-------------- Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.
----------------------------Same day, 1:00pm.
" she still doesn't want to talk?" my voice shook as I stopped pacing outside the questioning room and stood to hear what the detective in charge of Najmah's kidnapping case had to say. " She still won't budge, we're going to use on force on her now" he answered and my blood began to boil as I looked through the glass window and my eyes met that of miss Hae Soo's minion.
She knew something about Najmah and she didn't want to say anything. My daughter was only eight months old, she needed her mother by her side.
Storming into the questioning room and beating her up till she spoke was going to help my anger subside. " Tell me where my daughter is" I snapped as I flung my hand with full force across her face. " Tell me where she is" I yelled my rage out and pushed her from the chair she was sitting to the floor and kicked her right in the stomach. She couldn't fight back because she was handcuffed.
She still wasn't saying anything. " Tell me where my daughter is" I cried as I tried lunging for her but several heavy bodies held me back. " ma'am please control yourself"
" how do you expect me to control myself when I have no idea where my daughter is" I cried louder as I tried running away from their hold to pounce on her again but they were too strong. If I struggled too much, I was probably going to end up breaking my bones. " wait outside ma'am" the detective said as I was made to sit on a chair in front of the room. I buried my head in my palms as I cried my anger.
My baby didn't deserve any of this.
Najmah was innocent.
" Faryah" Abbah's voice tried to comfort me but my heart was wounded so badly. " She'll speak up eventually" I felt his tender hold pull me closer to his chest. " Najmah doesn't deserve all of this" I could already feel my tears immerse his silk shirt. " She'll be with us soon" My eyes tightened in pain as his words lingered in my head.
All I wanted was to open my eyes and see right now was my Najmah.
------------------------Los Angeles, California.
------------------------------Zarah's surrounding, next evening, 9:00pm.
" Good evening Mrs Hamilton" I greeted loudly as I jogged past my neighbours home. My home was just a few jogs away.
Jogging at night was my thing. The weather felt cooler and more relaxed at that time. " evening Zarah" I heard her answer as I jogged away from her home.
Every night I jogged round three streets, 5 times, it was fun.
I still had to keep fit and make sure I was still very much able to fight and defend myself from the worst.
Now that I knew Pa Alejo was going to come for me very soon, I had to make sure I was properly armed anytime I was out. I had to avoid Sir Khalid to avoid any more trouble. The last thing I needed in my life right now were difficulties but on a sad note, a very sad note, I was about to face them.
I opened the gates to my home and took my time to walk in as I tried to catch my breath. I lived in a two bedroom apartment with a roommate I've only seen once in my entire life time, a girl named Veronica. The house was styled my way since she was never around and yeah, I liked the peace.
Turning on the lights, I flung off the scarf I had on, flipped my hair back and forth after unknotting it from where it sat the whole day, threw off my shoes and threw myself on the comfiest couch in the whole world and shut my eyes to inhale the pleasant smell of lavender all around.
It was all so nice and relaxing.
" You still haven't learned that the first thing you do when you get back from working out is to take a glass of water" the rate at which my eyes opened up was faster than the speed of light.
His voice always sent shivers from strands of my hair down to the tips of my 10 long toes and it still had it's way of making my heart melt.
Jerkass.
" why did you find me?" I asked as I heard his footsteps from behind me. " your father says it's time for you to come home " I hissed at those words and jumped to my feet and turned around so I could face him fully.
" Calling him my father is a wrong move yo" he hadn't changed a bit.
His hazel eyes never ceased to sparkle on its own and brighten up the flawed features of his face. His lashes long, lips curved and small, nose pointed with small brownish freckles on his fair skin. " I'm aware of that" He answered as he walked round the couch to meet me with his hoodie cap lowered and his well shaved head making him look strikingly handsome.
Too bad he was rotten to the core.
" oh Tyler" I laughed as I folded my arms, tilted my head and looked closely at him by my side. " I'm very sure you're aware that you coming here is useless"
" It's not"
" It is" I answered as he walked closer to me, not wanting to leave any distance in between the both of us. " You know I don't want you back, but orders from big boss are orders that can't be played with" He said and I moved away from him. I needed to get a hold of my gun as fast as I could.
" you want a glass of water?" I asked as I walked to the kitchen. " I'm very fine" he answered as I opened up the glass shelve and took out my pistol. I hid it there in case of any burglary attack. This was very close to it.
