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SHEIKHTAHIRBINHALIMAL-JUKRAThad dealt with his most senior aide long enough to know the older man’s tells. Yet Ali insisted on playing these games with him. Tahir watched him fidget with the papers in his leather-bound folder, straighten corners that didn’t need straightening, place the expensive Montblanc pen Tahir had gifted him two Christmases ago precisely in the centre of the top page before moving it a fraction of an inch.

Given the chance, Tahir suspected the other man would’ve conducted a microscopic inspection of each fingernail for dirt and brushed invisible lint off his tailored suit before stating what was obviously on his mind.

‘Are we done here? I’d like to get on with my next appointment before I leave for Zinabir,’ Tahir said after a full minute, attempting and failing to keep impatience from sharpening his voice.Ali gave the merest grimace, an action not many would’ve noticed.

Tahir noticed.

He noticed everything. Because these days, he couldn’t afford to be oblivious to anything. Not any more.

Those carefree days when he’d freely trusted, and tossed out benefits of the doubt like candy at a toddler’s party, were far behind him. Smothered to death by a far too close brush with a different fate. A fate averted at a steep price he’d never be able to fully repay in this life.

In his quietest moments, Tahir couldn’t help but hope he would be able to repay it in his next. Hoped to have done enough in this life to erase the deep disappointment from his father’s eyes when they met in the afterlife.

Until then...

He tightened his gut against the surfeit of emotions triggered by thoughts of his father.