Page 101 of Hired Husband

The guard scrolled until he found Ryan’s name on the list and looked up again. “Welcome, Mr. Thayer.”

He nodded at the other guard and waved us through, and I eased my foot down on the gas again. My heart pounded like mad as I exhaled a deep breath of relief. “Thank God, we have an inside man.”

Ryan chuckled. “I told you Colin had this covered, bro. Speaking of, there he is.”

Colin met us at the temporary gate that had been constructed between the main entrance to the estate and the house. I rolled down the window and his eyes danced with amusement as he popped his head into the car. “You’re right on time. I was just wondering if I’d impressed the importance of timing enough or if I should call to remind you.”

I pursed my lips. “We’re here. What now?”

“Ryan goes inside and creates a distraction. You head down the driveway. There’s another temporary gate on the other side of the property. It’s… a little more private.”

My eyebrows rose, but he took a pointed look at the pair of security guards watching us from the main gate and I nodded. “Right. Privacy. We need that.”

“Yep.”

Ryan climbed out of the car and joined Colin, who led him past more security and then up toward the main house, hidden by palm trees and greenery. Meanwhile, I kept going down the long driveway, following the curves in the road through the immaculate gardens toward the other side of the property.

I’d never seen such heavy security at the estate before, but at least Colin had warned us. Apparently, Old Man Maher was a little paranoid after all the mistakes he’d made in Dubai, and while Basel thought it was entirely unnecessary, he’d agreed to additional security measures to ease his old friend’s mind. I was still wondering what he’d done to warrant asking his friend to increase security when I reached the final bend in the driveway and found Rami waiting at the gate.

I frowned, my stomach flipping over as I wondered what he was doing here. He had on a navy suit, his hair not nearly as carefully styled as it had been in all the pictures I’d seen of Colin and Deja’s engagement events.

Rolling to a stop when I reached him, I opened a window and hoped like hell he wasn’t here to try and stop me. “Rami, why are you out here, bro? Shouldn’t you be inside, intimidating David like you did when Colin had to ask?”

He snorted. “Get out. Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“To stop my sister from marrying that creepy, broke fuck,” he said, his eyes wide with exasperation. “That is why you’re here, right?”

“Yeah, but why are you helping me?”

“Because my brothers and I aren’t exactly thrilled with this arrangement either. How do you think Colin got Ryan’s name on the list? That thing was under lock and key, but Tarek got to it because he’s Jasmine’s twin, so he insisted on being granted access.”

“A little family-wide rebellion, huh?” I chuckled. “I like it, but you should leave now, Rami. I’m here. You don’t need to be part of it. Basel’s going to be⁠—”

He snorted. “Dad would give me a promotion if he found out I helped. Now come on.”

Reaching in through the window, he unlocked the driver’s door and yanked it open. “Quickly. Before anyone sees us.”

So surprised by this turn of events that I almost tripped over my own feet, I climbed out of the car and handed the keys to Rami when he held out his hand. He pocketed them, quietly shutting the door before leading me to Tarek, who’d been waiting around the corner of the house.

Weirdly, Tarek grinned and held up a suit in a transparent garment bag. “We know you have questions, but change while you ask them.”

“Here?” I asked. “In the garden?”

He shrugged, winking at me as he handed over the bag. “We won’t look if you’re shy. Just do it.”

“I’m not shy,” I muttered, then looked up at Rami as I kicked off my shoes. “What did you mean when you said your father would give you a promotion for this?”

“He’s pretty upset himself,” Rami replied, only half turning his back as I changed. “I have sisters. I’ve seen guys change behind bushes before. You’ll survive, but we couldn’t let you walk in there looking like a tourist. You’ll be tossed out on your ass long before you reach the party.”

“Dad isn’t just pretty upset,” Tarek said, scoffing as he shook his head at his brother. “He’s furious about being backed into a corner. Hurry up, Isaac. We’re running out of time.”

“Everyone keeps saying that,” I muttered but picked up the pace. “What exactly is happening in there?”

“David is going to formally ask Dad’s permission to marry Jasmine,” Rami explained hurriedly. “You need to be there before it’s granted. We can get you to the party, but you have a plan to stop this from going any further, right?”

“Uh, right,” I said, but the truth was that I didn’t really.