" You better get out of here Tyler" I snapped as I cracked my gun and pointed it towards him. His was out as well. This was definitely going to be interesting. He never won a gun fight with me.
" Girl I'm following orders, it's either you come with me peacefully or we do this the hard way"
" you know I always win when it comes to the hard ways" I smirked and shot at him as I swiftly dodged his aim. " you never learn do you?" I laughed as I ducked his second aim and stayed under the kitchen table and shot at his leg. It brushed his leg very slightly.
He was on the ground, pretending.
I got out from beneath the table and walked closer to where he laid on the ground of my living room. " I'm definitely not the right person you should pretend for" he dodged my bullet again this time as he rolled over and got up on his feet swiftly.
" I don't want to kill you, he said to bring you with no bruises so Alex, help me with that, return a favour"
" do you honestly think I'm going to go back to that damn place again after all what I did to get out?" I answered as I walked closer with my gun pointed at him. I couldn't take any chances. " look all he wants is for you to fulfil one last mission and there, you can get all the freedom in the world to sit on any thing you want" hitting him hard on the face with the butt of my gun was the only reasonable way to shut him up.
" Tyler get out, I'm not coming with you" he cleaned his bruised lip with the sleeve of his hoodie and nodded. " cool, the next time you'll see me will be at the hideout"
" or rather on your way to hell" I answered and watched him laugh.
" You haven't changed even a bit, still rude with the comebacks"
" I'm tired of talking to you Tyler, get your ass out of here and never think of coming back" I said as he turned around to leave. " You'll regret not coming peacefully with me" He opened the door and walked out of my home with his annoying laughter. I slammed the door right after him and took a look at the few things we destroyed with my back behind the door. Only a flower vase, the wall and my favourite beanbag were damaged.
Whatever Pa Alejo wanted me to do was definitely very big and was going to cause a lot of harm to a whole lot of people. If I went back there, I wasn't going to get out. I knew that for sure. The peaceful life I was living had come to an end. I really honestly didn't want it to be this soon.
I knew the time was going to come eventually but my heart wasn't prepared to be broken again.
I didn't want to hurt anyone any longer. Even if I ran away, changed my identity, do plastic surgery or turn myself to a man, they were still going to find me.
No one could hide from the Alejandro Martinez.
I groaned as I heard an annoying knock on the door on the door and turned to open it. It was definitely Tyler. " Son of a whore, I said leave and never come back" I pointed my gun as I opened it up and my eyes popped right out of their sockets as I took in the tall figure that was right in front of me. I threw the gun in my hands away as my legs became wobbly, I had lots of explaining to do. " You're working with the person that kidnapped my daughter, bombed Olyster Textiles and Faryah's business!!" oh no.
He saw Tyler leave.
Oh my Allah, no.
Why were things trying to complicate themselves. "no sir Khalid you got it all wrong" the worry in my voice couldn't be hidden at all. " Do you know how many lives you've ruined?, Zarah I trusted you come on!, why will you do this to us?!" Who wouldn't be angry.
I wasn't going to blame him. " Sir Khalid please listen to me, I'm not working with the bad guys please listen to me"
" I just saw the person who kidnapped my daughter leave your house Zarah, your house goddammit" He raged and almost hit me. " Sir Khalid, come in please, I have to explain things to you, you know me and I would never do such a thing" I cried as I looked at him from where I stood.
" no, I don't know you Zarah, in fact I have never known who you truly are, you only showed me what you wanted me to see and that's not who you are. The police are already on the trail of that man and I'm going to call them to come take you to jail. That's where you belong" he was right.
I showed everyone what I wanted them to see and not who I actually am.
" No, no you're not calling the police on me" The last place I wanted to involve my self with was the police station. " you're not going to stop.." I cut him off as he lifted his phone from his pocket and I snappily collected it from him. I was going to force him to listen to me. I hurriedly looked for the gun I threw and picked it up and pointed it at him. " raise your hands where I can see them and come in" I snapped at him. It hurt that I was doing this to someone I considered a very good friend to me. I always end up ruining my life my self. If only I stayed back at the police station that day, things would have been much more better for me.
