She’d become more than vital to him. She’d become…home.
What if he could never be anything like that to her?
What if he caught up with her in Zohayd and she only thought he was out of his mind hurtling after her like that?
Maybe he was out of his mind. Maybe everything he’d just churned himself over had no basis in fact. Maybe…
His cell phone rang. He fumbled with it, his fingers going numb with brutal anticipation. Kanza. She’d tell him why she hadn’t said goodbye. And he’d tell her he’d be with her in a couple of hours and she could say it to his face.
The next moment disappointment crashed through him. Johara.
He couldn’t hold back his growl. “What is it, Johara?”
A silent beat. “Uh…don’t kill the messenger, okay?”
“What the hell does that mean? Jo, I’m really not in any condition to have a nice, civil conversation right now. For both our sakes, just leave me alone.”
“I’m sorry, Aram, but I really think you need to know, so you’d be prepared.”
“Know what? Be prepared for what?” A thousand dreads swooped down on him, each one shrieking Kanza, Kanza, Kanza… “Just spit it out!”
“I just got off the phone with Kanza’s father. He said he needed me to know as Kanza’s best friend that Prince Kareem Aal Kahlawi has asked for her hand in marriage.”
*
Kanza thought it was inevitable.
She would end up killing someone.
For now, storming through her father’s house, slamming her old bedroom door behind her was all the venting she could do.
She leaned against it, letting out a furious shriek.
&nb
sp; Of all the self-involved, self-serving, unfeeling… Argh!
To think that was why her father had dragged her back here!
Couldn’t she kill him? And her sisters? Just a little bit…?
Her whole body lurched forward, every nerve firing at once.
She stopped. Moving. Breathing. Even her heart slowed down. Each boom so hard her ears rang.
That must be it. Why she thought she’d heard…
“Kanza.”
Aram.
God. She was starting to hear things. Hear him. When he was seven thousand miles away. This was beyond pathetic….
“Kanza. I know you’re there.”
Okay. She wasn’t that pathetic.
“I saw you tearing out of the living room, saw you going up. I know this is your room. I know you’re in there now. Come to the window. Now, Kanza.”