idiot," he said morosely. "You have every reason to hate me—-"
"But I can't."
"I can see that," he acknowledged unhappily, "and I probably should've expected it—-" A scraping sound behind them cut him off, and father and daughter looked at each other in startled realization. How in the world had they ended up having a moment of family drama...while forgetting that the man they both meant to kill was still in the room with them?
Mahmud could only shake his head while his daughter released a faint, rusty-sounding laugh.
"At least I meant to be efficient," he muttered under his breath, "and kill him with one shot to the head. You, however..."
Scraping noise in the background continued, with Saul struggling futilely to free himself, but both of them ignored this.
Mahmud recalled the knife he had taken from his daughter, and his features twisted in a grimace. "You would never have been able to push through with it, qalifa. God knows between that bastard and me,
we should've long starved the goodness out of you well before, but if it didn't happen then, it will never happen again...and you know why that is?"
Safiya slowly shook her head.
"Because you're a good person," Mahmud said gruffly, "just like your mother." And it was true. So damn true that the old man suddenly felt all choked up as he thought about all the years he had wasted, avoiding his own daughter instead of embracing her because with her mother's blood running through her veins—-
It was through Safiya that he could have still a part of Eloisa with him—-
Fingers gently touched his cheek, and it was only then that Mahmud realized he had been crying, and ah, to have his daughter wipe his tears when he had caused her so much pain—-
"Will you believe me," he asked hoarsely, "if I tell you that I loved your mother with all my heart?"
"Nem." Yes?
"Limaadhaa?" Why?
"Because I trust you," Safiya answered simply.
"And when I tell you that I have always loved you as well?"
Safiya could feel her eyes smarting. "D-Do you?"
Mahmud's throat tightened at the fact that his daughter could believe he loved her mother but not her, who was the sole offspring of that love. "You don't have to believe me, qalifa, but yes, I do. I have always loved you—-"
"Then I'll believe you."
"Because you trust me?"
"Nem."
"Then...may I ask that you trust your Papa one last time?"
WITHIN MINUTES OF MAHMUD calling in, father and daughter heard the wail of sirens breaking the silence of the night, and from a distance, they could already see the blinking blue and red lights of police cars coming closer.
The two of them stood on the hotel steps while behind them Mahmud's men held on to Saul, who was still gagged and struggled like a madman.
Safiya's heart began to race when she saw a big black motorbike speed past the convoy of police cars. It had been so long. So, so long since she felt her heart beat this way again that she found herself placing a hand over her chest—-
Real, she thought.
Her heart was truly pounding, and when the motorbike came to a roaring stop right in front of her and her father, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest, and it was then she knew.
Even before the biker had taken his helmet off and everyone around them had practically stopped dead to gawk upon seeing his face—-
Of course she knew.
He was her heart, after all.
Altair.
He was even more devastatingly attractive than she remembered, and his presence so tremendously larger than life that it took a while for her to realize something more important...which was that he was dressed for combat?
Stunned dark eyes flew up to the sheikh, but the princess' anxious appeal was left unnoticed, with Altair too busy doing his own staring. People were also staring at him - at them - but he didn't give a fuck about that either. All he knew...all he could think of...all he could see was her.
Safiya.
His Safiya.
His princess.
She really was here, and the realization made his head spin even faster.
A mere ten minutes ago, Altair, having made himself believe the worst, had already suited up for battle. Since the investigation had come up with nothing, he had been prepared to personally lay siege on every terrorist-owned encampment in the region. They were the last possibility, the only reason left to explain why none of his people could find her, and it was while he had been briefing his soldiers when the call came in—-
Saul.
The Sheikh