Free Shine Bright Like A Diamond: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story by Sherie Keys

and more every day.
    He heard footsteps behind him, and turned around to see a tired looking Almasi standing in the doorway.
    “Good morning, my dear,” Jacob said cheerfully. “Don’t worry, I won’t spill coffee on you again. Although, if I hadn’t the first time, we never would’ve met.” He frowned a little. “I noticed you had a fitful sleep last night. What's wrong?”
    She came toward him and he stood up, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her. After the kiss, she replied vaguely, “Nothing. Just nightmares. It's just a silly thing. There’s no need to worry.” She gave him a convincing smile, and he smiled back.
    “Ah. Take care of yourself, Almasi! I can have the cook brew you a tea to ward off those nightmares.” He sat back down in his chair. “In the meantime, though, I need to make a couple of phone calls before we visit the next store. Could you give me a moment?” He didn’t turn around or wait for a response. Almasi sighed, and turned to leave the room.
    Her strange interaction the previous day with Mr. Kofi Kumi was not important, she told herself. And maybe he didn’t have her diary after all. Perhaps a member of the cleaning staff had put it away somewhere else. And had she even left it open? She couldn’t remember, but it was possible that she had closed it and it had locked automatically when she had gotten up in her haste to clean off the ink on that first day of the visit.
    So it was possible that the diary was not even in dangerous hands. Maybe Kofi Kumi didn’t know anything. But if he had the diary and could get a way into it, her secret would be revealed. It was probably better not to say anything unless he mentioned it.
    She resolved to avoid talking to Mr. Kofi Kumi as much as was possible without coming off as rude. There were only three more weeks left to this visit. It was possible. She would make it be possible. She could do it. At least... she hoped that she could do it.
    It was becoming more and more difficult to avoid Mr. Kofi Kumi, Almasi found, because he always seemed to turn up where she was. He didn’t interrupt her near her bathroom anymore, which was a blessing. She guessed that he had taken the cue from her anger when he had shown up to proposition her. But, in spite of her refusal of his advances, Mr. Kofi Kumi seemed determined to get Almasi to give him the kind of attention he wanted.
    He started with little things—talking to her and asking her questions in front of the others, so that she had no choice but to answer or else risk coming off as totally rude and insubordinate. He would ask her completely harmless questions at first. He would ask her about the weather, or her opinion on the food. Is it not nice and sunny out today, Almasi? Is this trout not delicious? What are your views on the diamond industry, Almasi? He would constantly try to engage with her like that, and he always did it when Mr. Arko Kumi was within earshot. She had no choice but to respond politely and to give the most banal and harmless answers. And all this time, whenever Mr. Kofi Kumi asked her a question, she could see his eyes sparkle dangerously. He was going to get what he wanted. This man may be lazy when it came to matters of business and finance deals, but in matters of pleasure, Mr. Kofi Kumi always got what he went after. And he was going after Almasi at an alarming intensity.
    The worst part was that Jacob never seemed to notice anything strange about Mr. Kofi Kumi’s behavior. And every time Almasi had a moment alone with her husband, she was unable to bring herself to tell him. She knew that he knew about the diary, but what would he think of her being so careless with it? What would he say if he knew that, on the very first day of the business visit from Kumi Diamonds, she’d sneaked off to write in her frivolous little book?
    Almasi had grown to love Jacob so much, but she continued to see herself as a mere pawn in his game. If she messed up—if he found out