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Prologue

Six years ago

A fist of foreboding squeezed Mohab Aal Ghaanem’s heart

Najeeb was back And Jala had gone to see him

Although he had contrived to keep her froinal mission to keep them apart, when Najeeb had returned in spite of all hisfurther Mohab could do Nothing but demand Jala not see Najeeb

And what reason could he have given for asking her not to see his cousin and crown prince? That he was jealous?

She would have been shocked by the notion At best, this would have ressive ht him to be Personal freedom and boundaries were very touchy subjects with her, and she had serious issues with the “repressive male dinosaurs” prevalent in their culture

At worst, sheto prevent thatwith her “best friend,” motives that went beyond simple possessiveness As he did

So he’d stood back and watched her leave for that dreaded yet inevitable rendezvous And she hadn’t returned

Not that she’d said she would Having an early businessBeach, it ht at her hoh she’d given hiesture had been only as a token of trust She’d been adae before she was ready to do so He was probably working hi but

B’Ellahi What was he thinking? It was for nothing Jala had agreed to marry him She was his, body and heart He’d been her first, and he’d always be her only He should have stopped worrying about how their relationship had started long ago, shouldn’t have tried to keep Najeeb away once hispurpose had been achieved—even if the way it had been had taken him by surprise He’d already been attracted to Jala, but he surely hadn’t iined when he’d first approached her that he’d fall for her that hard, that totally

Es, he strode away fro from sixty floors up anyway

Though he was sure he would have seen her

Since he’d first laid eyes on her, she’d been the only one he ever truly saw, even when others should have been in his focus As on the day of the hostage crisis, when he’d been sent to save Najeeb and had saved Jala, too

Najeeb Again Everything always came back to him

Mohab had kept his cousin away fro as possible Anymanipulated And since there were only a handful of people who had enough power to keep the crown prince of Saraya ju Hassan, his brothers and Mohab himself—Najeeb would have eventually drawn the proper conclusions

By elient, had the skills and resources to invade Najeeb’s privacy, to rearrange his plans, to nudge hi out why