“If you mean serious? Then yes.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Ask me if I care.”
“Do you car?—”
“Enough,” Hasan snapped. “Both of you.”
Umaima fell back into her seat while Christian didn’t even bat an eye.
Umaima was intimidated by him, which never ever happened to her
Hasan remained locked in a kind of telepathic war with Christian, both staring at each other like they could somehow hear the mysterious secrets they kept.
This has to be their first time meeting each other, but they seemed comfortable enough to be informal. In some other timeline, I might’ve been happy if Hasan easily opened up to my future husband.
“Our first order of business,” Osama began. “Is using the marriage ploy as a distraction. Starlight’s board members will be thrilled at this new addition, mostly because it means celebration and they find an excuse for it. With that?—”
“They won’t pay attention to the investigation,” Umaima added thoughtfully.
Osama spluttered over his words for a moment before clearing his throat. “Exactly, that gives us a good chunk of time to hack into the city's cameras, access their money spendings, and figure out which one of them specifically is impersonating Adelaide.”
“As well as who was involved with Ayeza’s case,” I said quietly. “It has to lead back to her.”
Christian’s voice overlapped with mine. “There could be other girls from the past. You only know of one because only she had the courage to speak up, but therecouldbe more.” He sounded certain that there were.
Disgust and nausea mixed together and created a terrible combination for a chemical reaction, exploding in a goopy consistency that blanketed my nerves. “Do you think that’s possible?”
Hasan’s eyes caught mine. “Christian’s right.”
“That means I have more work to do,” Umaima tucked invisible hairs back into her hijab. “I have to find out if the board members are all involved, if there are more cases like Ayeza’s, involving them, and hack into cameras across the city to track their movements? I think I may need a clone of myself.”
“Good thing you have one,” Osama added. “Not to brag, but I’m one hell of a computer genius.”
Umaima gave him a side eye. “Uh, okay.Sure.”
“You don’t believe me?”
She didn’t answer.
“Right,” I cleared my throat. “So, what about us? What exactly do Christian and I do besides pretend to be married?”
“First of all,” gruff and steady, Christian said. “We’re not pretending. This is real?—”
“For a year,” I clarified.
His eyes glittered with anger.
“We,” he ignored my comment. “Are going to catch your precious board members in the act.”
“What?” Shock trickled down my spine. “How do we dothat?” I turned back to Osama. “I’m not willing to put another one of my employees under risk.”
A wave of unease passed through Christian and me. Pathways of unidentifiable feelings, blocked roads, and rocky walkways—but we spoke to each other, and I understood it well.
“Seduction,” I turned my head to look right into Christian’s eyes. A flash of emotion swam through them before drowning. “You want me to seduce them.” The board members saw me as fragile and weak, the perfect female representative. They didn’t know me well. Six months wasn’t enough for that. But I could use that animosity and that unknowingness to an advantage.
He looked mad and vicious all at once.Which was weird because why was he?
