Once Upon A Sultan ✅

Chapter 44.

-HAKEEM SUNUSI'S POV-

Maroudi, Nigeria.

I wanted to hit someone or something to at least vent this anger out—preferably, that Kareem guy.

If only he isn't dead. Maybe I would've been the one to send him to his grave.

I don't know who I should be angry at the most. Should it be the darn Azeez who obviously lured her there on purpose because I'm certain he has something to do with this. Or should it be the deceased guy I wish to beat the shit out of?

I'm normally a pretty cool headed person but when Zainab is involved, I honestly lose every bit of calm I have in me.

It's times like this that makes me wonder why I ever bothered to protect Azeez from the first place. I guess I hoped his love for Amna would make him become a better person and accept his wrongdoings.

I should've known it was a waste of time.

Having hope in him is a waste of time.

He has always been like that. And although our relationship has never been good, I guess I still cared. I mean, isn't that how it's supposed to be? Family is still family no matter how messed up.

You can claim you don't care but you still do, deep down even if you won't admit it.

And it's the same for me.

Now though, I want to throw away the fact that he's my family and make him pay for everything. Azeez needs to be stopped before he does something much worse and knowing him, he's probably planning something as we're speaking.

I guess we just need to keep our guards up.

"Hakeem..." Zainab's voice came, low and soft. I blinked and looked at her, my hand fisted by the side as I tried to keep my anger in check. It wouldn't do any good to explode in front of her and I can never find it in me to do so.

Her eyes met mine, and then she offered me a small smile. She effing smiled! How she is able to do that in this situation is beyond me. I mean, it wasn't a wide and 'I'm over the moon' smile, but more like a 'everything's alright' smile.

"Don't" I was quick to say, and shake my head. "Don't try to talk me into forgetting this" Knowing her, she would try to tell me that everything is alright when it's not. To me, it's not.

Zainab is my life. And to know someone could do something like that to her enrages me beyond belief.

Her smile didn't waver, even though it was the smallest of them out there. "What I wanted to say is..." As per the stubborn person she is, she would obviously speak. "...it wasn't as you're thinking"

My brows in and my frown deepened if that was even possible. "What do you mean?"

She released a sigh, turning around and she slumped on the bench, letting all her guards down. "Hakeem, Kareem didn't do much to me" She confessed. "I mean he left pretty bad bruises but luckily, I was armed so he couldn't go further"

That was supposed to make me feel relieved, and trust me, I am but I'm also confused. "You were armed?" That is what's making my head turn. "The gun used to kill him"

She nodded, swiveling her head to look at me. "It belongs to me"

"Why do you have a gun?" I couldn't help but ask, because normal people don't go around with guns. But well, she's not normal. No one is.

"I have trust issues" She shrugged like it's not a big deal. "And I've been putting my life at risk because of my job"

"Still shouldn't be a reason to have a gun" I couldn't help but be worried. Does she even know how to handle one? She probably learnt over the years but it's still dangerous.