Velvet Hours

THE SHADOW OF DUBAI

CHAPTER 12: THE SHADOW OF DUBAI

“The most dangerous weapon a dead man leaves behind is the truth.”

The next morning, the sun rose over the coast, but the rose-tea warmth of the previous day was gone. The sky was a pale, icy gray, mirroring the heavy silence that had settled inside the villa.

Jibraan sat at the dining table, his coffee untouched and completely cold. Spread out before him were the printouts of the legal notices Zarar’s lawyer had emailed. Beside them lay a single, intricate brass key—a duplicate the lawyer had couriered to him months ago under Zarar's strict, dying instructions.

Haya entered the room quietly, holding Zayyan tightly against her chest. The little boy was unusually quiet, sensing the tension radiating from his parents.

"We can't stay here, can we?" Haya asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Jibraan looked up, the exhaustion clear in his dark eyes. He stood up and walked over to her, gently taking Zayyan from her arms and placing him in his playpen. Then, he turned back to Haya, framing her face with his hands.

"We are safe here for now, Haya. But running won't solve this," Jibraan said softly but firmly. "Zarar didn't do this out of kindness. He knew his empire was crumbling. By leaving the locker to you, he made you a target for his old associates. If we don't go to Dubai and open that locker ourselves, those people will hunt us down, believing we already know their secrets."

Haya closed her eyes, a tear escaping down her cheek. "I thought we were done with Dubai, Jibraan. I thought we left that dark world behind."

"We did," Jibraan promised, kissing her forehead. "And we will finish it for good. I’ve already booked a private flight for tomorrow. We go to the bank, we hand over whatever blackmail files are in that locker directly to the federal authorities, and we wipe Zarar’s shadow out of our lives forever. I won't let anyone touch our family."

Haya looked at the brass key on the table. It felt less like a key to wealth and more like a key to a cage they were being forced back into.

Meanwhile – A Dark Alley in Dubai

ReTaaj pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders to shield herself from the dusty city wind. She was standing outside a rundown electronic repair shop in a part of Dubai tourists never saw. The glamour of her past life felt like a cruel joke compared to the grime of her present.

She pushed the door open, a small bell chiming above her.

Behind the counter sat a lean man with sharp eyes, surrounded by disassembled laptops and wires. This was Asif, an underground data broker who used to do dirty tech work for Zarar.

"You're late, ReTaaj," Asif said without looking up from his work.

"I don't have time for games, Asif," ReTaaj snapped, slamming her handbag onto the counter. "You sent me that message about Zarar's will. How do you know he left everything to Haya?"

Asif finally looked up, a sly smirk playing on his lips. "Because Zarar’s lawyer isn't the only one who has access to his system. Before Zarar died, he logged into his private server from the hospice. He updated his beneficiaries. Haya Bint Faris gets the offshore account access and the key to Locker 404 at the Grand Crescent Bank."

ReTaaj felt a surge of adrenaline. Locker 404. That was the vault where Zarar kept the hard drives containing the financial secrets of Dubai's elite—the ultimate leverage.

"Where is Haya now?" ReTaaj demanded, her eyes flashing with a dangerous desperation. "She isn't in Dubai."

"No, she and Jibraan have been hiding out at a seaside villa," Asif replied, turning his computer screen toward her. A flight manifest appeared on the monitor. "But they won't be hiding for long. Jibraan Bin Razan just cleared a private flight landing at Dubai International tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM."

ReTaaj stared at the names on the screen. A cold, ruthless determination washed over her. Jibraan and Haya were coming back to her territory. They thought they were coming to claim a prize, but ReTaaj was going to make sure they walked straight into a trap.

"Keep tracking them," ReTaaj whispered, her vindictive smile returning. "If Haya wants that locker, she’s going to have to bleed for it."

END OF CHAPTER 12