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“I have lots of work before tonight Naseer.”

“I’ll leave, though I don’t like the fact Knox is here and you’re coming with him to the event tonight.”

“I’m sure you understand, I can’t tell him that he can’t come.”

“Fine, I don’t have to like it.” I stand and move closer to her. Before I could pull her to me “Prince Naseer, your PA called, he says Princess Nadra is waiting to see you,” Lucy happily shouts behind us.

“Fuck!” I mutter just as Jade moves out of my arm's reach. Nadra just ruined the moment again; I just managed to tame Jade’s anger and pull down some walls. Nadra just did an instant rebuild of every freaking Chinese wall.

“I think we’re both going to have a lovely night.” She smirks.

“Damn it,” I say as I head for the door and straight to my office. Nadra is busy tapping her nails on my PA desk, as soon as she sees me, she gets to her feet with a hand on her waist.

“You need to fire this idiot,” she says pointing to Mark. “He refused to let me wait in your office.” She sneers.

“Nadra not even my father is allowed to wait in my office. He did his job right and would have been fired had he allowed you to wait in my office.” She’s taken aback. “Why are you here, Nadra?”

“Tonight, is the gala and I was wondering what time we are arriving?”

“Nadra, we’re not a couple. I don’t think we should be arriving at events together.” I succinctly reminded her.

“I’ll say we should be there about 7 pm,” she says like I didn’t speak about us not being a couple. I didn’t respond yes or no to her time plan. She grabs her purse and leaves.

I headed into my office, shutting the door. I want to scream or punch something to let out my anger. Why can’t everything be easy?

twenty-seven

Jade

Knox and I arrive at the gathering, he looks dapper in his tux, and I’m glad to be the woman on his arm. I noticed a few ladies checking him out. He got his hand on my back and I leaned into him to hear what he had to say, he leaned to my ears whispering, “You look good babe.”

“Thank you,” I reply with a smile to him then off the corner of my eye. I see him and my heart starts to gallop. I gently pulled back from Knox.

I don’t want him to notice the reaction. But my eyes don’t fail to notice how alluring and sexy Naseer looks in the tux, which is a dynamite combination. The man has a way of dominating the room and he’s doing it right now without trouble. My skin starts to crawl the moment I notice Princess Nadra is right behind him, I should be happy, but I look away from him and turn a smile to Knox.

Orion and the team soon gather around us, we are talking and just having a good time. Kelan and I toasted to the fact we were ahead of the set goal. I notice Kelan is avoiding eye contact with me. I didn’t get a chance to speak with him after Naseer’s outburst.

“Our bonus is looking good,” I tease Shay and Connor, just as everyone laughs.

Naseer and Princess Nadra chose that moment to join our group. I noticed they have been going from group to group to say hello. I half expected them to stay put in Ken and Josh’s group. That group looks a lot like where they belong. I’d gone shopping for a dress with Knox, surprisingly he had brought a suit with him because he said I’d talked about the gala night, and he figured he’d come prepared. Yasemin had done my hair and make-up. The woman is a genius, she made me look beautiful. I’d kept my dress simple off-shoulder black lace that hugs my body and accessorized with jewelry.

“Good evening, everyone,” he says to us all. We all mumble “evening” in response.

“You must be Knox,” he says as he offers his hand to Knox, which Knox shakes with a smile.

“And you are?” Knox asks. This a genuine question but in this room, it almost sounds stupid because who doesn’t know these two. I can see the Princess rolling her eyes like how dare Knox not already know who she is.

“Prince Naseer and this is Princess Nadra,” I noticed, he didn’t call her his date.

“Nice to meet you, yes I’m Knox this beautiful lady’s fiancé” Knox replies smiling as his left arm pulls me to him and a kiss on my cheek makes me smile. I see the frown on Naseer’s face. He drops Knox’s hand like it just stung him.

“Good,” he says grudgingly ignoring the customary response of congratulations, as he adjusts the lapel of his bespoke tux. I notice the moment Knox sees it.

Naseer’s bent pinky finger with thick dark nail discoloration is a genetic trait that Micah inherited. Taimani informed me their grandfather, the current king, and Raheem all have bent pinkies with dark discoloration.

Knox has always been observant, he noticed immediately. He looked at Naseer again and I saw the moment it all came full circle to him.

“Enjoy the party, everyone, please excuse us,” Naseer says leaving abruptly as Princess Nadra follows him. Their awkward departure made us all quiet.