23

Zayed jerked away with a wince when he felt a pricking pain on both his thighs, and he looked down to see the two little boys biting on his thighs and the little girl trying to wriggle herself in between him and Aveline.

"Don't touch my momma," the little girl yelled at him and kicked him in the shin.

He looked at her horrified.

"Zada, baby, no. You don't treat your elders like that. Zahir, Zian. Let him go." Aveline said in a trembling voice.

Zada!! His daughter.

"He was trying to eat you momma," one of the boys said, his face softening when he looked worriedly at his mother.


"He wasn't, baby." Aveline said gently.

"Your momma was in pain. And I was giving her medicine." Zayed lied and saw the kids frowning at him and then turning to Aveline questioningly.

"Were you in pain momma?" The same boy asked and Aveline nodded without looking at them.

"Are you okay now momma?" Zada asked and Aveline again nodded.

"Thank-you for helping our momma. But now she is fine. And you can go," the other boy said, still glaring at Zayed.

"Zahir. Momma needs to talk to the man. Will you take your brother and sister out and look after them while I talk to him?" Ava asked looking at Zahir, and he puffed his chest in pride, as his momma asked him to protect his siblings.

"I will take care of them momma," he said and then glanced at Zayed for a moment and turned back to Ava again and said "I will take care of you too momma."

"I know honey. Now go out and play. Don't come inside until momma calls you okay?" She said and they all nodded reluctantly and walked out not before throwing a deadly glare at Zayed.

"Too damn possessive." Zayed muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

"Look Zayed. You can't keep doing this to me okay. You should leave."

"Why are you calling me Zayed?" Zayed asked in an irritated tone.

"That's your name!!" Ava stated.

"Call me mon Zay-ed, like you used to call me in the past."

"The Ava who used to live with you, who used to hang on your every word, who worshipped the land you walked on, died a long time ago, Zayed."

"Aveline," Zayed started to say something only for Ava to stop him by raising her hand in a stop sign.

"There is nothing more to talk about. We can apply for a divorce soon." Ava said.

"Fine," Zayed agreed a little too quickly, making Ava frown in suspicion.

"Fine? Just like that?" Ava asked.

"Yeah. If that's what you want, who am I to disagree?" He said and took some documents from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it over to Ava.

"You came prepared with the divorce papers??" Ava asked, wondering how he still has the power to rip her heart out.

"Not divorce papers. The prenuptial agreement you signed before registering our wedding, remember?" He asked with a smirk.

"Why are you giving me this now?" Ava asked in confusion.

"You might want to read it again. Specifically clause no 17," he said lazily and plopped on her bed as if he owns it.
"Clause no 17?" She asked and skimmed through the documents and her eyes widened in horror seeing the said clause.

"The custody of any children brought to existence during the period of marriage will go to Zayed Ahmed al Zidra." Ava read it out aloud and looked at him in horror.

"I didn't see the clause before!" She protested.

"You were too trusting, Aveline. You didn't read the prenup before signing it," he said.

"But we didn't plan to have babies. Then why the hell is such a clause added here?" She asked, horrified at the thought of losing her babies.

"Ah. The royal legal team always covers all angles when they make a legal document. And the lawyer who handled our case has seen you. He might have understood that I wouldn't be able to keep my hands to myself. So he added the clause to make sure everything is in my favour," he said coolly.

"No. This can't happen." Ava murmured still in disbelief.

"So Aveline, when are we going to file for divorce. The sooner we get the divorce, the sooner I can take my kids to Zidra," he said coolly.

"No. You can't do that. No." Ava said glaring at him.

"Of course I can."

"Why are you doing this?" Ava asked, her voice trembling with the emotions overwhelming her.

"If you want the babies, Aveline, the only option for you, is to stay married to me. Because we are a package." Zayed said.

He had tried to play nice, Zayed reflected grimly, but nice hadn't panned out too well with Aveline, who was suspicious of his every move and had ensured that they were now down to the brutal bare bones of legal agreements and custody.

Possibly he wasn't very good at playing nice, he acknowledged in exasperation, having much more experience of playing nasty in the past six years.

Like a drowning woman forced to review the most important moments of her life, Ava was pale as death as she stared down at that clause in the pre-nuptial contract.

Her heart was sinking down to the very soles of her feet. She could not see how she could possibly combat an agreement that she had voluntarily signed.

"Isn't it best for our children, for us to remain together, Aveline?" He asked trying to placate her.

"They've never been our children, they've always been mine!" Ava vented painfully, biting back a flood of recrimination.

"Only because I didn't know I was a father." Zayed retorted.

No matter how damning that agreement she had signed would prove to be when aired in a courtroom, Ava knew she would still fight for her children regardless. But such a fight would undoubtedly damage everyone involved.

Did she really want to land the stress of a custody battle on the triplets?

"Aveline. I need an answer." Zayed prompted.

"I will do it because I don't appear to have the choice of doing what I want." Ava shot back at him tightly.

"But I won't forgive you for it ever," she added.

Brilliant dark eyes veiled, his beautiful mouth compressing, he said "You've never forgiven me for anything I did wrong."

"Damn yes. I didn't. And I wouldn't," she said glaring at him.

"I can live with that," he said coolly, but the nerve ticking in his jaw gave it away.
"Look Aveline. Let's give our marriage another chance okay. Let's start afresh. We can make it work," he tried once again.

"Easy for you to say," she scoffed.

"It really is easy, Aveline," he said and she rolled her eyes at that.

"You want me, Aveline." Zayed framed silkily.

"You want me so much that you're eaten up with it and I am the same-"

"That's the biggest piece of nonsense I've ever heard!" Ava proclaimed furiously.

"You need me to prove it?" Zayed launched back at her, dark eyes blazing threat.

"You couldn't prove it because it isn't true!" Ava argued.

"You know what, Aveline? I feel like you are purposely goading me because you like it when I prove it wrong!" He said in a husky note and pulled her against his chest.

Before he could claim her lips they heard the calling bell ring and he left her with a sigh

"Let's go see who is at the door," he said and walked towards the main door where they were met with two police officers.

"Ms Dupont? Are you alright?" The senior officer asked.

"Yes. How may I help you??" She asked, wondering why there were police officers at her doorstep.

"We got a call in the police control room from a kid, saying that someone is trying to hurt their momma," the police officer said and Zayed's jaw grazed the floor in astonishment.

Ava closed her eyes in disbelief.

"Zahir," she called out and saw the three troublemakers peeking from behind the kitchen door.

"I saw you all. Come out and apologise to the police uncle," she said and the three walked out towards her with their head hung low.

"Momma, you taught us to call that number in an emergency." Zahir pointed out.

"Exactly. In an emergency," she said in exasperation.

"He was upsetting you, momma," Zian added, pointing at Zayed, who looked horrified at the three little devils.

"Like seriously?" He asked in stunned disbelief.

"I am really sorry, officer. It was a misunderstanding." Ava said with an apologetic smile.

"Zahir, Zian, Zada. Apologise. Now." Ava ordered gently and they huffed.

"Sorry, police uncle," they said in unison.

The police officers shook their heads and murmured something about waste of time and left.

"It's about time you told them who I am."