Footsteps. Final part page 17 - Page 8

Tanveer stood opening and shutting her mouth. Many thoughts and scenarios came into her mind and she knew that none would get her out of this situation.

Silently she watched as Asad held onto the candle and in his anger pressed her hands to it, the hot wax dripping onto her hand. Brought to reality by the burn she struggled to free her hand.

"What's wrong Tanveer," he spoke sarcastically yet sweetly. "Is the wax beginning to burn your hand?" She looked from his face to the candle and back to his face, her own face a mixture of confusion, fear and insolence. "And what about the pain you were going to cause Ammi and Zoya." He shouted making her jump. He extinguished the candle flame with his fingers. "I want answers and I want them now!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the bathroom, the smell of kerosene following them out. He noticed too and saw that she had spilt some on her own clothes too. He picked up a second candle, burning away and held it to her, threatening to let it drop on her.

"Jammy what are you doing? If you drop that on me I'll burn." She looked on as that candle came closer. "Jammy, take it away." Asad moved the candle a few millimetres away.

"You are going to tell me what you were doing and why? If you don't, then I can be quite careless with the candle." To back up his threat he moved the candle closer. Tanveer flinched and looked beyond him to Zoya with venom filled eyes.

"Why did you have to ruin things?" She spat at her. "Jammy would have married me tomorrow. I would have been Mrs Asad Ahmed Khan." Zoya stepped gingerly out of the bathroom.

"And have you hanging a noose around Mr Khan's neck for your own ill-gotten reasons? You were going to pass off someone else's child as his. How much further can you fall?"

Tanveer practically hissed at her.

"You keep out of this." She spat. "I don't need to explain myself to you." She turned to Zoya. Asad whirled her round.

"You have to explain yourself to me and Zoya. You owe us this much." Tanveer stiffened.

"I don't owe you anything nor do I owe Zoya and explanation." She reaffirmed her stance and glared at him defiantly. "Do what you will. What can you possibly do, that will affect me." She heard Asad take a deep breath and push her away from him with such force that she stumbled and fell upon the bed. The small coffee table in Dilshad's room took the brunt of his anger as he roared and tipped it over. Breathing deeply he glared at her.

"I am sure that your creditors will have something to say." He spoke in a low voice. For the first time that evening Tanveer looked scared. She had stolen from the people connected to her failed factory and knew that there was no saving her if they got wind of her whereabouts, both Asad and Zoya saw the change in her demeanour. "Go." He ordered. She took a deep breath. She could change his mind in the blink of an eye such was her confidence.

"Jammy you have this all wrong. I wasn't going to really burn your mother and Zoya. I just wanted to frighten them." She stepped forward and touched his sleeve. "What you saw was only one side of events. Don't I deserve a second chance at least?" He pulled his arm away with such force that Tanveer stood stunned. She put on her best 'I am innocent look,' and implored him. She had wriggled out of other situations before and come up smelling of roses. Why should now be any different?

"Shameless wretch!" Dilshad stood before her, the anger she felt knew no bounds. It was the same anger that compelled her to raise her hand, ready to smite that nauseating smirk from Tanveer's face. With lightening reflexes Asad stopped her from committing a sin in this holy month. He shook his head. "Why?" Dilshad asked her. "Why? I treated you like a daughter and gave you a place to stay and you do this?" She glanced unbelievingly at her. "Answer me!" Frustratingly they were faced by a wall of insolent silence. Tanveer had chosen not to speak to either Dilshad or Zoya. Instead she homed in on Asad and pleaded with him to stand by her.

"If you turn your back on me then what will happen to our child? It hasn't done any wrong. Why should it suffer for our sins?" Asad felt the blood rush in his ears. She grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the room, out of the house and to the perimeter of the house, followed by Zoya and Dilshad hot on his heels.

"You are carrying no child of mine. Don't delude yourself that it is. Go from here. I want nothing more to do with you. Ever!" He shoved her into the waiting arms of the female police officer that Nazma had summoned when she had stumbled upon the goings on. She watched wide eyed as Tanveer was taken away, scratching, hissing and issuing threats to one and all.

Asad turned and stared at Zoya. A wave of shame washed over him as he thought back to the number of times when she had tried to tell him and he had not only ignored her but told her that she was wrong in the first place and was blaming Tanveer needlessly. He moved forward to speak to her.

"We have a lot of clearing up to do." She made her excuse and went into the house, followed by Dilshad and Nazma.

Asad took one more look at the rear tail lights of the police vehicle as it sped away from the house before closing the gate and made his way to the house.