by Leslie North
Masoud forced a smile. He’d have to tell her the truth at some point. How would she feel about him then? She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, grabbed her bag, and headed upstairs.
“Well, it seems that you two have gotten close. Does this mean you’ll be the first to lose the bet?”
Masoud looked up sharply to see Jaymin standing at the top of the staircase. “Have you found the diamond?” he snapped, unwilling to answer his question.
“I don’t know where it is now, but it looks like your thief has booked himself a passage at a private airport. One ticket.”
“One ticket?” Masoud frowned. “But there are two of them.”
“I guess now there is only one. Why does your archaeologist think that the world will thank you for the diamond?” Jaymin pushed.
Masoud ignored him and climbed the stairs. “How is Father?”
“Mother and Rameez are with him now.” Jaymin moved to stop Masoud’s path. “Answer my question, Masoud.”
“Do you think she would have helped me if I had told her that once we crowned the next Sheikh, the diamond would be hidden away?” Masoud snapped. “Of course not.”
“So tell me, brother. Are you lying to her or are you lying to us? When you get that diamond, who are you going to give it to?”
Masoud looked coldly at him. “The family comes first,” he muttered and pushed past him. At that very moment, he truly hated his brother. Deep down, he knew the choice he would have to make, but hearing it from Jaymin’s mouth, hearing it out loud, made him feel like a monster. It was easier to hate his brother than to hate himself.
Rameez was walking out of his father’s room when Masoud lifted his hands to knock on the door. His eyes widened when he looked past Rameez to find his mother holding his father’s hand. Rameez ushered him out and quietly closed the door.
“Is she lucid?” Masoud whispered. His mother hadn’t recognized any of them in years. She thought she was a child visiting the palace of a relative.
“When Quadie fell ill, Nabila came to his aid. She knew who he was. She said she felt his need for her. I think it’s why his recovery is so swift,” Rameez said.
Masoud shook his head. “You think their connection is that deep?” Rameez was his father’s oldest friend. If anyone knew about his parents’ marriage, it would be him.
The older man looked surprised. “Do you doubt the love between your parents, boy?”
“I…” Masoud shut his mouth and shook his head. “When I was a boy, I used to love to see them together. They seemed so happy. But then I found out that they had an arranged marriage, and when Mother got sick, my father seemed so cold. Like he didn’t even care.”
“Didn’t care? I should slap you for that,” Rameez said angrily. “Your father sent for the best doctors from around the world, and when he realized that he couldn’t reverse her condition, he’s done everything he can to make her happy.”
“He doesn’t treat her like his wife,” Masoud pointed out.
“That’s because she doesn’t think she’s his wife. Would you force someone to be something they don’t believe is true? Your mother is happy in her delusions, and your father has done everything he can to make sure that she stays happy. He would give anything to have his wife back, but her happiness is more important than his own. Their marriage may have been arranged, but there is a great love between your parents. It’s a shame that you doubt it.”
Masoud didn’t know what to say. Part of him had always been angry with his father for not caring, but it seemed that nothing could have been farther from the truth. Unsure of what to say or do, he turned and walked away. He simply couldn’t handle it.
He couldn’t handle what he felt for Fleur. He couldn’t handle what he was about to do to her. There was only one thing he knew for sure, and that was the diamond. It was tangible. He’d touched it.
And he would do whatever it took to get it back.
***
Fleur woke up to whispers in the middle of the night. She had passed out as soon as she finished showering, and as she stretched out in the bed, it felt strange to find it empty. She didn’t really expect that Masoud would crawl into bed now that they were back at the palace. It was clear that whatever was between them was nothing more than a fling.
At least, it was clear that was how he felt. For Fleur, it was so much more.
The whispers grew louder. “You are not doing this on your own!”
Fleur frowned. What was going on? Running her hands through her hair, she hopped out of bed and crossed the floor. Flinging the door open, she blinked as the light from the hall flooded her room.
Outside her door, the three brothers turned to her and frowned. “Can we help you?” Jaymin snapped.
“I’m just wondering why you’re arguing in front of my door,” she said smoothly. The older brother’s temper didn’t bother her one bit.
“I was coming to let you know that I’m going to retrieve the diamond. If I can, I’ll keep your stepbrother out of it,” Masoud said formally.
She didn’t like the tone of his voice. It was cold. Casual. Distant.
“Thank you for letting me know, but I am coming with you. This is partly my fault. Give me a minute to change.”
“Fleur, you’re not going. It’s too dangerous,” Masoud said as he stepped forward.
“It’s too dangerous, but you are determined to go alone?” Adil muttered. “That makes perfect sense.”
“This is something that I have to do on my own. This thief has dishonored me, and I intend to restore it. Everyone will stay here.” His eyes flashed in anger as he looked at his brothers.
“Look, I get that this is still an old-fashioned country,” Fleur said as she gathered her hair into a hairband. “But Bruce is my family, and I’m not going to abandon him. So I’m going with you whether you like it or not. Where are we going?”
“Private airstrip about twenty miles south,” Adil said promptly.
Masoud glared at him, but Adil shrugged. “I want that island,” he said simply.
