She had faced so many horrors under Mahmud's roof, and though he had not known it then, the one and only time he had seen the light disappear in her eyes was when she had helped Malina Atwan escape and Saul had the cook's boy savagely beaten to punish her.
That was the only fucking time.
Until now.
And the sight of it made Mahmud forget everything about vengeance.
For so many years, she had been forced to overcome so much hardship under his own damn roof, and all because in his grief as a husband, he had forgotten to be a father to his little girl. It was a sin that he knew there was no forgiveness for. A sin that he could never erase. But while he might not have the means to change the past, the present was different—-
And this time, dammit—-
Mahmud felt inordinately clumsy as he moved forward, and he saw her start to shake as he gently took the blade away from her hand. He tossed the knife away, and when he glanced back—-
A lump formed in Mahmud's throat as he saw tears well up in his baby girl's eyes.
"What's wrong, qalifa?" The endearment translated to 'little girl', and though he had never used it with her before, he chose to do so now, and when he saw his daughter's tears start to fall—-
"P-Papa..."
Her voice broke, and his own heart broke with it.
Stupid, stupid girl.
She should hate him for abandoning her, but instead here she was making it easy for him to be what he intended to be, and what he knew Eloisa wanted her to be.
"Come here, child—-"
She had already thrown herself in his arms before he even finished speaking, and Mahmud started crying himself as he felt her weep against his chest.
"H-He doesn't love me, Papa," Safiya sobbed. "And I c-can't blame him. W-We almost k-killed the queen—-"
"Stupid, stupid girl," Mahmud muttered the words out loud this time, and he forcibly set his daughter away so he could look straight into her eye. "Not we, Safiya. It was all me. Not you. I was the stupid one whose grief almost killed the queen, and you should hate me for it—-"
His baby girl was once again shaking her head even before he had finished speaking. "Never."
Mahmud's chest tightened at the utter simplicity in Safiya's tremulously spoken answer. "Daughter—-"
"I can't ever hate you, Papa," she whispered.
"Then you are an idiot," he said morosely. "You have every reason to hate me—-"
"But I can't."
"I can see that," he acknowledged unhappily, "and I probably should've expected it—-" A scraping sound behind them cut him off, and father and daughter looked at each other in startled realization. How in the world had they ended up having a moment of family drama...while forgetting that the man they both meant to kill was still in the room with them?
Mahmud could only shake his head while his daughter released a faint, rusty-sounding laugh.
"At least I meant to be efficient," he muttered under his breath, "and kill him with one shot to the head. You, however..."
Scraping noise in the background continued, with Saul struggling futilely to free himself, but both of them ignored this.
Mahmud recalled the knife he had taken from his daughter, and his features twisted in a grimace. "You would never have been able to push through with it, qalifa. God knows between that bastard and me,
we should've long starved the goodness out of you well before, but if it didn't happen then, it will never happen again...and you know why that is?"
Safiya slowly shook her head.
"Because you're a good person," Mahmud said gruffly, "just like your mother." And it was true. So damn true that the old man suddenly felt all choked up as he thought about all the years he had wasted, avoiding his own daughter instead of embracing her because with her mother's blood running through her veins—-
It was through Safiya that he could have still a part of Eloisa with him—-
Fingers gently touched his cheek, and it was only then that Mahmud realized he had been crying, and ah, to have his daughter wipe his tears when he had caused her so much pain—-
"Will you believe me," he asked hoarsely, "if I tell you that I loved your mother with all my heart?"
"Nem." Yes?
"Limaadhaa?" Why?
"Because I trust you," Safiya answered simply.
"And when I tell you that I have always loved you as well?"
Safiya could feel her eyes smarting. "D-Do you?"
Mahmud's throat tightened at the fact that his daughter could believe he loved her mother but not her, who was the sole offspring of that love. "You don't have to believe me, qalifa, but yes, I do. I have always loved you—-"
"Then I'll believe you."
"Because you trust me?"
"Nem."
"Then...may I ask that you trust your Papa one last time?"
WITHIN MINUTES OF MAHMUD calling in, father and daughter heard the wail of sirens breaking the silence of the night, and from a distance, they could already see the blinking blue and red lights of police cars coming closer.
The two of them stood on the hotel steps while behind them Mahmud's men held on to Saul, who was still gagged and struggled like a madman.
Safiya's heart began to race when she saw a big black motorbike speed past the convoy of police cars. It had been so long. So, so long since she felt her heart beat this way again that she found herself placing a hand over her chest—-
Real, she thought.
Her heart was truly pounding, and when the motorbike came to a roaring stop right in front of her and her father, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest, and it was then she knew.
Even before the biker had taken his helmet off and everyone around them had practically stopped dead to gawk upon seeing his face—-
Of course she knew.
He was her heart, after all.
Altair.
He was even more devastatingly attractive than she remembered, and his presence so
