Karyme

"Cosa stai facendo qui?/ What are you doing here?"

I am at a loss for words. What the fuck can I be doing here if not something I shouldn't.

I turn around carefully. A man in his fifties in a suit is looking sternly at me. He has hair only on the side of his head and tired eyes. On the plus side, he didn't shoot me. Yet.

"I..."

"What are you doing here? Answer?" He says in English, and presses on the world. "And make it convincing."

"Well, me and Don Stefano were trying to have a threesome with his girlfriend. He picked me up at a club last evening and promised me if I was going to leave Aziz I was going to have the best sex of my life and lots of money because Italians do it better and shit. A bitch is poor because Aziz is kind of stingy even if he has lots of money and says he loves me. He didn't want to buy me the new Chanel purse, so I jumped on the opportunity as I wanted to jump on his dick but he fell asleep while we were doing it. Then the jealous girlfriend kicked me out but I didn't want to go yet because I didn't get anything out of this deal so I tried to find myself a good place to hide and wait it out till he woke up." I am rambling like my life depends on this because it fucking does. I hope he will buy the dumb bimbo act.

The guy is staring at me frowning deeply and being annoyed beyond measure.

"Aziz al Rashid?" he just asks. "Are you his girlfriend?"

"Yeah... I guess I am. He said the L word to me in the car last evening but he didn't want to buy me that purse so I was testing my market value elsewhere. But don't tell him this. Also, don't tell him you saw me here. I think I will be on my way. This was a bad idea."

"Cazzo," he mutters under his breath. He looks at me as if he is judging if I should stay alive or not. He probably is.

Then my phone rings in my hand and we both shriek up. Aziz's name and number are shining on the display. He couldn't have possibly chosen a better moment. I hastily press the answer button before the guy can take away my phone.

"Babe, I am so happy to hear you. I love you too. I am sorry I didn't say it back last evening. Where are you? We can meet in an hour if you like. I bumped into your business partner Stefano and he and his girlfriend invited me over for tea. You can pick me up if you like. Sorry, I was so angry with you about the purse. I am waiting for you here, okay?"

Aziz doesn't say anything at first. No wonder after what I just dropped on him, but the eyes of the guy are about to bulge out of his head, and a vein is popping in his temple.

"I am on my way," answers Aziz. The guy is close enough to hear it and I am relying on that. If I calculated correctly, he is now judging if killing me is more pain than gain because Aziz might take it as a personal offense. As he might also take it as a personal offense that Stefano wanted to steal his girlfriend.

The guy walks inside the ominous room and looks around. He nods. Nothing is out of place because I didn't have time to touch anything.

"What? I didn't steal anything."

He closes the door.

"Stefano has a peculiar taste in art but that's all. That half-naked man covered in paint as if he were dead... I don't get modern art. Do you? Or never mind, I think I will go wait for habibi Aziz outside of here. See ya'."

He grabs my wrist. Oh fuck. Aziz didn't say how long it takes him to get here. If he needs to drive from Palermo it's about three hours. I can be dead and buried till he arrives.

"You understand I cannot just let you go. We need to do at least a background check. What's your name? Show me your ID please."

"I didn't bring it." With reason.

"Your. Name." He looks as if he is going to swallow me whole.

"Fa-Fatima Ayad." I spit out the first surname that comes to my mind. Fatima Ayad used to be my archenemy when I was a teenager. I might also have had a repressed crush on her. "I... I am from the... E-Emirates. I have a brother and two sisters and my parents are very loving and li-liberal since they let me study in Europe. Please don't hurt me." I have to make him see me like a person and a harmless person on top of that. He doesn't seem particularly cruel. I have seen cruelty, and this is not it, this is just stern and concerned.

"Miss, you need to come with me."

"Where to?"

"I need you to tell me some more details since you don't have an ID."

"I can't stay a lot. Habibi will be here any minute."

"A drive from Palermo is three hours long. It will take a while."

Shit. He leads me to an office and there is no way for me to do something about it. If I run, he will know I am shady. If he knows I am shady, I am dead.

For a few minutes, he typed something on the computer. I am frozen on a chair. Kary, think! It cannot end like this.

"There are hundreds of Ayads from the Emirates," he mumbles. "Help me a bit; I need something to confirm your identity. What do you do for a living?"

"Aaah... nothing really. I didn't graduate. Now I am trying to find myself. But I don't really think working is for me, you know... The stiff hours and all that..."

"Mhm... sure. How about your dad? What does he do? Someone must finance you..."

"He is in business."

"What business?" His voice is drier than cardboard.

When someone knocks at the door, I almost fall from the chair from the scare. If it's Stefano, I am dead.

A young guy, likely in his early twenties, wearing the dark suit all of Stefano's bodyguards wear, enters the room.

"Tomaso, abbiamo un piccolo problema./Tomaso, we have a bit of a situation."

"Cos'è successo adesso, Fabrizio?/ What now, Fabrizzio?" He sights in exasperation.

Fabrizio whispers something in his ear. Then the older guy whose name seems to be Tomaso stands up and walks to the door.

"I will be right back, miss," he says and walks out. A key clicks in the lock. Shit.

