Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Her hazel eyes were glistening as they met his. “I just… Sometimes I wonder if we did the right thing. Keeping him away from that man.”
Jordan went still. Back when his parents had told him about the lengths they had gone to in order to keep Aiden away from his sheikh, Jordan had felt uneasy. Although he’d never been in Aiden’s situation, he knew all about falling in love in unconventional circumstances with an unsuitable man. It had taken him and Damiano a long time to come to terms with their feelings and accept that they weren’t going to disappear once they were an ocean apart. That was why Jordan hadn’t been sure that forcibly separating Aiden and his sheikh was the right thing to do. But Aiden wasn’t Jordan—he was much younger and much more vulnerable—and Jordan understood why his parents had been so overprotective after thinking for a year that their youngest son was dead.
“What makes you think so?” Jordan said.
His mother heaved a sigh again. “Dr. Richardson declared him completely recovered from the ordeal. He goes to school, he goes out with his friends, he’s even been on a date with a nice girl. He smiles more these days, and he acts more like his old self. But…” She pursed her lips. “I know he’s not happy. A mother knows.”
“And you think it’s because he misses his sheikh?”
“Last week we saw a man in Arab clothes in the mall, and Aiden barely spoke for the rest of the day.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Jordan said. “It could be the trauma.”
His mother shook her head. “Aiden keeps in touch with Janice, a girl who was kidnapped with him. She was a… a slave for more than half a year before someone helped her escape. Aiden claims Rahim was the one who saved her—”
“Really?”
“Apparently,” she said, with an uncomfortable shrug. “But that’s beside the point. I’ve seen the poor girl—how skittish of touch and traumatized she is—and I’m…” She swallowed visibly. “I feel like a terrible person for thinking it, but I’m glad my child avoided that fate. After seeing Janice, I do believe that man didn’t abuse Aiden physically.”
“There’s emotional abuse too,” Jordan said, but he was immensely relieved to hear that. No matter how many times Aiden had said that his sheikh hadn’t sexually abused him, Jordan had had his doubts.
“There is,” she said. “But… I saw them together briefly, Jordan. Before your dad and the bodyguards separated them, Rahim was holding Aiden.” She pursed her lips. “At the time, it looked like a violent embrace because Aiden was crying, but looking back, I think we might have misinterpreted it. I’m pretty sure Aiden was clinging to that man and Rahim might have been kissing his face.”
Jordan frowned. “You think they were in love?”
She shook her head with a sigh. “I’m not sure what to think anymore. All I know is that my son is unhappy. It’s been ten months since we got him back and seven months since he last saw that man, but Aiden is still deeply unhappy, no matter how brightly he smiles.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“I don’t know, Jordan.” She met his eyes again, her expression grim. “Talk to him? Maybe he’ll open up to you. He’s always looked up to you.”
“Okay.” Kissing his mother on the cheek, Jordan went looking for his brother.
He found him outside the house, sitting on the garden swing.
Jordan sat down beside him, shivering a little and crossing his arms. “Damn, I think I got too used to the Italian climate.”
A faint smile touched Aiden’s lips. “Yeah,” he said, looking at the brightly illuminated house with a distant, unseeing gaze.
A shiver ran up Jordan’s spine that had nothing to do with the chill. There was something off about Aiden. Physically, he looked great, but now Jordan understood what his mother meant: he could sense Aiden’s unhappiness like a physical thing. Aiden wasn’t outright moping—he was even smiling—but that unhappiness seemed to cling to him like a second skin, his eyes dull and lacking their normal liveliness.
“I imagine it was an even bigger shock to you after the Arabian heat.”
Aiden smiled crookedly, without looking at Jordan. “What do you want, Jord? Did Mom send you to talk to the crazy guy?”
“No one thinks you’re crazy.”
Aiden laughed, the sound a little sharp. “No one? I sure do.”
Frowning, Jordan laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “What? What do you mean?”
Aiden stared at the house for a long time without saying anything.
When he spoke, his voice was very quiet. “Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas, you know. Shopping malls and streets are decorated festively in Dubai, but it’s more for the tourists. New Year’s is a much bigger deal for them.”
Jordan nodded, unsure where this was going.
“Last December I was moping a bit, missing you guys. I knew you were likely all here, at Mom and Dad’s house, celebrating Christmas without me.” Aiden’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Zain didn’t ask why I was moping, but when I woke up on Christmas Eve, the entire house was decked out in Christmas lights. Zain even got a huge Christmas tree, and there was a mountain of presents under it…” His smile became softer, fonder, his gaze faraway. “He’s over-the-top like that. And he wouldn’t even admit that he did it to cheer me up. He claimed that he always has the house decorated, and never mind that I could see how confused the staff was by all the fuss.”