Chapter 29
COLIN
My first week in Egypt had been extraordinary, exhausting, and completely bewildering all at the same time. Life here was so very different from what I was used to that it sometimes felt like I’d been dropped into a whole other world.
For starters, the Saads genuinely seemed to believe that every meal required enough food to sustain an entire village. They also ate together. Every. Single. Meal.
The only acceptable excuse for missing one seemed to be work. Basel and Khaled had explained that if you were available for lunch, you headed home. That was just how it worked. Dinner, however, was unavoidable.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t remember the last time my entire family had sat down together for just one meal.
While it was incredibly overwhelming, it was actually also pretty nice.
Loud as hell, but I’d always imagined what it would be like to belong to a big family who actually did stuff together, and well, now I knew.
Another thing I’d learned was that privacy didn’t exist here. Deja had mentioned before that in their house, a closed door was nothing more than an excuse to barge in, but hearing about it and living it were pretty different experiences.
I’d also been in the company of Deja and everyone else ever since I’d arrived, always eating together, lounging together, or working together, but finding her alone was as complicated as trying to conduct a stealthy military operation in hostile territory.
Any attempt I’d made had been almost immediately foiled by her father, her mother, or one of her many, many siblings or other family members. Whenever Deja and I drifted within conversational distance of one another, someone inevitably wandered between us.
Today, however, was different. I was getting to see her in action at work and it was marvelous. While I’d known she helped her parents run White Water Lily, the event we were attending wasn’t at all like I might’ve imagined a perfume launch to be.
This looked more like a movie premiere of a film every current big name actor was starring in. Luxury cars lined the entrance, slowly creeping up to a crimson carpet stretching to the entrance of an upmarket hotel.
Cascading white florals were draped over every available surface while cameras flashed continuously. Journalists floated from guest to guest with microphones in hand. Impeccably dressed servers threaded through the crowd, balancing trays of champagne and delicate canapés.
I’d been to a couple of impressive launches in Chicago, but this was next level. It even put New York events to shame. Basel glanced between Deja and me as we approached the ballroom inside, stepping closer and lowering his voice.
“You are not to be photographed together until after your engagement has been formally announced,” he said, and he wasn’t asking.
Deja shot me an apologetic smile but put a healthy few feet between us as the photographers descended. I nodded and hung back, sticking mostly to the sidelines as I followed them in.
The second Deja switched on her public persona, I saw it, watching her transform into a vision of effortless grace and confidence. She moved through the crowd greeting buyers, investors, influencers, designers, and journalists like she’d known them forever.
She switched seamlessly between English, Arabic, and French, laughing, shaking hands, and answering questions without skipping a beat. Not for the first time, I was in complete awe of her.
It was immediately clear that she belonged here, commanding rooms just like this in a way that wasn’t completely unfamiliar. I’d spent my entire adult life watching Jane command boardrooms in this way, cutting even titans of industry down to size when the situation called for it.
Deja was the same, so completely certain of herself that it was like she’d been born for exactly the role she was in.
“Colin?”
At the sound of my name, I turned to find myself facing a sharply dressed man who extended his hand toward me. “Tim. I met you with Alex Westwood a couple months ago.”
Smiling politely, I took his outstretched hand and shook it, wracking my brain for any memory of a Tim. “Of course. The Rencole deal. How are you?”
Surprise flickered across his features, like he couldn’t believe I’d remembered, but frankly, neither could I. “Well, I’m in Cairo, so I’d say it’s going pretty well. I didn’t expect to run into you here, though.”
Fuck.
My brain sprinted for an excuse, but the truth wasn’t an option. It had been made very clear to me that there was a strict order in which people were to learn about my impending marriage as well as the merger, and Tim Who Did Business with Alex was not on the approved-to-find-out-yet list.
“I’m actually here on holiday,” I lied smoothly. “I ran into Khaled Saad on the golf course back in Chicago and he very kindly invited me to the launch.”
