The Sheik’s Vow (The Billionaire’s Club #13)

Chapter 4

Kaia stood in the doorway, debating whether she was hungry enough to endure another meal with Sheik Riaz. She hadn’t managed to eat much last night because of his presence.

Before she could decide, the man in question lifted the cup to his lips and…caught sight of her.

The heat as his eyes moved over her startled her. Kaia knew how to kill a man’s interest when it wasn’t wanted. But this…this heat and tingling sensation…curdled her ability to remember the pointed quips that normally told a man to back off.

Deciding that she wasn’t hungry enough to attempt this situation, she started to turn away, determined to just pack up and head out to…wherever she would go next. Maybe back to Kentucky so that she could check in on the latest recordings from Ethan and his minions. Or maybe to Texas. She hadn’t visited that state in a while.

And yet, she stood in the doorway, seemingly unable to turn away.

“Kaia?” Riaz prompted, his eyes watching her carefully

Kaia shifted onto her left foot, looking out at the pretty garden just outside of the doors to the breakfast room. The flowers were lovely. But she should leave. Kaia told herself to just walk away. Within five minutes, she could sling her ever-present backpack over her shoulder and walk out one of the numerous doors of the palace. Within another thirty minutes, she could be on a plane to…anywhere.

And yet, she couldn’t seem to move.

“I was bullied as a child!” Riaz said.

The words made her pause. Bullied? This tall, powerful man had been bullied?

Kaia turned away, but couldn’t force her feet to carry her back to the suite she’d slept in last night. Something…or someone…held her back.

Slowly, she turned back. Her eyes moved over his broad shoulders and she remembered how far back she needed to tilt her head to look into his eyes if this man stood in front of her. Surely, he was just teasing her. It simply wasn’t possible that someone as large and powerful as Sheik Riaz could have been bullied.

With a snort, she started to turn away again.

“It’s true,” he called out. “I was tall, but skinny. And my tutors couldn’t keep up with me. So my parents sent me off to college early.”

Kaia’s attention was captured. She eyed him curiously. “How old were you?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, unaware of how the movement thrust her breasts higher.

Riaz took a sip of his coffee, gesturing towards the other dining chair. “If you want to hear the story, then you have to eat breakfast with me.”

Kaia hesitated. Only a moment ago, she’d decided that she wasn’t hungry enough to share a meal with this man.

Correction, she wasn’t hungry enough to handle the unexpected emotions this man instilled within her. She was hungry, but for too long, her life had been all about control. Control allowed her to stay one step ahead of Ethan Howell.

Remembering that fact, she glanced at the breakfast buffet. Rule number one, always eat whenever possible. Kaia had a dozen protein bars hidden in her backpack, along with her passport and cash, as well as several credit cards, now that she was old enough to apply for credit.

But she’d taught Tara never to be too hungry. If they had to run, it was easier to escape danger on a full stomach.

With that reminder, she walked over to the buffet, smiling politely at the waiter who handed her a warm plate. “Thank you,” she whispered, surveying the breakfast food options.

“The spinach and feta frittata is delicious,” Riaz suggested from behind her.

Kaia glanced at him over her shoulder, then sighed and lifted the silver serving utensil, taking a large portion of the egg and vegetable frittata. It looked, and smelled, divine. She added several spoonfuls of fruit as well as a muffin.

Taking her full plate over to the table, she sat down across from him, then pulled the linen napkin out and slid it over her lap. Only then did she look at him, silently asking him to continue.

“Do you want some coffee?”

She shook her head and took a sip of the orange juice the waiter set down by her plate, smiling her thanks.

“Please,” she prompted, gesturing with her fork. “You were going to tell me how a powerful man who was presumably brought up with everything he could possibly want, was bullied.”

He stared at her, his hard lips curling upwards slightly, almost as if he were amused by her sarcasm.

“You don’t think that rich kids can be bullied?”

She shrugged and took a bite of her frittata. “I doubt that your childhood and mine were similar.” Kaia found it difficult to believe that someone like him could have endured anything as traumatic as what she’d gone through, but she was trying to keep an open mind. She knew that there were monsters masquerading as saints everywhere.

“I was spoiled by my parents, I’ll concede that much.”

Immediately, Kaia lost interest. She didn’t want to hear a poor little rich man’s sob story. She took another bite and looked up at him attentively, trying to be polite for Tara’s sake. Kaia was a guest and this man was obviously a very important visitor.

“I had a series of tutors, many of which only lasted a year or two before they had nothing more to teach me.”

She sighed and stabbed a grape.

“By the time I was twelve,” he paused when Kaia’s eyes jerked up. Slowly, he continued. “I was sent off to university.”

“At twelve?” she hissed, horrified but for other reasons.

“Yes. I was a freshman at Oxford at the age of twelve.”

“You were all alone?”

“I had bodyguards, but I was bullied for having them by a group of male students.”

She put her fork down, wiping her mouth with the napkin. “That’s…cruel,” she replied.

“I was constantly tripped in the hallways when leaving class, had acid dumped on me in chemistry class, even though the professor claimed it was an accident. I had some sort of rodent slipped down the neck of my shirt during a Latin class. And a series of similar cruelties.”

“Why?” Kaia gasped, truly horrified by the thought of a twelve year old boy being treated in such a miserable fashion.

“Because I was smarter than the group of boys. And they hated me for being wealthier and smarter. And since they had no one else to pick on, so why not annoy the rich kid?” He sipped his coffee. “They hadn’t yet learned that making future connections during their university days was a far more intelligent move. ”

“What did you do?”

“I asked my body guards to hold back, become a bit less visible, hoping that the bullies would ease up.”

