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“This must be hard on you. I realise the three of you had become friends.”
Amber stared at the Prince. She did not expect him to be comforting her when he was probably suffering more than she was. She did not deserve his kindness. It should have been she who was taken and not Saja.
“I am sure what I feel is nothing compared to what you must be feeling,” Amber replied. Basil sighed and looked away. He did not like confronting his feelings. It was one exercise he could do without. The two of them sat there in silence for a moment.
“Does Mona sleep here?” Basil asked referring to the bed he was sitting on. Amber nodded. He felt a little ashamed that he did not know much about them. When he first met Saja and was giving her a hard time, it was they who were there for her.
“Take care of yourself and if you need anything, do not hesitate to ask,” Basil said to her and stood up. He headed to his office where he was to meet Badir. He wanted to talk with him to find out if there was any new information regarding Saja.
Basil's secretary bowed to him when he arrived at his office. She informed him that Badir was already inside waiting for him. He nodded and made his way into his office.
“Anything?” he asked Badir as soon as he was inside.
“I am afraid not. We have checked El-Tamar's house but it was obvious that they would not go there since it would be the first place we would look. However we had to check anyway,” Badir replied. The Prince nodded and remained silent for a moment.
“I cannot lose her,” Basil said to Badir.
“I know and you won't.” Badir had vowed to himself that he would find Saja at all costs. There was no way he would let anything perilous happen to her on his watch. This was the only woman his best friend had ever cared for and he was not going to disappoint him. He had to get her back.
“We have only been married less than a month.”
Basil's secretary ran into the office. The two men looked at her. She stood there wide-eyed and in panic mode. “Sheik El-Tamar's wife is on line 1,” she said to him. Basil quickly walked to his desk and put the phone on speaker so that Badir could listen in too. Badir dismissed the secretary.
“Hello, Prince Al-Qadir,” Abia said calmly.
“What have you done with my wife?” Basil asked her.
“Well, I am fine, thank you for asking.”
“Do not play with me woman. Do -” Badir touched the Prince’s arm. He decided it was better for him to speak to Abia. Basil was too angry and emotional to speak to her calmly.
“Abia, you are speaking with Badir now. Please tell us what it is exactly that you want,” Badir stated calmly.
“For starters, my husband needs to regain his title,” Abia said.
“Not going to happen!” Basil shouted.
“What else, Abia?”
“The Prince has taken all of our assets. Return our family home to us and some money,” Abia said.
“You do realise that since you have kidnapped the princess, even if you get everything that you are asking for, you will not be able to live in peace. You have placed your entire family in jeopardy over a foolish act. Release her now and perhaps the Prince will show some leniency.”
“That will be all for now.” Abia cut off the line. It was too late to turn back now.
“We are tracing the call, but she probably covered her tracks. She wouldn't be that stupid.”
Basil flung a vase off the table. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces. Abia had made the situation ten times worse. He thought that he would feel a bit more at ease if he spoke to one of them but he was feeling much worse. Abia had been so calm as if it was okay what she was doing. That enraged him even more.
“Try to calm down, your highness,” Badir said.
“Calm down? How am I supposed to be calm right now?” Basil barked.
“Because at least we know that she is alive. Abia would not be calling if she weren’t. They would have fled the country.” Badir knew his words were not of much comfort to the Prince but his aim was to calm him.
Chapter 7
Badir was not surprised when they could not trace the origin of Abia's call. She was smart enough to keep the call short and unless they could keep her on the line long enough, they would have difficulty triangulating her location. It would be even worse if they were on the move. Running his hands through his hair, Badir fought off his negative thoughts. While Quabeca was slowly growing and becoming more modern, there were still large areas that were sparsely populated and didn’t even have electricity. Time was not on their side and Badir would be damned if he allowed anything bad to happen to Saja. He knew that El-Tamar’s family was desperate and his only hope was that they would make a mistake in his favour.
