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“What?” He growled. “Am I ruining your deal for you?”
“There is no deal.” She threw her hands up in exasperation. “I’m telling you, Raheem. I knew nothing about this. I haven’t been working for them. I told you the truth. I called him and told him that I was basically quitting because I was working for you. But during that conversation, I may have bragged a bit about all the fabulous places you’d shown me, including this one. I’m so sorry, Raheem. Sorrier than you’ll ever know. But if you think I’d go behind your back to work with that scumbag, then you don’t know me at all.” She swiped a hand across her cheek to wipe away the tears that were falling from her eyes.
Raheem longed to pull her into his arms and tell her that he forgave her, but he had to be sure what she was saying was the truth. “What about last night?”
“What about it?” She sniffled. “Last night was the most amazing, wonderful experience I’ve ever had and I swear if you try and sully that because of some stupid notion you’ve got of me as some Mata Hari super-spy woman, or because you’d rather believe your jealous spiteful sisters over me, then I swear to God above I will punch you so hard you’ll regret the day you were born. I love you, dammit, and I slept with you because of my feelings for you. No other reason.”
The crowd around them had fallen silent and Raheem looked up to see everyone staring at him and Laura. Perfect. Looked like his time had come and since he was the center of attention already, he might as well make his spotlight count. Determined, he stalked over to Feraz and pulled him aside, deliberately snatching away the cell phone that always seemed to be glued to his brother’s ear these days and shutting it off.
“What the—” Feraz scowled. “I was speaking with the head of the UAE.”
“I don’t care if you were speaking to Allah himself.” Raheem tucked his brother’s phone into his pocket, out of reach, ignoring its continued buzzing. “We need to talk. Now. This is important.”
“Yes. It is. You’ve interrupted an important business deal,” Feraz said, his tone furious. “Not to mention made us look like incompetent idiots.”
“The only idiotic thing here would be for you to sell this land to those men. They care nothing for Djave or our culture. And they certainly don’t care anything about what we’re trying to do here.”
“And what else do you suggest I do, Raheem?” Feraz lowered his voice, his words emerging as a rough growl. “We need this income. Father ran the country into the ground financially. Just ask Rehaj. He all but destroyed our reputation in the international banking market. If we want to accomplish all these wonderful things that we imagine for Djave, that takes money.”
“What about our natural resources? Our wildlife? These things are also worth something, at least to me. And they are priceless. Once gone, they can’t be purchased again.”
“I understand your passion for the land, brother, but right now we can’t afford it.”
Raheem exhaled slowly, gathering up what patience he had left. There had to be something he could do. This was his dream, his life’s work. It would be gone in an instant if his brother sold the land to those men. “How much are they paying you for the land?”
“More than you can afford, brother, even with all your wealth.”
“How much?”
“They are to give me a down payment today of fifteen million, with the other seventy percent due by the end of the year.” Feraz raised his chin. “Can you match this?”
Damn. He could, if given time, but not right this second. “How long can you give me?”
Feraz checked his watch. “Twenty minutes.”
Cursing under his breath, Raheem turned away. He usually kept a million dollars in his petty cash to cover everyday expenses, but the rest of his money was tied up in oil and stocks. It would take far longer than twenty minutes to liquidate those and get the cash he needed. And his current account balance was cut in half because of the check in his pocket to pay the salary he’d promised Laura.
It all seemed impossible.
Frustrated, he closed his eyes and raised his face skyward, saying a silent prayer to Allah for guidance. He couldn’t let his dream die, not like this. He couldn’t let the animals, his country, Laura down—no matter what had happened between them today.
“Time’s ticking, brother,” Feraz said. “If you let me get back to this deal, I’ll allow you to partner with me on approving how they use the land. That’s the best I can offer.”
Partner. Partner.
Raheem slowly opened his eyes as an idea formed. It was a long shot, yes, and risky. It would require him to sacrifice his pride and possibly his heart in the process. But if it meant securing the land for his wildlife refuge, he had to try.
“Sell the land to me now, for one million dollars, and if I haven’t repaid you that amount ten times over in the next five years, then I will walk away and you can do what you want with it. No questions asked.” Raheem braced for the inevitable backlash.
“A million dollars?” His brother scoffed. “You must be joking. That’s a mere fraction of what it’s worth.”
“I know, but think about this, Feraz. By selling to me, the land stays in our hands, family hands. We can do what we want with it, develop it according to our vision for our homeland. My wildlife refuge will bring in people from all over the globe to witness the beauty of our country. I know this in my soul. Please, just give me a chance to prove I’m right.” He battled against the tension squeezing his chest, tightening his muscles. “Please, just one chance. That’s all I’m asking, brother. Please.”
Feraz gave him a cool stare, silent for so long that Raheem feared the worst. Finally, he said, “One million dollars. Payable now.”
“Right.” Raheem turned back to where Laura stood a few feet away. Time for the second part of his plan. None of this was guaranteed, but again, he had to ask her, to see if she could have the same faith in him that he had in her. “One moment.”
“What about my phone?” Feraz called as Raheem stalked over to Laura.
