Page 31 of The Forbidden Husband

His voice had taken a solemn turn. His demeanor shifted to one of remorse, and I watched as his steps slowed at a central apartment.

“What’s here?” I asked as he paused for a second too long outside the door.

“The real reason I brought you.”

He knocked and footsteps pounded through the apartment. Children, lots of them, by the sound of it. A muffled shout came on the other side of the door before it swung open and revealed a young woman in an apron and a tank top. Her skin was greasy from sweat, and sadness danced in her eyes as if it had taken residence there. Through the sadness, though, she offered Enzo a smile.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” she said in heavily-accented English. Her tone had a Middle Eastern lilt, and her dark complexion and hair only validated my assumption. “I have food. Come, both of you.”

She left no room for argument as she swept Enzo and me into her home.

“I made stew. Mushroom and potato. It was all we had left after this week. It is very good.”

I nodded with a forced smile as Enzo pulled her to a halt. “How is everything?”

Her eyes darted around her disorganized kitchen and the mess of toys strewn across her living room floor before she smiled sadly and nodded, tears welling in her eyes. “It is good. We are okay.”

“What can I do to help?”

She shook her head and wiped away the tears on the back of her hand. “Don’t make me cry. Not around the kids. Eitan didn’t like tears.”

“Who is Eitan?” I found myself asking.

Almost as if realizing for the first time I stood there, she stiffened and gave me a less sincere smile. “My husband.”

“He isn’t coming home.”

The little voice that said the words came from the living room of the cramped living space, and I looked over at her. Her eyes held the same sadness as her mother's, and it was far more tragic to see the remorseful expression behind young eyes. Behind innocent ones.

I wanted to ask what happened, but it didn’t feel right when the loss was so recent.

Instead, I said something different. “He must have been a wonderful man to have achieved so much love from both of you.”

Enzo gave me a sidelong glance, and I met his eyes, unable to decipher what it was in his expression. Surprise, but something else too. Something deeper. Interest, maybe?

“Mommy says bad guys sent him to the sky.”

The woman chuckled under her breath and turned her face away as a single tear fell down her cheek. “He is very loved.”

Is.

I didn’t correct her tenses as I nodded.

“A brutal mob attack killed him—one initiated by your father and his men. It was the same night as our wedding, actually. Coordinated, from what I can tell. I woke up to the messages of what happened.”

My mouth fell open. I was internally cursing him for leaving me alone for so long after the wedding, and he’d been… here. Hehad been taking care of these people and likely the ones who had been killed.

Enzo continued without waiting for a response. “Someone in your family has been spreading lies about our people—about the ways we’ve been targeting you. And it leads to vicious attacks like this. I’m going to make sure that stops.”

I knewexactlywhat lies he was talking about.

I even knew the man who had likely led this attack.

I had seen him in my father’s office weeks ago, thankful that something would “finally be done” about the loss of his wife.

“How many people?” I asked, my voice breaking with the words.

“Seventeen.”

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