Dishonour

Dishonour
Helen Black

Family care lawyer Lilly Valentine’s life is demanding enough. But when she is begged for help by Anwar Khan after his teenage sister commits suicide, she finds herself dragged into a community terrified by a self-styled vigilante group vowing to protect it’s women – by any means necessary…Together with her new assistant Taslima, Lilly gets caught up in the sinister world of a self-styled vigilante group vowing to protect the 'honour' of the women in their community - and punishing those who 'stray.'When another young Muslim girl disappears, Lilly knows it's only a matter of time before the group take the law into their own hands. But with so much in her own life at stake, has Lilly finally taken on more than she can handle?A gritty, hard-hitting read that will engross fans of Martina Cole and Mandasue Heller.

Dishonour

Helen Black

To Dad. We miss you.

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u76c6408b-290d-59ba-8b19-da9dad9e8842)

Title Page (#u4b855c2f-77d2-586f-afdb-4d530175768e)

Dedication (#u5d15a458-23bb-5907-be90-8ed87821cd5f)

Prologue (#ub851eae5-edf4-5247-bf88-b42bec8b45b1)

Chapter One (#u7fa28b3a-4b96-5bd0-b28a-137be7d03bb1)

Chapter Two (#udbac4a12-d5b1-5d25-8480-027f5aa51aca)

Chapter Three (#uc14642ef-15d8-54ab-b025-0cc321783310)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

In Conversation with Helen Black (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

By the same author: (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue (#ulink_775daa9b-50af-5417-89c8-eae3b1fdcb1d)

I watch Yasmeen sleep, her breath shallow, her mouth slightly parted.

She is so beautiful.

Wherever she goes people stare at those eyes, heavy-lidded, flecked with amber.

At mosque, when she takes her usual place, her hijab secured tightly under her chin, I can see her lips move. They are garnet red as she murmurs her prayers.

Here, on the bed, I am dazzled by her all over again and I nearly change my mind. There’s still time. I could call an ambulance and they would inject her with drugs, attach her to machines.

I pull out my phone and my finger hovers over the number nine.

But no. I have made up my mind.

There was a time when I would have done anything for this girl and she would have done the same for me. In this cruel world we stood shoulder to shoulder against those who would torment us. When I lost hope she held my face in her hands.

‘God will provide.’

I wonder then why she has chosen to wreck everything. To bring this family to its knees. To crush me like a can.

Her chest rattles and I picture myself sitting here in Yasmeen’s bedroom, watching this girl I have loved so well. Watching her die.

Do I still love her?

With all my heart.

Yet I am immobile as her life creeps away.

She lets out a tiny gasp and a pink bubble forms on her lips.

When it bursts I know it is over and through my tears I whisper the words she cannot say for herself.

‘I bear witness that there is no God but Allah.’

Chapter One (#ulink_fafccf24-135d-578d-b1e4-214fb9716c47)

May 2009

‘Un-bloody-believable.’