Free Slave to the Sheikh: by Nadia Aidan

I was wrong.” Amir was stunned speechless by his mother’s apology.  She was a hard woman, he’d never anticipated she would understand, let alone admit she had been wrong.  “I only wish for you to be happy, and while I wish you could have found happiness with someone other than a Westerner—“
    She stopped when he growled out her name in warning.
    “Yes, well,” she cleared her throat.  “It doesn’t really matter where she is from now does it, as long as the two of you love each other and are happy.”
    His mother’s admission tempered his anger, somewhat, but it wasn’t enough to make him forget that he and Daniella had been happy, until she’d shown up with Sabeen in tow.  He also wasn’t quite ready to forgive either.  If he wasn’t able to make this right, and if Daniella refused to take him back because of her little stunt, he would have a very difficult time coming to terms with his mother’s interference. 
    “I need you to leave,” he said finally.  He loved his mother, of course, so her crestfallen expression gnawed at him. Once she was safely ensconced in a plane headed back to his father, he would apologize, but at that moment he refused to be moved by any feelings of guilt.
    “I need to set things right with Daniella, and I can’t do that with either of you here,” he explained.
    Amir waited the five seconds it took to assure himself that they were both in fact leaving, when they each nodded. 
    He wasted no time in stalking out of the room.  Every cell and fiber within him demanded he go after Daniella immediately, but there was one last matter he needed to attend to, in case the occupants he’d just left changed their minds.
    Talib had been Amir’s caretaker for so long, he’s grown accustomed to the wizened man materializing out of the shadows, silently offering his assistance, despite that Amir had not actually sought him out, or called his name.
    “Make sure that they do in fact leave,” Amir instructed, as he marched toward the entryway of his home.  He already knew Daniella had likely retreated to her villa, but he didn’t wager she would just sit there idling the time away waiting for him to confront her, so he didn’t expect her to be there long.  He hurried his pace, only to stop abruptly, at the unsettling thought that came to mind.  Amir wanted to believe they wouldn’t defy his orders, but it wouldn’t be the first time. 
    He gave Talib a final glance, and though it was fleeting, Amir’s expression was direct, his message perfectly clear.
    “And under no circumstances are they to return to this estate or to my home, until I say so.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
    I knew he would come for me, just as I knew it was only a matter of time before he found me.  He thought he was so clever, sending Khalil as my watchdog.  I knew his cousin was there, cloaked in the shadows, making certain I didn’t flee.  Both of them were idiots, I decided.  Where the hell could I go, exactly? With one word, Amir could keep me here forever.  Tears still stung my eyes, but I wanted to cry in earnest now. Our relationship had evolved over the past weeks, and while I’d been certain I was no longer his sex slave, for it seemed we were equally enslaved by our desires for one another, I realized in that moment, I was definitely his prisoner.  If I wished to leave, and he refused, there would be nothing I could do to escape him.
    “We need to talk.”
    The deep baritone of Amir’s voice shattered the tranquil silence.  He found me standing at the edge of the pond which was nestled in the center of the garden behind my villa.  I’d known the very moment he’d entered the garden, the small prickling at the base of my neck, and the tiny goosebumps along my flesh, always betrayed his presence, no matter how quiet he tried to be.  I didn’t want to face him, but neither could I put off the inevitable forever.
    “I think you said quite enough already,