It’s what my father was doing for Javed all those years ago and taking a small cut. He was generating false invoices and overreporting. A few months later, he would transfer the clean money via a shell company.
However, I made a huge mistake.
Instead of going directly to the authorities, I chose to invite him over to my place and confront him.
“Nathan?” whispers Arya.
I blink at her, memories crashing in like a tsunami. “Didn’t I send you home last night?”
When she showed up unannounced while I was with my father, I treated her poorly. It was the only choice. I couldn’t let my father know what she meant to me.
At least, not until I put him behind bars.
Once she drove away, I made my way back to my father in the dining room. He sat back relaxed, utterly remorseless for being involved in illegal activity. He had the nerve to suggest that I do the same with Javed’s son.
I refused and threatened going to the police if he didn’t back off. He stormed out of my house lividly. Once I was alone, I drank water to calm myself down.
After that, my mind draws a blank.
“I did. But I came back,” answers Arya, gaze becoming haunted. “I knew something was off. The door to your house was open and then I found you passed out in the kitchen.”
My muscles pull taut.
“Your father poisoned you, Nathan.”
I recoil from the shock. My dad tried to kill me? My fingers go numb. However, Arya isn’t finished.
“When that didn’t work, he-” her voice cracks. “He tried to choke you in this room.”
The depth of his hatred for me renders me astounded. He despises me so much that he tried to kill me twice.Twice. I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry.
Staring at Arya, I study her bruises and go ramrod still. “My father did this to you, didn’t he?”
She sniffles. “I couldn’t let him hurt you.”
“Fuck, Ari.” My voice stutters. I pull her against my chest. “You should’ve protected yourself. Always put yourself first.”
“No.” Her head shakes side to side. “I will not stand to the side and watch a monster kill you. I would rather die protecting you.”
The fear of losing her has me tightening my hold around her. “You’re never leaving me, not even in death.”
“I thought I was too late in coming to you. He had it all planned and made it seem like a suicide. I found a half empty bottle of sleeping pills beside you. And the note. I blamed myself. I thought it was because I made you stay and pushed you too far.”
I tense when she reveals about the note. “You found the letter?”
I had pulled out the letter from where I kept it hidden in my closet. I was reading it and contemplating how to share about this with Arya before my father had shown up. In my haste, I had shoved it inside my pocket.
He must’ve found it and used the opportunity to make my death seem a suicide.
She pulls back, staring at me with a nervous and pale face. “Yes. It was real, wasn’t it?”
My stomach bottoms out and I glance away, feeling ashamed and scared at her finding out about my lowest point this way. I was gathering the courage to tell her myself.
Soft fingers graze my stubbled jaw, bringing my gaze back on sad brown eyes. She reads the truth in my eyes that my lips are too afraid to say out loud.
“You were going to take your own life at one point, weren’t you?”
I nod.
