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“Da.”
To her credit, she didn’t try to bargain with me.
In fact, she barely blinked and didn’t speak another word as I got her to my car and situated inside.
I’d started the morning with one single phone call:
“Let’s try this again. I want the oil contract signed. Deliver it to the hotel, and I will have Roya back with you before the ink is dry.” I’d relayed my terms to the Sheikh.
It was difficult—close to impossible—to break into the oil business these days. Claims had been snatched up by the wealthiest entities years if not decades ago.
I wanted a large piece of the Sheikh’s action for the richest well in Abu Dhabi.
Then I’d be able to create my own distribution market, giving me a larger commodity to gain more power.
“It is done.” Roya’s father had assured me. “Within the hour. I want her home today.”
I hadn’t even gloated over my victory, gnawing around another idea instead. “I want your assurance that your brother Abdullah will have no contact with Roya or anyone in your household.”
“You don’t have the right to dictate—”
“On this, I do.”
“Do not worry. He has been cast out.” The pompous prick finally capitulated. “As for Roya, she will have no more opportunities to escape.”
That should’ve pleased me, but the thought of her living out her days with none of the fine clothes she preferred, none of the small freedoms she’d carved out for herself . . . I couldn’t imagine her leading such a lackluster, lonely existence.
Even worse, the notion that she’d be married off to some selfish fat old fuck had me grinding my teeth to nubs.
Perhaps I’d made a mistake.
Nyet. I’d gotten what I wanted.
I hardened myself against softer emotions.
It was a done deal, I reminded myself as I drove the roads leading to the palace.
Anger baked off Roya like scorching sunrays on desert sands, her hot fury palpable.
I was pissed off too, whether at her or myself or her father or uncle . . . it was a toss-up, really.
Her bitter words abruptly cut through the atmosphere. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”
“Great. Because you are banned from The Lykos.”
“I hate you.”
Her barbed words hit hard, and still I didn’t let it show.
When we reached the palace gates, we were ushered swiftly through. I drove up to the circular entryway, arched over by filigreed stone that glowed in the bright sunshine, casting decorative shadows across the side of Roya’s face.
A face I would not ever forget.
Keeping her face aimed out the side window, she thrust her wrists at me. “Will you unlock these now.”
The cuffs.
“Nyet.” I inhaled sharply, glaring at the female.
We sat enclosed in the car, alone only for a few more precious—mostly painful—moments.
“If you ever manage to get out again to get your dancing fix, call this number”—I rattled off the digits to my secure, dedicated answering service—“and I’ll have Konstantin or Yas escort you—”
“Oh, don’t you dare!” Finally, Roya whipped her head around, and her stare was filled with black, vile hate. “You won’t get to play savior with me again, not by proxy or any other means.” She slammed her wrists together, the bangles clashing. “It’s bad enough I will have to wear these until I can have them cut off!”
Her words stabbed like knives into my chest.
I grasped the back of her neck in a tight grip. “You are not to let anyone take those off you. Do you hear me?”
Lashing her head, she wriggled out of my grasp.
She faced straight ahead again, her chin high. “You are going to hate yourself, Aris. You’re going to miss me. But you know what? I won’t remember a thing, because that’s how little you mean to me. And I do not need your pathetic handouts.”
Someone fetched her bags from the back of the car and marched off with them.
Her door was opened. She was handed out, and her posture stiffened immediately.
She did not look back at me.
Someone hastily arranged a headscarf over her hair then she was swarmed by women who were then swallowed by a circle of guards.
One of them was the man from the Autodrome. The one who seemed to know his shit.
So that was one thing.
That was the last time I saw Roya, and I wondered how far my heart would plummet and what dark place my emotions would take me to now.
I’d left her with a safety net of sorts, however. She just didn’t know it yet.
