by Leah Leonard
Several servants appeared in the doorway.
“Get her out of here,” Khalil waved his arms as though swatting a common fly. “Now!”
Several men grabbed Safina’s arms and removed her.
“Stop,” she struggled against them. “I will leave on my own.”
“Get her things and place them on the driveway as I asked you to do the other day. Have them out of here at once. If she does not provide an address, have them sent to her father.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I’m sorry, I am so sorry,” Safina sobbed in the most unbecoming manner Khalil had ever seen.
Her true self had never been more apparent than at this moment. Thank God they did not marry! What a complete disaster that would have been! The woman was a true whore and there would be no telling what would have become of Khalil had this union been solidified. The ordeal made him appreciate both Oma and Kelley all the more.
Speaking of Kelley, once Safina was out of the way, Khalil called his servants into his office. “Sirs, you shall mention this incident to no one. Especially not Miss Kelley, understood?”
“Yes, Master,” the staff bowed and closed his office door, returning him to the peace he had tried to find before this ugly interruption.
At that moment he was more thankful than ever that he had not married this woman. His life was unfolding as it should. Soon he and Kelley would be reunited, and once that happened, he had no intention of ever spending another day without her ever again.
Thirty-Five
Kelley had just decided that her home was clear of intruders, and had lay down to go to sleep, when she heard a faint knock at the door. Who would be here? The driver? She wasn’t expecting anyone. Khalil might decide to surprise her, but if he did come, he wouldn’t be here until tomorrow, right? He still had one more day left, and even when that time was over, she expected him to contact her first, not just show up unannounced at her door. She closed her eyes, deciding to ignore the interruption.
The knock came again.
Reluctantly, Kelley got up, went to the living area and peeked out the window. She couldn’t see anyone. There were no cars around.
Whoever it was knocked even louder.
She hoped she would be safe. She knew better, but when the knocking continued, she grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer, clutched it in her hand and opened the door.
The fear quickly shifted into pure shock when she saw who was standing there. “Josh?”
“Mind if I come in?” He ducked slightly so he could fit on the covered porch, held his hands humbly in front of him.
Kelley glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see his other half. “Where’s Safina?”
“Not here.”
She really didn’t want to be disturbed, but here he was, and she had to admit, she was curious about what kind of lame excuse he wanted to give her for stranding her here. Kelley wasn’t sure she wanted to know what Josh was about to tell her, but she had to hear him out. “Well, come in. I guess…” She swung the door open. “Have a seat.”
His big body seemed awkward in the tiny cottage. He leaned over slightly to keep from hitting his head on the roof. He went straight to the chair that had been out of place, sat down, awkwardly crossing one leg over the other.
“So you were here earlier, huh?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“I thought so. Damn you, Josh! Why? What were you thinking? You scared me half to death!”
“I dunno,” he mumbled.
“Why are you here? What do you want? You used to be so level headed. What happened?”
“I dunno.”
“So when’s the wedding? That is what you’re here to tell me, right?”
He shook his head. “It’s not going to happen.”
As much as she wanted to smack him, she also felt sorry for Josh. He looked pathetic. “Why not?”
Shoulders drooped, he said, “We kind of had a fight.”
“So? Go make up. You’ve come this far. Surely you can work things out.”
“It’s not that simple,” his gaze fell to the rug on the floor.
“Does she need her place back? Because I ‘m almost finished,” Kelley lied. She still had much to do now that they abandoned her. “I can be out in a day or two and you’re both welcome to stay here with me if you’d like.” When Josh failed to reply, she added. “You do know I’m not mad, right? Surprised, yes, but not mad. You two stranded me out here in the middle of nowhere with no car.”
“I know and I’m sorry,” Josh said.
“I just wish the two of you had been more considerate. If you wanted to run away together, fine. I would have accepted that.” Kelley sighed. “I guess it’s my fault. I expected more from you two. Luckily I’ve had a few days to cool off, and I do forgive you, for whatever it’s worth.”
Josh continued staring at the floor. “She left me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Safina’s gone.”
“What?” Kelley almost fell over. “Why?”
“Uh…that’s kind of why I’m here.” Josh’s normally tanned complexion looked pale today. He sat in the chair and awkwardly re-crossed his giant legs, knitted his hands together. “I came in earlier to bring you this.” He pulled out a letter and placed it on the table next to the one she received earlier from the foundation. “But I realized leaving this for you would be the coward’s way out. I had to come and face you myself. Especially since Safina’s involved.”
Kelley suddenly remembered the letter from the foundation and wondered if the two communications were related. “What are you talking about?”
“I…” Josh began, then put his face in his hands, and mumbled through his fingers. “I’m not even sure where to begin.”
“How about at the beginning?” Kelley teased.
“This is serious. You’re going to hate me once I tell you what I’m about to say.”
