“Sure you do.’ Calista winked. “Never could keep your hands off my Roxy Isabella, could you?”
“Mom!” Isabella felt like her cheeks were hot enough to catch fire. Bad enough she’d agreed to this charade in the first place. Now to have her mother toy with her and Feraz like they were some kind of wonky cat toy and she was a panther ready to strike made her physically ill. Bile rose hot in Isabella’s throat before she swallowed it down. “Please, I wanted to say goodbye before we left. Don’t make this harder than it already is.”
“Hard, eh?” She looked her daughter up and down. “I’ll tell you what’s hard. Raising two kids on my own without any support at all from that dead-beat dad of yours, God rest his slimy soul.”
Feraz looked about ready to say something when his phone rang. Scowling he pulled it out and stared down at the screen. “I’m sorry, it’s my brother Rehaj. I must take this.” He leaned over and kissed Isabella on the temple. “Okay, rohi?”
She nodded, her chest squeezing with the sweetness of his attention, even though she had no right to it. Not really. She watched as Feraz left the apartment for privacy. Good thing too, since her mother wouldn’t hesitate to eavesdrop to pick up any juicy tidbits.
“How’s the little critter cooking?” Calista asked, leaning toward Isabella. “You had another doctor’s appointment today, right? Did he show up? Is that why he’s so interested now?”
“Yes. I-I don’t know about this anymore, Mom.” Isabella shook her head. “Maybe we should end this now before anyone else gets hurt.”
“Gets hurt?” Any warmth in her mother’s eyes froze over beneath a layer of cold intent. “Your sister is dead. So’s your father. I’ve got cancer. Who do you think is going to help you take care of that baby you’ve got inside you if it’s not him? No one, that’s who. Don’t you dare think of backing out of this now. You made a promise to me. You made a promise to your sister.”
“But it’s lies, all lies.” Isabella bit back a sob. She wasn’t a crier, really she wasn’t, but between the baby hormones and the stress of all this deception, it brought out her emotional side. “I know I said I’d go through with it and at the time I thought I could, but now it doesn’t feel right.”
“Feelings?” Her mother all but spat the word. She pushed to her feet to pace the small room, keeping one eye on the door to make sure they weren’t overheard. “This has nothing to do with your feelings, Issy. Have you forgotten just how
broke you were before Roxanne made you that offer? You would have been homeless by the end of the week if it wasn’t for Roxanne. Living on the streets is no picnic, sweetheart, let me tell you. I’ve been there, done that, and ain’t never going back again.”
Isabella exhaled slowly. “But I’m not like you or Roxanne. Money isn’t everything to me.”
“Money?” Her mother gave a short laugh, brittle and mirthless. “You think all this is about money? It’s not. It’s about security, protection, the future. The safety net’s gone now, Issy. Your dad was never there, but Roxanne and I were.” Isabella opened her mouth to protest, but her mother held up a hand cutting her off. “Don’t. Stop right there. I can’t listen to any more of self-righteous, sanctimonious dreaminess right now. I know what you think of me. That I’m nothing but a liar and a cheat. Hell, you might be right about that. But I took care of you and your sister, didn’t I? Always made sure you had food and clothes and a safe place to sleep at night. I will not stand here now and let you belittle that. Especially when you’re pulling off the biggest con job ever, darling.”
“This wasn’t my idea. It was never my idea.” Isabella’s tone rose along with her anger. “I’m going to tell him, now, before this goes any farther. It’s the right thing to do. I’ve been saving money and have a little nest egg saved up. It’s not a huge amount but if I move out of the city I can get a small house, raise this baby on my own.”
“Like hell you can. I don’t care how much money you’ve got saved up, it won’t be enough. You tell your hubby out there and he’ll fight you tooth and nail to get his kid. He’s got the finest lawyers money can buy. He’ll take that baby away from you faster than you can say dashiki. And you’ll never, ever see it again. Is that what you want?”
She’d tried hard to keep her heart separated from the child growing inside her because until Roxanne’s death, she’d always known it would ultimately belong to someone else. But now. Isabella placed her hand over her stomach, feeling the baby’s tiny kicks. Having her child torn away from her would kill her. She loved the baby, no matter how hard she’d tried not to.
