"OK. I'm sorry Stephen, but I think it would be better if you left. Thank you for a lovely evening,” I gave him an embarrassed smile while restoring a reasonable distance between us.
He sighed before adding, "Good night, Zoe. Call me if there's any trouble or if the company of this temperamental child bothers you."
He pointed at Faïz with a slight nod without looking at him and then headed for the exit of the living room. I was reassured to see Agent Martinez leave without a scratch after this brief, muscular exchange, but my relief was short-lived. Faïz blocked Stephen's path before he left the room.
"Let me tell you goodbye properly, Martinez."
I shuddered at the glare of fury that permeated his pupils. Before I had time to react, he grabbed the FBI agent by the throat with one hand and dragged him across the entire room to the outside of the villa on the garden terrace.
"Stop!" I shouted as I followed them. "Let him go. You're sick."
Martinez, bright red, was trying hard to breathe. Arriving at the edge of the pool, Faïz turned him over on his stomach, his face just above the water and roared:
"You asshole, what's saving you is my daughter who's upstairs in her room. That's the only reason I'm not smashing your filthy little face inside!"
I threw myself at him to try to free Stephen, but he threw me off with a simple flick of his shoulder. Then he buried Martinez's head underwater and held him at arm's length. The poor man's body was struggling with all his strength without being able to release the pressure his rival was exerting on him.
"Leave him alone!" I shouted again on the ground. "Leave him or I'll go to Georgia's room and get Georgia."
Faïz brutally released Stephen who was on the verge of drowning. I immediately rushed to his side to help him get up.
"You're completely crazy!" I kept screaming. "Were you trying to kill him or what?"
He walked quickly across the terrace like a caged tiger. His dark and crazy gaze fell on Officer Martinez as he tried to catch his breath.
"Try?" Faïz repeated in a bad tone. "I've never missed anyone! If he's still alive, it's only because I decided to leave him safe."
"You're not a good person. You're anything but good," Stephen said as he stood up.
Officer Martinez, out of breath, held his rival's gaze before taking the towel I handed him to wipe his face.
"Do you lack the courage to finish this reflection?" threatened Faïz. "Please continue. You're burning with the desire to speak your mind."
I was about to intervene when Stephen raised his hand in the air, begging me to let him. That's when he turned his head towards me, "Zoe, you're blessed with a kindness that few people possess. That glow of light you give off could reanimate any extinguished soul. Don't let it light up the dark hours of someone's life who can't and won't ever want to be saved."
"I think I've been quite patient with you so far," Faïz became impatient. "Now get the hell out of my house!"
He pointed an aggressive finger at Martinez and said:
"You're not carrying any weight on your shoulders. I believe that shedding blood and waging war are two necessary things to achieve peace in this world. So be careful about what you say, because I always get my way one way or the other. All I need is a simple phone call, to the right people, to get you to hand over your badge and your gun to your superiors tomorrow, if I want."
Stephen stared at him sarcastically and then nodded with an angry sniff. Slowly he walked away to the window, open to the living room. Arriving near Faïz, agent Martinez looked at him with an evil eye.
"You got a lot of blood on your hands. You only have to read your file to realize how devoid of humanity you are, and still, I think a lot of your crimes are missing inside of it. I'm appalled that the government is covering up and hiding all your acts. You're right, you do know some nice people. In fact, it's well known that no one gets custody of their child after applying to the judge an hour beforehand. No one, except you!"
Faïz grabbed Stephen's arm, while his eyes turned to me. I froze in place. My blood froze in my veins. I suddenly ran out of oxygen.
"Let him go," I blew, throat on fire. "Now it's between you and me."
He complied and released the FBI agent. Though he was on the verge of imploding, Faïz let him go without looking at him. All emotion was gone from his face except one: anguish or... fear. I didn't know what it really was. Once I was alone with him, I closed my eyelids and took a deep breath. I could hear my pulse beating behind my eardrums. When I opened them again, I tried not to let my eyes droop and swallowed my tears. I had to hold on.
"Tell me this isn't true?" I whispered every word so as not to betray my deepest emotions.
Faïz buried his hands in his pockets and looked away, shaking his head, looking disgusted. The muscles of his jaw tightened, while his chest lifted with each breath.
"The bastard," he swore as he raged.
"Faïz?"
"Yes, I asked for custody of Georgia," he confessed, furious.
Those words had the effect of a violent blow in my stomach. I suddenly remembered this morning's episode in my hospital room when he hesitated to take a paper out of his jacket pocket.
"Is that what you came to tell me this morning?"
"Yes," he replied curtly, looking down at the ground.
Unable to remain calm any longer, I walked towards him in a furious heartbeat and slapped him in the face with all my might. I could hardly feel my hand burning.
"Of all the harm you could do to me, this betrayal is by far the worst!"
My voice was shaking, but it didn't flinch. His eyes darkened with anger, but it didn't throw me off. No, he didn't intimidate me. For the first time, he didn't seem to know what to do or say.
"What is your goal?" I continued, pouring out my words like a raging torrent. "Revenge? Destroy me?"