The man nodded, obviously buying the story. “That’s a stroke of luck. These events are always so hard to get into. The tickets are impossible to get.”
“I’ve certainly enjoyed the hospitality. No half measures for this family.”
He laughed. To my relief, another acquaintance claimed his attention, and as soon as he was gone, Deja slipped in quietly beside me. “I heard everything. That was a good save.”
I glanced down at her, unable to keep from smiling at least a little bit now that she was back by my side. “Thanks. You think he bought it? I’m not used to keeping secrets like this.”
She smiled. “Oh, he definitely bought it. If you’re really feeling like you’re out of your element, you’re doing a fantastic job at faking it.”
Someone called her name and she sighed but squared her shoulders, visibly preparing herself to get back to work. “I’ll find you later?”
“I certainly hope so,” I said with a smile.
She disappeared back into the crowd. I stayed where I was, slightly out of the way and observing rather than throwing myself right into the thick of things.
With Deja out of sight, I turned to watch her father instead.
Basel made deals over glasses of local wine instead of in a boardroom, a force of nature for sure, and also a prime example of how to elevate networking to an art form.
Watching him made me wonder if this was the future he’d envisioned for me when he encouraged me to take Thayer’s business international. Boardrooms and contracts, I was comfortable with, but I genuinely didn’t know if I could play the game this way.
Eventually, the lights dimmed and Layla appeared onstage, drawing my attention away from her husband’s apparent ability to make millions even at a perfume launch.
A round of warm applause went up across the room.
Deja joined her mother moments later, radiant beneath the spotlights while towering screens behind them unveiled the new seasonal collection.
Layla motioned Deja toward the microphone and she started in, speaking beautifully and passionately about the flowers they’d used and weaving in stories about harvest seasons.
I almost forgot to breathe as I listened to her, feeling like I was back on Alex’s yacht and the rest of the world had simply stopped existing.
Everything outside of her and her passion suddenly seemed less important, like the only thing that really mattered was why they’d formulated this range the way they had.
Basel eventually stepped forward to close the presentation.
Unfortunately, as he took her place, I remembered to breathe again and inhaled.
The tickle began during his opening remarks and I pinched my nose, willing the sneeze away. I tried to think about anything else, praying that the meds were stronger than my body’s allergic reactions. My eyes started watering and my lungs hit the eject button.
The sneeze echoed through the venue like a starting pistol being fired, so loud and violent that it shocked even Basel into silence. An elderly woman beside me sharply clicked her tongue, launching into what I assumed was a lengthy reprimand, but since it was in Arabic, I couldn’t be sure.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her softly. “At least I covered my mouth.”
She muttered something else with unmistakable disapproval, then reached over, grabbed my shoulders with surprising strength, and physically straightened my posture. “There. That’s better.”
“Thank you?” I managed despite the shock of having a stranger cuss at me in a different language for sneezing, then slouching.
I turned back to the stage. Deja had both hands pressed over her mouth, her eyes sparkling and her shoulders shaking with barely contained laughter. Just great.
She was smiling wider than I’d seen all evening, though, so I took it as a win.
Basel was smiling too, but he quickly wrapped up and stepped away from the podium. Music swelled through the ballroom now that the speeches were over. I was trying to weave my way through the crowd to get to Deja when Basel appeared beside me, gently redirecting me in the opposite direction. Again.
“Come with me,” he said happily. “There are some people I want you to meet.”
I glanced over my shoulder, catching Deja’s eye from across the room.
She smiled sympathetically, giving me the tiniest shrug.
Resigning myself to the fact that, once again, I’d been intercepted when all I really wanted was to talk to her, I averted my gaze and let Basel guide me toward a cluster of businessmen.
“My friends,” he announced when we reached them, introducing me as casually as if these guys were no more than cousins at a family barbecue, but I recognized some of them, and if I was correct about the others, they were collectively worth several billion dollars.
“This is Colin Thayer. He owns one of America’s finest steel companies and he’ll be expanding to Egypt soon. You should all invest.”
