Anissa's Redemption Read online
Anissa’s Redemption
by
Zack Love
Copyright
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be resold or transferred to third parties except as otherwise permitted by the licensed distributor from which you acquired this ebook. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for that person. If you are reading this ebook but did not buy it or receive it as a gift from someone who bought it for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, places, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
www.ZackLove.com
Cover by Ashley Byland
Copyright © 2015 Zack Love
All rights reserved
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgement
Dedication
Detailed Synopsis of Book 1 (for Readers Starting with Book 2)
Chapter 1: Anissa
Chapter 2: Julien
Chapter 3: Anissa
Chapter 4: Julien
Chapter 5: Anissa
Chapter 6: Anissa
Chapter 7: Anissa
Chapter 8: Julien
Chapter 9: Anissa
Chapter 10: Anissa
Chapter 11: Anissa
Chapter 12: Julien
Chapter 13: Anissa
Chapter 14: Julien
Chapter 15: Anissa
Chapter 16: Julien
Chapter 17: Anissa
Chapter 18: Anissa
Chapter 19: Julien
Chapter 20: Anissa
Chapter 21: Julien
Chapter 22: Anissa
Chapter 23: Julien
Chapter 24: Anissa
Chapter 25: Julien
Chapter 26: Anissa
Chapter 27: Julien
Chapter 28: Anissa
Chapter 29: Julien
Chapter 30: Anissa
Chapter 31: Julien
Chapter 32: Anissa
Chapter 33: Anissa
Chapter 34: Anissa
Chapter 35: Anissa
Chapter 36: Anissa
Chapter 37: Anissa
Chapter 38: For You, My Dearest
Dear Reader
About the Author
Related Reading
Published Works by Zack Love
Acknowledgement
I am immensely grateful to have the enthusiastic help and advocacy of several wonderful individuals. I am especially thankful for:
Author Nadine Silber, for her warm and loyal friendship, enthusiastic support (including countless giveaways and efforts to promote this novel and my other books), assistance with my newsletter, excellent production of promotional materials/graphics (including the trailer for the first book in this series), helpful advice, sponsoring ads, and so much other support.
Anita Viccica Toss for being such an early, loyal, and hugely helpful fan who has consistently provided tremendous promotional support on Facebook, Goodreads, and other book forums; for helping me to stay organized and upbeat, despite whatever frustrations or obstacles presented themselves along the way; and for readily offering a helping hand with so much research and countless other projects.
Daina Lazzarotto and her awesome company, EPIC Literary Promotions, for organizing a release party and launch blitz for this book that were (true to her company’s name) epic, and generously sponsoring prizes to help generate buzz, assisting with so many research projects, acting as my de facto publicist in many ways, and otherwise promoting my books at every opportunity.
Author KM Golland, for her early friendship; general, mood-lifting hilarity and encouragement; editorial feedback; giveaways and other efforts to promote my work; and helpful advice.
Phala Theng, for donating her graphical talents to create so many beautiful teasers for this series, and for her other promotional efforts.
These fans who promoted my work with such kind and supportive enthusiasm: Donna Lorah, Jessie Duchannes, Heather Howard Lewis, Louisa Gray, Jo Turner Field, Nancy Zavala, Elena R. Cruz, Erin McFarland, Janet Wilkie, Julie Garlington, Alessandra Melchionda, Letty Sidon, Amy Cobb Pope, Sarah Mae Mink, Verna McQueen, Lily Maverick Wallis, Maggie Welsh, Crystal R. Solis, Jessica Lynn Leornard, Jennifer Pou, Diana Cardonita, and Jennifer Cothran.
I am also very grateful for the kind assistance and feedback of the following beta readers who helped me to locate errors in my first draft of this book and/or suggested other improvements: author KM Golland, Danielle Goodwin, author Nadine Silber, Christy Wilson, Anita Viccica Toss, author Anne Conley, Amy Cobb Pope, Jenna Hanson, Letty Sidon, Nancy Palmer, Louisa Gray, Elena Cruz, and Crystal Solis.
Dedication
To the Christians, Yazidis, and other persecuted minorities
of the Middle East, and those working to bring them security and dignity.
Detailed Synopsis of Book 1 (for Readers Starting with Book 2)
In Book 1, The Syrian Virgin, Anissa Toma, is a 16-year-old girl living in the city of Homs, as the Syrian Civil War rages. Anissa’s father, Youssef, is a hospital doctor and businessman, as well as a leader of the local Christian community. As Islamist fighters increasingly terrorize the Christian minority in Homs, Youssef realizes that he must do whatever he can to protect his four children. After Christmas 2011, he sends Anissa’s older sister and younger brother to stay with their uncle in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, which is far safer. Anissa’s older brother will stay in Homs to help their parents manage the family pharmacy and medical device business, and Anissa, who is academically gifted, will relocate to New York and stay with her uncle who lives there, after Youssef uses his professional contacts to secure a Canadian visa for her.
