Chapter 180

The silence between them stretched, heavy and suffocating, broken only by the distant rustle of leaves swaying in the wind. Slowly, deliberately, he rose the gun and pointed it towards Roshanay, his grip steady despite the storm raging on his face, his finger resting with unsettling ease on the trigger.

“My brother died because of you, Nur. My father was killed because of you. You think I’d let you go?” The barrel gleamed, a single unblinking eye of judgment.

Her protective hand rose and wrapped around her stomach. It was an instinct older than fear, older than logic. The child inside kicked once, as if sensing the danger. She shook her head, small and desperate, as if denial alone could undo the past. Her fingers trembled as they pressed against the fabric, as if shielding the fragile life inside her from the chaos closing in around them. But fabric could not stop bullets, and she knew it. Her lips parted, but the words refused to come easily, caught somewhere between f