Faïz was pale. He clenched his teeth to contain his emotions that threatened to escape him. The look of anguish and confusion, he opened his mouth to close it immediately. Finally, he pulled himself together and his cold features returned to recompose his face, like a stone mask. He shrugged his shoulders before adding coldly with steel eyes, “None of that! Georgia's my priority now. I didn't punch you in the face when I found out you'd been hiding her from me all these years. You're the one who's unforgivable. There's no point in reversing the roles."
I forced myself to breathe normally in front of the icy reliefs of his flawless and impenetrable face.
"Your reaction to me may seem legitimate, but you hear me, you will NEVER take my daughter away from me," I added, threateningly.
He nodded before turning on his heels. Once again, he decided the conversation was over. I watched him walk away, praying that my legs would carry me for a few more seconds, but before I went through the bay window, he turned back to me:
"I've always chosen the world, even if it meant losing the people I cared about the most. Today, I'd be able to set that same world on fire just to save her. Yes, I'll burn in hell for my daughter if I have to. Don't make me out to be the bad guy, Zoe."
FAÏZ
The young man went upstairs to wish his daughter a good night. He kept going over Zoe's words as he went deep in his dark thoughts. No one had ever dared to slap him before and he was amazed that he had managed to keep calm after she had raised her hand on him. Faïz had barely felt her palm crashing against his cheek. Yet the gesture had hurt him much more than she could have imagined. The pain in his chest didn't go away. The pain that had been present for five years now was painted, most of the time, on his face, revealing sad features, imbued with anger and deep desolation. Rachelle's love hadn't succeeded in chasing away his despair, which had become his best companion, this fake friend, who had thrown him into the arms of his multiple dates. He would have preferred that the sharp nails of these women, which had scratched the skin on his back many times, had come and ripped out his eyes instead. This suffering, more violent, would have replaced the suffering that wa
s too present and unbearable for him. And even then, the young man doubted it.
The expression on his face softened as he looked at the little girl humming a nursery rhyme, while concentrating on her drawing. On her desk, a lamp projected a warm light of different colors and shapes on the walls of her room. Her wings were placed on the floor, right next to her bed. The place was soothing. The peace that reigned there was enough to bring Faïz down from his dark world to join his daughter's world, which was bathed in light. The young man seemed reassured to see that she had heard absolutely nothing of the big altercation that had taken place a few minutes earlier on the terrace. Suddenly, Georgia raised her head towards her father, who was still standing in the doorway, and looked at him with sweet eyes. At that moment, he felt his heart clench with tenderness and love for the little girl.
"It's getting late," he said in a delicate voice. "There's school tomorrow."
Faïz, curious, then came to sit on the edge of her bed and took the drawing in his hands. As he examined her work, Georgia watched this man whom she found as strange as he was fascinating. A question burned on her lips.
"You're the only one I have to call by your name when you're my aunt Victoria's brother. It's a little strange. Why not find you something a little less..."
"Informal?" helped the young man to finish her sentence, without raising his eyes from the drawing.
"I don't know what that means, but it must be it. I'm not allowed to call you uncle or unkie, or grandpa, but could we mix those three names together?"
"No!"
He turned his eyes to his daughter, who stared at him with a gaze full of questions.
"Faïz, that's very good. I prefer you call me that. The little diminutives, it's not for me."
He had put all the persuasion he could muster in his voice, but it wasn't enough to convince her, who examined him with her bright eyes of strange determination, as if she was trying to uncover the secrets buried deep inside him.
"It's... uh... a family portrait that you drew?" asked Faïz, somewhat unsettled by the situation.
"Yes! There's Grandpa, Meemaw, Mommy, Uncle Eli, Aunties Lexy and Asarys, Uncle Ray. Up there in the sky is my dad and Aunt Victoria, looking after us. I'm in the house, here."
Faïz frowned and looked at the drawing again attentively.
"What about me? Where am I?"
Georgia shrugged her shoulders and displayed a small embarrassed smile on her face. Her hand came to rest on her heart and then she whispered, "You're here, and when you're ready to tell me your secret, I'll draw you too."
Faïz stopped breathing and tried to gather his thoughts as best he could in the midst of the turmoil in his brain. His daughter shook him completely. In spite of her young age, she was extremely clear-sighted. Did she know the truth? He suppressed his desire to hug her and simply stroked her cheek gently.
"I would have liked to meet you sooner," he confessed to her, his eyes darkened. "To be present at each of your birthdays, but I should have already known you existed. That's my secret."
Georgia dipped her eyes into his with circumspection.
"I have a secret too," she said quietly. "Sometimes I wish I didn't have to wear these wings."
The young man, astonished by this revelation, set his eyes on the accessory he thought was indispensable in his daughter's daily life, and then came back to her. He shook his head gently, perplexed.
"Why... why are you wearing them, then? You don't have to."
"Yes, I have to. Actually, they're not mine. I know I'm not an angel. I'm keeping them until the day he needs them again. He hates them and doesn't even know I have them."
Faïz didn't know what to do with that information. He suddenly remembered that he was talking to a five-year-old girl. A little girl with a lot of imagination, like all children her age. A small sigh of relief escaped from him.
"It's time to go to sleep, Georgia. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll make you breakfast, then I'll take you to school."
