Loving Her Enemy

Chapter One

26 December 2020

Hello, everyone! How are you all? I'm back, with another book! Liyana and Zain's story. It's a very different one to my other books, I hope you all love it nonetheless!

Long ago, several of my readers had requested for me to write such a story. So, here it is. A dark romance. A story of hatred, of family rivalry. It is NOT linked to any of my other books. Liyana, Zain and all the other characters in this book aren't related to Zaid, Zara, Zayan or Alayna. I hope you'll come to love these characters just as much as Zaid and Zayan, though! Especially Zayan. ;)

WARNING: This book will contain mature scenes. It will contain blood, violence and sex scenes (later on). I'm rating it as mature, because I know for certain that my younger readers shouldn't read this book. I'm sorry!

Another warning. Just two weeks ago, one of my readers told me that 'Arranged or Love?' has been copied onto another site. This is NOT right. Plagiarism is wrong, against the law. If I find out that any of my work has been copied ever again, I will report. So don't do it. It's not fair to the writer, is it?

On a lighter note, I hope you all enjoy this story. I love you all!

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Liyana's POV

I stand at my balcony, staring at the dark, moonlit sky, lost in my thoughts. I wish I could fall asleep and not wake up to the world. I wish I could live in my dreams forever, so I wouldn't have to face reality. But these days, sleep doesn't come to me.

Gazing at the moon always gives me hope. It always gives me peace, promise for a new day. I've forgotten what happiness is. It sounds like a foreign word, something I've not experienced for a long, long time. But today, nothing will give me the slightest bit of peace. Nothing will give me hope today. Maybe this is what's destined for me. This is what I deserve, how I'll spend the rest of my life.

A tear slips out of my eye, and I quickly wipe it away with the sleeve of my woollen dress. I can't cry. What good would that do? It's not like I'm crying in front of anyone, it's not like there's a single person in my life who'd do anything to help me. I'm all alone, just like I always have been. I'll get through this too, like everything else. I got through the engagement today without crying once. I'll get through the wedding, too.

I raise my slender, fair hand to the moonlight, staring at the ring on my left hand. I chuckle humourlessly to myself. Even the ring isn't of my liking. It has a thin sterling silver band, with a huge single diamond in the middle. The ring feels extremely heavy on my hand, it's way too flashy for my liking. I want to take it off, but I don't think my father would approve of that. I prefer a simple, more elegant and sophisticated ring style. Not that it'd ever be my choice, though.

I'm engaged, to a man I absolutely detest. I loathe Ayaan Abdullah, my fiancé. He'll be my husband in two short weeks time. I can't even stand to see his face, I have no idea how I'm going to spend the rest of my life with him.

Ayaan's a multi-millionaire, like my father. He's my father's business partner, and he's always had his eye set on me. Ever since he first saw me many years ago, he made it clear that I would be his one day. As soon as I turned twenty-one, he asked my father for my hand in marriage. And of course, daddy dearest happily accepted the proposal without once asking me what I wanted. My father's always loved Ayaan more than his own family.

Although Ayaan's a multi-millionaire, he's known to be a gangster, a bad boy. He has a bad reputation. He's someone who always gets what he wants. And he wants me. He always gives me filthy looks, dirty smirks, he always tries to touch me. My back, my hands, my shoulders. In front of my father, too. And my father doesn't care a single bit.