Salaam Sweetheart's,

I miss all my readers terribly and the connection I shared with a few. As it is very precious to me. Things have been a little messed up lately on my side and I have been very irregular in my updates, but I sincerely hope that my genuine motivators will continue to send me love.

Loads of love.

Enjoy the chapter 💕

Dedicated to deena_harif
sumaiyafathima15
chocoffee99
ChocolateAndChill

'There is no point in waiting any longer,' The receptionist flashed her a irritated look.

'But -- it's important.'

'It doesn't matter. I did warn you that Mr. Ahmed wouldn't be available as he's exceptionally busy during office hours.'

Zera had considered visiting his house but after the previous incident she did not possess the heart to step inside the territory and however Sameera had left too.

She had to see him. It seemed like she couldn't control her anxiety anymore. She needed to confide about the Journal to someone and after a whole night of thinking she had decided to make Izaan her ally.

However, she wasn't going to confide everything just like that. First she would have to make sure that he is trustworthy and only then she planned to make the next move.

She inhaled deeply to calm herself and began contemplating better ideas to achieve her goal.

Her breakfast was left behind untouched as she couldn't swallow a single morsel without feeling nauseous. The more she thought about the Journal and the green bag the more sick she felt.

On the dot of time, she had entered the Ahmed group of companies. Five hours on, she was still on the ground floor of a twenty-six storey building. Perhaps it was naive of her to hope that he would meet her, but unfortunately she held no other choice.

Her surroundings reeked of expense and elegance, even the receptionist wore a mantle of superiority, Zera glanced at her old abaya and felt completely out of place. She tried to smoothen the fabric with her palms, trying to make it look a little more appealing, but the act resulted in vain.

'Miss khan?' It was the receptionist again. 'If you are prepared to wait for a few more hours, Mr Ahmed may be able to see you. It's not definite though so don't get your hopes high,' She warned, 'His secretary is trying to squeeze you in before nightfall.'

Ironically, that condescension sent fury hurling through Zera's viens and she replied through clenched teeth, 'How very kind of him.'

'You can wait on the top floor outside his office,' She was told frigidly.

As she walked through the office the whole atmosphere made her feel more nervous and she began scolding herself internally for her foolish decision of meeting Izaan.

As she entered the top floor, a woman in black suit looked her over covertly. All the wait and lack of food had taken a toll on her and she appeared a complete mess. Perspiration beaded her forehead and she wiped it away clumsily.

The woman smirked at her and it took a lot of her willpower to not turn on her heels and make a clean exit. By the end of another few hours, she was a limp rag. All her carefully thought out opening speech and follow ups seemed to have deserted her. By now, she was convinced, that this was the most idiotic decision of her entire life.

'Mr Ahmed will see you now.'

Gulping, she scrambled upright, hating him for making her wait and reducing her to a bag of nerves.

A chick looking woman greeted her at the foot of the corridor, 'I'm afraid that he can give you only ten minutes.'

Ten minutes to narrate the most deadliest reality of her situation? She hung on a hysterical howl of laughter. Ten minutes was better than nothing, and knowing her present state of mind, she would need ten minutes to just gather herself.

Double doors spread open to wide office. An acre of plush carpet stretched before her and she inhaled deeply. Her fists closed tightly onto the loose fabric of her abaya and she urged herself to keep moving.

She had waited for too many hours to give up at this moment. A huge desk with a computer and stack of files came to her view and she remembered her last meeting, when she called him a jerk and left huffing.

Her skin dampened. Izaan was in view now. More handsome than she remembered.

She was welcomed by a coldly polite smile, 'Start speaking,' Izaan instructed.

'How dare you make me wait for an entire day? Do you think the world revolves around you because you possess an obscene amount of wealth,' She surprised herself by her sudden outburst. What had she done?

'I'm sure that you'll understand that I'm not being rude when I ask you to brief,' He replied glancing at his watch.

'I should never have come to you. For a moment I had forgotten what a arrogant snob you are.' She was rapidly loosing control and acting completely opposite from her self prepared act.

A satiric brow elevated, 'Don't you think that you have more self-importance than necessary.'

'Who are you to decide that?' Zera pressed with spirit.

Izaan lounged back in his swivel chair, insultingly unsurprised by the verbal assault. Far too perspective eyes of gold ran over her flushed face, 'Exactly why are you here?' he asked, politely ignoring her outburst.

'I---'

'Yes,' Izaan dealt her a narrowed gaze.

'I accept to take the position as your secretary,' She blurted in a single go.

*~*~*~*

Shimaq drifted through the study, digesting the minute details of the room.  He then began a quick and neat search for the recording, which he intended to get his hands on before someone else had the previlige of spilling it's content in public and ruining his life forever. Shimaq smiled to himself, he did not need to worry, being calm was his only mantra to achieve the impossible. No one in this entire universe possessed the power of disguise which mached his and therefore no amount of proof would be enough to bare his list of crimes under any official law.

On his right was a huge cupboard containing stacks of files and without wasting any more time, he began flicking through them, but was entirely disappointed when he couldn't find anything of use.

A box at the center of the table gleemed with fancy pendrives, he snatched them in a hurry and deposited them inside his coat. Shimaq felt that he had wasted a lot of his precious time and was about to turn on his heels when a bulletin board caught his attention, which had all the news clippings of Thufail's murder and a few photos attached to it.

He mouthed the headlines. Every paper read the same rag rumours but one of the photo made his heart flutter. It was the picture of Zera and Thufail on Sameera's wedding night.

Why had Izaan connected that picture to this case?

There had to be some missing link and Shimaq would find that out before Izaan would even think of it. He smiled to himself as his memory went back to the job offer he had provided the girl. She had looked very naive and suited perfectly well for the role he would assign her.

It hadn't gone unnoticed that she hadn't turned up for the job he had offered and his resources had notified him that she had just entered Izaan's office. There had to be more to their connection than co-incidence.

~*~*~*~

He walked through the deadly silence of his home, unable to forget the deadly shriek of the dying man.

Never had he considered himself to turn into a murderer. Life had been extremely cruel and never given him an opportunity to prove his worth.

It was frustrating to hear people say how worthless he was. He had done poorly in academics and his professional life had never picked speed.

They had labelled him as the black sheep of the family and he couldn't bear to live the rest of his life in the same situation.

When that stranger had called him for an interview and complemented on his skills, he had been beyond ecstatic, and the pay had been something he hadn't ever dreamt off. It had felt like everything was going to change for the best and he had grabbed the opportunity as soon as he could.

He looked at his blood stained shirt which he had kept hidden in his cupboard and shuddered as another piercing scream travelled through his skull.

He had murdered an innocent soul and it was going to be the kiss of death for him.

Unfortunately, he couldn't escape now, he was trapped for lifetime and there would be many others whose life would change for better or worse.