I am waiting and wanting. Almost half an hour passes until Tomaso is back.

"Okay, where were we?"

"Ah, is Stefano not awake?"

"Not yet. So you said your father is a businessman. What si the name of his company?"

"Well, he has several, keeps closing and opening them. I don't recall."

"Try. We have plenty of time till Mr. Al Rashid is here."

There is another knock and the same guy enters again.

"Sono di nuovo io. C'è uno dei soci in affari del capo davanti al cancello che dice di essere venuto a prendere la sua ragazza. Ho già detto che non c'è, ho imparato la lezione dell'ultima volta ma lui insiste. /It's me again. There is one of the business partners of the boss at the front gate saying he came to pick up his girlfriend. I already said she is not here, I have learned my lesson from the last time but he insists. And he seemed pretty angry."

Tomaso sighs deeply.

"Cosa gli hai detto?/What did you tell him? "

"Che cercherò ancora. Ha con sé alcuni uomini armati. Voglio dire, possiamo eliminarli ma, non lo so... ci saranno ancora così tanti corpi, e... mi manca don Marco. Non è mai stato così brutto quando era qui./That I will check again. He has a few armed me with him. I mean we can take them but, I don't know... there are going to be so many bodies again, and... I miss don Marco. It was never like this when he was here."

"Anche io.../ Me too..."

"Come on, girl. Your lover is here. We don't want to keep him waiting and for all you have dear, don't anger him until you are off the property, capisci?"

"Yes, sir... uh."

I don't know how I got out of that place. My body was in survival mode but when I close the back door to Aziz's car, something in me, that was kept together only by fear, cracks.

The car is exiting the property and there seems to not be anybody stopping us. I exhale and with every breath I take the crack becomes bigger and bigger until I am a mosaic of broken glass that needs only a whiff of wind to scatter all over the floor.

"Karyme?" he asks softly and touches my shoulder. That is the whiff.

My body sags into his, my arms coil around him and the tears start to roll. I just cry, barely breathing.

"He..." He killed her... He killed them both... I was so wrong and she is dead now.

His body is stiff in my embrace, but slowly her coils his arms around me. It's not what I expected. I didn't actually expect anything, just broke down but it's definitely the best thing I could get in the given situation.

"You can cry. It hurts a bit less if you do."

We stay like that for time I can't quantify until I gradually master myself again. When I do, I understand awkwardness and that the debt I owe him had just become bigger.

"I am sorry. I am really sorry I asked you to come but I..."

"It's okay. I am happy you called."

"Happy?"

"Yes. You are alive and that is the outcome I prefer. There were good chances you wouldn't make it out of there. You didn't go in there to take an interview on eligible bachelors, I suppose... You went there for something way more important."

"I apologize. This put you in a difficult position." That I am sure you will survive but still, it's embarrassing. I acted embarrassingly.

Unlike me, you are quite important to Stefano and he will not harm you, so important I have been let go just to not upset you.

"He seems to think you are too important to upset. So I hope everything will be fine between you and soon forgotten."

"Karyme, you cannot just act as if there is nothing. You clearly saw something in there that affected you greatly. Tell me what happened."

"I... I can't. And I don't want to. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me. Besides..." He leans closer, raises an eyebrow and shows a ghost of a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "You said it yourself, you owe me one. And if you don't tell me what went on in there I can't handle my next meeting with Stefano very well. Introducing you two was a bad idea but I let you fool me into that. Shame on me but it won't happen again so, I am listening."

"I..." Shit. Why did I for a single minute think I can trust him.

"Come on. Karyme, I am sorry but I need to know what went on in there. If Stefano will make an attempt at my life I need to know so you better start talking."

His tone is calm but cutting.

"Well... He thought we were going to have sex. Obviously."

"And? Did you?" The corner of his mouth moves to a light yet glacial smirk.

I didn't fear him so far, but as he said, shame on me; I should have.

"Almost. I bullshitted him into having a threesome with his ex girlfriend."

This time he raises both his eyebrows and smiles slightly more genuine.

"Yeah. But he was drinking heavily and snored a lot of coke and he fell asleep before we could do something. Then ex girlfriend that still lives with him kicked me out of the bedroom and that was about it. Brief and awkward."

He looks me straight in the eyes.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Granted it was awkward but if that would be all, you wouldn't have been so disturbed when you got out of there."

He wants to touch my hand and I flinch away. Something changes on his face.

"I frightened you, didn't I? I am sorry but, Karyme, I told you, Stefano is dangerous. It was not me being ominous. Tell me what happened so I can prepare."

I take a deep breath.

"I went in there to find dirt on him."

He smirks. This time it's genuine.

"You are..." He takes a deep breath and swallows the words. "And? I am still waiting for you to tell me what made you react that way. What did you find out?"

"Proof that he killed someone really important to me. Happy now?" I turn towards the window to not look at him anymore.

The silence following is heavy and tears creep back into my eyes. I bite the inside of my cheek to not let them roll.

He puts a hand on my shoulder.

"I am sorry. I shouldn't have pushed."

"No, you shouldn't have. Tell the driver to stop, I want to get out of the car."

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There was something supposed to happen this chapter but I guess it will be only next.