I would hurt her too. I didn’t want to hurt her. Never hurt her. But I didn’t want to scare her either. The little girl didn’t move or get scared when I touched her cheek with my finge