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Chapter 60 Omar Farouq Abu Bakir
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DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 61 First Meeting With Omar
Omar Farouq Abu Bakir had never imagined he would see Aaliyah again, and that had suited him fine. He had imagined that she was off having a gleaming little life, telling stories of her glory days. He had made sure his glory claimed a prominent place on every tabloid going, lest she imagine for a second that he had even noticed her departure.He had been halfway to forgetting her before his parents died.And now he couldn’t think of anything that mattered less. But he knew this was not the time for self-loathing—or, rather, anymore self-loathing than he already indulged in regularly. There were things to be done and a whole lifetime that yawned out before him with ample opportunity to hate him as he deserved.“Wait,” he ordered her.Because Omar Farouq Abu Bakir could admit that he was faintly intrigued that a woman like her had turned to go in the first place. And it only grew when she didn’t stop walking. When she didn’t turn to stone or fawn all over herself while awaiting his next
DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 62 Aaliyah, daughter of Sheikh Omer Ibrahim
Omar Farouq did not react to that. Not outwardly. For his treacherous, murderous cousin Khalid Abu Bakir would take that throne over Omar Farouq Abu Bakir’s dead body.Something his cousin would no doubt take great pleasure in producing for the country, but Omar Farouq was ready for Khalid Abu Bakir and his machinations. He had done nothing these last two years but prepare for the day he would come down from this mountain and clean up the mess Khalid had made.“The throne is not in jeopardy,” he said now. “I’ve told Hannah and all the rest of my ministers this myself. The Hermitage might look ancient, but I assure you, it is sufficiently wired to carry the concerns of my country to my ears at all times of the day and night. Sohar is not running itself. I am removed from the palace, but I have not abdicated my responsibilities.”Only after he said that did he realize that he...was justifying himself to Aaliyah Ibrahim, who had already walked away from him twice. As if he was not the Sh
DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 63 Omar, Son Of Abdullah Abu Bakir
Until now, Omar Farouq had been grateful for all of these things. He found he resented this woman for awakening all the other parts of him that he’d cast aside when he’d come here, broken and grieving and determined to fix what had happened the only way he could.“Aaliyah,” she offered. Eventually. But she didn’t sound agreeable or obedient. Her gaze darkened as she glared back at him, as if she resented him right back. As if she dared that, too. She cleared her throat. “Aaliyah Ibrahim.”And her name in her own voice rang in him. Like a scrap of a forgotten song. A lyric, maybe, though the melody was lost. Though he told himself he was no singer, and he knew no good could come of recalling that long-ago night in a Cambridge pub, he said, “I know that name.”“My last name is Ibrahim.” Her tone was as suspiciously bland as her gaze was a storm cloud. “People do tend to recognize it. What with it being common as dirt and all.”“Was that an attempt to be scathing?” he asked, and then he
DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 64 Aaliyah's Son
He turned then and strode back across the courtyard without as much as a glance over his shoulder to see if she might follow.And Aaliyah had the same internal battle all over again. She could turn on her heel now that he’d walked off. She could run back out that door and then charge down the side of the mountain. She assumed that Hannah still waited there, but whether she did or didn’t, there was no way to know how she might react to anything Aaliyah might do. She might not allow Aaliyah back in the vehicle. She might order her to turn around and head right back up to the Hermitage until she’d accomplished whatever it was the older woman imagined Aaliyah could accomplish here.There was no safe space. Not here on this island, plunked down in the middle of an uncaring ocean. Maybe not anywhere. The only safe space Aaliyah had known since she’d run out of that house in Cambridge was back in Tahoe, there in the little house tucked away in the woods that she shared with her aunt and her
DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 65 A Dominant King
Something in her had died on that landing as surely as if one of the guards had struck her down. She had never been the same, even in those strange months she’d moved through her old life like a ghost, unaware that there was a new life inside of her.As if the dawning of that hideous understanding of what she and Omar Farouq really were to each other—no matter how deeply she had loved him—really had killed her where she stood.“So you mean to tell me that it was pettiness, nothing more.” His voice was a black ribbon of sound, and it hurt to hear. “The wounded feelings of a jilted lover. This, you felt, was sufficient reason to hide from me the existence of a son for five years.”Aaliyah felt small and ashamed—but then, nothing she had ever felt about this man was petty. Her hands curled into fists, but she made herself carry on.“I didn’t know I was pregnant until I was in the third trimester,” she told him quietly, choosing every word with care. “Maybe I didn’t want to know.” Or mayb
DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 66 Her Past Life
“I live in a tiny town near Lake Tahoe,” she told him, keeping her tone even. Calm. “If you don’t know it, Lake Tahoe is a very large and beautiful lake on the border between California and Nevada in the Sierra Nevadas, notable for its ski resorts, its rustic charm, and its stunning scenery. There are quite a lot of tourists and resorts on the lake, in all seasons. I actually live a bit further out, in the hills.”Where life was much more affordable. Most of her neighbors worked on the lake the way she did but, like her, preferred a little space between themselves and the relentless influx of visitors requiring service.Omar Farouq did not question her further on the demographics of Lake Tahoe. He turned back to face her and seemed to be content to do nothing but study her while the silence grew. A muscle clenched and unclenched in his jaw, as if somewhere beneath the surface, that temper she could still scent in the air between them was getting the best of him.Aaliyah couldn’t imagi
DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 67 The Feelings Deep Inside
He ignored that outburst. “If you follow this hall to the far end, you will find the kitchen. Feel free to help yourself to anything that appeals to you. If you wish to rest—and I suggest you do—there are many chambers to choose from.” The words he used sounded almost welcoming, but his tone reminded her of bullets one after the next, and none of them anything but deadly. “Pick any you like.”Omar Farouq stepped away from her then, but it seemed as if it took him a little too long to drop her hand. Or maybe it only seemed that way to her because she could feel too much or because she wanted him to feel something, anything.And then, when he did finally drop her hand, she could still feel it, and that was incalculably worse.“You have had five years to make all the decisions you liked,” he said quietly. Too quietly, when his eyes blazed the way they did. When she still felt like a tattered bit of target practice, and worse, like the lover he’d discarded years ago—but as if it had just
DUBAI THE CITY OF DREAMS Chapter 68 Am I A Prisoner
But it wasn’t until she saw him wave that languid hand of his that she understood what he was doing. He was reverting back to type. Becoming that easy playboy of a prince she’d met long ago.The Prince his people expected, perhaps.She watched, strange suspicions gripping her, as he was welcomed home in a series of deep curtsies and informal bows. A rippling wave of them as he walked from the helicopter across the grand forecourt, and not the way he’d moved around the Hermitage last night.This version of Omar Farouq...sauntered. Aaliyah followed at a distance, aware that it was likely no coincidence that she was quickly flanked by a selection of royal guards as she moved, but she didn’t mind that. Maybe she should have, but she was too busy watching Omar Farouq as he put on his show.By the time they made it inside, she understood that he was striking a note somewhere between that grim, gruff man from the Hermitage and the lazy, pleasure-seeking wastrel he’d been when she’d so foolis
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