Her mother was at her side in an instant, color rising in her perfectly powdered cheeks. “That bothers you, doesn’t it? Yes, I can see it does. You listen to me, Isabella Roxanne Germain, you are going to go through with this, or I swear I will call his attorneys myself and tell them about this little scheme, you understand me? Is that what you want?” Her mother’s green eyes looked glassy and she swayed a bit on her feet, collapsing down onto the seat vacated earlier by Feraz. “I don’t want to do that to you, Issy. Please don’t make me do that.”
Alarmed by her mother’s sudden pallor, Isabella wanted to ask more, but Feraz opened the door and walked back in, his broad-shouldered presence seeming to suck all the oxygen from the room. His gaze darted from Isabella to her mother then back again. “I’m sorry, Roxanne, but we will need to leave as soon as possible. There are important meetings on my agenda for tomorrow and my brother and I need time to coordinate our strategy before then.”
Breath held, Isabella’s eyes met her mother’s. Calista had somehow regained her composure, her complexion back to its regular creamy perfection and her eyes glittering with triumph. Had all that previous drama been just an act? Hard to tell with her mother, but it didn’t matter now anyway. If Isabella had any doubts about going ahead with this charade they were gone now in the face of sickening awareness that she could lose her child if Feraz found out the truth. She couldn’t allow that to happen, wouldn’t allow it.
Isabella bit her lip and took her mother’s hand, squeezing it in a show of solidarity. “I’ll call you as soon as we land to let you know we arrived safely, okay?”
Her mother raised her chin and smiled, genuinely this time, and pulled her daughter into a hug. “Good girl,” she murmured. “You were always my smart one, Isabella. So smart and kind and funny. I’ll miss you.”
Stunned, Isabella hugged her mother back, doing her best to keep her face placid since Feraz was watching. “Okay, Mom. Stay safe and get better. See you soon.”
Calista held her tighter for a moment before pulling away. “Safe travels, you two.”
4
By the time his private jet taxied down the runway and finally took off, Feraz felt nothing but bone-deep weariness. He’d known that seeing his mother-in-law again would stir up old resentments for him, but he’d not realized just how difficult it had been. It wasn’t just the fact that Calista Germain had all but orchestrated his disastrous marriage, but that she’d also manipulated everyone around her to do her bidding.
From the minute he’d walked into that assisted care facility in Brooklyn with Roxanne, his skin had prickled with the awareness that she’d been watching him. Hard to believe that someone as ruthless and conniving as Calista had fallen ill. He’d have imagined she’d swindle the Grim Reaper himself to stay alive. She’d still looked as well-preserved and well-dressed as he remembered, her hair and makeup done to perfection despite the fact she was dealing with a potentially terminal illness. Truthfully, if Roxanne hadn’t told him her mother had Stage I lung cancer, he never would’ve guessed.
Calista had looked ready to scam the world tonight, as usual.
His hackles rose just thinking about it. Feraz’s own family were nothing if not honest. Even his father, for all his faults, had never denied his rule over Djeva had been less-than-effective. But not Calista Germain. He didn’t doubt she’d spit in Allah’s face if she thought it would get her what she wanted.
Their plane ascended then banked to head out over the Atlantic Ocean. Feraz leaned back in his leather seat and hazarded a glance at his wife, who sat across the aisle from him on a matching leather dais, lots of plump pillows around her for support. She’d toed off her tennis shoes and had her feet propped up on a small ottoman, a glass of juice balanced atop her rounded baby bump while she flipped through a magazine she’d picked up at her apartment when they’d stopped there for her to pack.
Again, Feraz was struck by how different she seemed now from the last time he’d seen her. Roxanne, despite her polish and poise, had always had a slight brittleness about her, as if she’d shatter beneath the slightest pressure. At first, that fragileness had called to Feraz’s inner alpha, making him want to protect her. Soon thought, that feeling of always having to walk on eggshells around her had grown tiresome. He wanted a wife he could depend on, lean on in times of trouble and strife, a partner and a friend, not just a fantastic lover.