.....
Hamza was standing in the middle of my living room when I walked up to him and slammed my fist into his jaw. He stumbled from the impact and everyone around me either let out a shriek or started to protest at my behaviour while Hamza just rubbed his jaw and glared at me.
"I should've done this a long time ago," I bit out at him and drew my fist back for another punch. I was going to beat him to a pulp right here in my godamnned house. And then send Jasmine a picture.
My father and uncle were the ones to hold me back.
"Armaan," my father snapped at me. "Stop this. Why are you hitting your brother?"
"Let me go, Abbu." I struggled to be released, my rage so great that I started seeing red. "He deserves this. This bastard. Jasmine was telling the truth. He's the liar in all of this!"
"Armaan."
It was Zoya who spoke and I gave her a bitter smile. "I failed her, Zoya. But you were her best friend. You knew her the longest. How could you leave her side too?"
Zoya stared at me and then her gaze shifted to our older brother. "Is this true?" she whispered in shock. "Did you really get involved with Jasmine when she was living with us?"
Hamza shook his head. "It wasn't like that at all."
"You fucking liar!" I screamed and shook off the arms holding me back. "Jasmine loved you. She looked up to you. She was nineteen years old! You should've known better!"
And then I was on top of him, hitting him as hard as I was hurting right now, so enraged, so ashamed of myself for not listening to her three years ago.
Love. I didn't know shit about love. It had been a boy's obsession. I'd gone about it all using such childish methods, demanding things from her she wasn't ready to give me because of this man.
Because she hadn't healed and I had kept pushing her. All the wrong decisions we had made couldn't be put aside. But now, it was time for me to make things right before I lost the only girl my fickle heart had ever bothered to love.
****
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cole
I wanted to sleep in. I really wanted to. But it was Tuesday and Skye was probably getting ready for work which meant that I would have to get up soon to watch Jacob. Groaning, I grabbed a pillow to snuggle deeper under the covers but cracked an eye open when I felt sunlight on my face coming in through the window. Like ten a.m sunlight. I sat up suddenly and threw off the covers, my sleep-fogged brain forced to switch to instant alert mode which left me sort of disoriented.
Jacob wasn't in his room and that further sent my brain into panic mode.
"Jacob!" I yelled, searching the other two spare rooms upstairs. No sign of my son. Oh God. "Jacob, where are you?!"
"He's with me. Jeez, stop yelling like that, you're going to scare him," Skye's voice floated up from downstairs.
I sagged against one of the doorways, one hand rubbing my face as relief flooded through me. I thought something had happened to him. That I overslept and he had been alone all this time.
Slowly, after I had gotten my breathing under control, I went downstairs and found him playing with his building blocks in the living room. Skye was seated on a couch and busy typing something on her laptop.
"Daddy!" Jacob bounced over to me and clung to one of my legs making me laugh and ruffle his hair. Then I drag-walked to the kitchen with him still clinging to my leg like a koala.
"Morning, buddy," I murmured as I reached the kitchen.
He smiled and pressed his cheek to my thigh. God, when did he get so tall? "Good morning," he mumbled with a little smile.
Aww. I loved waking up to this. Usually, he was a grumpy soul in the mornings and it drove me nuts but he could be really sweet when he was in a good mood.
"Why aren't you at work?" I asked my wife as I made myself some tea. "Did something happen?"
"I...just...felt like taking a day off," was her reply.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise before turning around to look at her. Not that I wasn't happy. God knew she could use the break but…Skye and day-offs? Rare as fuck.
Jacob was investigating something in the cupboard below the sink. I absently murmured to him to be careful and sipped my tea while watching Skye. After a while, she probably sensed my gaze and looked over at me to give me a sweet smile.
She seemed...happy. I was so used to seeing my wife stressed out from work and frustrated at home that this change softened my heart. Putting my cup down, I walked over to her and seated myself next to her, watching her work for a while.
"What's with the sweater?" I asked her, noticing that she wore a turtle-neck one when it was actually quite warm inside the house.
Skye stopped typing and a blush spread across her cheeks. "Er...I was cold," she mumbled, avoiding my eyes.
I nodded and leaned my head back to close my eyes, intending to doze off for a minute since my sleep had been disrupted.
"Call Jacob this side," I said to her in a tired voice.
Skye giggled. She actually giggled at me before calling Jacob to come back in the living room. I frowned at her a little.
"What? He could get hurt in the kitchen," I
