Chapter 37
COLIN
Istood in the sunny gardens of the Saad family home, listening to Ryan give me an update on what was happening at the office through the EarPods I’d stuck in before I’d come out here.
My phone was in one hand and I balanced my laptop on the other, struggling to see the projections he was referring to on the screen because of the glare, but I didn’t stand any chance of going back inside just yet.
“It’s like something out of an article in a business magazine,” Ryan was saying. “Seriously, I feel like I’m watching history being made in real time right now, the meteoric rise of Thayer Steelworks after its near collapse.”
I groaned. “We haven’t been anywhere near collapse for years.”
“I know, but that’s still the way it’s going to go down in the history books,” he said, sounding like he was shrugging. “I don’t know what the hell was going on the other night at that party, but whatever you did, it worked. This is incredible.”
“Yeah, I know.” I glanced back at the palatial house, smiling when I caught sight of Nanna standing on the other side of the glass doors leading out to the garden where I was.
It’d been a week since the engagement and things were already so different than they had been when I’d first arrived in Cairo. Basel and Khaled weren’t gluing themselves to my side anymore, allowing me plenty of free time between meetings and family meals.
While we were still always busy between work and the engagement, Deja and I could be out in public together now.
We’d gone to the garden districts and explored the markets without an escort, and with every new day, there was someplace else she wanted to take me, showing me sides of Cairo I genuinely fell in love with.
I’d even spent an entire day watching her pick through the flower market, taking pictures of her with her fancy new camera while she occasionally snuck in photos of me too. She especially seemed to like taking them while I was struggling to say no to every market peddler trying to sell me things.
At this point, I had so many gifts to take home for my family that I was starting to wonder if I was going to need a cargo plane to get back.
Our plan had been to visit the bazaar again today, but then the news of the GlobalStar-Thayer merger had hit the airwaves in the States and I’d pretty much been on the phone ever since.
“Our stocks are soaring, Colin,” Ryan said excitedly. “We’re at heights I’ve never seen before and they just keep climbing.”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it either,” I replied, wondering if Nanna would let me back in again yet.
All morning, I’d been on my laptop and fielding calls. My phone had started ringing practically the moment the news had broken and it hadn’t really stopped yet, beeps signaling that I was missing calls even while I was on the line with Ryan.
Similarly, my computer kept pinging with notifications for emails, but I still couldn’t see a thing. I really needed to get back inside, but I doubted that was an option after only a few minutes of soaking up the sunshine.
Evidently, I’d been working too hard today for Salima Saad’s liking, so while I’d been on the phone with my entire executive board, she’d barged into my bedroom and started bickering with me about taking a break, simultaneously trying to force food and tea into my mouth.
After spending more than a week with her, I was much more comfortable bickering back in Arabic, but fighting with people she loved seemed to be Nanna’s love language, so I’d been learning it, giving it my all.
Unfortunately, I’d lost our argument about needing fresh air, which was how I’d ended up here. Against my will, I was now stuck in the gardens, standing in the bright, hot sun while she kept a close eye to make sure I was still doing what I’d been told.
The feisty old woman had even locked me out, and not only was she physically guarding the door, she’d roped Tarek into it with her. He was a few paces away, but unlike me, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
Where I was impatiently waiting for the doors to open again, holding my devices and chomping at the bit to get back to it, he’d spread himself out on the freshly mowed green grass, his hands hooked behind his head and his eyes closed as he lay there.
I shook my head at him, but I also smiled just a little bit.
Tarek was twenty-six, only five years younger than me, but the guy was like a big kid, hilarious and so easygoing to be around. He cracked open an eye as if he felt me watching him, grinned, and motioned to the open patch of grass beside him.
“You might as well,” he said lazily. “She’s not letting you back in until she sees you’re actually making an effort.”
“Who was that?” Ryan asked in my ear, interrupting himself halfway through giving me the latest report on the news. “Is it that funny big guy who kept making jokes about Mr. Saad at the party?”
“They’re all big guys,” I said dryly, pumping my eyebrows at Tarek when I caught him actively eavesdropping, so obvious about it that he was staring at me. “He’s not that funny, though.”
Tarek grabbed his chest, feigning injury. I laughed again and finally started moving toward him. Before I’d even reached him, however, the doors burst open and Basel strode out, Nanna’s fists bunched on her hips as she watched him walk toward me.
While she didn’t look particularly happy about this development, she didn’t stop him either, which meant that he had her permission to interrupt my fresh-air-and-sunshine time. He smiled as he approached us, looking surprisingly relaxed in jeans and a designer T-shirt.
