Shiloh paused for a beat.
‘However, Zolan is coping with a lot. His clan is under pressure. Some young men in his family are choosingkokodealing and refusing an honest living. It’s like a dark cloud thatfokkin’ settled over them, dragging them down into a world of quick fixes and easy money and shrouding them in a fog of addiction and deceit. He says many of them are walking on a tightrope between numbness and drug highs. Caught in a downward spiral fueled by desperation and a hollow craving for instant gratification. He’s working so hard to get help for his people, Saba. I see how much effort he puts in, and it’s only made me fall more in love with him.’
Saba shook her head in disbelief.
‘What of the rumors that Zolan is a master manipulator? I’ve met him, hon, and his charm is as lethal as his ambition, a deadly combination. Even Mak got manipulated into thinking he was flirting with me, which was his cover-up for seeing me.’
‘It’s all myth. It’s his mask, one he wears to fool the world,’ Shiloh countered.
‘Shiloh, you’re saying he’s two-faced?’
She leaned in.
‘He’s driven and willing to do whatever it takes to save his clan and secure the future of the Asivan family.’
‘Listen to me,’ Saba interrupted, her voice cutting through her ire. ‘Where you find smoke, there’s fire, and he may not be who you think he is. You have to work out if he has your back or is manipulating you for his gain.’
Shiloh’s gaze faltered.
‘I know he loves me; I know what we share is real.’
Saba shook her head, her heart aching for her twin sister’s misplaced trust.
‘Shiloh, no matter your decision, you must take care of yourself.’
A shadow passed over Shiloh’s face.
‘I am. He also cares for me, and I love him for it,’ she whispered. ‘Nothing you can say to convince me.’
‘Did you run from your nuptials because you loved him, or he begged you to?’ Saba asked, suspicion rising in her.
That was one of the questions Saba had itched to ask since the wedding.
Shiloh shook her head.
‘Nada. I chose Zolan of my own volition.’
Saba sighed.
‘You’d better have, seeing as you’re having his baby. But you have to be true to yourself, Shiloh. If he’s not safe, you need to leave.’
‘I can’t abandon him, not now.’
Saba’s heart ached for her sister, for the tangled web of choices and consequences her twin was living with.
Shiloh’s resolution and mad love for Zolan set off a chain of events that threatened to unravel the community. But she was family, and there was no hell in which she’d forsake her now. She also had to respect her decisions.
She told her, ‘Woman, you know I’ll support you in your choice as long as I know you’re not being forced or coerced.’
Shiloh smiled at her, a glimmer of hope shining through her tears.
‘Sante. He’s not the ogre everyone thinks that he is.’
Her sister’s words hung heavy in the air, her confession revealing the depths of her entanglement with Zolan.
Saba noted the love and fear warring within her, a precarious balance that threatened to tip at any moment.
As much as she wanted to protect her from potential harm, she was well aware that intervening with reckless abandon might push her further away.
