The Sheikh's Diamond (Sheikh's Wedding Bet Series Book 1) (10 page)

“No. No. Fleur, that is not true.” Masoud reached for her, but she stumbled away.

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed. “Just…don’t. Bruce, we’re leaving.”

“You can’t go,” Masoud said quietly. She saw the desperation in his eyes, but it meant nothing to her. He had used her. “You have to stay until Anton can be incarcerated.”

“We’ll get a hotel.”

“Fleur, we don’t have any money,” Bruce said quietly. “Anton took everything from me.”

Would nothing go her way? She turned and began to jog out of the warehouse. She didn’t care where she went. She couldn’t be there anymore. She just couldn’t.

She may have had her life, but she’d lost her heart. Masoud only cared for the diamond and it broke her.

Masoud stared at the diamond that sparkled in the middle of the pendent. Fleur was with her stepbrother in one of the guest rooms, and he’d just finished filling his family in on the details. Anton was apparently wanted by Interpol, so it wasn’t long before his own police force lost custody of him.

He didn’t really care who incarcerated Anton as long as he didn’t get anywhere near Fleur again.

Thinking of Fleur made him realize that she was probably never going to speak to him again once she realized what he was about to do. She’d thought that, after a ceremony showcasing the diamond, it would be turned over to a museum. His family was never going to let that diamond out of their sight again.

The door to the library opened, and Masoud looked up abruptly. His father cleared his throat as he stepped in. “Smaller than what you imagined?” he asked as the diamond caught the light.

“It’s not the size of the diamond but the size of the legend, I suppose. If Yasin and the legend are right, then we should have no doubt that it’s our right to rule this country. We’ve found it twice now,” Masoud said as he lowered his arm.

“And yet you’re not happy,” Quadie said knowingly.

“Fleur almost died multiple times in the process of finding this diamond. No legend and no birthright are worth her death,” he said bitterly.

“But she is alive and well. And she’s pleased to have the diamond again,” Quadie pointed out. He reached over to take the diamond from him.

“I’ve lied to Fleur, and the thing is that she’s right. We may have found the diamond, but we have no right to keep it from the rest of the world,” he snapped. Angrily, he got up and started to pace. “What kind of rulers are we if we bury history?”

“Funny,” Quadie said quietly. “You weren’t upset about keeping the diamond to ourselves when you started this mission.”

His father was right. Fleur had clouded his judgment, and now he had to make a choice. If he sided with his family, he would lose her forever. But if he gave her the diamond, his family would lose power in the eyes of the country. “I guess everything is so easy for you. A political match and then you conveniently fell in love with Mother.”

“Is that what this is about? Are you in love with Fleur?”

Masoud stiffened. “My relationship with Fleur is not the issue here.”

“Masoud, there was a reason that I sent you after the diamond and not your brothers. You are the least happy of my boys. Your oldest brother is fueled with responsibility as the next ruler of this country, and your youngest brother is an adrenaline junkie. But you walk through this life in a fog. I thought, perhaps, if you had something to focus on, it would make you happy,” Quadie said as he studied his son.

He stared at his father. “Did you know that I was going to have to make this choice?”

“We all have choices to make, Masoud. Life isn’t easy.”

“I’m going for a walk,” he snapped. Leaving the diamond with his father, he stormed out of the palace and began to walk the grounds.

Maybe it was because he felt a connection with Solomon and the hard decisions that he had to make, but he was drawn to the dig site. He hadn’t been back since that night he met Fleur.

“What do I do?” he muttered as he shined his flashlight around the site. A few pieces had already been excavated, and their absence left holes where they once sat for so long. These artifacts had spent so much time covered in dirt that they had actually become part of the earth.

Part of him felt like those artifacts. He’d spent so much time thinking that love wasn’t real, and now that he could feel it, it left a hole. He was leaving a hole. No matter what decision he made, someone was going to be unhappy. And he had to decide whose happiness was more important to him.

“I’ve barely known her three weeks,” he whispered to himself. It was true. He and Fleur’s whirlwind romance hadn’t even lasted a month, but he couldn’t see a future without her. On the other hand, his father had raised him. He’d given him everything. How could he tell his father that the diamond didn’t belong to him?

