To every single person reading this, a toast to 50k reads.

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Amirah  pulled away from Adnan in an alarming manner, she glared at him and he responded with an innocent smile.

"Amirah?" Muhammad called as he touched her shoulder, she flinched and he pulled his hand away.

"Excuse us please." He said looking from Adnan to Zulaihat who looked worried, they both walked away without a word.

"Is it your brother? Is he the reason you've been acting weird all these while?"

Amirah shook her head erratically meanwhile her heart race had picked up at Adnan's underlying threat.

"No, no."

"You can tell me what it is." Muhammad said softly moving closer to her, but he made sure not to touch her.

"We never got along that's just it."

Muhammad knew that wasn't it, he'd seen how rigid she'd gone when her brother had hugged her and if it was true they didn't get along, why then did Adnan say they did? But Muhammad didn't voice any of that, he was aware that there was still a lot he didn't know about this woman he called his wife and sometimes that thought terrified him.

Instead, he nodded and said, "Let's go in yeah?"

Without a word, she led him into the main house. As Fareedah and Na'eemah ran to hug her, Amirah sighed releasing some of the pent up tension in her body, these were her sisters and she loved them as much as she missed them, she was also glad to be here and Adnan wasn't going to ruin the gaiety she was supposed to be feeling.

"Amirah, you didn't tell me you were coming."

Amirah hadn't thought of how she'd face her mother, it'd barely occurred to her but when she looked up to stare at her mother, she felt a hatred so strong , she wasn't sure she could hide it in her expression.
For years, she'd suppressed the memory of what had happened but for the first time, speaking about it to someone else, she'd realized how despicable it was, how despicable her mother was and she wasn't sure she could stand here in front of her and pretend she didn't want to grab her by the neck and kill her.

As she stared murderously at her mother, there was an echo in her head, her mother's voice kept echoing and Amirah didn't even try to block it out.

You and your stupid nightmares!

"What's wrong with her?" Hajiya asked with a confused expression seeing as Amirah stood stoic.

Muhammad nudged Amirah before crouching to greet his mother in law, he pulled her alongside and she followed suit.

A big grin enveloped Hajiya's face. "MashAllah, you both look stunning. May Allah keep on blessing your marriage, may the almighty shield you from any evil eye that is placed on you and Allah in his infinite mercy grant you more love for each other."

Amirah remained quiet as her Muhammad who was beside her kept chanting Amin to her mother's prayers. When they stood back up, she caught Zulaihat's unwavering stare on her and she knew that she needed to get herself together, Muhammad was already suspecting something, she didn't want anyone else to do the same but it was hard because she was just too transparent sometimes.

"It was my idea to not tell you we were coming, we wanted it to be a surprise." Amirah said in an expressionless voice although she still tried to force a smile.

"Aaah, well I'm surprised." Hajiya settled herself on the couch. "How's Lagos? What time did you arrive?" Her questions were directed to Muhammad and he answered them promptly and when he began telling a story that had happened in the hospital that captured everyone's attention, she sneaked off to her old bedroom.

She pushed the door and it creaked as it opened. The bedroom was as it'd always been, clean and simple, the wall painting was mundane and the dark curtains made the room dimly lit.
Amirah immediately collapsed on the bed, she picked up her pillow and buried her face in it.

Her eyes dropped as the exhaustion seeped in and soon, she was floating between consciousness and unconsciousness before finally submitting to letting herself fall asleep. She didn't know how long she'd fallen asleep for but she woke up with a start, she sat up on the bed and stared blankly trying to think what had woken her up so suddenly before her eyes adjusted to the presence of someone else in the room.

He sat in the corner staring at her and it made her skin crawl, she didn't want to remember all that had happened between them whenever they'd been alone in this room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She yelled at Adnan.

"You might want to lower your voice." He said calmly.

"Fuck you Adnan!" She said scrambling to get up but she'd somehow tangled the sheets on her legs.

"I want to talk Amirah and I'd like you to sit down and listen to me." His voice was on edge, dangerously low.

