Page 70 of The Billionaire's Timed Wife

Hours later

“I never lost hope of seeing you again, but I thought it would have to be me going to you, and then I got sick.”

Since the first time we spoke, I’ve been researching everything I can about her illness, and based on that and what the doctors told me, because it was diagnosed early, the chances of full recovery are high.

Actually, the bigger problem is that she was malnourished and alone, which worsened her condition.

Since chemotherapy needs to start soon, I wanted to postpone the wedding date, but even before I came here, my mother disagreed. She prefers that I marry while her health isn’t so fragile yet, because once the treatment begins, there’s no telling how she’ll react.

I tried to argue, but she was adamant.

Even though I worry it might be too much for her, I want to grant her wish.

“There’s something I want to know,” she begins. “When your fiancé sent someone to find me, he already knew I was ill, since the person who came to my house told me I was expected by a medical team. How did he find out?”

It’s a question I knew she’d ask and one I always avoided answering over the phone, certain the truth would hurt her.

“My father told me.”

“How? I haven’t spoken to Arif since the day he divorced me.”

“I’d like to hear about that—the divorce, I mean. I was very young, but I remember...uh...your fight that day, and then you leaving. One moment I had a father and a mother, and the next, I was alone, because he never made any effort to fill your place in my life.”

“Believe me when I say that if it had been possible to take you with me, I would have. I’ll tell you everything that happened and what led to the end of my marriage to your father, but first answer this: how could Arif know I was ill? I mean, I know he personally ended my modeling career by spreading lies about me, including accusing me of stealing his family’s jewelry. It didn’t matter what I tried to do to make a dignified living; he would interfere and ruin my chances.”

As I listen, I’m sure I hate him.

Maybe, even with the arranged-marriage fiasco, I could someday forgive him for what he did to me, but never for what he did to her.

It wasn’t enough to separate us; he destroyed my mother’s life and left her to suffer, sick and alone.

“He has no power over you anymore.”

She nods, though she doesn’t look convinced. “Tell me how they found out I was sick.”

“He wanted me to marry a man old enough to be my grandfather, so Jazmina took me from Rheadur to Paris.”

“What? How could he?”

“I don’t think he’s ever liked me. He only kept me from you to hurt you, Mom. The point is, when I refused to return to our country, both because I would never marry someone by force and because I planned to come to the United States to find you, he blackmailed me. He said you were ill and he would only pay for your treatment if I went back to Rheadur.”

“Bastard!”

I leave out the part where he told me she was dying. Why wound her further?

Now I know he never intended to pay for her treatment or let me see her to say goodbye. My father knew that with treatment, her illness had a strong chance of being cured.

I believe that once I set foot in Rheadur, I would never have left again.

“And how did you get out of that and end up engaged to a prince?”

“Kaled will be appointed sheikh in a few days,” I explain, keeping it simple because I don’t know how much to say about Naim’s disappearance. “He proposed a union that will be good for both of us.”

“A marriage of convenience?”

“I hate that term. I prefer to say it’s a relationship we’ll try to make work, one that doesn’t necessarily involve love.”

“Is he a good man?”