Jane would probably object to the wording of most of what he’d just said, but as ambitious as his pitch was, it looked like we were really doing this now.
Half a dozen interested faces turned toward me and I slipped into business mode, much more comfortable than I had been for the rest of the evening.
“We’ve been evaluating several international expansion opportunities,” I began, quoting our manufacturing capacity, our projected growth, and our infrastructure, but the more I gave them the data, the less interested they appeared to be.
It honestly looked like I’d lost them until an older man interrupted with a pleasant smile on his lips. “Tell me something, Colin. Are you married?”
I opened my mouth, but Basel spoke right over me. “He’s not married yet, but he will be very soon. Colin also has several younger brothers who are still single.”
He waggled his eyebrows at them and they laughed, the atmosphere around our group instantly changing into one of interest and engagement again. They asked me about my brothers and Chicago, whether my mother still lived nearby, and how my siblings got along.
I answered their questions honestly, completely stunned when telling them about how Isaac was restoring an old house generated more excitement than our annual earnings.
Ryan’s return to Chicago prompted more approving nods than our quarterly projections and the fact that Holden was considering graduate school was like I’d told them Christmas would be coming early.
After we’d spent nearly twenty minutes talking about my family, someone casually asked another question about steel, and it finally clicked then that this was how they did business. It wasn’t the way I’d been taught, but here, the relationship was the contract.
Every deal was a promise, a real-life connection, not just a signature on a page. It was a strange revelation, difficult to get my head wrapped around what that would mean for our expansion, but if growth required trust from these people, then maybe I would have to earn that, too.
A sharp voice suddenly cut across the ballroom, interrupting the story I’d been telling about Wyatt, who’d just graduated from Yale. “You cannot be serious!”
I turned with the others to see Jasmine standing a few yards away. She looked absolutely furious, speaking rapidly to someone I’d never met before and throwing both hands into the air as she shook her head. “No. I won’t do it.”
Whatever he replied seemed to make matters much worse, prompting her to spin on her heels and stalk toward the exit. Every conversation around us had paused, but they quickly picked back up again, no one apparently shocked or even concerned about the interaction.
I frowned. “Is she alright?”
“Jasmine?” Basel waved a dismissive hand. “She’s fine.”
“Are you sure? She looked pretty upset.”
He smiled into his wine. “This is normal behavior for her.”
I glanced at her again, noticing that aggravation seemed to be radiating from her as she grabbed a flute of champagne off a passing waiter’s tray and downed the whole thing in one go. My eyebrows swept up.
“Maybe someone should check on her.”
Basel shook his head, still smiling as he leaned closer. “I’m trying to arrange her marriage as well. Layla has likely just introduced her to the young man we have in mind.”
Okay, well, that explains it.
“So, she’s… protesting?” I guessed out loud.
“Vigorously,” he said proudly. “Don’t worry. I expect she’ll forgive us by breakfast.”
I wasn’t so sure, especially when I saw Deja hurry after her sister. She caught up quickly, reaching for Jasmine’s arm and pulling her to a stop. Jasmine crossed her arms, her mouth moving while Deja listened, her expression becoming increasingly more concerned.
When Jasmine eventually stopped talking, Deja glanced back at me, and even from this distance, I could read the apology in her eyes. She offered me a small, tight smile, then disappeared through the doors after her sister.
Everything in me wanted to follow. A large, primal part of me wanted to swoop in and try to protect her from this if it wasn’t what she wanted. Hell, an even larger part of me needed to ask Deja if she was okay, because she sure hadn’t looked it, but I stayed exactly where I was.
Basel smiled at me when I refocused on the men he’d introduced me to, likely knowing how close I’d been to bolting but seeming pleased that I hadn’t done it.
I sighed, but I was also starting to realize that my marriage, the merger, and the expansion were going to take a hell of a lot more learning—and that sticking close to Basel’s side was the best way to do it.