She stopped and stared at him letting how much the hatred she felt for him express on her face. "Like I said, fuck you Adnan and fuck whatever you have to say even more!"

"You mean Anisa?" He asked not hiding the amusement in his tone.

She simply stared at him.

"I think you should sit down and be calm for what I'm about to say." He advised but she didn't make any movement and he shrugged.

"You were bad Amirah, really bad. You went on and got pregnant for someone you don't know and then gave birth successfully hiding that from everyone."

Amirah didn't have to ask how he got to know, it was obvious Hajiya had been the one who told him and for whatever reason she didn't know.

"How long have you known?" She asked thankful her voice didn't waver, it shouldn't express the fear in her heart, she knew what Adnan was capable of and she didn't know if she was ready to hear what he wanted from her.

He shrugged. "What does it matter? The important thing is that your doctor husband doesn't know."

"He does." She began in a steady voice, "I told him myself so whatever evil you've concocted to do to me next, it's best you put an end to it before it even begins because Adnan, I'm done being your pawn."

He grinned. "Look at my little Mirah, all brave and mouthy."

"I am not your Amirah!" She spat.

He had a solemn look on, "no you're not. You went on and got married to that idiot who's prowling about telling me to excuse us acting as if he knows you best."

She just stared at him, she'd always known he wasn't normal, full-blown crazy and wicked because those are the only reasons anyone would sexually harassed their own sister -or anyone else for that matter- for.

"But I know he doesn't know about Anisa." He said his expression switching back to amused. "Because while you were in aunty Amarya's apartment, I told him you had a doll you'd named Anisa and I watched your doctor husband closely, he doesn't know about her."

Amirah tried to come up with something to counter him but he noticed her struggling for something to say and he slowly released a triumphant smile.

"What do you want?" She asked and this time her voice shook.

"You think it's that easy?" He asked standing up. "Remember the first night I was in this room Amirah."

She stared at him for two seconds before hurriedly getting up from the bed, she wanted to run pass him but he grabbed her by the arm and flung her back on the bed.

"If you touch me, I promise I'd yell." She warned, her heart was pounding against her ribcage as she saw the crazy look on his face, it was one Amirah recognized.

"Like you yelled all those years?" He taunted and Amirah remained quiet.

He laughed as he walked closer to her. "Remember how you pleaded that night." He imitated her voice, "ya Adnan please don't do this."

And he let out a loud laugh that made Amirah flinch, she felt embarrassed but most of all, she felt a strong hate for him that caused her to lunge at him.

She wrapped her legs around his bringing him down to the floor, she climbed up on him and began giving him blows, but just as soon, he gained momentum and pushed her off him with such force she fell and hit her back on the wall behind her.

Amirah whimpered as the pain hit her, tears pooled in her eyes. He quickly moved to her and pulled her towards him before raising his hand to hit her.
She felt the sting of the slap and she let out a loud scream that was cut short with another slap.

"Please..." She pleaded in a small voice as she began to crawl away from him, he had that look on his face again, the one that was intent on doing what he wanted.

"Please ya Adnan." She said and when she saw a momentary look of distraction on his face, she dashed towards the door but before her hand could touch the door handle, he tackled her to the floor beneath him. Amirah screamed out as loud as she could and that was when he grabbed her head and hit it hard on the tiled floor.

Amirah couldn't scream anymore, she only let out a small cry as her eyesight became dizzy.

"Please stop..." She pleaded again but Adnan simply stared at her with disgust, he stood up from her and began to walk away, then as an afterthought, he walked back to her and gave her a furious kick on the stomach.

The last thought that came to her mind before darkness enveloped her, was the thought of the little baby she had growing in the stomach her brother kept kicking.

A/N:

Long chapter yeah? Anyways how was this? Drop your comments please.

Thank you all so much for 50k reads, man I can't even believe it. Damn ♥️
I swear I love ever single one of you for this, thank you, thank you.

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Bye.