All Chapters of Shattered Veil: A Muslim Romantic Thriller: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

"Allah," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I don’t know what to do."The air felt heavy, as if the weight of my words lingered around me.Tears slipped down my cheeks, unbidden, hot, and bitter."Help me see," I continued, my voice barely audible. "Help me find the strength to face him, to understand what’s right."The familiar rhythm of prayer should have been comforting, but tonight it felt like a desperate plea into the void.I thought of my mother, her soft smile, her gentle hands.I could almost hear her voice, a phantom echo in the stillness.“Life is fragile, Noura,” she used to say. “Hold the people you love close, but never let them break you.”I shuddered, the memory cutting deep.My brother’s laughter came next, bright and fleeting, a sound stolen too soon.They were gone—both of them—and their absence felt like a gaping wound that would never heal.Life was too short.I knew that better than anyone.It could be taken in an instant, leaving behind only regret and unanswered

Khalid’s words echoed in my mind, his pain lingering like a shadow.But beneath it all, I felt something else—an inkling of hope, fragile and fleeting.If he could face his own fears, his own demons, maybe there was a way forward for us.But it had to start with him.26NOURAA letter came in the morning.The courier was a boy, no older than twelve, his face pale and eyes wide as though the envelope itself had whispered horrors into his ears.I held it in my trembling hands, the weight of it unbearable despite its small size.I didn’t open it right away.I stared at the envelope for what felt like hours, my breath caught in my chest.My name was scrawled on the front in jagged handwriting, the ink smudged as though written in haste—or fury.When I finally broke the seal, my vision blurred with dread.The words were few but devastating: I am coming for you.A chill ran down my spine, seeping into my bones.The room seemed to darken around me, shadows creeping closer as though summoned

“I’m tired of hiding!” I shouted back.The words burst out of me, raw and desperate.“I can’t live like this, Khalid. I won’t.”He stared at me, his chest heaving, his fists clenched at his sides.For a moment, I thought he might explode—or worse, leave.But then his shoulders sagged, and something in his eyes shifted.36KHALIDHer words cut through me, sharper than any blade.She wasn’t wrong.I had trapped her, thinking it was protection.But in my fear, I had become something I despised—a man who suffocated the woman he loved.“You don’t understand what you’re risking,” I said, my voice quieter now. “He’s not just a man, Noura. He’s a monster. He’ll use this against you.”“And if I do nothing, he’ll come anyway,” she said, her tone soft but unyielding. “I have to try, Khalid. I have to take back some control.”Her words hung in the air, heavy and undeniable.For the first time, I saw the woman she had been before all of this—a fighter, strong and unbreakable.And I realized that m

“You don’t understand, girl. I’m the only one who can keep you safe. Khalid can’t protect you. He’s just a dog playing at being a man.”“I don’t need you,” I said, my voice trembling but strong. “I never needed you. You’re a pathetic, weak, disgusting man who has to kidnap and force women into things they don’t want to in order to get what you want. I would rather die than be married to you, wallah.”45KHALIDHer words were like a spark, igniting something inside me.“You heard her,” I said, my voice low and steady. “Now get the hell out.”The warlord sneered, his grip tightening on the knife.“I don’t think so.”He lunged, and everything happened at once.I fired the gun.The sound was deafening, the recoil jarring.The warlord staggered, clutching his shoulder, blood blooming across his shirt.But he didn’t fall.He came at me again, his knife slashing through the air.46NOURAThe fight was brutal, chaotic.They crashed into furniture, the sound of wood splintering and glass shatt

The man who had never let me go, even when he should have.The trial went on for days, each moment dragging as I was asked to recount what had happened—each word like sandpaper against my soul.It hurt to relive it, but it also felt necessary, like a purge of everything that had built up inside of me over the years.The prosecutors were doubtful and thought Khalid was trying to take justice into his own hands and murder the warlord before the police got to him and punished him.The warlord’s face, the way he had looked at me, the way he had manipulated me—those memories began to fade, replaced by the image of Khalid.But it wasn’t just the man who had killed for me that I saw now.It was the man who had been broken by his past, the man who had never truly learned how to love until it was almost too late.When the trial was over, and the decision was made, I knew it wouldn’t be easy for Khalid.He had blood on his hands.But I knew, too, that he had saved me.The warlord was gone, and