“Did that work?’ she asked, more focused on the story now than her meal, but she kept eating without thinking about it.

“No, it encouraged them to even more cruelty. It wasn’t until one of them tripped me and broke my arm that I decided to stop ignoring them in the hopes that they’d get bored.”

“What did you do?”

“I asked my bodyguards to teach me how to fight.” He poured himself another cup of coffee, then continued. “I learned as much as I could, as fast as I could. Since I was a pretty quick learner, and I was tall, which allowed me to add muscle quickly, it took very little time before I was able to stop their abuse.”

“That’s…a horrible story,” Kaia finally replied. “I’m very sorry that you went through that.”

“It taught me a great deal.” He set his coffee cup down and leaned forward. “Not just about fighting back, but also about bullies and about the terror in another person’s eyes when they are being threatened.” He stared at her for a long moment. “I can help you, Kaia. If you’d let me.”

She stared at him, her heart thudding painfully against her ribs. Help? He could help her? No. No one could help her.

“Thank you, but I don’t think–”

“I know how to defeat bullies. Ever since I became ruler of Bidar, I’ve become extremely adept at identifying and defeating those who would dare to hurt the people in my kingdom. I take the protection of my people very seriously.” His eyes were hard, his features harder. “No one hurts someone under my protection.”

They stared at each other for a long moment and Kaia wondered what he was trying to silently tell her.

“I don’t think–”

“Who are your monsters, Kaia?”

“What makes you think I have monsters?”

“Everyone has monsters. But yours seem more…powerful, I’m guessing. The terror in your eyes when someone gets too close tells me that someone hurt you in ways that are unspeakable.”

Kaia flashed back to those long, terrifying nights, waiting for Ethan’s “discipline”.

“Will you let me help you, Kaia?” he asked, his voice softer and more gentle than she’d ever heard it.

Kaia glanced up at him, unaware of the tear that slipped down her cheek. “Help me?” she hissed. “No one ever helped me or my sister! We’ve survived, but only because we were smarter and faster.” She clenched her teeth, then added, “And more determined.”

He reached out and, he didn’t touch her hand, but he laid his hand on the snowy linen tablecloth right next to hers, their fingers not touching, but so close, that if she moved at all, their fingertips would brush.

“Will you tell me what happened to you and your sister?”

Kaia had told several people what had happened to her. Hell, the adults in the township had heard her pleas for help, then completely ignored her! The adults in the township knew exactly what was going on, the men and some of the women even participating!

“Thank you, but we’re…” she suddenly remembered that Tara wouldn’t need her help anymore. Tara was married now, surrounded by bodyguards. Plus, Tara’s monster had been arrested. She doubted that Zayed would allow Elijah to be released until he’d served his full sentence, and maybe not even then.

Riaz’s soft words, spoken with that rich voice, broke through her thoughts. “You think you’re fine, but maybe the people that you left behind aren’t fine.”

Oh, those words pierced her soul! Not because he was wrong, but because he was so painfully right. She hadn’t been able to save any of the others who were suffering back in that small town. Kaia had tried, but she’d only been able to save her sister.

“You can’t help,” she replied back, her throat so tight the words almost choked her.

His hand turned over, offering her…solace? Help? She didn’t understand. “No one can help.”

His rough features became almost handsome when he smiled softly. “You’d be surprised at what I can do, love.”

Tara took a deep breath. She glanced down at the tiny space that separated the tip of her middle finger and his, yearning to trust him, to once again ask for help. But experience taught her not to trust anyone but herself.

She pulled her hand away and straightened her shoulders. “Thank you for the offer, Your Highness, but we are… I’m fine.”

Kaia pulled the napkin from her lap and delicately wiped her mouth. With what felt like monumental effort, she pushed herself out of the dining chair and turned, startled to see the waiters standing stiffly with their backs to the wall. She’d forgotten that they were there, listening to the conversation.

She bowed to them. “Thank you for your assistance this morning. Please let the chef know that the breakfast frittata was delicious and the muffins were the best I’ve ever tasted.”

The waiters appeared startled. They shared a quick glance with each other, as if not sure what to do when a guest conveyed their appreciation. But they recovered quickly and bowed to her. “It was our pleasure, Ms. Treon,” the one on the right replied.

A deep chuckle behind her warned her that Riaz was close by.

She looked at him over her shoulder and tried to maintain her polite smile. She didn’t want him to know that his story and the unexpected gentleness in his normally flinty, dark eyes, got to her. This man had almost wormed under her skin, which she couldn’t allow. She’d trusted others in the past. Best case scenario, the person would let her down. Worst case…they would try to send her back to Ethan.

“Would you mind if we continued this discussion in the next room? In private?” he asked.

Kaia didn’t want to speak with him any longer. She bent down and hefted her backpack onto her shoulder. “I need to get going.”

He bowed to her and she suspected that this man never bowed to anyone.

Then he startled her even more when he added, “Please.”

That one word. She’d rarely heard it from anyone with authority. Oh, the average person was generally polite. But not anyone with even a hint of power.

However, Kaia was even more startled when she heard herself reply, “Of course.”

She followed him silently into the next room. It was the salon they’d chatted in last night. The delicate, crystal glasses were gone, the tables polished, and the pillows fluffed. Kaia wasn’t used to having a bevy of servants to clean up after her.

Walking into the middle of the room, she tightened her grip on the strap of her backpack, then turned and faced him. He’d closed the door, his hands sliding into the dark slacks. He wasn’t wearing a suit jacket, so the crisp, white dress shirt tugged impressively over his broad shoulders. Wide, strong shoulders that could probably carry most of her problems with ease.

Except Kaia refused to allow anyone to fool her into thinking they would help. Never again!

“Marry me, Kaia.”