Nothing made sense, and the more he thought about it, the further he drifted down the path of a decision that had essentially made itself the second his father opened his mouth with the news. He had to call off the engagement. There was no other choice, and that was the most absurd part about it. His father would be furious; the company would suffer. The very two things Zahir lived his life to avoid.
But what else could he do? There was no way he could move forward in life abandoning his unborn child from the get-go. And Layla. He couldn’t abandon her; had never wanted to in the first place. Every cell in his body craved her, despite the secret-keeping and the turmoil. Even amid the anger and the shock, he wanted to cradle her in his arms, let her know that he was going to take care of everything.
Of course, if he called off the engagement in favor of marrying the foreigner carrying his child, he ran the risk that the board wouldn’t accept him as the new CEO. Nothing was set in stone. Zahir stepping up to the plate was more of a ceremonial nod to his father’s legacy, but the board could hire a new CEO in a heartbeat if they decided Zahir was a liability.
But screw it. Screw them all. This was a risk he had to take.
Somehow, the anger and the shock made one thing startlingly clear: he loved Layla, and this was the only right move. This was the move he’d wanted to make the entire time. He wanted to choose Layla.
Zahir stormed out of his office, emboldened by the decision percolating in his gut. He headed for his father’s office, bursting in without knocking. His father looked up with hooded eyes.
“Don’t you bring me more bad news,” he warned.
“I can’t go through with the wedding,” Zahir blurted. His father set down his pen very slowly, his gaze narrowing on him.
“What did you say?”
“I don’t want to marry her. I can’t do it.”
“And why can’t you?”
“Because I’m in love with Layla and she’s pregnant with my child.”
His father leaned back into his chair, his face unreadable. The silence that filled the room throbbed between Zahir’s ears, each passing second making his heart beat faster.
“Father, say something,” Zahir pleaded after what felt like an eternity. Anything, even an angry outburst, would be better than this silence.
His father hadn’t moved, remained still as a statue. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Zahir said, his voice cracking.
“How do you know it’s yours?”
“We’ve been meeting up in secret for months,” Zahir said, averting his gaze. There was nothing more embarrassing than admitting his infidelity as a grown man. “It can only be mine.”
His father let out a long, raggedy sigh. He covered his face with his hands and stayed there for a long while.
“Father,” Zahir started.
“What do you want to do?” His father sat up, sniffing.
Zahir blinked. He’d never been asked that before. His conditioned response was to blurt out whatever you want. But that wasn’t the truth. It hadn’t been for a long time. “I want to be with Layla, the woman that I love. I want to help raise our child. I want to run this company.” When another silence descended, Zahir added, “And I want to honor you. Honor this family and the thousands of people that depend on us.”
His father nodded slowly, some of the color finally returning to his face. “Good. That is good.” He tapped his finger against the desk. “You are a good son, Zahir.”
Zahir’s belly twisted. This was certainly unexpected. Had he ever heard those words from his father’s lips before? He buried his hands in his pockets, unsure how to respond.
His father sighed and swiveled away toward his computer, waving his hand in Zahir’s direction. “Go, now. Just go.”
Zahir opened his mouth to ask him to add more, but decided against it. This was his decision, and it would happen without or without his father’s approval. He stumbled toward the door, his legs gelatin, feeling more buoyant and bristling than ever before in his life.
Layla rubbed her thumb over the smooth surface of a stone before hurling it into the sea. Marian rubbed her back while she intermittently threw rocks into the water, and murmured softly whenever tears arrived.
“I’m happy you finally did it.” Marian leaned her head against Layla. She’d come as soon as Layla called, leaving the office immediately after Layla said the word ‘resigned.’ “He needed to know.”
“Yeah.” Layla picked up another rock, examining its dappled surface.
“Omar and I had a lot of rocky territory between us at the beginning, too,” Marian went on, squinting out at the sea. The water lapped placidly at the stilts of a nearby dock. They’d met at a public access point a few miles from the Almasi headquarters.