Page 104 of Oliver
My nails bit into my palms.
I could see it playing out—the air knocked out of Ryan’s lungs when he hit the ground, my knuckles white, Zahra rushing between us and pulling me off him as I watched him take his last breath.
But I'd already failed her once by thinking violence could solve what trust had broken. No more.
Instead, I slipped around the side of the house, staying out of sight but within earshot. I wasn't eavesdropping, not exactly. I just needed to be sure Zahra was safe.
The front door opened, and Zahra's groan of frustration carried clearly in the morning air.
"Seriously, Ryan?" Her voice dripped with contempt. "What will it take for you to read the writing on the wall?"
"Whoa, retract the claws." Ryan's hands went up in mock surrender. "I come in peace."
Zahra closed the door behind her, making it clear she wasn’t letting Ryan get farther than the porch steps, then crossed herarms as she fixed him with a glare so fierce I felt the menace from my hiding spot.
Ryan waited, his smirk twitching when all Zahra did was glare at him with unmasked loathing without saying a single word.
Then he kicked his smile up a notch, coming closer. Too close. Always too fucking close.
"I wanted to check up on you after the way Oliver crashed the wedding yesterday," Ryan said, his concern almost convincing. "I know I was an asshole the past two weeks, okay? I'm sorry."
I knew he was full of shit, but Ryan had always been good at twisting the truth, at playing the wounded party, at making Zahra doubt herself and others.
"That was before I learned how dangerous Oliver is." His hand lifted to his neck as if on cue. "I'm worried that he'll come for you, Zahra. You can't trust him."
My stomach dropped, a weight settling in my chest.
This was how it had always been with Ryan—half-truths wrapped in concern, designed to isolate and manipulate. Zahra had fallen for it once before, choosing his lies over our friendship.
If she fell for it again now, when my heart was completely in her hands...
"Not interested," Zahra deadpanned, and I almost laughed with relief.
But Ryan wasn't backing off.
"You really thought he'd be different, huh?" His voice was almost gentle, full of pity. "He used you, Zahra. Just like I did. At least you meant something to me—you were my first love. But Oliver? You're nothing to him. Never was and never will be." He stepped closer to her, invading her personal space, but Zahra didn’t flinch. "Some people were born with a lack of commonsense, babe. You were just unlucky enough to be one of them. But I can fix that."
He reached out to stroke Zahra's hair, grinning like he'd already won. Rage and desperation flooded me, my body tensing to intervene—and then Zahra spoke a single word.
"No."
Without waiting for his reaction, she shoved him as hard as she could, sending him flying off the stairs. I had to press my hand against my mouth to stifle the cheer when he landed hard on his ass.
"You crazy bitch!" Ryan yelled from the ground.
"That's right, asshole. I'm a crazy, bad bitch," she retorted, her voice full of rage and power. “And I am so fucking sick of hearing your voice.”
“Now, listen here?—"
“No, you listen.” Zahra stomped down the stairs, her every movement radiating righteous fury. "You didn't break me. You didn't ruin me. You have no power over me."
Ryan tried to act tough, but the way he scrambled away from her, his ass dragging against the bricks paving the path, chafing his designer jeans? He was scared.
And I couldn’t blame him.
Zahra had transformed into a solar flare personified, her wrath an inescapable force.
"You know what's funny, Ryan?"
