Page 55 of Heart of a Villain

She rode with Ayesha, but before she left, Mo gave her a hug that cemented the fact that she wouldn’t be leaving this place. Like back at the Chamas mansion, the only way she would leave would be in a body bag, but the difference was that she wanted to be here. Here, she was free to be herself, to come and go.

Here, she could heal.

“Can I turn that up?” she asked, pointing to the SUV’s middle console. “One of my coworkers in Dominica used to play Keyshia Cole on repeat at the restaurant.”

“Be my guest,” Ayesha said. “It’s one of Larke’s legendary playlists. She’s probably already working on yours. I’ll let her know you like this song.”

Sayeda hummed a few notes.

Ayesha raised an eyebrow. “So, Miss Seda, a little birdie told me you sing?”

“I do a little something,” she teased.

Ayesha playfully cleared her throat before humming the same notes, mirroring her pitch, and even their voices sounded the same. At first, she’d believed there was a good chance they could be sisters, but they had too many similarities to be just sisters.

A smile slowly formed on her face, and it had been so long that it felt foreign, like someone had covered her mouth, cheeks, and chin in oil using a paint roller.

“Eesh, you know I’ve got to show out now, right?” she said.

“Two-part harmony?” Ayesha asked.

“Two-Part Harmony could have been our girl group name.”

Ayesha chuckled.

They sang the next verse together, and soon, her small, timid movements became bold and colorful. Singing with Ayesha took her back to the West Indies, listening to the lyrics while serving callaloo and thinking about the man she was always thinking about.

When the song finished, they shared a laugh.

She turned the volume down and shifted in her seat to stare out the window, contentedly tapping a rhythm on her stomach.

“How was it today, by the way?” Ayesha asked. “Not too overwhelming, I hope.”

“Not at all,” she said, injecting her voice with as much enthusiasm as she felt. “I loved it. Mo’s an amazing instructor.”

“I single-handedly owe that woman my life, especially because of her sleight-of-hand techniques.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

Gothenburg was the closest major city to what she’d personally dubbed the Alpha Compound. Once they left the city, it would be a vast stretch of beautiful countryside, and she could barely wait for the first thatch of green to come bursting through the window.

Recently, she’d started playing with the idea of asking about the house. Once Wren and Thanasis left, it would be only her and Adrían. Depending upon how long he planned to stay in Sweden, it could eventually be just her. If it was no one’s house at the moment, she wondered what it would take for it to become hers. She still had some of the million euros Adrían had left her, and she’d already started looking for a position at a restaurant.

“Has Julien said anything to you about the swab?” she asked.

Ayesha sighed. “No, nothing. I’m nervous. Are you nervous?”

Sayeda turned in her seat and tucked one leg underneath her. “Oh my god, yes. I mean, neither one of us has any family left, not really. Imagine how wild it would be. Do you look like your father?”

“Yes. One hundred percent. My aunt used to joke that it was like my mother’s genes didn’t even show up when roll was being called for my DNA.”

Sayeda chuckled. “Well, what was his name? My father’s name is Aron. At least, I think his name is Aron. Everything in my mother’s files points to a man named Aron Price as possibly being my father.”

They came to a stoplight.

Ayesha’s head snapped around. “Aron Price is my father’s name.”

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