Chapter 9 - BENEATH THE GREENHOUSE
The greenhouse had been abandoned for seventeen years.
Cracked glass.
Dead irrigation lines.
Dust-covered stone.
Nobody used it except gardeners storing broken equipment.
At 20:10, excavation lights filled the space.
Farid ordered the floor scanned.
The machine found something beneath the eastern wall.
A cavity.
Workers removed stone carefully.
Then soil.
Then fabric.
Karim turned away first.
Human remains lay curled beneath three feet of earth.
A rusted necklace remained around the neck.
Naïma identified it from a photograph.
Salma.
Rami’s mother.
Leïla stared at the grave.
Twenty-eight years hidden beneath a family property where weddings, holidays, and birthday parties had happened a hundred yards away.
Malik looked physically ill.
“My father did this?”
Farid crouched near the remains.
“Forensics will decide.”
“But we already know.”
“No. We suspect.”
Malik laughed bitterly.
“You’re still protecting him?”
“He’s dead.”
“Good.”
Leïla grabbed Malik’s arm.
“Not now.”
He pulled free.
“My father murdered a woman and stole Samira’s life. And now his secret son is kidnapping people because apparently insanity is hereditary.”
Leïla stepped closer.
“Rami is responsible for what Rami does.”
Malik looked away.
At 21:03, Farid received another message.
A security officer had located a hidden transmitter beneath the greenhouse floor.
Someone had been listening.
Rami knew they found Salma.
At 21:17, another text arrived.
THEY FOUND HER.
GOOD.
NOW ASK HASSAN WHY HE HELPED BURY HER.
Karim read it twice.
“No.”
Leïla’s chest tightened.
The phone rang.
Rami.
She answered.
“Where is my father?”
“Alive.”
“Let me hear him.”
A pause.
Then Hassan’s voice.
“Leïla.”
“Father.”
“I’m all right.”
“Where are you?”
Rami returned.
“Wrong question.”
Leïla gripped the phone.
“You said Hassan helped bury Salma.”
“He did.”
“Prove it.”
A soft laugh.
“You people always ask for proof after spending decades ignoring it.”
“Then tell me.”
“My mother saw Omar drag Dalia from the palace.”
Leïla looked at Malik.
“Go on.”
“She told Hassan.”
Leïla’s stomach dropped.
“Hassan confronted Omar.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Omar said Salma was lying. Then Salma vanished.”
Rami’s voice changed.
Sharper.
“Hassan found her body two days later.”
Nobody moved.
“He knew Omar killed her?”
“Yes.”
“And he buried her?”
“He helped move the body.”
Leïla shut her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because the family was negotiating a billion-dollar port agreement. Scandal would have destroyed it.”
Karim whispered, “Son of a bitch.”
Rami continued.
“Your father protected the business. Omar protected himself. My mother disappeared into the ground.”
“And you want money?”
Rami laughed.
“You still think this is money?”
“You want the shares.”
“I want the truth to cost all of you something.”
“Samira too?”
Silence.
Leïla heard breathing.
Then Rami said, “Samira was supposed to help me.”
Everyone looked at one another.
“What?”
“She knew the plan.”
“No.”
“She helped steal your code.”
Leïla’s mouth went dry.
“She helped you?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“She discovered I wasn’t only looking for evidence.”
“What were you going to do?”
Another pause.
Then Rami whispered, “Rewrite the inheritance before Hassan could announce her.”
The call ended.
Seconds later, Leïla received a video.
Samira appeared on screen.
Alive.
Her hands were bound.
A bruise covered one side of her face.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Leïla, don’t bring him the file.”
A hand grabbed Samira’s hair.
She gasped.
Rami’s voice came from behind the camera.
“Tell her the rest.”
Samira’s eyes filled with tears.
“Rami never wanted me to inherit.”
May you like
She swallowed hard.
“He wanted everyone to believe I murdered Hassan for it.”
