Beau Monde ✅

Chapter 30

"—Are you here to finish my husband off, huh?" She added, her eyes narrowed. "Is stealing that much money from him not enough for you?" She didn't bother to hide the distaste in her tone.

I didn't say anything regarding her last statement. I won't deny knowing anything about it, but at the same time, she won't believe me if I were to speak on that so I ignored it. I also won't ask how she knew about it.

Unlike her husband, she's always been one to see things up close even if she doesn't seem like it. Perhaps, if he had listened to her and taken her input more, we wouldn't be here.

Instead of going down that lane, I decided to simply state my reason for showing up. "Your son murdered Saif." I stated calmly, though every time I even think about it, I'm anything but internally.

If I wasn't certain before, the way her eyes dilated simply proved that he indeed is the culprit. She swallowed thickly, blinking repeatedly. "I don't know what you're talking about." She outright denied it. What was I expecting anyway? She obviously wouldn't give her son away that easily.

"He also killed Nailah's twin, didn't he?"

She took a staggering step back, her eyes dilated even more. She parted her lips to say something, then closed it again gaping like a fish. "H—how did y-you find out about that?" She questioned in a shaky voice.

I let out a humorless chuckle, shaking my head in the process. "This is the second time he's killing someone, and you planned on turning a blind eye to it." I've been trying to understand this logic of theirs, but I simply can't.

We are talking about murder here. They kill people and pretend as if they've done nothing wrong.

His father did it, and now him as well. What kind of screwed up family was I born into?

She was quick to shake her head hastily, taking a step closer to me as she reached her hand out to hold mine—it took everything in me not to snatch it away. "Please, p-please...I'm pleading with you...please keep this a secret." She swallowed thickly, her eyes glossing over. "No one can find out about this...please. He's all I have left."

I would've pitied her, if not that hearing her say those words to me felt like mockery.

He's all she has? How can she say that to my face?

What did her husband leave me with, huh? He wanted me dead as well. And she could even look into my eyes and say that.

Unable to hold myself back, I left out a scoff and looked away.

"Muhammad." She called out carefully, making me turn around slowly to look at her. What did she just say? She searched my eyes, as if looking for a confirmation of her words. "You're Muhammad, aren't you?" Though she was asking, it was already clear she knows the answer to her question.

I had a lot of expectation from her, and yet, all it took was that question to have me frozen in my spot. She knew...

I mean, it's a given that at least one of them could've recognized me, they've known me for twenty years anyway. However, ten years has been such a long time, and I know I've changed quite a lot. It seemed almost hard to recognize me, though not impossible.

She darted her tongue out to wet her chapped lips, her desperate eyes never leaving mine as she tightened her hold around my hand. "I know you are. And you know better than anyone that your cousin, Imran is not psychologically fit."

I know that.

I've known since we were kids that he wasn't well. He had a lot of mental highs and lows when we were kids—and I know that he still isn't well.