Masoud sat in the dirt and stared at the stones. All over the walls were cracks and carvings, and the more he stared, the more the thought he could see shapes. “God,” he muttered as he rubbed his eyes. He was going insane.

When he opened his eyes again, they focused sharply on a small crevice in the middle of the wall. The more he stared at it, the more something came to shape. Pulling himself up, he ran his light over the carvings and cocked his head. It had been a long time since he’d read the Bible, but he was fairly certain that he was looking at a message. The more he stared at it, the clearer it became.

His heart thudded in his chest, and he inhaled sharply.

This could change everything.

Leaping to his feet, he ran as hard and as fast as he could to the palace. His mind was reeling with possibilities, and when he entered, he started shouting. “Everyone in the library. Fleur. Bruce. Jaymin. Adil. Father!”

He opened the double doors with a bang and waited as everyone began to trudge in. Jaymin looked as if Masoud had dragged him from something important, and Adil looked like he’d already started drinking. Quadie came in with an amused smile on his face. “Something you need to say?”

“Where are Fleur and Bruce?”

“What is going on?” Fleur snapped as she popped in. Bruce followed slowly behind her. He’d hidden in his room since she had dragged him back, and Masoud could see the dejection on his face. He’d not only failed to achieve his dreams, but he knew that Fleur was pissed at him. The man had truly hit rock bottom.

Masoud could relate to that.

“Bruce, I don’t particularly like you, but I am extremely fond of your stepsister, and I feel like I need to keep you out of trouble. As it happens, we now have a pile of antiquities that need to be cleaned, examined, and catalogued. It will take a team of people, but I have no idea where to begin. You, on the other hand, are an expert in understanding the worth of these items. Work for us. We’ll pay you a handsome fee, and you can reside in the palace while your work continues.”

“Really?” Jaymin demanded with a frown. “You want to give the man who tried to steal the diamond a job?”

“Why not? Why not put his expertise to use?” Masoud said with a shrug. He waited for an answer from Bruce, but he knew that Fleur was staring at him with narrowed eyes.

“Okay,” Bruce said slowly. “I’ll need a contract and some parameters.”

“Excellent,” Masoud said as he clapped his hands. “Jaymin loves paperwork. He’ll get that all set up for you.”

“What are you doing?” Fleur asked as she shook her head. “Do you think this fixes things? Giving Bruce a job doesn’t make up for the fact that you lied to me. It doesn’t excuse any of you for what you’re doing! Keeping that diamond away from scholars is just as bad as what Anton did. You can’t hide this from the world.”

“It’s our diamond. We can do whatever we want,” Adil said with a shrug. “Why are you still here?”

“I’m not leaving until I have everything I need to look for Solomon’s Mines. You owe me that much,” she snapped.

Adil opened his mouth to argue, but Quadie stepped forward and held up his hands. “Stop,” he muttered softly. “I believe Masoud isn’t finished.”

Masoud looked sharply at Quadie. Did his father know what he was going to say next?”

“I’m not finished. Father is Sheikh, and as such, the diamond does belong to him. But I would like to propose a compromise. There are plenty of wealthy collectors who own antiquities, and while no one questions their ownership, they do occasionally share their collections with the world. I’m not suggesting a full-time showing, but I see no reason why we can’t occasionally loan the diamond out to complement certain collections that tour the museums.”

“Absolutely not,” Jaymin interrupted.

Quadie put his hand up and nodded to Masoud to continue.

“We can boast that we have the diamond all we want, but people will occasionally want proof. What do you plan on doing? Pulling the diamond out to show people when they knock on our door? That’s absurd. Showcasing the diamond on special occasions proves that we unequivocally own the diamond.”

He watched Fleur carefully for a reaction, but she was looking at Quadie. The Sheikh turned his head from Masoud to Fleur and smiled. “I will entertain requests,” he said finally.

