TREASURES AND THORNS

Chapter Twenty one

Home is not where you were born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease.
                                      -Naguib Mahfouz

AHMAD

<PIECES>

UNEDITED

My vast knowledge in a wide range of areas came up short in the dilemma I was faced with. I felt confused, enraged, pained and guilty.

The worst of all was the guilt.

I had left her all alone in the midst of strangers. Hafsat needed me and I shouldn't have regretted helping her out but it came in the way of the one who had legal rights over me. I had abandoned my wife to help a strange woman.

While I stood backing her in the bathroom, I felt like an utter failure. I had feared treating her badly but I never saw such failure coming. I needed to talk to Rofyan urgently but I couldn't not do that because I had to be with her. It would be wrong of me to analyze the situation in her presence. My parents had also called me but I could not answer their calls either. I sent them both a message informing them of the current situation.

"I'm done," Her voice broke in to my thoughts. I slowly turned around. She was still covered in a big hijab.

I took her hand in mine and led her out of the bathroom.

While I waited for her to get dressed, I arrived at a conclusion. It would be reckless of me to let her be. No matter how much we both dreaded the outcome. it had to be done.
I knelt in front of the spot she sat on the bed. Taking her small hands in mine, I spoke.

"Dimple, you need to see a doctor."

Her pupils dilated, the shock on her face evident. She shook her head frantically unconsciously brushing her hands on her neck.

"I'm calling the family doctor and I won't leave your side. We have to see the doctor."

The rate at which she brushed her hands over her neck was becoming alarming. I let go of her hands while I tried to rescue her neck from her finger's brutal assault.

If I had been initially shocked, the sight before me multiplied that ten folds. I brushed my hands over the red bruises. My eyes closed on their own accord as I tried to calm myself. We didn't just have to see the doctor, we needed the doctor.

The psychopath tried to strangle her. I had never seen anything more bizarre! It didn't even make any sense. There was nothing valuable missing, not in my office nor in the entire branch. The whole attack was aimed at Rukkayya. It made no sense at all.

Rukkayya fell asleep shortly after Dr.Isma'il finished his examination. I had given Atika her ruined clothes with specific orders to burn them and also stay with her while I handled other affairs. I had not gotten a detailed report from the security team yet.

The in room looked chaotic, an obvious evidence that a struggle had ensued. The sheets were disheveled, the bed side drawer had been knocked down. The flower vase on it had become an mess of broken glasses decorating the floor.

"Tell me you have him," I spoke as I returned the tablet to him.

The dark, muscular guy before me shifted in his stance.

"I'm afraid we haven't been able to locate him sir."

My hands curled up in to a fist. "What is your general assessment of the breach?"
"The attack is quiet unusual sir. The intruder could have gone for to the treasury but he went straight ahead in to the building. I have reasons to believe that he had been directed. None of the CCTV got an image of him, he wore a mask and a face cap. It is as though he knew all about the building.