“I will admit I haven’t exactly been thrilled with you lately, and quite frankly I’m not sure you and I can ever work together again after all this, but I could never hate you.”
“Trust me, you will. I lied.”
“Look,” Kelley began, “just because you and Safina are in love, doesn’t mean you lied. I knew that. I should have known better than to ask you to come here and I’m the one who should be sorry for not telling Safina you were coming and not warning you about her wedding.”
Josh looked straight at her and leaned forward in the chair. “I lied about the vessel in Ephesus.”
A nervous laugh burst forth from her core. “What are you talking about?”
“The email you received, telling you about the holy vessel, well, I wrote it.”
“You…” she fought to comprehend what he was saying. “You forwarded the email to me…you were a part of the project from the beginning. We received the grant…both of us. It’s yours too. I never intended shut you out. You and Safina left me, though, so what was I supposed to do? We have to see this through. ”
“You aren’t listening,” Josh raised his voice in one of the only times Kelley had ever experienced him doing so. “I wrote it. I made up the story about the artifact and sent it to you. The whole thing is a fake.”
Numbness rushed through Kelley’s limbs. Her jaw slacked, her hands trembled, and she could not manage words, the shock was still too fresh. “What? You’re joking.”
Josh continued. “I know it’s a terrible thing to do, but I knew how much you needed to make a discovery. I had to come back to Istanbul to be with Safina, and you know I can’t afford anything like this, so I made the whole thing up just so we could visit Turkey for free, and Safina and I could be together. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
This can’t be happening! “I don’t believe you. You’re lying. I know you are.”
Josh sighed. “I wish I was, but I’m not.”
“But…how could you do this? I don’t believe you. This vessel is real. That tip proved it. Everyone knows that. T
he committee, the faculty, everybody.”
“No it’s not. I went to the library, created some weird email address and wrote to you.”
“No, you couldn’t have. There is real evidence here linking the site to this specific vessel.”
“I made it up! Can’t you see that?” Josh leapt to his feet and paced around the room. “I picked that information up from a conspiracy website. It’s all bull! Phony, fake, nuts! A bunch of conspiracy theorists say they can prove the true identity of Mary, but everybody knows it’s not real. It’s all based on pure speculation, nothing scientific at all.”
“But the person who wrote the letter…you…” Kelley corrected herself, still trying to wrap her mind around all of this. “…put it all out there for me. It was meticulously researched, so detailed, so scientific.”
“Yes…”
“You told me exactly where I could find this holy object, and although I haven’t found it yet, I still believe I’m about a day or two away from a breakthrough.”
“What can I say?” Josh held his hands in the air. “I learned how to write a grant proposal from the best. You.”
“Why would you do this to me? This is fraud Josh! We could both be in a ton of trouble. Maybe even go to jail. Did you once ever consider that? Did you ever think of the ramifications of your selfish actions one single time since fabricating this entire line of garbage?”
“I’m sorry,” Josh lowered his gaze.
Her entire body went completely numb, and Kelley remained speechless for a few minutes, trying to digest everything she heard. She replayed the conversation in her mind just to make sure she understood that her supposed two best friends in the world ran off together and made up an elaborate story which Kelley bet her entire professional career on, and now she was here, spending the foundation’s money all for nothing. She felt like crying, but her fury kept her from that. “You’re a jerk. I suppose you and Safina had this whole thing planned all along, didn’t you? You both set me up and wanted to humiliate me all this time, after everything I did to help you. My God, I can’t believe this.” She sank into the chair and put her head in her hands.
“Safina had nothing to do with this,” Josh insisted.
“Yeah, right.”
“Seriously, that’s the reason we broke up. I told her what I did, how I loved her and wanted to marry her.”
“That’s a bunch of bull and you know it. You both worked on this so why not be honest?”
“I swear on my mother’s life that Safina had nothing to do with this and when she found out I lied to you and made up the whole story just to get out here, she said she never wanted to see me again.”
“Why bother telling her? You had everything you wanted.”
“Because I love her. I want to marry her, and I didn’t want our life together to be a lie.”
Kelley leapt to her feet. “It was always a lie, Josh! You lied to me, you lied to the committee, you lied to her and to yourself. You will pay the committee back for these funds, not me! You’ll
go to jail, you alone will receive the punishment for what you’ve done.” Kelley knew she could shout all she wanted, and be furious with Josh, but she knew full well that he had no money and apparently no integrity either. The fact of the matter was that she, and she alone was ultimately responsible for any actions taken by members of her team, and only she would have to answer for this mess and find the money to pay every single dime back to the foundation.
“You’re right, I will,” Josh lied.
Josh never had a dime to his name, he would never be able to repay the debt, and even if he could, he would likely run away so she would never find him again. “Get out!”