“Thank you,” Fleur breathed. “You won’t regret it. I swear. I’ll be happy to analyze it and back your claim of its heritage, but if you’d like someone more seasoned, I’ll get in touch with my professors.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, my dear,” Quadie said with a smile. “Jaymin, please take Mr. Summers to the office and get some paperwork drawn up. Adil, I’m sure you have some plans for tonight.”

And just like that, his father herded his brothers and Bruce out of the library. Fleur left to follow them, and Masoud reached out and grabbed her arm. It broke his heart when she stiffened under his touch. “If you think that this changes the fact that you lied to me…” she said softly.

“Fleur, I know it doesn’t. I can’t change that. I can only try to show you that I’m a different man now.”

“Different man?” she scoffed. “That was just a few weeks ago.”

He hesitated. He should wait until the morning, but he wanted to show her tonight. He couldn’t wait. “Can you please follow me? I’d like to get your opinion on something at the dig site.”

Even though she was angry with him, he knew that her curiosity would get the better of her. Wearily, she nodded her head.

“I’m not saying that you’re wrong about the tribe,” he said conversationally as he led her outside. “But if they are guarding something, and now they’re gone, it only stands to reason that whatever they were guarding is gone as well.”

“The thought has occurred to me,” she muttered as she followed him. He could tell she’d already decided that her earlier suspicion about Solomon’s Mines’ location was incorrect. “There are several other legends surrounding Solomon, including the existence of exotic plants and animals that weren’t found anywhere else. Plus, there were rumors of a genie trapped in a bottle and sealed by the ring. None of them are provable, but if the ring is indeed real, then perhaps the tribe was protecting something sealed by the ring and hidden away.”

When they entered the cave, he turned and grabbed her hand to help her down. She pulled away and jumped down on her own, and dread filled him. He had betrayed her, and it was possible that nothing would win her heart back over.

“The etchings that you were doing when my security found you. Where were you?”

She pointed to the markings he was studying earlier. “Over there. Why?”

“Can you trust me?” he asked softly.

“Is that a joke?” she whispered. “Masoud, if you’re just here to make things worse for me, please don’t. I fell for you and you used me. I can’t be here if you’re just going to pour salt on the wound.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and he swallowed hard. “I’m not here to hurt you, Fleur. I never wanted to hurt you. I just want to show you something, but I need you to trust me.”

“Fine,” she muttered as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “What is it?”

“Close your eyes,” he said as he took her hands. She looked at him dubiously, but she closed her eyes. Carefully, he led her across the site to the very spot where, confused and broken, he’d sank to the ground and questioned his loyalties.

Turning her, he pulled her close and whispered in her ear. “Fleur, when I met you, you were just another archaeologist illegally trespassing, and I was bored. When this whole thing started, I had no problems lying to you because I had no idea how much you would affect me. I had no idea that you were going to change my life. Every second that I spent with you, every time that I touched you, brought me closer to something I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. And when I lost you, I knew what that was. It was happiness. It was love. I can’t turn the clock back and change what I did to you, but I will help you achieve your dreams. Even if I can’t have you, I want you to be happy.”

Her mouth parted and she gasped. “Masoud,” she whispered.

“Shh. Don’t say anything, my love.” He turned and pointed the flashlight to the wall. “Earlier today, I sat in this very spot in despair. As I struggled with what I would do next, I saw something. Fleur, you have to understand how big this is. It’s all about perspective. It’s an illusion that can only be seen from right here. Open your eyes, Fleur.”

Her lids fluttered open, but before she looked at the wall, she stared at him. “Did you mean it? Do you love me?”

Masoud smiled slowly. “I’m trying to show you something pretty important.”

“Nothing is more important.” She reached up and touched his face. “Look me in the eyes and tell me how you feel about me.”

Steadying himself, he looked her in the eyes. “I love you, Fleur. I think I knew from the moment that I met you that my heart and soul would belong to you.”

She broke off the contact and turned her head. When her gaze fluttered over the wall, she cried out. “My God. Masoud! Is that what I think it is?”

Masoud heard the amazement in her voice, and his heart swelled. If he could spend the rest of his life making her feel just like this, he would. “They say my country was part of her lands, but no one really put much stock into it. After all, even now, people don’t pay much attention to the glories of a Queen.”