During their last hours together, Youssef asks his daughter for a solemn promise: fulfill your personal potential and help our persecuted community. Anissa vows to do this, and, after packing all of her things, takes the family dog out to the front yard one last time. But her world shatters when five armed Islamists suddenly show up at her house to punish her father’s decision to fire a doctor who had been purloining supplies from Youssef’s hospital for their benefit. After seriously injuring her father in a shootout that leaves Anissa’s dog dead, the gunmen present Youssef with a stark choice: renounce the Christian faith and become a Muslim, or die.
As a proud man and one of the leaders of the Homs Christian community, he refuses their demand that he convert to Islam. Horrific carnage ensues. Anissa narrowly escapes the murderous rampage by fleeing through the backdoor, across their backyard, and over a fence to the house of Mohammed, who is her neighbor, a trusted family friend, and a Sunni Muslim.
A few days later, with Mohammed’s help, Anissa is able to get past Sunni rebel checkpoints to her flight departing from Damascus. Her uncle in NY picks her up from the Montreal airport, and then drives her across the US-Canada border, back to his home in NY, where she must restart her young life while seeking asylum. Traumatized and devastated, Anissa tries to find the will to go on, even though all that remains of her family is her host uncle and cousins in NY, and her older sister, younger brother and other uncle in Raqqa.
During her last year and a half of high school, Anissa focuses on adjusting to life in a new country, while overcoming the traumas she recently endured with the help of her therapist, Monique. As part of her strategy for coping with the horrific loss of her pa
rents and older brother, Anissa lies to everyone (except her therapist) about how her parents died, claiming they were all killed in a car crash, which gives them a “more normal” death. She suffers from horrible nightmares about her trauma in Syria but can manage them in part with her nightly ritual of whispering to her imaginary parents and convincing them not to get into the car that will end up crashing. Anissa also intensively pursues martial arts and running to improve her confidence and mood.
While searching for a place where she can study self-defense with other Mideast Christians, Anissa meets Michael Kassab on Facebook. She quickly develops a crush on Michael, who is a twenty-six-year-old doctoral student at Columbia University, and a political activist fighting for the rights, security, and dignity of Mideast Christians facing Islamist persecution.
Michael is helpful to Anissa but never shows any romantic interest in her, so Monique eventually advises her to stop trying to maintain her Facebook relationship with Michael. Anissa follows her therapist’s advice and focuses on self-healing and completing her last year of high school. She keeps a diary in an effort to battle the demons that haunt her, and it is through this personal record that she tells her story. Anissa struggles with depression and nightmares related to her trauma and Monique tries to help her manage PTSD. Anissa resists the temptation to take her own life so that she can honor the promise that she made to her father in their very last conversation. Not only does her vow sustain her will to live, but it also fuels her drive to succeed academically. Her hard work and unusual intellect secure her a full-merit scholarship at Columbia University, which she enters at the age of eighteen.
During her first semester, Anissa stays focused on her studies but is regularly reminded of how different her concerns are from those of her classmates. They escape their academic pressures by indulging in campus parties, carefree fun, drinking, and dating. But Anissa clings to her conservative attitudes towards sex and, when she’s not studying, remains anxious about the situation in Syria – especially in Raqqa, where her surviving family lives under increasingly perilous conditions. She resolves to become politically involved, during her second semester, with the Mideast Christian Association (MCA), the non-profit that Michael founded and leads.
On the first day of her spring semester classes, Anissa goes to a campus rally organized by the MCA, where she meets her longtime Facebook crush in person for the first time. Hoping to impress Michael while helping the cause by soliciting donations and petition signatures, Anissa approaches a stylishly dressed man in his late thirties, just as he is about to make a phone call, but he brusquely rebuffs her request. Michael resentfully points out that he is the wealthiest man associated with the university but never donates anything or shows any other form of support.
After the MCA rally, Anissa heads to the first lecture of her Psychology & Markets course, only to learn that her new professor is the same man who just rejected her solicitation: Professor Julien Morales. She awkwardly avoids his gaze throughout his introduction to the class, and tries to remain unnoticed for the next few lectures. At one point, Julien announces that the three students with the highest midterm exam results will be invited to a special office tour of his twenty billion-dollar hedge fund, JMAT. He notes that most of the students selected in the past have gone on to secure high-paying jobs with his prestigious fund. Anissa suddenly starts to dream big, and is excited by the rare opportunity to help herself (and eventually her community), and resolves to be among the top three students in the class.
A few days later, she sees her professor speaking on a Spanish-language financial news program on TV while helping Michael with some MCA-related tasks. Anissa learns that Michael also speaks Spanish, in addition to her native Arabic and several other Mideast languages. She realizes that she is drawn to both men for different reasons, but – after discovering that Michael actually has a girlfriend – she tries to distance herself from him, as her therapist advises.
Meanwhile, Julien continues to receive unwanted messages from one of his ex-lovers, threatening to publicly shame him if he doesn’t pay her a substantial “breakup fee.” Julien refuses to do so on principle, but realizes that his playboy lifestyle may have gotten too reckless and decides that he needs to start seeing a shrink about that issue and his recurring nightmares.
