Salaam everyone. So the chapters are going to be a little bit shorter than usual just so I can make the story last longer :) I hope you enjoy this chapter! Stay awesome!

Rana slid off her robe and slippers, and climbed into her and Rami's bed, turning on her bedside lamp.

"Habibi are you coming to bed?" she called, and as Rami stepped out of the bathroom, she watched him, her heart skipping a beat slightly.

Gosh he was handsome.

"Yup I'll be right there, let me just change." He said disappearing into the closet, and a few minutes later he reappeared, sliding into the bed next to her.

"Hi." She said as he put an arm around her, and he bent to kiss her.

"Hello beautiful."

"Did you and Omar figure things out?" she asked, and he blew out a breath.

"Sort of."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that we made a plan, but we can only hope that things go smoothly."

"What's the plan?"

"Um, I don't think I should tell you."

She pushed up on her elbow, peering into his face.

"That means it's dangerous isn't it?" When he didn't answer, she gripped his chin in her hand, pulling his face so he was looking at her. "Rami, answer me."

He sighed.

"I mean anything would be dangerous at this point considering Jamaal has the advantage."

"So what are you going to do?"

"We know where Emma's room is, and hopefully some of the men can cause a big enough distraction that we would be able to get her out before anyone notices. As for Hudayfah, I don't know what to do. They are going to have him heavily watched."

"When are you guys going to go? Hud's been gone for three days already.

Rami sighed, and leaned his head back against the wall.

"I'm at a loss Rana. I didn't realize how much I depended on Hudayfah's advice and guidance. He is seriously like my brother, and now I'm lost."

She brushed his hair back, before settling her hand on his arm. His muscles were so big, that even if she opened her hand all the way, it didn't even span close to the size of his arm.

"Oh Rami. You are smart, and intelligent, and creative, and slightly crazy," he laughed, and brought her hand up to kiss it, "and I have total faith in you." She kissed his shoulder before leaning her head against him, and he brought her into an embrace.

"Thank you honey."

There were silent for a few seconds before he shifted so he was looking into her face.

"I have something for you."

Her eyes lit up.

"Ooh! What is it?"

He shook his head in amusement as he pushed the blanket off of his legs.

"No, this isn't an 'ooh' thing. I need you not to panic." He said as he pulled off one of the pictures on the wall, and her eyes widened in surprise as a safe appeared. She watched curiously as he put in the combination, opened it, and as he pulled out a small black pistol, she sprung out of the bed in a panic.

"Good Lord Rami! Please tell me that isn't what I think it is!?" she exclaimed, and he put a hand up.

"Calm down, it's not loaded."

"That's not for me is it?" she demanded, and he nodded, extending his hand out.

"It's just in case. I can't leave you girls unprotected when we go."

"We will have Muhsin!"

Rami blinked.

"Like I said, I can't leave you girls unprotected when we go."

She rolled her eyes, a slight smile on her face.

"Well why do I have to be the one who gets it?"

"Because Jenna wouldn't be able to handle it, and I think we would have to have Maria committed if she saw a gun."

Rana laughed and stared at it for a few seconds, before taking it out of his hand, wincing slightly at the feel of it.

"Can you handle it?" he asked, and she glared at him.

"Are you implying that I'm not tough!?"

He laughed, and sauntered forward, pushing her chin up so he could kiss her.

"I would never say that. You're the toughest person I've ever met." He teased, and she rolled her eyes.

"You're annoying."

He grinned.

"You love me!"

She smiled.

"That I do."

***

Jamaal sat in his chair, his legs propped up on his desk, staring at the ceiling thoughtfully.

Hudayfah was still alive.

Which in all honestly wasn't surprising since the gun hadn't been loaded, and the fact that their friend had rushed out of the room before he had even touched the gun.

Even if, for arguments sake, the gun had been loaded and the man had had enough courage, Jamaal would have stopped him.

He couldn't just kill Hudayfah.

Where would he get his money from if Hudayfah was dead!?

In all honesty, it was his sister that made Hudayfah off limits. Perhaps if it wasn't for her he would have gotten Hud out of the way a long time ago. But for the sake of her memory, he would be kept alive.

But, there were so many things worse than death.

After a few more moments of anxiously jiggling his leg up and down, he reached into his drawer, and pulled out a cigar, lighting it up, and taking a deep drag.

Yes, the cigarettes weren't doing it for him anymore, he had moved on to bigger things.

Why he was so nervous, he didn't know.

He should be celebrating!

He had Hudayfah tied up and stowed away! Now the others would do anything he wanted to get him back! Not to mention the added leverage he had with Emma.

Speaking of Emma, she was driving him crazy!

As much as he hated to even think of it, and it was truly annoying him, he was starting to wonder if he had...feelings for her.

He looked forward to bringing her meals, and his daily visit had turned into him going three or more times a day. The funny thing was that she wasn't nice to him, she often was very rude and tried to hurt him physically.

But he was completely and undeniably captivated by her, and she was never far from his mind.

He pushed against his desk in annoyance.

It was utterly absurd to be thinking of her this way! She was just a pawn, something he was using to get what he wanted!

No, he didn't really like her. It was just the first time he had had any contact with a woman in a long time, he had been so focused on his plan.

Yeah that was it.

