perfume - invisible, yet lingering lo

d at the edge of the old bazaar, with a hood drawn over his head and his eyes scanni

dawn. Anonymous aga

gone. He

e city. Wa

h is

't tell

t

feared what such knowledge might do - to he

, where rumors tangled like vines and the city's undercurrents ra

p where old men played chess and drank thick

gnized him

ader, his beard now streaked with gray - but the posture was unmistaka

ri

as a

the estate gates fro

se enough to observe. For nearly half an hour, he watched Harith sip his coff

sn't

s hun

-

olded piece of parchment. She had found it slipped beneath her door -

only o

So

el it - the same way she used to feel the heaviness in the room before Harith would raise his voi

ldn't

as g

n't

was a single file - the original council report from the ni

he kn

-

that evening

he velvet couch with her legs folded ben

eed to ask

him," h

eath h

ontinued, stepping closer.

er chin lifted with the quiet r

l twist the narrative. Say I drove hi

r. "Then we won't l

m, eyes wide. "W

om you. Not the counci

if to object - bu

hat shadows were shields. But Ahmed was right. Every veil

wanted

-

candlelight, Khadi

ic confessio

ce, calm and

ave learned that silence is not always safety. My second husband, Harith, did not vanish. He

with manipulation. But I will not hide.

th. And I will no

recording t

y's top investig

med, tears silently sl

id," she

r face in

ce of fear," he whispere

-

firah buzzed like

eo went

eem" trended for reasons no PR team could spin

elieve

did

portant - m

idn't vanish aga

he city's luxury marina - trying to board a boat under a

beside Khadija as a sea of cam

to face them a

t," she

- not just as the mystery widow of Al-Hakeem, b

husband a

-

er 11 – A H

s toward Khadija and Ahmed, the couple must decide what kind of life th