Free SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance by Kylie Knight Page A

for a moment.
    “Please, don’t do anything. I’m on my way to the States. I’ll leave by tomorrow at the latest.”
    “No, don’t do that. You have too much to do,” Sasha said. She began shaking. Not once in her quick processing of the situation did she think he’d take off to see her. “You’re not obligated to me, regardless of what the decision is.”
    “That’s not your decision to make—my obligation. It’s mine.” Ravi was rattled and scared by what Sasha had said, yet, in it he saw something of hope. He just had to get her to wait.
    “Look, as the father, please, don’t do anything without me. Let us talk about it face to face. Will you please promise me that?”
    “I don’t know.” Sasha didn’t want to get caught up in emotions when she had to make such a serious life choice. His presence would surely do that to her.
    “Please,” Ravi said. The he looked at his office door. There was a knock and Jada was standing there. She mouthed, “Your father is here.”
    “Look, please don’t go out of your way—”
    Ravi had to go, but he had to state his case and hope that Sasha was the type of woman he believed she’d been. “—I will be there within forty-eight hours. Please, don’t do anything. I have to see you. I have to go, I’m sorry, I wish I didn’t.”
    He hung up, not wanting to give her the chance to have any extra input. Please wait for me, Sasha, I’m sorry , he thought.
    Jada looked at Ravi, trying to read his expression. He looked really distraught, but in a different way than he’d looked after his mother’s death.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked. She didn’t want to invade, but her friend and boss looked like he was having an out of body experience—completely shocked and surprised about something.
    “I’m fine. Father can come in.”
    “Good,” his father said, rudely brushing past Jada and entering the office. He turned to look at her and she turned to leave, shutting the door behind him.
    Ravi couldn’t stand his father’s abrasive behaviors since his mother had passed away. He’d always been short on patience and a bit overbearing, but he’d gone too far as of late. Yes, he was scared and lonely, he knew, but the man was taking it too far.
    “Tomorrow we need to go check on the real estate by the Madain Saleh; the project is behind schedule and running over in cost.”
    “I can’t,” Ravi said. He braced himself for the retaliation, which was swift.
    “It is not a request. We are going.”
    “I cannot go. I have to go to the States tomorrow, it’s urgent.”
    “For what?” His father’s eyes squinted, doubling the amount of crow’s feet he had around his eyes and the veins in his temples instantly bulged out.
    “It’s personal.”
    “Nothing personal is urgent. Madain Saleh, that is urgent.”
    “I’m sorry, Father. Do as you will, I am going.”
    “Why?”
    “I cannot say right now. I just have to have a face-to-face conversation with her before it’s too late.”
    “Her. Too late. For what?”
    Ravi didn’t answer and he glanced at his father, who was shooting daggers at him and looking like he was going to blow a gasket. “Look, Father, I’m sorry for being so elusive, but this is important and I must go. There is no other option, and time is of the essence in the matter.”
    “You take an awful lot for granted, Ravi, and I assure you that everything you have—the title, wealth, and everything—is not a guarantee for your life, it is still a privilege, one that must be earned.”
    “I understand.” Ravi did understand but the answer further angered his father, because it showed that he would not submit to his demand. He was not going to get out of this situation without feeling the burn of the angered man. Might as well just end it.
    “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Father, I’m very busy and I have a lot to get done in a short amount of time. The numbers for the new proposition will be to you by morning, as well, so you can