Rachel shook her head.
He clasped her shoulders and drew her to her toes. “Dammit, what does she mean?”
“What I mean,” Suki said, “is that my beloved sister worked her ass off, trying to land a guy with money. First at the casino. Then right under my nose.”
“Suki,” Rachel whispered, “don’t—”
“But she couldn’t. See, Rami loved me. And then he and I had a silly quarrel.” Suki pulled a tissue from the neckline of her tight pink top and dabbed her eyes. “He left me. And I was frantic. I loved him, you know? And he was the father of my baby—”
“What?”
“I asked her if she’d take care of Ethan while I went looking for Rami, but—”
“Is this true?” Karim’s voice was hoarse; his eyes blazed into Rachel’s. “Ethan is your sister’s child?”
Rachel was numb. “Karim,” she whispered. “Karim, please—”
“Of course he’s mine,” Suki said sharply. “And you stole him.”
Even in her despair, Rachel wondered why only she could see the glint of malice in her sister’s eyes.
“I didn’t steal him. You know that. You abandoned him—”
“You mean I trusted you to take care of him while I tried to find work.” Suki looked at Karim. “See, after your brother left me—well, I was broke. I couldn’t find a job in Vegas. Man, I was desperate. I asked Rachel to take care of Ethan for a while, just for a while, and I went to Los Angeles and finally got hired—”
“It wasn’t like that,” Rachel said desperately.
“I sent her money each week but she always wanted more. And then she saw her chance. Rami’s brother—you, Prince Karim—turned up, and you was rich—even richer than Rami—”
“No,” Rachel said in a thin voice. “Suki, don’t do this! I beg you—”
Karim’s hands tightened on Rachel’s shoulders.
“Tell me she’s lying,” he said in a low voice. “Tell me none of this is true, that the last weeks were not a lie—”
“Karim,” Rachel pleaded. “Ethan is hers. But nothing else was the way she makes it sound …”
Karim’s eyes filled with pain. He lifted his hands from her shoulders, turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
Suki smiled in triumph. She brushed past Rachel and reached for the baby.
“Precious boy,” she cooed, “come to your mommy.”
Ethan gave an unhappy cry and Rachel sank to the floor, weeping.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ROBERTA hurried to Rachel and threw her arms around her.