I put Yusuf to sleep before we sit down to eat dinner.

Everyone at the table doesn't dare say a word. But my mom breaks the silence by loudly dropping her fork on the plate. "So tell me exactly why you couldn't be normal and come to me to ask for her hand?!"

Elias doesn't make eye contact. "I- I knew you would say no..." He says lowly.

My mom thinks for a moment. "Well, you are right. I would never marry my daughter off who had barely just graduated from high school to a man with a bad past."

Yikes. Elias does deserve that though. I look towards him but he's already looking at me. He's probably wondering about how she knows about his past, which obviously I told her about. Why would I hide things from my mom.

Elias clears his throat. "Amara would you pass the water jug?"

The audacity- He knows that I'm already pissed about him torturing Zayn. "You can get it yourself." I pause. "Just how you always get everything for yourself."

I can see Elias's jaw clench as he gets up to get the jug. He leans over me impossibly close to get it. I really had to control my self here. And remember he's the bad guy. It's just hard with his presence.

"Mama, do you remember Zayn. Zayn Ali?" I change the topic.

"Oh yes how could I forget. He was the sweetest young man. And your father's favourite." She laughs.

"Yeah well I actually met him while I was here." I say casually.

"Really? How?"

"He worked as one of Elias's security guards." I notice Elias tightening his fist.

"Worked? Well where is he now?"

"Elias why don't you tell her?" I look to him.

He takes a deep breath. "Amara. Why don't we talk about this another time?" He says quietly to me, maintaining his angry tone.

"No, Elias. I actually want to talk about this to my mother. The same mother you kept me away from for over a year." I say out loud.

"Wait where's Zayn?" My mom asks still clueless.

I stand up. "Well, Mom. Elias locked him up and beat him for something that wasn't his damn fault!"

Elias stands up too. "Amara ca-."

"Why? Because that's the horrible type of person he is!" I point to him.

Elias grabs my wrist. "Amara enough!" He yells.

"Don't touch me!" I free my wrist.

"Amara go to your room and cool off. You do remember we have a baby who is sleeping." He tells me.

"The same baby I didn't agree on!"

"Amara." He closes his eyes in anger. "If you won't leave. I will!" He grabs his coat and stomps off. I can hear the front door slam.

I look to my mom, who is in utter shock. "Amara, whatever this is, fix it. And I hope he isn't always like this..."

I take a deep breath. "I'll just be in my room, you can finish up and Agnus can show you to your room." I walk out.

Just as I'm about to head upstairs, there's a ring on the door bell. Agnus hurries to open it. "Amara, It's Zayn."

My heart drops. I run to the door to see him. "Zayn-."

"Hey. Is he-."

"No he's out. Come inside." I take him to the living room.

"Zayn how are you free?!"

"I escaped...don't ask how." He says as Agnus gives him water.

"Wait how did you get here?" I ask.

"The other guards don't know I'm prisoner. They let me in with assuming that I'm here for work."

"Why'd you come though?" I ask.

"...to see you." He finally says. I feel something in my heart.

My mom walks in before I can reply. "Zayn?"

"You didn't tell me your mom was here?" Zayn says happily as my mom kisses his forehead. "How are you?"

"I'm good sweetie, how about yourself. I heard about your little prison moment."

"Alhamdulillah as of now I'm good." He replies as Agnus come in.

"Amara, Yusuf won't stop crying." Agnus says to me.

I get up but my mom stops me, "I'll go see my grandson." I smile as I sit back down.

"Amara...I just wanted to talk about the other day." He begins.

"Yeah?"

"Hear me out. I think I can save you." He looks into my eyes.

"Save me? Wh- what do you mean?"

"Amara you mean the world to me. It hurts so bad to see you with a guy who doesn't match or treat you how you deserve.."

I play with the edge of my sleeve.

"Amara, I want to give you what you deserve, what your past self deserves."

"Zayn I- I don't know." My voice shakes.

"And it's okay. I'm here with you every step of the way. I wanted to marry you, that was the whole goal. I was waiting for you to finish university and become independent. I was waiting for you to fulfil your dreams."

My eyes become watery at the fact that he remembers all the things that mean the most to me.

