“Yeah. Anyway, After all the trouble she had, Ava ended up being hit pretty badly with post-natal depression. When you talk about seeing someone you love spiral out of your hands, I do understand. Soph and I were co-parents for months while Ava got to grips with her mental health. It was heartbreaking for everyone. She was so alone. So scared. And now, she’s amazing.”
“Really?” He felt genuine relief. “I’m pleased to hear it.”
“Oh, Aves is the strongest of all of us. She’s so like our mum. Smart and kind, determined and resolute. She will never let anyone or anything stand in her way. She’s a great mum. I’m so proud of her.”
He pushed his hands onto her hips. “I’m quite jealous. You sound so close to them.”
“I am.” She pressed a kiss against his cheek. “I wish you could meet them. You’d love them.”
It was a thought that brought seriousness to their moods. He would never meet Olivia’s sisters. This relationship of theirs, for all it felt like a perfectly formed circumstance, was temporary.
Though Zamir was finding that more and more difficult to keep in mind with every day that passed.
* * *
9 November, 10.21pm
From: Olivia
To: Ava, Sophie
I know.
I’ve been slack.
I’m sorry!
I can’t believe we’re in November already. Where has this year gone? I feel like I just left home. Soph, I swear, it was just yesterday we were drinking that insanely expensive bottle of champagne in Corfu. (How good was that?)
So Vegas is amazing. Every bit as bright and shiny as you’d imagine. The strip is never quiet. No matter what time of day or night, it’s thumping. Tourists, strippers, pimps, junkies, cops, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of activity at any moment.
Work’s good. You know I can’t really say much about that stuff, but I’ve been minding a pretty well-known VIP for a while now. He’s come to town on personal business, and he’s different to my usual clients. He doesn’t want much, except to escape attention. Then again, he’s not the kind of VIP that the media goes wild for, so my job’s pretty easy there. He’s really… She stared at the screen, the cursor blinking accusingly at her. Nice. Sometimes I forget that he’s rich and powerful yada yada yada because he seems so normal.
She was being too obvious! She thought about deleting the sentence, but didn’t.
Anyway. Enough about me. What’s news with you?
She waited for several minutes, but neither of them replied, so she shut her laptop and crept back into bed. Zamir was asleep. His eyes were shut, his breathing even, and everything about him was perfect. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead. And safe in the knowledge that he was fast asleep, she whispered, “I love you.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
The phone call came six nights later.
Late in the night, when only the false electronics of the road beneath illuminated the room. There were no stars in Vegas. No heaven to speak of. Just a sky that always glowed with a sort of phosphorescence.
“I apologise, sir, for the intrusion.” It was Marook.
Zamir threw a look over his shoulder. His heart twisted. Olivia was like a fairy in his bed. All flowing hair and golden skin. He smiled and moved out of the room, clicking the door softly shut behind him.
“What is it?”
There was a tremor of silence, and Zamir gripped the phone tighter. “Spit it out.”
“It’s your father.”
“Father?” Zamir planted his free hand onto his hip and stared out, unseeing, of the enormous windows.
“I’m sorry, Zami. I have just heard. It’s his heart. He has had an episode this afternoon, Dashan time.”