Anissa’s friend Maya, who was in Julien’s class the year before, confirms that his course is very difficult and admits that she received a poor grade in his class, but adds that she gained something far more valuable than a good grade: Julien’s friendship and regular invitations to his VIP parties, which are attended by the political and financial elite, and some of the city’s most eligible bachelors. Anissa is intrigued when Maya suggests that she join her as a guest but Anissa declines the invitation, noting that she doesn’t want to show up at Julien’s home unannounced unless she’s already proven herself on his midterm exam.
Julien selects a young and sexy therapist, Lily, who eventually gets him to open up to her more than he has done with any prior therapist. He admits to Lily that he chose an attractive therapist in part because he needs to learn self-control, and what better way to do so than with someone to whom he is drawn and who can study his behavior as it goes astray? He also reveals that his estranged father is the principal cause of his nightmares but reveals little else about what took place during his troubled childhood.
Michael eventually breaks up with his girlfriend and starts to see Anissa more frequently. They grow closer while discussing his dream of founding a Mideast Christian state – an inspiring goal that makes her hopeful about someday protecting her beleaguered community. Michael asks Anissa to go ice skating with him on Valentine’s Day, and the two start dating.
A few days later, Anissa and Michael are again at an MCA rally, collecting donations and signatures despite the cold weather. As luck would have it, Julien again walks by them. This time, however, Julien stops and explains to Anissa his reasons for rarely getting involved with politics, but then takes out a $100 bill and hands it to Anissa, joking that they should buy an outdoor heater to keep themselves warm with it. Michael is amazed that Julien finally showed some generosity and realizes that it’s entirely thanks to Anissa’s spell over the man.
Anissa continues to worry about the safety of her siblings and uncle in Raqqa, where ISIS has taken over and imposed Sharia law, persecuting Christians and other religious minorities. But she withdraws from world events and everyone around her in order to focus intently on midterms – especially the exam for Julien’s class, which she prepares the most for, at the expense of her other classes. Her efforts pay off when she learns that she has received the highest grade in the class and secured for herself an office tour of Julien’s hedge fund.
Julien’s therapist finally gets him to share something he’s never told anyone else: a detailed account of his horrific nightmares. They involve his bed blanket transforming into hooks or blades that cut him open to the point that he begins drowning in his own blood, until he throws the covers to the floor gasping for air. He eventually also reveals that he is a strict vegetarian after being traumatized at a young age when watching his father work as a butcher. Julien’s love of animals is also apparent from the lengths to which he goes to care for and heal Icarus, the sparrow that he accidentally stepped on when getting out of his car once and subsequently adopted as a pet.
Anissa goes on the tour of JMAT and is dazzled by the stunning offices full of alluring possibilities that, until that moment, had seemed so removed from her reality as a refugee: wealth, abundance, prestige, success. But when she shows up late to the MCA meeting that night and shares her excitement about the JMAT office tour, Michael clearly resents everything that Julien represents and fears that Anissa could end up forgetting her ideals and values if she is seduced into pursuing some materialistic American Dream. She and Michael have their first quarrel, which is further aggravated by Anissa’s jealous suspicions that Michael has not completely cut ties with his last girlfriend.
But Anissa, who has since made up with Michael (after he apologized and brought her a charming gift), goes out of her way to do as her boyfriend suggested: limit her interactions with Julien at his party, in order to set herself apart from the countless young women throwing themselves at the billionaire playboy. Michael convinces Anissa that if she plays her cards right with Julien, she will be uniquely positioned to help Middle East Christians by gaining the support of an extremely wealthy and well-connected benefactor.
Michael’s plan works and Anissa’s aloofness intensifies Julien’s budding fascination with her. To avoid revealing any of this interest to his current student, Julien plays it cool in class and pretends not to notice Anissa, who similarly seems indifferent towards her professor during the lectures that follow their party encounter.
But Julien is determined to get some quality time with Anissa, so he invites Maya to another party, and suggests that she bring Anissa again. This time at his party, Julien chats privately for a few minutes with Anissa and invites her out to dinner later that week.
The next day, at a political rally in Union Square for the protection of Mideast Christians, a counter-protest erupts and Michael comes to Anissa’s physical defense when she is accosted and threatened by three much bigger men. A trained martial arts fighter, Michael knocks out the biggest man in the group and the others cower away as he escorts Anissa away from the area. She ends up going back to his apartment, where they passionately kiss and Anissa reveals her breasts to a man for the first time in her sexually inexperienced life. But after Michael notices a scar on Anissa’s hip, they stop their heavy petting. She tells him that the mark is from what happened to her in Syria but prefers not to elaborate, having shared the details of her ordeal with no one besides her therapist. Anissa wants to explore their intimacy more, but Michael notes that he would rather take things slowly, given that she’s still a virgin and he’s about to leave for Syria on a dangerous mission for the MCA.
Anissa's Redemption
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