She nodded before lying in bed next to Mr. Joe, her favorite teddy bear. Faïz tucked her in and kissed her with the greatest tenderness, the soul in pain of having to leave her for a few hours.
As he stepped through the door, Georgia called out to him:
"You know, it's right there in front of you."
The young man turned towards her, frowning.
"What are you talking about?"
"Last night you asked Aunt Victoria a question. Where the hell could it be? The answer you're looking for is: in the pearl of the Caribbean. The picture of that place used to hang on the wall in her bedroom."
At that moment, everything began to sway around the young man. He had to lean against the door so he wouldn't fall. His chest was threatening to explode under the violent pressure of the sudden beating of his heart.
"She did? Have you made contact with her?"
"No, I never talk to Aunt Victoria," replied Georgia, surprised by the question.
"Then how do you know I asked her that? How do you know the answer?"
"Condor told me! The wings I'm wearing are Uncle Elijah's, but he can't know that. He's a sad angel."
8
I was in the middle of a conversation with Charles and Lily, who had just arrived at the villa, when I heard Faïz rushing down the stairs.
"Is everything all right?" Lily asked her son, who was entering the living room. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"Victoria's paintings? The ones that were in her room. Where are they now?"
"They're still here, neatly tidied up. Why? What's going on?"
"Get them all out! I'm gonna need them."
Although I felt a lot of anger towards him, anxiety took over at that moment. What had happened in the last few minutes that made him look so pale? Charles, just as anxious, walked towards his son, but the latter stopped him dead in his tracks by waving his hand in front of him.
"Zoe, I need to talk to you for a second."
I looked at him skeptically before I followed him into the lobby.
In spite of the darkness, I could perceive every feature of his face. It was the first time I was confronted with this facet of his personality. Indeed, Faïz seemed completely lost, vulnerable, almost human. I hated what I felt for him at that moment. No, don't crack, Zoe. He pushed you over the edge. He sighed and seemed to be looking for his words.
"Did you hear about Elijah and Condor?"
With my arms crossed, I raised an eyebrow with a slight grimace.
"Faïz, everyone knows about Eli and Condor. He needs this imaginary friend. Doesn't make him a plagued for all that."
He shook his head before planting in my eyes a crazy gaze. Then his voice became a whisper:
"Georgia's wings? Who gave them to her?"
For a few seconds, I remained silent, trying to remember the day my daughter received this accessory, so indispensable in her life today.
"It's her fath... William. I can't remember exactly when. Just tell me what's going on."
"Nothing! I just need to tie up a loose end."
My heart raced, Faïz's silence drove me completely crazy. His eyes darkened and I understood that he had regained the upper hand over his emotions. He was watching me attentively when his phone started ringing.
"I'm late," he grunted as he read the text he just received.
"Who is it?"
My question even surprised me.
"I mean, I just want to know if it's someone from the group."
Or Masha, I thought.
"I have to get to the Mansion of the Seventh Earth. Julio's waiting for me. Many Sylphs have made the trip. Barthey is already there."
Normally, I would have asked if Martinez was there too, but after what happened between them, I preferred not to mention his name.
"Will Masha be there?"
My voice betrayed my disdain for her. Faïz suddenly raised his gaze on me and answered, almost uncomfortably:
"Normally, yes. She... she has a lot of inf
ormation to share with us. Listen, about Elijah, let me know when you see him. I need to see him. It'll be a chance for me to have a little chat with him, get to know him better."
I nodded, ready to leave to join Charles and Lily in the living room, when Faïz held me by the arm. I tried to compel myself to move, but my eyes remained fixed on this man with hair as rebellious as usual. His gesture, however small, took some of the weight off my chest.
"I'm not the person Martinez described. I'm not that monster," he insisted as if to convince himself.
At that moment, I was too lost to comfort him. My eyes were looking at him, but I couldn't really see him.
"No, you're not a monster, but your behavior isn't above reproach, either. Martinez is relying on simple investigation files."
Faïz blinked. A certain fragility could be read on his perfect face.
"I would never take Georgia away from you."
His delicate voice was almost a whisper. I swallowed, my throat closed when I heard his name.
"She's the most important thing in the world to me. I want to see her happy as much as you do. I'm a bit of a wobbly mother, I'll give you that, but I'm a good mother."
The veil that came over my eyes prevented me from distinguishing his reaction. I couldn't swallow my tears, that had been contained for some time. Faïz came a little closer to me and delicately wiped the water pearls that rolled down my cheek. Then he stuck one hand into his pocket and pulled out small pieces of torn paper which he handed to me.
"The judge's decision. I tore it up the moment I walked out of your hospital room this morning. I was angry. So angry I acted impulsively, but I promise you I would never try to take OUR daughter away from you."
My heart was tightening again. I nodded before placing my hands on his face, feeling his growing beard under the skin of my fingers.
"It's more pleasant than a slap," he whispered.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud. His hand came and gently caressed my neck, instantly taking my breath away. His mouth was only a few inches from mine. This closeness burned my flesh. I was in pain, I was in so much pain.
DARK FAÏZ Book 3: Dawn never keeps its promises Page 10