Josh stood up, moved toward her, “Kelley—”
“I said get out! Do you want me to call the Sheikh’s men and have them take care of you?” She decided to threaten him a bit because at that moment, she saw Josh for his immense size and realized he could be a potential threat to her. To think of him in this way was shocking, but here she was. Her whole life had been ripped out from under her. She wasn’t sure she even knew who she was anymore because every single person she trusted betrayed her. First Ian, then Safina and now Josh most of all. He’d been like the younger brother she never had.
Josh moved toward the door. “I hope you’ll forgive me someday. I really am sorry. I will help you repay the debt. You have my word.”
Kelley circled around him, swung the front door open, gesturing for him to walk through it, which he eventually did. She waited until he was fully outside and on the porch before saying another word. “You know what I said earlier about never being able to hate you?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I was wrong. I do. Goodbye.” Kelley slammed the door and locked the deadbolt behind her.
She had finally experienced the ultimate betrayal. How she would get through this was beyond her. One day at a time.
Thirty-Six
Khalil woke the next morning earlier than usual, donned his best suit and went to meet his staff. No longer in mourning, he chose a sleek business suit for today. This was indeed a special occasion. Today he would have his staff whisk Kelley back to Istanbul and propose to her.
He found his favored manservant early in the morning and told him, “Call the driver, have him ready the jet, collect Kelley at once and bring her to the airport in Istanbul.”
“Right away, sir.”
Khalil wanted to take her somewhere special tonight, to a scenic spot on the Bosporus.
He would finish up some business at the palace, then take the limo to town and wait for her at the airport. Yes, that would work. First, he would stop by the jewelers to pick out the perfect ring. He could still imagine the taste of her fingers on his mouth. He knew what size her fingers were, as well as every other part of her body. He would make his intentions known, and then he would have her at long last.
Tonight would be the happiest night of his life.
Thirty-Seven
Kelley was so upset by Josh’s announcement the night before, she didn’t bother to read his letter or the correspondence from her foundation until the next day.
Seeing those letters there on the table with the morning light coming in gave her a sick feeling and brought back all the painful details of her conversation with Josh the day before. She had never felt so betrayed in all her life.
She decided to read Josh’s letter later, or maybe never, and instead read the note from her foundation, dreading the contents since she knew full well thanks to Josh she alone would be responsible for not only paying them back, but for explaining how she let a con man fool her into any of this in the first place. How could she be so naïve? So stupid?
Josh had been her assistant for nearly three years. They would be hard pressed to believe Kelley wasn’t in on this herself. It made her sick to her stomach to think about. She better open the letter and decide right away how she would explain all of this.
Dear Kelley Jones Smith:
This letter is to inform you that unfortunately the funding you requested for your research trip to Istanbul has been denied. Without divulging confidential matters, our foundation is suffering financially right now and although we made one small payment to you, we are unable to provide the balance due because we simply do not have it to give.
We believe in you and your work and wish you Godspeed. Please keep the funding you received for your tickets as our gift, however we pray you will also find it in your heart to forgive us and wish you great success in your venture. As such, should you find anything of note during your journey, you have no obligations to us whatsoever.
We hope this finds you well.
Panic filling her limbs, Kelley’s mind raced. She had collected barely enough to cover her and Josh’s tickets here and back, but nothing else. She expected by now the money would have been in her bank though direct deposit, but with all that happened, she hadn’t had a single minute to think about any of that. Plus, thanks to Khalil, she hadn’t s
pent a dime of her own money so far.
By a strange twist of fate, she would not have to save face in front of the committee. Thank God for that, but still, there was no doubt this trip was cursed. The only blessing to come from any of it was meeting Khalil, but once he found out that she naively accepted a project brought to her by a fraud, he would not want anything to do with her.
She was a fool! First Ian and now Josh. She already decided last night she would not take a single dime from that foundation. Once she returned home, she would repay them out of her savings if she had to. It wouldn’t be right to take anything, especially since they were having financial difficulties. She certainly couldn’t expect them to pay for her plane tickets, which so far had been nothing more than an unfortunate vacation.
Her cell rang as tears streamed down her cheeks. She didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. She wanted to crawl back into bed and cover her head for a week, maybe more. Maybe then she might find the determination to get up and try and figure out what to do with the rest of her life. She sniffled, and then picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Kelley?” the familiar voice she had longed to hear purred on the other end of the line. “Hello?”
“Khalil?” In that moment, all her troubles seemed to disappear, and she had never been happier to hear from anyone.
“I miss you and I want you here with me. May I send the driver to take you to the airport?” Khalil began, and then added, “I know you are busy working, and I am happy to assist you later, however I have some business in Istanbul this morning and request the pleasure of your company at dinner this evening in the city.”
As much as she wanted to continue the dig, to avenge herself and maybe find something worthy despite Josh’s lies, she realized she was fooling herself. He told her it wasn’t real. The sooner she accepted that, the better. She needed to leave. It would take time to digest everything, but for now, she wanted to be with Khalil. “Yes. Come get me.”
