A walk on thorns

Chapter 7| Realization

Anisha's POV

I couldn’t even control myself anymore. Every step I took back into the house felt like it was ripping me apart. My hands were trembling as the anger burned in my chest, a storm that had no escape. But I had to let it out, Sabrina had it coming. I stormed straight to the kitchen, my heart pounding with rage.

"What do you think you did, Sabrina?!" My voice was like a whip, sharp and jagged. I barely recognized the sound of it, filled with so much hurt, so much fury.

Sabrina didn’t even flinch. She was too calm, too collected. She dismissed Sarah and Rubina so easily, the smile on her face a mask that made my blood boil. "Sarah, take Rubina to her room. I’ll catch up with you," she said, as if this wasn’t a warzone.

But I wasn’t backing down. "I’m talking to you, Sabrina!" I shouted, a sob of frustration escaping my lips as tears of anger streaked down my face.

Her eyes met mine, cold as ice. "I did what you should’ve done for me, if I were in your shoes," she replied flatly, her tone full of something I couldn’t even name.

My fists clenched, my body trembling with a fury I could barely control. "Bullshit!" I hissed, taking a step toward her. "This is pure bullshit, Sabrina! You think you know it all, like you’re some goddamn expert on life and marriage, but you don’t know a damn thing! You just stomp around, thinking you have the right to destroy everything I’ve built, without even understanding what you’re doing!" My voice cracked with the force of it, but I wasn’t done.

Sabrina’s response was as cold and calculated as ever. "Of course, I know nothing about your marriage, especially not one like yours. But you know what I do know? Human rights. And I’ll be damned if I let anyone come into this house and treat you like trash, not while I’m still breathing." Her gaze pierced through me, unrelenting.

The venom in her words hit me harder than any physical blow could. "I didn’t ask for your help, Sabrina! This isn’t your damn business! You came in here with that big head of yours held high and ruined everything! Do you even know who she is?!" I was shaking now, my voice rising with every word. "She’s Mukhtar’s mother! My husband’s mother! And you stood there, insulting her, in my goddamn house!" The words felt like they were choking me, and yet they came out all at once, like I couldn’t stop them.

Sabrina didn’t back down, not an inch. "Yes, I know who she is," she said, her voice dripping with contempt. "She was that woman, the one who dragged you from Kano to Kaduna just to get some stupid measurements of yours for some pointless events like you’re some damn puppet or an object that doesn't matter, not in the slightest. She’s the one who made you think she loved you more than anything in this world, when all she was doing was using you to get her son. And now, you’re sitting here letting her walk all over you. Letting her do God knows what to you, and all because you refuse to see what she is, deep down I knew that this day will come, the day this woman will do unspeakable things to you, until everyone doubt if she was the one baby-ing you to marry her son." Her words were like daggers, cutting straight through me.

My chest was tight, the anger and betrayal mixing in a deadly cocktail. "This isn’t about what she did to me," I said, struggling to keep my voice steady. "It’s about the way you treated her. The way you disrespected her, just because you don’t agree with her methods!" My hands were shaking so badly I thought I might fall apart.

Sabrina’s eyes flashed, like fire behind ice. "She didn’t respect her age, Anisha. She didn’t respect YOU. So why the hell should I respect her?!" she shot back, her voice rising to match my fury. "You think I’m just going to sit by while they tear you down? You think I’m going to let you suffer like that?!" She was in my face now, her breath hot with anger.