" close the door" I said to Sir Khalid as I watched him walk in slowly with his arms up. He obeyed my door as he looked at me intently. I was too guilty to look him in the eye.
" You can't even look at me in the eye anymore, what do you want to explain to me when it's obvious you're guilty Zarah, what do you want to tell me Zarah!?"
" Shut the fuck up" I raged with my eyes closed and shot at him. Alexandra Martinez was still inside me. That person I was never left me. I only tried to bury her deep inside of me but she was still here. She never left. This was how I used to pour out my anger back then. Shooting at the sky, destroying everything I came across.
Allah knows I want to be a better person.
I rushed to where Sir Khalid groaned on my carpeted floor. I shot his arm. " I'm so sorry Sir Khalid" I cried as I tried to lift him up and he pushed me away.
I expected that.
I hurried to bring my first aid kit to get the bullet out. He was going to be fine In Sha'a Allah.
" I didn't mean to shoot you" I said as I tore off the right short sleeved hand of his shirt and shifted it so I could see what I was dealing with. " but you did"
" I was angry"
" you have no right to be angry"
" you don't want to listen to me, why jump to conclusions without listening to a perfectly good explanation, this is why your wife left you sir Khalid" I snapped as I bore my surgical scissors into his wound.
The frightening silence between us was killing me. " What do you have to say?" he asked calmly and I swallowed my saliva, took a deep breath and began talking.
Lying and hiding things from people who deserved to know the truth was just going to make things worse.
" so you're now telling me that you have an unsettled history with a drug cartel in Columbia" Sir Khalid concluded as I wrapped his shoulder with a bandage and fixed a cast on his arm. " Yeah, creepy right"
" Why is he coming for you now?"
" I have a few ideas, he's probably working with the woman behind the misfortune of your family and that explains why Tyler kidnapped Najmah, they've both joined forces to bring all of you down" I was scared for them honestly. If truly Pa Alejo was working with the Korean woman, they were going to face a whole lot of pain. " That's bad"
" very bad and it's going to be hard to take her down now that she has an outrageous amount of power by her side" I replied after I arranged my first aid box and closed it.
" You need to talk to the police Zarah"
" I really don't want to have anything to do with all this and police, if I make an attempt to enter the police station and talk, He's going to come for me and I definitely don't want that" I panicked as I took my first aid kit back to my room.
" would you prefer an eight months old child die because of your selfish wants?" That hit my heart. I was looking out for the good of myself. " you know you can't run away from him, you said it yourself he knows your every move, and he wants you now, he wants you to cause harm on my family that's why he wants you. You're the perfect person to give him insight on all what we know about them" I didn't realize that Sir Khalid was this smart.
" you have to go to the police Zarah, they're going to protect you"
" No, the police are the last people that can protect me, I can only protect myself" I answered as I threw myself on the couch and sighed heavily. I didn't know what I was going to do. I couldn't run and I couldn't go back to him.
I was stranded.
I really needed a solution to all this. I was tired honestly.
" The only way to be free from him is to join forces with the police and take him down, when he's down you can live your life freely Zarah, you can do all what you want" I swallowed his words as I looked up at my ceiling. There was something there. I could see a tiny red light flaunting it self right there, high above my door.
Tyler.
I quickly got a hold of my gun and shot at it. " there could be more of that" ugh.
I should have known he did that. He was watching and listening to all what I was doing. " Sir Khalid you have to leave, open the third drawer below the TV stand and take the gun you see there, you know how to use it right?" I ordered as I looked carefully round the house for anything suspicious. " I guess I do"
" You need to protect yourself with that all times, be cautious of your whereabouts and people who mingle with you"
" why're you telling me all this?" He was holding the gun I asked him to take now. " You're not safe here, leave"
" what about you?"
" I can handle myself sir Khalid thanks for worrying, just leave and be very careful"
" will you go to the police?"
" Sir Khalid get out of here" I said as I walked into the kitchen and looked around. There was a small mic underneath the kitchen table. " be careful" I heard him say as I removed the mic and held it in my hands.
I watched him walk out the door and I hurriedly rushed to lock it. I walked to back door and locked it as well. If it meant I had to turn my house upside down in search for cameras and mic's, I was going to.
It was high time I prepared for battle. I was going to bring Pa Alejo down In Sha'a Allah, I was too young and naive back then but now everything is different.
Completely different.