Page 150 of Dark Duet: Platinum Edition

“Where’s Rafiq?” Caleb inquired urgently.

Jair registered Caleb’s demeanor, his gaze focusing on the blood on Caleb’s forehead. “What happened?”

Caleb swallowed. “Felipe attacked me. I have him tied up downstairs in the shower room.”

“Does everyone hate you?” Jair turned into his room with a sneer in Caleb’s direction.

Caleb spoke in Arabic. “He was planning to kill Rafiq. He wanted me to help him.”

Jair turned his head toward Caleb as he pulled on a pair of pants and replied in the same language. “Why would he ask for your help?”

“He thought he had something to offer me. Obviously, he doesn’t know how deep my loyalty runs. Where is Rafiq?” Caleb asked again. He was having a difficult time restraining himself. Nancy was tied face down on the bed. He could see her shaking and had no clue how he felt about her plight.

“Everyone seems to question your loyalty, Caleb. Perhaps there is something to question.” Jair put his arms through a shirt.

“Fuck you, swine. Where is Rafiq? I won’t ask again.”

“Fuck you, Caleb. You and your little whore.” Jair turned to retrieve his shoes and Caleb could no longer hold himself back.

As soon as Jair’s back was turned, Caleb kicked the back of his knee and threw his weight onto Jair’s back. He pushed his knife between Jair’s ribs and into one of his lungs.

Jair bucked wildly, shock and adrenaline making him strong as an ox. Caleb wrapped his left arm around Jair’s throat and held onto the knife in Jair’s side as he was flung to the left and right with incredible force. Caleb didn’t dare do anything but use his strength to stay on Jair. He could hear Nancy whimpering, but she had yet to scream.

Jair crawled, staggering across the room on his hands and knees while his blood soaked his shirt and Caleb’s hand.

“No!” Jair gurgled. “No!” His arm reached back for Caleb, trying to drag him off.

Caleb shifted the knife in Jair’s side, his body sliding against Jair’s sweat and blood. He shut his eyes and listened to Jair’s death rattles until he fell forward onto the floor. Caleb held on for a minute…waiting. There was nothing. He loosened his arm around Jair’s throat and one last whisper of breath escaped him. Jair was dead.

Caleb shifted, straddling Jair’s limp body, and pulled out his knife. He could hear Nancy crying into the bed and trying to quiet her panic.

“I’m not here for you,” Caleb whispered. Nancy wept harder. Caleb lifted the knife and looked down at Jair’s lifeless body. He stabbed him twice more to be sure.

Slowly, he stood and approached Nancy. She flinched, her chest rising and falling to the rhythm of her panic.

“Please!” she cried. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for what I did. Please, don’t hurt me. No more. Please, God, no more.” She sobbed and shook her head.

Caleb sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you sure you want to live?” His voice was wooden and detached. He felt so many things, but they were distant. This was not bloodlust. There was no satisfaction in what he’d done, or what he was about to do. “You won’t forget,” he continued. “Every time you close your eyes…it will be waiting there. Every time a man touches you, you’ll struggle not to cry out. Are you sure that’s what you want?”

Nancy wouldn’t stop sobbing.

“I can make it fast. No pain. I promise.”

“Please,” she pleaded, “let me go.”

“Do you know where Rafiq is?” he asked, his tone cold and far away.

“L-l-ast time, we…” Nancy sobbed, but kept going, “we stayed in this guest house out by the pool. He…he didn’t want anyone to hear me SCREAMING!” Nancy wailed into the mattress and pulled on the restraints holding her down.

Caleb couldn’t stand to listen to her misery. He felt responsible for it. He had brought her into his world. No matter what she’d done, she didn’t deserve the price she’d paid. He leaned over her body, wincing at the way she screamed in horror. He cut her loose.

Nancy didn’t move – she simply continued to scream and cry on the bed.

“Good luck,” he whispered. He stood and searched Jair’s things and found his knife and gun. He picked them both up and walked out of the room.

It was warm outside, even in the dead of night. Caleb walked toward the guest house with a high level of trepidation but an even greater sense of determination.

Part of him wanted to simply go inside and kill Rafiq as he slept. It would be over quickly. Caleb would never have to confront Rafiq’s betrayal. He would never have to face the man he had thought of as a father, brother, and friend and ask him what had been real between them and what had been a ploy. He would never have to see Rafiq’s eyes lose the spark that meant he was alive.