Zia knelt before Alexander, her palms pressed together as if in prayer.

Alexander, who was receiving such treatment, took a few steps back, feeling uncomfortable with the way people were looking at them. Some people even approached as if they wanted to know what was really going on between the two men and the woman who looked so sad.

“Please, sir. Free me from James,” Zia pleaded hopefully.

Zia knew she was making a mistake by placing her hopes in someone she should have stopped, because it would end in disappointment. But Alexander was like a father to her.

Alexander had once been a father figure to Zia, who had...