The Sheikh’s Instant Family (The Safar Sheikhs 2)

Frustration swarmed him. He was over this. He didn’t need to be interrogated by people who didn’t even understand what he did.

“You think you can reach a reward without risk?” He slammed his fist against the table, and the noise made Vanessa jump a little. “Come on. I’ve been doing this for ten years. I know what I’m doing.”

“Nobody said you didn’t—” Vanessa began.

“Do your brothers know about this?” Calla asked.

“They know I’m handling it,” Amad said. “I’m done with this conversation. Vanessa, I need you to call Marie Frechard. Now. Get me on her stupid list, or else all of this is going to fall through. And that will be on your shoulders.”

Amad turned on his heels and stormed away. If they wanted to play in the territory of men, he’d treat them like men. His heart thumped wildly in his chest as he stalked through the halls, fists balling and un-balling as anger thrummed through him.

This whole situation was absurd. It needed to end immediately.

Amad returned to the bedroom and took to pacing. He was too upset to work, too upset to speak with anybody. He needed to cool off in a big way, but all his tried and true methods—fighting, fucking, and traveling—weren’t available to him at the moment.

The bedroom door burst open a moment later. Vanessa came in, eyes wild.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded.

“I should really ask you the same thing.”

“I thought we were in this together,” Vanessa said, her voice cracking. Amad set his jaw. If she was going to bring emotion into this to sway him, then she was sorely mistaken. Tears wouldn’t make him crumble. Not this time.

“We were,” Amad said, raking a hand through his hair, “until someone spent the past two weeks maintaining a secret relationship with the tribe’s ideal customer.”

Vanessa scoffed, crossing her arms and cocking a hip. “There was no secret relationship. I told you, I wanted to keep it quiet until I knew it was something. And I told you the minute it became something.”

“So would you tell me once you fucked another man, or tell me once you started thinking about it?” he demanded gruffly. “It’s the same thing, Vanessa. I don’t want to know once the damage is done. I need to know before.”

Her throat bobbed. “You act like I’m not allowed to be in the business sphere at all.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

Her arms fell to her sides. “Then what am I supposed to do around here? Just lie around and wait for you to come into the bedroom and fuck me?”

He clenched his jaw, turning his back on her as he paced the far side of the bedroom. “I’m giving you rest and relaxation. A good life. A life of luxury. Or don’t you want that?”

“I want to be useful. I want to participate. I can’t believe that you think only one of us has the right to contribute to your tribe.”

“It’s not a right—” he began, swinging around to point a finger at her.

“I’m not the type of woman who’s just going to sit back and do nothing,” she said, propping her hands on her hips. Her eyes blazed with conviction, and when she took a few steps forward, it made his throat tighten. “Or haven’t you noticed that yet, Amad?”

He massaged his forehead, jerking his gaze away from her. “I notice plenty about you. And what I notice most is that you don’t want to be the wife I need you to be.”

Her eyes hardened into fiery gemstones, and for a moment he was actually afraid. But this was it—the crux of the matter. Time to lay it all out on the table.

“Screw the wife you need me to be,” she spat, sarcasm dripping from her words. “I refuse to be in a marriage where you want me to be some useless, docile sex doll.”

He crumpled at her words. It wasn’t like that. “Vanessa—” he began.

“Fuck you, Amad.” She turned on her heel and headed for the door. “If that’s what this is to you, then we’re done.”

Vanessa slammed the door behind her, leaving him in a thick, sour silence. He stared at the closed door for so long he lost track of time.

She didn’t understand where he was coming from. And based on what today’s discovery unearthed, she might never.

Everything was up in the air. A vortex of indecision and doubt.