“Excuse me?”
I met her gaze. “You lost a baby—and that’s awful, I can’t even imagine. But what you did tohim?” My throat tightened. “Youcheatedon him. You made him think he had a child, and then you let him believe that his childdied.”
Her lips parted, but I didn’t stop.
“You broke him. He was already broken, but somehow, you still managed to shatter what was left.”
A single tear slipped down before I could stop it. I wiped it away quickly, hoping she hadn’t noticed, but her eyes softened—just a flicker—before she pushed it away.
“Do you think he wanted to marry you?” I asked. “He only did it for his mother, out of duty, out of guilt. But at least he remained faithful in an unhappy marriage.”
Dalal scoffed, but there wasn’t much strength in it. Her hands tightened on the ridge of the chair, white-knuckled.
“He loved you,” I whispered. “Or tried to. Even when you probably made it impossible.”
She shot me an unimpressed look. “Oh, whatever. Don’t make this into a bigger deal than it needs to be. It wasn’t that bad, okay? What I didwasn’t—”
A crack bounced off the walls, slicing her sentence in half. Dalal’s head snapped to the side. It wasn’t until my palm flared with heat that it registered—the sound had come from me.
I’d slapped her.
Dalal gasped, her fingers flying to her cheek, shock widening her eyes. I stared at my trembling hand, heart hammering, just as stunned by myself as she was. But I didn’t regret it. Not even a little bit.
“It was,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “Itwasthat bad. Worse, even. And if it wasn’t, you wouldn’t have disappeared for ten years. You wouldn’t have left him to carry the burden of you alone for tenyears.”
Dalal’s jaw clenched. Neither of us spoke. The air between us felt too heavy for words, filled with everything he’d lost, everything she’d taken.
“I didn’t come here for your judgment,” she said finally.
“No,” I said, standing, “you came here for absolution. But you don’t get that from me. Now get the hell out of my office.”
Her breath hitched as she stood too, smoothing her blouse like it could erase the sins of her past. For a heartbeat, she looked smaller, haunted. Then she walked out the door.
Somewhere in my chest, a small, stubborn piece of me hoped Khalifa never saw her again. And another, bigger piece—the onethat loved him—hoped he did, just so she could see what he became despite her.
SARAH SHOWED UP A FEWhours later, hair wind-tossed, eyes bright with alarm.
“Hey, I got your nine-one-one text, what—?” She stopped short, taking in the mess. “Oh...my God, what the hell happened in here? Did you get robbed by an elephant?”
I exhaled, head in my hands. “No. This was all me.”
Her gaze widened in horror. “That’s so much worse. Did you become the Hulk overnight?”
“Maybe,” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “I was mad.”
“Mad?” she repeated, stepping over the remains of my desk plant like it might bite her. “Lilly, this looks like a crime of passion.”
“It was,” I said. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Sarah straightened, still scanning the chaos. “Yeah, whatever you need. What’s going on?”
I hesitated, my throat burning because before I could tell her about Dalal, I had to tell her the truth—my truth. “Don’t hate me, okay?”
“I could never hate you.”
I took a slow breath, my heart hammering. “I...lied to you.”
Her posture stiffened. “About what?”
