Chapter 1

"Sir, The chief prosecutor on the Mansoor Corp. case, sir—" Michael paused. "—is none other than your wife."

Raiyan stopped walking.

He turned his head slowly. The kind of slow that wasn't calm. The kind that made people take a half step back without deciding to. Michael felt it before the look even landed.

"I mean—" He cleared his throat. Fast. Survivalist. "Ms. Zoya, sir. Ms. Zoya Al Fayez." Another beat. "She's filed as lead prosecutor on the Mansoor Corp. case."

Raiyan didn't stop walking. He was moving through the private terminal at Geneva Airport—long strides, unhurried, the kind of pace that made rooms rearrange themselves around him. Dark hair, eyes deep set, square jaw. A charcoal three-piece suit that looked like it had been built for him and only him. He was the kind of man that people noticed before they understood why. Something about the way he carried himself. Like the world had always made room for him, and he'd simply stopped registering it.

Eleven minutes since landing. Two briefs already reviewed. One call declined. A restructuring approved that would affect nine hundred people across three countries.

He hadn't had his morning coffee yet.

His team knew what that meant.

Michael pushed forward anyway.

"She's very good, sir." He kept his voice neutral. Professional. "She's taken on some powerful families. Won every time." A beat. "She hasn't lost a single case yet."

Raiyan stopped. The terminal kept moving around him. He stood completely still inside all of it. He turned his head just enough to look at Michael.

Michael held his ground. Barely.

Armaan only Prayed for him in silence.

For one second—just one—something moved through Raiyan's face. Fast. Private. There and gone before anyone could name it. Like a door opening and closing in the same breath. Then the corner of his mouth pulled up. Not a smile. Something colder than that.

"Let her." A jagged, dry chuckle escaped him—the sound of a man watching a farce unfold. "Well. There's a first time for everything."

A pause. "She will learn her lesson."

He turned and walked.

Armaan leaned two centimetres toward Michael. "Was that—"

"Don't," Michael said. They followed.

His phone rang before they reached the car. He pulled it from his jacket. The screen lit up. Michael stopped talking mid-sentence. Armaan looked up from his tablet.

The photo on the screen did that to people. It had always done that to people. A small girl—barely two in the picture, caught mid-laugh, dark wavy hair going in every direction at once, one sock on and one sock off, hazel eyes so big and bright they barely looked real. The kind of photo that made strangers smile. The kind that stopped whatever was happening and replaced it with something warmer.

Raiyan answered before the second ring. And his voice—the same voice that had just delivered a cold, quiet verdict on a woman taking him to court—completely disappeared. What came out instead was something his team had never discussed out loud, not with each other, not with anyone outside this circle. An unspoken agreement. What happened when that photo lit up the screen stayed between them.

"Hey, baby girl."

What came back through the phone was not a response. It was a weather system.

"DADDYYYYYYY—"

He stopped walking. One hand went to his temple. Brief. Automatic.

"Hey." Softer now. Completely different register.

"Hey, I'm here. Right here. Tell me what happened."

"You went AWAY." The accusation hit like she'd been saving it up for hours. "You went away when I was sleeping and I waked up and I looked and I looked and you weren't ANYWHERE—"

"I know, baby."

"She said you had work but I don't LIKE work—"

"I know."

"I don't like work and I don't like you going and I don't like—" A small pause as she searched for the right words. "I just don't like it."

"I know," he said. Quieter. "I know you don't."

From somewhere behind her—a woman's voice. Smooth. Controlled. "She hasn't eaten. I've tried everything."

"Lili." His voice found the specific frequency that always worked on her. Gentle but certain. The crying softened. She was listening. "Tell me what you had for breakfast."

Sniffling. "...Nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

A guilty pause. "...She made eggs."

"Did you eat the eggs?"

"...Some."

"How many is some?"

The pause of someone doing arithmetic they didn't want to do. "...One. But Daddy—" She rushed ahead before he could respond. "It was a really big one."

The corner of his mouth moved. He caught it. Pressed it flat. "What about the toast?"

"The toast was dirty."

"What do you mean dirty?"

"It was all black. It was burnt, Daddy. Burnt toast is dirty toast. I don't eat dirty things."

"Elena—"

From the background, with remarkable patience: "I've adjusted the toaster."

"Good." He exhaled once. Turned back to the small voice. "Lili. Look at me."

"You're not HERE," she said. Miserably. "I can't look at you if you're not here."

"Okay. Then just listen." He waited. "When have I ever not come back?"

A long pause. Very serious. The pause of a two-year-old treating this like the biggest question she'd ever been asked. "...Never," she said quietly.

"Right. Never. So what does that mean?"

Another pause. "...You're coming back?"

"I'm coming back."

"Pinky promise?”

"Pinky promise."

A small exhale. The sound of a child deciding to let herself believe something, even though believing things was risky and she was well aware of this.

"Daddy?"

"Yes."

"How many sleeps?"

"Two."

Silence. The long, devastating silence of a two-year-old counting on her fingers and not liking the answer.

"That's SO many," she whispered.

"It's really not."

"It IS. That's two whole nights, Daddy. Two nights and you won't be there for ANY of them."

"Everyone else will be there."

“No one sings the song right." A pause. " They do the slow part fast."

From the background: "I sing it correctly."

"No she doesn’t ," Liyana reported to Raiyan, "she changes the song.”

Raiyan said nothing.

He was standing in a private terminal in Geneva. Three-piece suit. An empire with his name on it. A legal case building that would take six firms across two continents to manage. He was losing a debate about song tempo to someone who weighed twelve kilograms.

"Two sleeps," he said. "And I'll sing it so slow you'll fall asleep before the second verse."

A sniff. A small considering silence. "...Okay," she said finally. Small voice. Real voice. Just her now, no performance, no drama—a two-year-old who missed her dad in the only way she knew how, which was completely.

"Good girl."

"Daddy?"

"Yes."

"I love you the most in the whole world."

He stood in the terminal. Something happened in his chest. The same thing that always happened when she said that. It didn't matter where he was or what he was in the middle of. It always landed in the same place. The place where nothing else reached.

"I love you the most in the whole world," he said back.

"You love me the most, Daddy," she corrected, gently but firmly. Satisfied. Like they'd both arrived at the right answer together.

Then, from the background, the woman's voice again. Quiet. Even. "Say goodbye, sweetheart."

A small sound of protest. "Bye, Daddy." A pause. "Come back quick."

"Quick as I can."

The call ended. He stood there for three seconds. Then he pocketed the phone. Straightened. The suit settled. His shoulders squared. The temperature behind his eyes returned to where it lived. He turned around. Michael and Armaan were both looking at their tablets with extraordinary focus.

"Michael."

"Sir."

"Full case history on the opposing counsel. Every case, every strategy, every weakness. I want it before dinner."

"Yes, sir."

"Find out who's funding the litigation. Nobody fights corporations pro bono."

"Of course."

He walked toward the exit. Three steps from the door.

That was when he saw them.