“And if she dies?”
Fleur had no idea what they were talking about, but she couldn’t dwell on it. “Thank you, Adil. Now then, Masoud, you can either wait for me, or I’ll follow you. Which will it be?”
“Be quick,” he snapped after a moment. “I will deal with you two downstairs.”
Fleur shut the door and immediately shucked her boxers in favor of a pair of jeans. Keeping on her tank top, she threw on her shoes and bounded out the door. Masoud was silently waiting for her in the hall.
“Why are you so unhappy? This is great!” she said as she reached for him. He sidestepped her hug, and she froze. What the hell was going on with him?
“Anton is a dangerous man. Please exercise some caution,” he said quietly as he opened the door. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she slipped past him. Obviously, the romance between them was over. He was back in his palace, and he couldn’t be seen with an American.
It hurt more than she wanted to admit. Even though she knew this moment was coming, she still wasn’t prepared for the blow. Focusing on Bruce and the diamond was all that kept her from bursting into tears.
She would be strong. After all, she suspected that Masoud was just like any other man. She was a convenience to him, and now he had proven her right.
“It seems that Anton has only purchased one ticket out of the country. Your stepbrother may have found another way out,” Masoud said as he drove.
“What?” Frightened, Fleur turned to stare at him. “What if Anton has done something to him?”
“There’s no reason to suspect that until we have more proof,” Masoud said tightly. His eyes never left the road.
“You knew. That’s why you didn’t want me to come. You knew that Bruce might already be dead.” Swallowing the lump in her throat, she stared out the window. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
He didn’t answer her as they came over the hill toward the private airport. A
small building sat just off the strip next to a warehouse. Fleur saw the two cars in front of the building. As soon as Masoud parked, she jumped out of the car.
“Fleur!” Masoud yelled, but she didn’t hear him. Blood pounded in her ears as she checked the small building first. It was empty.
“Bruce,” she whispered as she bolted to the warehouse. The door was all the way on the other side, and she was almost out of breath when she wrenched the door open. “Bruce!”
Anton and Bruce both whirled around as she stormed in the warehouse. “Fleur! What are you doing here?” Bruce demanded. He stared nervously at Anton. “Please don’t hurt her. She won’t try to stop you.”
The thief only smiled. “Fleur. It’s lovely to see you again. It’s been so long. Actually, it hasn’t been that long since I’ve seen you, so I should say that it’s been so long since you’ve seen me. How is your lover?”
Fleur felt like throwing up. How long had Anton been watching her? “I’m not here for the diamond. I’m just here for Bruce,” Fleur said as she took a couple small steps toward them. For the first time, she realized that Masoud was not behind her.
“Fleur, that’s not necessary. We’re leaving the country as soon as the plane is fueled. I’ll meet you in America.” Bruce crossed the warehouse and embraced her. “Are you mad at me?”
“Bruce,” she said frantically as she held him. “Bruce, listen to me…”
“I did this for you, Fleur. I did it for us. I don’t want you always chasing your dreams. I want to give them to you. With the money from this diamond, I can finance your search for the mines. I can take care of you.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. Is that why he had done this? To take care of her? “Bruce, Anton is not planning on you leaving this airport. He only purchased one ticket.”
“What?”
“I have to give you credit, Fleur,” Anton said casually. “You’re always messing up my plans.” She peered around Bruce and gasped. Anton had a gun trained on them. “I’m sorry, Bruce. You were supposed to have a tragic accident in the warehouse. The pilot has already been paid handsomely for it. But I suppose now I’ll just have to shoot you.”
“No,” Fleur screamed as the gun went off. She pushed Bruce down, and they both tumbled to the ground.
“Fleur!”
She looked up in time to see Masoud drop down from the rafters above. Something flashed in the light. Her mouth fell open as she saw the saber in his hands. He and Anton fell to the floor, and just as Anton swung his arm around to point the gun, Masoud was ready. Within seconds, the gun was flying across the floor. Fleur scrambled for it, and as she wrapped her hands around it, Masoud grabbed the fallen blade before standing over Anton and pointing it at his chest.
“The diamond,” Masoud said tightly.
“We can split the profits,” Anton breathed. “It would make your entire country filthy rich.”
“I don’t care about the money,” Masoud said through clenched teeth. “I need it to crown the next Sheikh. The diamond is my family’s birthright, and no one will ever see it or take it from me again. Do you understand me?”
Fleur froze. She watched almost in slow motion as Anton reached in his pocket and pulled out the diamond. Masoud snatched it and pulled out his phone. He barked a few orders, and the place was soon swarming with police.
She felt numb as she watched everything around them. Masoud strode toward her and forced her chin up. “Are you okay? I think I just lost a thousand lives when I saw him point that gun at you. Nothing has ever scared me more.”
When she could only stare at him, Bruce jumped in. “Where the hell did you get a saber? And where did you learn how to use it?”
“I fence. It’s in the trunk of my car,” Masoud muttered. He watched her carefully.
“And the police?”
“I called them before we left. I promised your stepsister that I would not harm you, and I intend to keep that promise. No charges will be pressed against you, and they’ll handle Anton. Fleur? Are you okay?”