"Amara I want to do everything with your permission. I want your life to be free and safe. I want to go to your mom's house the old fashion way and ask for your hand. I want you to have a job at your will. I want you to easily be able to meet your mom everyday." He comes to sit next to me on my sofa. "Amara I want to raise Yusuf in a safe, free environment..."

He's right. He's offering what I ever dreamed of. He's the person I want without having to ask him. I think about how Elias has been. I think I've been blinded but his looks to truly see his damage. He's kept me in a box. And I don't know if maybe tomorrow Yusuf or I would still be alive or killed by his enemies.

A tear escapes my eye. "Here..." Zayn offers me his hanker chief.

"What can we do?"

"We can run. I have the perfect plan. I got a car thats waiting outside. From there we can go to the lawyer who can get you a divorce, and we can fly out of the country, somewhere far, somewhere safe. Somewhere with a good university, a nice family home, and there we can do out Nikkah.

It all sounds like a dream. But my heart is beating frantically thinking about when Elias will get home and put a bullet in Zayn's head. I have to think fast. "What about mom and Yusuf?"

"I've already got that figured out."

I scrunch my brows. "How?"

"You think I'd make a plan about the love of my life and wouldn't think about details?" He says as I look away. "Anyway, they can get a hotel using my card and another name, up until we get out of the country to call them over."

"I'll grab my things." I run as my heart is literally in my throat.

I explain everything to mom. As much as she argues back and asking if I'm sure multiple times, she gets in the car with Yusuf. With lastly saying, "Amara, it's your life. So whatever you think is right, do it, I'll always take your side."

It's all set and we are on our way. I just let Agnus know that we're going on a walk. She did try stopping us but I assured her that my mom is with me. What more could the poor woman do. Her jobs crazy.

I stare out of the car window to calm my nerves. I really can't believe I'm doing this. But I mean, how much more crazier can my life get.

We pull into a mansion, A little smaller than Elias's. Zayn opens the door for me so we can head inside. There are guards lined up at the walls. This must be some top secret lawyer. I assumed this lawyer guy would be located in an office but I guess not.

It's dark. "This way." Zayn motions.

ELIAS'S POV

I go for a drive to calm myself down. The last thing I want is to lose my temper with Amara. No matter what she says, she's still my soul mate, she's still my first love, and she's still the mother of our child. She's still Mari. I go to an empty parking lot to rehearse my lines.

"Amara. I'm sorry." I say to my self. No that's pathetic.

"Amara I love you." Bro she already knows that

I'll get straight to the point. "Amara the day you asked me to free Zayn, I freed him. As much as I hated it, I freed him because I knew he was important to you." I control my temper. Okay that's not bad.

"Mar the reason I had him beaten in the first place was because I found out he had connections with my cousin Santos. Also Santos is now my biggest enemy because I rejected his haram money transactions and beat him up for talking badly about you. I couldn't tell you because I didn't want to break your heart."

Okay, she'll definitely understand. Maybe if I bring a side of flowers with it, maybe some flowers for her mom too. She definitely deserves an apology. Even if I have a traumatic past that affects the way I act, it's not an excuse.

Just as I'm about to rehearse my lines once more, I get a call from Agnus. "Hello?"

"Sir there's a problem. Zayn came here."

"What?! I'm on my way-." I start the car.

"Sir! He's gone. And they all went with him."

I pause. "Who..."

"Amara, her mom, and Yusuf. They said they were going on a walk, I tried stopping them."

I punch the car radio. I knew Amara was mad but this?

As I'm speeding home, I open the door bell app on my phone to see if they talked about anything at the front door. After skipping through minutes, I catch the one where they're about to leave. I press play.

"Did you tell your mom?" Zayn's raspy voice says.

"Yup. I told her about us heading to the divorce lawyer than flying out to get married. It took some convincing but she's coming." I hear Amara's soft voice. I feel a heavy pit in my stomach. As if my heart shattered into a million pieces and each piece is stabbing into me, one by one.

I aggressively comb my fingers through my air as I hit the gas. I let warm tears pour out of my eyes, I let them. How could she... Through my shaky hands, I manage to call my men to track Santos and get a mission ready.

_______________

AAAHH