Sitting back in his chair, he looked over the stunned occupants of the table while his thumb rubbed soothingly at her hand.
Looking to her mother, he stopped. "You want to know why your daughter or I never come to visit or even why you have not been invited to our house, correct?"
Regaining her composure, Candrii gave him a commanding look in return. "Yes, of course. A mother should be able to see her daughter when she wants."
"It's because I won't allow it," he said, simply causing Nadira to stiffen and shoot him a hard questioning glance. Feeling her stare, he gave her a grim smile. "It's true, my love, even if you were so inclined to spend time with them, I'm afraid I would have to adopt Kedar's thinking and do my duty to guide and remind you that your parents are fucking terrible."
Nadira was too stunned to move or say anything as she watched her mother's face burn in anger. But Idrak wasn't done.
"You thought I forgot," he practically snarled as he looked from both her father and mother. "You thought I would forget how you starved and mistreated my wife and then practically threw her into my arms at the first sight of an eligible male, before finding out who or what I am."
"Idrak stop," Nadira begged.
But Idrak ignored her, his grip tightening around her hand.
"You spent your life coddling this little fool," he waved a hand towards Nazma as he glared daggers at her mother, who sat ramrod straight in her chair, enduring the verbal assault, "and now look at her, scared and abused far from home. Do you take a lot of calls from your youngest daughter, Candrii? Calls begging for her to be allowed to come home, begging to end this marriage before there is no turning back? Or are you letting them go ignored as she suffers in a marriage you pushed her into?"
Nadira looked to her sister, who bowed her head in shame and Nadira's gut twisted in sorrow and anger. Looking to her mother, Candrii flinched under the disgust she could see in her eldest daughter's eyes.
Kedar began to lean forward, opening his mouth to speak at the insult but Idrak hushed him with a single word of silence, not bothering to look in the man's direction. Everyone watched in stupefied horror as Kedar seemed to choke on his own words. He pantomimed almost comically as he clutched his throat alarmed that no sounds would come out.
Turning back to her finally, Idrak gave her a lopsided smile as he took in her furious but worried expression. Looking to her sister's downturned face, she looked back at her husband.
"You want me to save her, don’t you?" he asked aloud as if there was no one else in the room with them.
Lifting her chin, she stared back at him as she answered firmly. "Yes."
"Fine, but you will pay for my help later," he warned with a dark promise that made her skin burn.
Everyone knew at the table without the need for an explanation he meant sexually.
Turning back to Nazma before Nadira could yell at him, he spoke to her sister. "Do you want out of this marriage?"
For a brief moment, Nazma stared at her brother-in-law before looking at her furious husband who seemingly could not speak and then nervously to their mom. Hope flowered inside of Nadira as she watched Nazma nod emphatically.
Idrak inhaled deeply. "Thankfully, you are not pregnant, it will make this much easier," he said matter-of-factly before pulling out a paper from seemingly thin air. Setting the piece of paper onto the table he slid it forward until it bumped up against her plate. "Sign this, and the divorce will be final. Sign this, and you will be free from your abusive in-laws and these people you call parents."
Finally, her father found his voice and stood up from the table as his chair clattered backward, nearly toppling over. "Get the fuck out of my house, both of you!" he yelled.
"Samad, please," Candrii urged, her face a mixture of worry and anger. "Sit down, we need to discuss-"
"No," her father bellowed. Turning back to them, he looked at Nadira with a hatred so pure Nadira could feel something within her die a little.
"Do as your wife says and sit down," Idrak snarled.
Color drained from her father's face, and he sat in his chair immediately and Nadira knew it wasn't of his own volition.
Looking back to Nazma, Idrak tapped a finger on the paper and continued. "Sign this paper, and you will devote two years of your life as a teacher in a boarding school in Quebec. Your charms and beauty will not work in the all-female school," he advised mercilessly. "Your lazy, irresponsible nature will be broken under the yoke of hard work. You will be surrounded by the very type of women you grew up envying," he waved a hand towards Nadira that made her only want to hit him more. Didn’t he see her sister was hurting, who knows what she had been enduring in her household?
"There," Idrak explained, "you will break down and see yourself for who you are and either hate yourself for it or change for the better, it's up to you, little sister. Or you can simply stay here and watch yourself grow round with the children of a man who doesn’t even respect you."
Nadira felt the cold feeling in her stomach spread as she looked from her sister to her father, who must have been put under the same silent spell Kedar was put under as he sat and struggled to speak. Kedar was now looking as if he was trying to get up or scream or both. His face was red from the struggle as he looked desperately to his wife, trying to get her attention, but Nazma would not look at him. Looking to their mother, instead, she gave the woman a pleading look for guidance.
Nadira's throat tightened as she realized tears were glistening in her mother's eyes as she held her youngest daughter's gaze and nodded encouragingly.
Picking up the pen that Idrak produced, Nazma signed the paper.
Once her signature was complete, Idrak took the paper. "I've ordered you a car, it's waiting out front, it will take you to the airport," he advised. "Life will not be easy, little sister, but take it from both of us—freedom is never easily gained."
A few minutes later, they waited and watched as Nazma waved a tearful goodbye from the car as it drove away. Nadira could still feel the girl's strong hug gripping her just before she left. It made her want to cry. Leaving the house to her parents and now freed, Nadira felt as if they were turning their back on a warzone. Guiding her unsteady body to the car, Idrak tucked Nadira into the back seat before following her inside and commanding the self-automated car to drive.
Nadira couldn't say anything, it was if all the blood and energy from her body had been drained, leaving only a tired husk behind. She was joyous over her sister's new potential life and heartbroken at the memories of her father's hatred. She wanted to yell and scream at Idrak for what he had done while at the same time, kiss him and never let go.
Settling for slumping against him in the seat, she closed her eyes at the feeling of his hot, coal-black skin pressed against her cheek. Having dropped the disguise, he sat silently next to her, wrapping one arm around her, drawing her close.