Page 104 of Heart of a Villain

Then, they faced each other and said, “Just how much Hallmark do you watch?”

They shared a laugh, and Sayeda did what she found herself doing often—she watched Ayesha. Stared at her. She took in the soft angles of her face and the identical hue of their skin and irises, and she wondered what life would have been like had they never been separated. These days, however, that thought was overshadowed by what life would have been like had they never reunited.

Their laughter died.

They eased further into the cushions, the massive blanket creating a bridge between them.

“That’s how we start,” Ayesha said. “And we’ll go at your pace. We’ll follow your lead. I’ll be there for you for as long as it takes.”

“What if it’s years and years?”

“Then I’m sorry you’ll have to be stuck with me for so long.”

Sayeda smiled. “I’m not.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

Adrían spun the amber bottle on the table in front of him, condensation running down its sides. Due to the time, the hotel’s rooftop lounge area was mostly empty. The temperature that night was perfect, but heat continued to consume him.

She should have told him.

He’d known it was something, but he hadn’t guessed that. It had been his belief that if she’d endured something that atrocious, she would have told him. She wouldn’t have let him make love to her in the middle of the woods like a fucking animal.

Joel took a seat at the table.

Neither one exchanged any words.

When the quiet grew too heavy with the burden he was already carrying, Adrían asked, “You’re not going to make a comment about me drinking beer this early?”

“You’re not going to ask why I’m here?”

“Because your wife is in my hotel suite, probably sleeping with my girlfriend.”

Joel scratched at his jaw. “I only accept that sentence because they’re related.”

“You’d be upset with Ayesha and another woman?”

“I barely want her to read romance novels.”

Adrían huffed a dry laugh and raised the bottle. “Touché.”

There were already noises from the harbor below. The skyline was beginning to transition from dark to pink, highlighting wisps of stringy clouds that stretched to the other side of the city. For a moment, it felt like he was plucked out of time, and he half expected to peer down to the ground level and see steamships and horse-drawn wagons.

He’d had plans to watch the sunrise with Sayeda, Sayeda wrapped in his arms in one of the lounge chairs tucked in the corner. She could be done with them if she wanted to try. But there was no end for them except death, and it was a death that wouldn’t come for a long time. In no version of their life together would he not get back the years they’d lost and then some.

“Oh, how is Mo?” he asked.

Joel yawned and scrubbed a hand down his face. “She’s okay. She didn’t even have to get stitches, but?—”

“Lorenzo assaulted Sayeda.”

Joel sat up straighter in his seat, all traces of sleep gone. “When you say assaulted…”

“I mean, I don’t want to use the other word.”

“Motherfucker…”

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