He stood up abruptly from his desk, before pacing back and forth across his office for ten minutes, before he put out his cigar, and strode down the hallway, coming to a halt in front of Emma's room. He knocked once before barging in, and she glanced up from where she was sitting on the windowsill, a frown gracing her face.

"Oh joy! You're still alive!" she said sarcastically, and he chuckled under his breath before closing the door behind him.

"How are you doing tonight love?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes, turning back to look out the window. When she didn't make any move to answer, he glanced around the room, his gaze falling on her uneaten tray. "I see you haven't eaten dinner."

"I wasn't hungry."

"You have to eat love."

"I told you to stop calling me that." She mumbled, not even bothering to turn around to look at him. He waited for a few seconds, before walking forward, and as he took a seat next to her, she winced slightly, pulling away.

"Why are you doing this?"

"What?"

She rolled her eyes, and threw her hands up.

"Everything! Every single thing you have done to ruin our lives. I don't understand."

"Oh love, this isn't something you would."

She shook her head, leaning her head against her fist.

"Why are you like this? What happened to you? No one is born a horrible human being!"

Was she showing concern for him!?

"Why do you care?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"I don't. I'm just trying to understand what I did to deserve this horror."

He leaned against the wall, regarding her silently.

"You didn't do anything."

"Then why am I here?!" she demanded, and as her eyes welled slightly with tears, she turned away from him.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked after a few moments, and she let out a laugh.

"Oh you don't want to know."

"Enlighten me."

She turned around to look at him, and as she made eye contact with him, he felt a slight thrill.

Darn feelings.

"I hate you. Just the very sight of you makes me sick to my stomach! I hate your face, your voice, your stupid cigarette smell. I hate the way you act, I hate everything about you. And all I can think about is how I can't wait until I get out of here, and I can happily see you behind bars!"

Ouch.

"Wow love. If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to break my heart!"

She scoffed.

"As if you have one."

"Now, be nice. You're going to hurt my feelings."

"Good." She said with a roll of her eyes, and as she lifted her hand to brush her hair out of her face, he caught it, keeping a tight hold as she tried to pull away. "Let go of me!" she exclaimed, and he shook his head.

"Now love, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you," he paused to trace a finger over her palm, "I just want you to be comfortable around me."

"Good luck with that."

"Do you think I could make you happy?" he asked, and her mouth dropped in shock.

"Excuse me!?"

"Do you think I could make you happy? I think I could," he linked his fingers between hers, "in more than one way."

She yanked her hand out of his grasp, and backed up.

"Are you seriously hitting on me right now?!" she asked in disbelief, and he tilted his head to the side.

"That sounds so barbaric. Whatever happened to just plain old flirting?"

She shook her head, and got up from the window seat, moving to the other side of the room.

"This is unbelievable! You terrorize my family, kidnap me and my brother, and now you are what? Trying to get me to like you!?" she pointed a finger at him. "You are psycho! Certifiably insane!"

He stood up, walking towards her.

"Come now love, you won't even consider it?!"

"Consider what?!" she exclaimed, throwing up her arms. "Is this how you get a girl!? By kidnapping her?! You're sick!" she shook her head before sitting down on the bed, and he watched her for a few seconds before walking towards the door.

"Fine. If that's how you feel," he grinned, "your loss love!"

As he left the room he paused outside the door, a weird feeling in his chest.

So this is what it felt like when things didn't go his way.

It was terribly unsettling, and he didn't care for it in the slightest.

***

Jenna bolted up from the bed, a scream caught in her throat, and her face covered in sweat.

She had had a nightmare.

For the first time in weeks, she had had a nightmare.

What brought that on!?

And why wasn't Hudayfah holding her?

As she glanced next to her, seeing the space was empty, she got out of bed, stepping into her slippers.

Perhaps he was in the bathroom.

"Hudayfah?" she called out, and when he didn't answer, she walked across the room, pausing outside the bathroom door. "Habibi?"

She waited another few beats of silence before she pushed open the bathroom door, and as she stared at the empty room, suddenly it all came flooding back to her, and she gave a gasp, falling back against the wall.

He was gone.

She had forgotten.

How could she have possibly forgotten?!

He had been gone for three days, and each day had been worse than the last for her. She had called Emma's phone every day in hopes she could talk to him again, but Jamaal didn't even bother answering anymore. He probably felt like he needed to assert his dominance or something.

Stupid Jamaal.

She stood for a few more seconds against the wall before she dashed back across the room and picked up her cell phone. She hurriedly dialed Hudayfah's number, needing to hear his voice, and it went straight to voicemail as his battery had probably died.

As his voice filled her ear, she gripped the phone, the tears starting to wet her cheeks.

Hello, you have reached Hudayfah Sulayman. I'm not able to answer the phone right now, but please leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

"I miss you. I miss you so much." She whispered, before hanging up and dialing again.

After she had tortured herself by listening to his voicemail about thirty times, she put on her slippers and robe, gathered up her pillow, and walked down the hallway, stopping in front of Maria's door and knocking softly. A few seconds later her sister opened the door, yawning widely.

"Jen? What's wrong?"

As Jenna burst into tears, Maria pulled her into a hug, patting her back until she had stopped crying, and as she pulled back, she wiped at her eyes.

"I'm too scared to sleep by myself. Can I sleep with you?" She whispered, and Maria smiled.

"Just like when I used to run to you when I was scared of monsters."

Jenna gave a half laugh, half sob.

"The only difference is that my monsters are real."