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“Where have you been?”
Great. She was on fire. “Cairo.”
“How dare you take off without telling me.”
“I had something I needed to take care of.”
“Do you know what’s happened?”
“Fill me in.”
“His Highness Raif Khouri called. His uncle, Mallik, was left at the altar by his young royal bride.”
At first relief blasted through him that Darius had succeeded in freeing the woman he loved from her intended’s villainous plot. Annoyance arrived a moment later. If Roark’s connection to this event came to light, it might prove the final nail in the coffin for Waverly’s.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“He’s blaming all the trouble on the curse that has befallen his family because the Gold Heart statue is missing from the palace.”
“His uncle’s troubles have nothing to do with their missing statue.”
“I know that, but Raif is adamant that we produce our statue. He’s
convinced it is the one stolen from the palace.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then produce it so we can prove that.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because the Gold Heart statue’s provenance documents are missing and until I can get them back from the man who stole them, the prince could claim that it’s his and we’d have no proof it wasn’t.”
Ann gasped. “He’d never do that.”
“Maybe not, but I’m the one the FBI believes stole the statue.”
“The reputation of Waverly’s is resting on that statue.” Ann’s voice throbbed with anger and worry.
“You don’t think I know that?”
“I need that statue. I’m flying to Rayas next Thursday to meet with His Highness and he’s expecting me to produce the statue. Without it we’ll be ruined.”
“I’m working on getting the documents back, but it’s not going to happen by next Thursday.”
Leaving Ann seething with annoyance, Roark passed by Vance’s office on his way back to the elevator and wasn’t surprised to find it dark. Since Charlie had come into his life, Vance’s priorities had shifted. He now put family before business and seemed happy with the new arrangement.
Was it really that simple?
Roark jabbed the down button on the elevator. He rolled his shoulders to ease the tension, but relief wasn’t in his future. Too much was wrong in his life at the moment.
Unless he retrieved the missing provenance documents, he had no way of proving that the Gold Heart statue owned by Sheikh Rashid bin Mansour was not the one missing from Rayas’s palace.
Then there was Darius, who’d stolen a royal bride from Mallik Khouri and was on the run.
And worst of all, he’d lost the one bright spot in this whole misadventure. Elizabeth. She’d sent him packing, and he had no idea how to change her mind. Nor was he sure he should even try. She deserved to be happy and if being with him made her miserable, he should put her feelings first and let her be. Unfortunately, every fiber of his being rejected that as the worst idea he’d ever had.