“I guess as far as promises go, that’s the one I should be happy that you kept,” she said as she yanked away. “You never intended to let me have that diamond. You lied to me.”
“Fleur, you have to understand. Without this diamond, we can’t properly crown another Sheikh. My family needs this to rule the land.”
Tears burned her eyes as she stepped further away from him. “So you should have told me. I spent all this time trying to prove my thesis. You gave me hope. You let me think…” Bile rose in her throat. “Oh my God, you seduced me so that I would help you find the diamond.”
“No. No. Fleur, that is not true.” Masoud reached for her, but she stumbled away.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed. “Just…don’t. Bruce, we’re leaving.”
“You can’t go,” Masoud said quietly. She saw the desperation in his eyes, but it meant nothing to her. He had used her. “You have to stay until Anton can be incarcerated.”
“We’ll get a hotel.”
“Fleur, we don’t have any money,” Bruce said quietly. “Anton took everything from me.”
Would nothing go her way? She turned and began to jog out of the warehouse. She didn’t care where she went. She couldn’t be there anymore. She just couldn’t.
She may have had her life, but she’d lost her heart. Masoud only cared for the diamond and it broke her.
Chapter Sixteen
Masoud stared at the diamond that sparkled in the middle of the pendent. Fleur was with her stepbrother in one of the guest rooms, and he’d just finished filling his family in on the details. Anton was apparently wanted by Interpol, so it wasn’t long before his own police force lost custody of him.
He didn’t really care who incarcerated Anton as long as he didn’t get anywhere near Fleur again.
Thinking of Fleur made him realize that she was probably never going to speak to him again once she realized what he was about to do. She’d thought that, after a ceremony showcasing the diamond, it would be turned over to a museum. His family was never going to let that diamond out of their sight again.
The door to the library opened, and Masoud looked up abruptly. His father cleared his throat as he stepped in. “Smaller than what you imagined?” he asked as the diamond caught the light.
“It’s not the size of the diamond but the size of the legend, I suppose. If Yasin and the legend are right, then we should have no doubt that it’s our right to rule this country. We’ve found it twice now,” Masoud said as he lowered his arm.
“And yet you’re not happy,” Quadie said knowingly.
“Fleur almost died multiple times in the process of finding this diamond. No legend and no birthright are worth her death,” he said bitterly.
“But she is alive and well. And she’s pleased to have the diamond again,” Quadie pointed out. He reached over to take the diamond from him.
“I’ve lied to Fleur, and the thing is that she’s right. We may have found the diamond, but we have no right to keep it from the rest of the world,” he snapped. Angrily, he got up and started to pace. “What kind of rulers are we if we bury history?”
“Funny,” Quadie said quietly. “You weren’t upset about keeping the diamond to ourselves when you started this mission.”
His father was right. Fleur had clouded his judgment, and now he had to make a choice. If he sided with his family, he would lose her forever. But if he gave her the diamond, his family would lose power in the eyes of the country. “I guess everything is so easy for you. A political match and then you conveniently fell in love with Mother.”
“Is that what this is about? Are you in love with Fleur?”
Masoud stiffened. “My relationship with Fleur is not the issue here.”
“Masoud, there was a reason that I sent you after the diamond and not your brothers. You are the least happy of my boys. Your oldest brother is fueled with responsibility as the next ruler of this country, and your youngest brother is an adrenali
ne junkie. But you walk through this life in a fog. I thought, perhaps, if you had something to focus on, it would make you happy,” Quadie said as he studied his son.
He stared at his father. “Did you know that I was going to have to make this choice?”
“We all have choices to make, Masoud. Life isn’t easy.”
“I’m going for a walk,” he snapped. Leaving the diamond with his father, he stormed out of the palace and began to walk the grounds.
Maybe it was because he felt a connection with Solomon and the hard decisions that he had to make, but he was drawn to the dig site. He hadn’t been back since that night he met Fleur.
“What do I do?” he muttered as he shined his flashlight around the site. A few pieces had already been excavated, and their absence left holes where they once sat for so long. These artifacts had spent so much time covered in dirt that they had actually become part of the earth.
Part of him felt like those artifacts. He’d spent so much time thinking that love wasn’t real, and now that he could feel it, it left a hole. He was leaving a hole. No matter what decision he made, someone was going to be unhappy. And he had to decide whose happiness was more important to him.
“I’ve barely known her three weeks,” he whispered to himself. It was true. He and Fleur’s whirlwind romance hadn’t even lasted a month, but he couldn’t see a future without her. On the other hand, his father had raised him. He’d given him everything. How could he tell his father that the diamond didn’t belong to him?
Masoud sat in the dirt and stared at the stones. All over the walls were cracks and carvings, and the more he stared, the more the thought he could see shapes. “God,” he muttered as he rubbed his eyes. He was going insane.
When he opened his eyes again, they focused sharply on a small crevice in the middle of the wall. The more he stared at it, the more something came to shape. Pulling himself up, he ran his light over the carvings and cocked his head. It had been a long time since he’d read the Bible, but he was fairly certain that he was looking at a message. The more he stared at it, the clearer it became.
