To Tame a Sheikh (Pride of Zohayd 1)
Johara’s heart almost uprooted itself as she watched Shaheen close his eyes for a long moment, confusion and worst-case scenarios crashing through her mind.
Then he let out a ragged exhalation. “Fine. Call Amjad back.”
In moments, Kamal walked back with Amjad. Before Amjad could voice the speculation evident on his face, Shaheen began to talk.
Johara could only stare at him as he revealed shock after shock. The jewels. The Pride of Zohayd. Stolen. Replaced by fakes. She filled in the blanks he left out with all present intimately aware of them. The projected consequences.
After he finished talking, the only thing that could do the ominous revelations justice descended on their quintet. Decimating silence. Even Amjad was lost for words.
It was she, who’d been practically mute since Shaheen had walked in, who finally found her voice, a chafing whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Shaheen cupped her cheek, concern seizing his face. “I didn’t want to burden you with this before I discovered the culprits.”
“Give me a break!” Amjad erupted. “I can forgive you being blind when it’s your own life at stake, even if your actions could cause an internal crisis. But civil war pales in comparison to what this could mean to the whole region. Can you even imagine the instability a coup and a new ruling house in Zohayd would cause? Can you even project what could be far worse, a new ‘democratic’ dictatorship sprouting in the middle of the kingdoms? Are you totally out of your mind? What culprits are you trying to discover? One is standing right before you, the only one who had the opportunity and the means to carry this out. What more do you need? A Dear John videotaped gloating confession from her after she’s destroyed us all?”
“I swear I will knock you down, Amjad,” Shaheen growled.
“Have at it, Shaheen.” Amjad threw his hands in the air, calculation gone, agitation taking hold. “I thought Johara’s return was the plot of a woman out to get all she can out of the royal family she grew up among. But this is far worse. It’s clear how it all happened. Berj summoned her to help him stage his plan and faked his heart attack as motive to call her back. He must have sent her after you to guarantee that no one would think to question her return, not with her double-pronged alibi of being the distraught daughter and hopeless lover. It would have worked spectacularly if Aliyah hadn’t discovered the theft.”
Shaheen slammed both palms flat into Amjad’s shoulders, shouted at him, “You see betrayal everywhere, Amjad. You’re so poisoned by it you can’t hear how your suspicions cancel each other out. One moment you think Berj and Johara are so stupid they’d do something like this when they’d be the first the fingers point to, the next you accuse them of being consummate manipulators. You’re the one who’s so blind you don’t see how flimsy the circumstantial evidence against them is, and the frame up it all reeks of.”
“That makes the most sense,” Aliyah agreed. “Someone thought Berj and Johara would be the perfect fall guys if the plot was discovered.”
“If Aliyah’s—and Shaheen’s—instincts say you and your father are innocent—” Kamal looked at Johara, a pledge glittering in his golden eyes “—then that’s my proof that you are. You have my word I’ll do everything in my power to defend you, to discover those who sought to frame you, and to punish them for it.”
Amjad put both hands up. “Since the voice of sanity is having no effect in breaking up this mutual admiration society, I’ll do more than any of you is willing to even consider. I’ll concede that I may have gotten it wrong. But in case I didn’t, consider the consequences you might be inviting, chasing fictional culprits while letting the real ones get away. With the jewels, the throne and the region’s stability.”
“Your concern is noted, Amjad,” Shaheen muttered. “And dismissed. Now give me your word you will not go after either Johara or Berj in any way.”
Amjad held his brother’s eyes for one last moment, before he shrugged. “I can only promise you this—once Harres is brought up to speed, if he believes the same as you, since you’re the one who has more to lose than any of us, I’ll let you steer this.”
Shaheen gave him a curt nod. “Good enough for me.”
Aliyah spoke then, in what felt like a summation. “Now that we’re not fighting amongst ourselves, I don’t think we can be careful enough handling this. Even though the thieves know we wouldn’t be able to conduct an open investigation if we did discover the fakes, giving them the false security of believing we haven’t will help us uncover them and retrieve the jewels before the Exhibition Ceremony.”
After that, the men and Aliyah determined the measures each of them would undertake in the investigation, with Kamal, as the most neutral party, chosen to be the one to inform Harres.
Johara stood by Shaheen, numb, as they departed.
After the last echo of Aliyah’s and Kamal’s helicopter and Amjad’s roaring sports car faded in the distance, Johara remained staring blindly into nothingness.
She’d thought she’d already imagined the worst that could happen, thought she’d done everything she could to protect Shaheen from any consequences. She knew nothing…
She jumped as Shaheen’s hands came down on her shoulders. “Come inside from the chill, ya galbi. You need to sit down and I need to help you digest it all.”
As she nodded, she heard another rumble in the distance. In seconds, she saw what it was. A procession of imposing stretch limos gleaming black in the declining sun, each flaunting Zohayd’s gold and emerald flag on its hood.
Shaheen stiffened. “This is all I need to top off this day. Father.” He turned to her. “Please, wait in our room. I’ll sort this out, whatever it is, as soon as I can.”
She could only nod and turn like an automaton to do his bidding.
In minutes, she was sitting on the edge of his bed—theirs for now—every nerve in her body jerking at each sound as she documented the cavalcade’s movements, the voices she distinguished to be Shaheen’s and his father’s rising, then the sound of urgent footsteps up the stairs, coming nearer and nearer.
The door to Shaheen’s bedroom burst open.
Shaheen stood behind his father looking like he might shove the king out of the way. Then King Atef, in full royal garb, advanced into the expansive room, dismissing his son’s protests.