Damien caresses my cheek. “I feel like I’ve known you forever. You’ve become such a crucial part of me that I can’t imagine life without you. Being us is easy, it’s comfortable and so familiar. I think...I think I’m falling for you.”

My pulse thunders in my ears as my heart that has loved him for so long trips and falls for him all over again. This man, this strong, powerful man has fallen for me not once but twice in one lifetime and here I am, still lying to him. What will he think when I finally tell him the truth? He gazes at me in that achingly familiar way that he used to in the past and I know it’s time. He needs to know the truth. I open my mouth, but before I can form a word, he plants his lips on mine.

Our mouths meet hungrily and I let him kiss me for a moment more before I lift his face.

“Damien, please, we need to talk. I have to tell...” But I’m cut off by a knock on my door.

Both of us turn to see Mike standing at the threshold. Damien bids him to enter. “What’s up Mike?”

Mike walks in with an iPad in hand. “Sir, I have some updates for you. Shall we retire to your office?”

Damien tilts his head. “You can talk in front of Aaliya.”

Mike glances from me to Damien “Firstly Sir, I’m still looking into Kardesh Areen and the other names you emailed me, but so far there is nothing concrete.”

“Keep digging.”

“Yes, I will,” Mike agrees. “Also I’ve been scanning all the camera feed from Annette & Co. and there’s nothing prior to the shooting. No strange people conducting surveillance, no bikes on the road. I’ve even checked all the neighboring cameras but there’s nothing untoward. The staff also doesn’t recall anything out of the ordinary happening.”

“Which means what exactly?” Damien asks.

I step forward as that missing link finally clicks in my mind. “That the shooter knew that you were going to be there.”

Mike nods. “She’s right, Sir.”

Damien gives me a questioning look. “What are you thinking, Aaliya?”

“You know, something about this entire situation has bugged me right from the beginning. You disappeared for five years, Damien, which means whoever is behind this wanted you back here. And what better way to get you back than a funeral?”

Damien squints into the distance before pacing back and forth around my small office. Finally, he stands in front of me. “Then why kill them both? He didn’t need to kill both of them to get my attention. I’d have returned for either of their deaths.”