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His cousin and arch nemesis had confessed that he’d sent Carnant and create a scandal large enough to stop Farooq’s rise to the succession Tareq had snickered that their uncle’s latest decree had thrown a sabot in the cogs of his treachery, turning a pregnancy into an asset, not a liability, forcing hi board to think of so

It had all made sense to Farooq then From the moment he’d seen her to the ht it had

It had been only hours ago that he’d learned the full truth

Another tidal wave of eled for control, had never even contemplated its loss He’d been born in control, of hies and desires were his to command, never the other way around Then there was Carht of her, had lost his discretion while drowning in her pleasures, had almost lost his restraint upon her desertion

Noas a hairsbreadth froain

He leaned his forehead on the door, forced inhalations into his spastic lungs, order into his frenzied thoughts, willing the blinding seizure to pass

It tookhih control to settle a seh to make him reach a resolution

He’d never let her affect hio in, take what he wanted As he always did

He straightened, set his teeth with great precision and alh her doorbell

Carh it al for her super to come fix the short-circuit in the laundry rooo

But it was the way the bell rang that had made her jump It had almost…bellowed, for lack of a better description Maybe it was about to give, too, and that sound was its dying throes?

Sighing, she checked Mennah’s monitor and the wireless receiver clipped to her jeans’ waist On her way to the door, she save up in reeter hat her super got for cole mother with a dozen chores behind her and a shower still in her future

Fixing a s to be thanks for his arrival if no thanks for his delay, she opened the door

Her heart didn’t stop immediately

It went on with its rhythm for a moment, the kind that simulated hours, before it lost the blood it needed to keep on pus Then it stopped

And everything else hurtled, screeched, into consciousness