The Nearest Heaven

Part 27 - Destruction

Part 27 – Destruction

"And rely upon Allah; and sufficient is Allah as Disposer of affairs."

~Surah Ahzab, verse 3.

Finally recognising the evil devil in front of her, Fadiyah straightened her shoulders and glared at Ilhaam. "Where one snake slithered, I should have known another would follow," Fadiyah snapped. "Although how you know Rasheed is beyond me." Boldly, Fadiyah rolled her eyes at the pair.

Her confidence had skyrocketed once she realised that Ilhaam was behind it. Ilhaam could torture her, abuse her but she could not kill Fadiyah. With the cunning mind that Ilhaam had, Fadiyah knew that Ilhaam might already be aware that should Fadiyah or Faraaz die, his wealth and property will go into a charity (should his father already be deceased). The alternate to that stipulation was the ironclad clause that was added into his father's will; should Fadiyah and Faraaz die without any heirs, Aasif Ali will inherit their wealth provided that should he die, none of it will ever transfer to Ilhaam. Either way that Ilhaam chose to look at the situation, she lost. She could gain nothing.

"Ah, my brother's slut. When did you gain a mouth on you?" Ilhaam taunted.

Rasheed came to stand beside Ilhaam. He glared at Fadiyah. "That is exactly what I told her, Ilhaam. Your brother was no good for my beloved. Her mouth is like a sailor these days, dirty and grimy. I don't like the things that she sprouts out nowadays."

Ilhaam looked at him and nodded, but Fadiyah caught the quick eye roll that Ilhaam did before nodding along to Rasheed's nonsense. Fadiyah was not naïve enough to believe that she might have a partner in escaping Rasheed's madness. If Ilhaam had partnered up with Rasheed it could only spell disaster. And disaster for Fadiyah and Faraaz.

"Money makes a man," Ilhaam chuckled. "Or in this case," she sneered, "money makes the woman."

Fadiyah shook her head gravely. Despite how utterly frail she felt, she was not going to appear weak in front of her sister-in-law, she was not going to let Ilhaam exploit her weakness. Her mind flooded with alternative adjectives to call her sister-in-law. Adjectives that were quite colourful and uncomplimentary ... and ones that Fadiyah hated to frequent since Muslims were not supposed to swear. "I didn't need your brother's money, Ilhaam," Fadiyah said calmly.

"Oh, yes, that's right," Ilhaam sighed dramatically. "You inherited everything that your stupid parents owned." Ilhaam sneered down at Fadiyah's thinning frame. "Did you know," she sneered excitedly. The scowl on her beautiful face made her look ugly. "That your parents chose death over you? They had the choice and chance to steer you away from my half-brother and take you back to your silly city, but instead they chose to let you make your own mistakes. They said that they would prefer to leave you alone since the choice that they had for you nearly ended your life." Ilhaam let out a low, humourless chuckle as she kicked Fadiyah in the ribs. "If only they chose to take you back to where you came from, if only they chose to take you to where Rasheed was, they would never have had to be killed."

The shocking revelation had Fadiyah's head spinning as she tried to figure out Ilhaam's words. Was Ilhaam implying that she killed Fadiyah's parents? Or, did she just confess to killing Fadiyah's world? Did she really kill Fadiyah's innocent parents because of money? Because of greed? Because of Ilhaam's psychopathic tendency to want to destroy her brother? In her desire to possess Faraaz's hard earned company, she killed innocent bystanders.

Fadiyah's temper rose, but she gritted her teeth and glowered with narrow slit eyes. She allowed Ilhaam to continue gloating, to boast about how gullible her parents had been, how foolish they were not to listen to Ilhaam. All the while, Rasheed watched Ilhaam with a starry-eyed expression. He was in awe of her resourcefulness, her determination, her ruthlessness. Her cold-heartedness and her rock-hard expressionless face were everything that he aspired to be like. Fadiyah didn't miss that his reaction to Ilhaam was akin to hero worship.