“She stole the dress from me,” the shopkeeper said promptly.
“We bought that dress!” I shouted at him.
“Bought it with this, you mean.” The shopkeeper liftedthe gemstone up and it twinkled innocently in the sunlight. “I’m returning it to its proper owner.”
“And I thank you for your integrity,” Rahil told him. “You shall be rewarded.” He kept a firm grasp on Nadia as he dug out a fistful of gold coins from his pocket. I couldn’t help my jaw from dropping. No wonder Nadia had assumed that he was rich enough not to miss a few jewels. If only she knew the rest of his story.
The greedy shopkeeper leapt forward to take the gold and exchange it for the jewel. “Many thanks for your generosity,” he said, bowing over and over before vanishing into the crowd.
“There’s some paperwork needed to press charges,” the guard told Rahil.
Rahil held up a finger. “One moment,” he said, turning to face Nadia. “You stole from me, but I’m a forgiving man. In fact, I have a proposal for you.”
“What?” Nadia said nervously, leaning away from him.
“Marriage in exchange for not pressing charges.”
Nadia’s mouth fell open in horror, and the horrific stories I’d heard of his other wives went rattling around in my head until I thought I would explode.
“You can’t!” I burst out. “She isn’t even of age yet.”
Rahil frowned. “Ah, that does present a slight problem.” He tilted his head, considering Nadia. “I suppose I’ll have to press charges after all.”
“We can send her to an adult prison even if she is underage,” one of the guards said.
“It wasn’t her! It was me. I stole it,” I blurted out. The whine of panic in my head wouldn’t go away. I had to protect Nadia. I couldn’t let her go to prison.
Rahil shifted his gaze to me. “Oh, really?”
The guards laughed. “Don’t let her fool you, Rahil.These two are street rats who’ve lived in the gutters most of their lives. The older one has been in plenty of trouble before. They deserve what’s coming to them.”
An odd expression settled on Rahil’s face. “What will happen to them?”
“Prison, likely for many years. It’ll be good to get them off the streets.”
“Wait,” Rahil said, holding up a finger. His eyes were darting back and forth between me and Nadia. “If I don’t press charges, what would happen?”
“The younger one would still serve a minimum of a month for resisting arrest. I’d have to look up the former charges against her sister?—”
Rahil pressed a gold coin into the guard’s hand. “Shame those records were lost.”
The guard grinned and tapped a finger to the side of his nose. “Such a pity.”
“What is the maximum penalty this one could be assigned if I press charges?” Rahil asked, looking back at Nadia.
The guard shrugged. “Probably a minimum of five years or up to ten years, depending on the value of the item she stole from you.”
“Definitively ten years, then,” Rahil said, then turned to me. “Do you want to keep her out of prison long-term?”
I clenched my jaw and slowly nodded.
“Then I’ll make the same offer to you. Marry me and I’ll drop the charges against her.”
My vision narrowed so I could only see Nadia’s panicked face.
“When would this wedding take place?” I asked.
“Tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”
