Fes was quiet again.
Noor returned to the riad with Lina and Leonardo, the sun barely cresting the hills behind them. The air smelled of lavender and ash. The last ruins of Halberd's reach were gone. But in Noor's heart, something remained—less like a scar, more like a hollow.
She had faced the man who haunted her childhood.
Now she had to face the silence he left behind.
Lina's First Prayer
That evening, Noor gently wrapped Lina's scarf for her. The girl's hands trembled.
"Do you remember how to begin?" Noor asked.
Lina nodded. Whispered, "Bismillah."
They stood side by side as the call to Maghrib echoed over the trees.
Leonardo watched from the threshold.
When Noor and Lina finished, he stepped outside with a prayer mat of his own.
And, for the first time, he led.
Letters Unsent
In the days that followed, Noor wrote letters.
To her mother. To her father.
To her students back home.
To Rameen—though she didn't send it.
"You tried to become powerful by aligning with fear.
I chose something harder—faith.
And though I may never see you again, I pray one day you remember who we were before the world told us to choose sides."
She folded the letter and tucked it inside her Qur'an.
Some truths were meant only for Allah to read.
Giovanni's Offer
One week after Halberd's death, a package arrived from Italy.
Inside: a phone and a single card with an embossed Moretti seal.
Leonardo stared at it for a long time before answering.
Giovanni's voice was cold and quiet.
"You made enemies on every continent, figlio."
Leonardo leaned against the railing.
"I made peace with the only One whose judgment matters."
A pause.
Then, "You think faith will keep her safe forever?"
Leonardo answered with a smile Noor could feel from the other room.
"No. But it keeps me from becoming what I once was."
Giovanni didn't speak again.
Just ended the call.
The Hidden Name
Lina had been quiet since the escape.
Noor didn't push.
Instead, she taught her to write her own name again—Lina Fariq—with grace and intention.
She helped her memorize the short surahs again.
Showed her how to draw her hand in du'a after prayer.
And one night, under the jasmine tree, Noor asked gently, "Do you remember your mother?"
Lina nodded. "She used to cry during sujood."
Noor smiled, tears in her eyes.
"That means she loved Allah more than her fear."
The Stranger in the Market
Two weeks later, Noor ventured to the Fes market for olive soap and prayer beads.
Lina came too, wrapped in a soft beige scarf.
Leonardo stayed behind—watching through rooftop binoculars, radio in hand.
The market bustled. Children played with dates. Men bartered over saffron.
Noor stopped at a stall of books.
That's when she felt it.
A presence.
A woman in a black abaya stood across the alley, face half-covered, hands gloved.
She didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Then disappeared into the crowd.
Noor's stomach dropped.
The Woman's Warning
That night, a note was left in the mailbox of the riad.
No name.
No handwriting.
Just a printed message:
"Your mother once betrayed a friend to protect your father.
The one she betrayed hasn't forgotten.
And now she watches you."
Noor dropped the letter.
Lina picked it up, confused.
Leonardo read it twice, then burned it.
But Noor said nothing.
Only returned to her prayer mat, kneeling into the silence, letting the weight of unspoken histories settle between her ribs.
The Fire Ceremony
Three days later, Noor found Leonardo in the courtyard, holding the last weapon he owned.
It was the pistol he had used to kill Halberd's men.
Noor walked up to him, calm.
"Still need it?" she asked.
He didn't answer.
She opened her hand.
And he placed the gun in her palm.
Together, they knelt before the fire pit.
And dropped it into the flames.
The metal hissed.
Bent.
Melted.
Turned to ash.
And Leonardo whispered, "Let this be the last time I raise my hand in anger."
Noor's Dream
That night, Noor dreamt of the masjid from her childhood.
The prayer mats. The echo of children's laughter.
And her mother.
Younger. Soft-eyed.
Whispering:
"The past is not a chain. It's a compass."
Noor woke before Fajr, breath caught in her chest.
She turned to Leonardo, still asleep beside her.
And gently said, "It's time."
The Plan to Testify
They wouldn't run anymore.
Noor would testify.
Not in court.
But on record.
An anonymous video. In Urdu and English.
Naming the trafficking rings Halberd worked with.
The girls who went missing.
The money Rameen funneled through her inheritance trusts.
Matteo agreed to handle distribution.
Leonardo promised protection.
And Noor said, "Let them come."
Final Scene: A New Threat
At dusk, as Noor helped Lina recite Surah Ad-Duhaa, Leonardo stood by the window with a quiet expression.
His phone buzzed.
One message.
Encrypted.
From a contact listed only as: E.
"She's not just watching Noor.
She's already in Morocco.
And she's closer than you think."
Leonardo turned slowly toward the courtyard.
And in the shadows beyond the gate—
A pair of gloved hands dropped rose petals into the wind.
To be continued in Chapter 22…