So far, our time together had been all business, but given his clothing, I had a feeling that wasn’t what it was about today. When I realized he was definitely coming over here instead of just going for a stroll in the gardens, I quickly interrupted my brother.
“Ryan? I’m going to have to call you back.”
I hung up before he’d said a single word, closing my laptop for good measure. Tarek climbed to his feet, brushing grass off his ass before glancing at me. “Were you supposed to be going to any meetings right now?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“No meetings,” Basel said cheerfully as he drew closer, that pleasant smile still on his lips even as he slipped his sunglasses into place. “Colin, I know it’s a busy day for you, but I was wondering if you might take a walk with me.”
“A walk, sir?”
“I want to show you the old village,” he said, ignoring the shock on Tarek’s face as he continued. “I would like to show you where my family comes from.”
My eyes widened, but I nodded without hesitation. Basel hadn’t gotten very personal with me so far, so I was taking it as a good sign that he wanted to do this. Nanna clucked her tongue at me when we passed her, holding out her hands after motioning toward my devices.
“There’s no need for those on a walk,” she insisted, smoothly stepping into our path when Basel paused. “Go get some exercise. Basel will show you our history, the streets, the places, and the people. No phones for that.”
I handed them over, not even too reluctant about doing it.
While it was important that I knew what was happening back home today, nothing would change if I didn’t know about it as it happened.
Jane and our PR team were on the ground there.
Khaled and GlobalStar’s PR team were covering things on this side.
It wasn’t my usual style to let other people handle business on a day like today, and I really would’ve preferred to be back at the desk in my bedroom, but ultimately, I also wanted to see where Basel came from.
I had a feeling it would be important to understand him better, and I was also just curious. The man was about to be my father-in-law, so from a personal perspective, I knew it meant something that he’d chosen today to do this.
Once I’d handed over my phone and laptop, I followed Basel out of the compound, surprised that we were going to this old village by foot, but it turned out to be just a few streets away. A different world, certainly, but not far from his current mansion.
Basel kept an easy pace, guiding me to a neighborhood that was visibly old and not particularly affluent. Sandstone buildings lined narrowed streets. Laundry fluttered over balcony railings while children played soccer in the street.
People greeted him constantly, everyone in the area seemingly knowing exactly who he was. That part wasn’t much of a surprise, but the fact that he knew them all by name in return was unexpected.
Eventually, when we’d wandered down another side alley, it opened up to what appeared to be the main entrance for a residential housing development. Weirdly, that was where Basel stopped. He let me look around for a minute before he turned to motion at the rows of squat houses.
“You wouldn’t know it now, but this was once my grandfather’s quartz mine,” he said. “When I was young, it was a treasure trove, but as it became exhausted, everyone thought the land was worthless.”
“Everyone except you?” I guessed out loud.
He chuckled but inclined his chin in a slight nod. “I bought every parcel I could and sold it to developers. It became my first truly successful deal as a youngster.”
I looked at it again, trying to see it for what it had once been. “I can’t believe this used to be a mine. It looks like the houses have been here forever.”
“That was the idea,” he said, not sounding boastful or nostalgic, but more like he was simply sharing this because he’d wanted me to see it firsthand.
We strolled a couple more blocks before he pointed at the storefront across the road. It bore a simple white sign with a red cross on it above the door, the name scribbled in Arabic lettering I couldn’t read just yet.
“Do you see that pharmacy?” he asked, drawing to a stop directly across from it. “It used to belong to my uncle, but this is where GlobalStar truly began.”
My eyebrows shot all the way up as I spun to take a closer look, but what he was saying didn’t make much sense.
I’d been to the GlobalStar headquarters a bunch of times.
I’d seen their factories, some of their smaller branches, and the offices at their pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, and this place was not on par.
It wasn’t fancy or even big, looking exactly like one of the many pharmacies I’d seen scattered around the city whenever we left the estate. This one was clean and busy, filled with customers, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. I glanced back at him.
“Are you sure?” I asked, only half-joking. “I mean, how?”
Basel smiled. “When my uncle retired, I took over and built GlobalStar from the ground up, from right here. I turned one pharmacy into two, then ten, then hundreds. This is the place that allowed me to set my sons up for life.”
If I’d been able to say I’d done something like that, I sure as hell would’ve been arrogant about it, but not Basel. There was definitely pride shining in his eyes, but he wasn’t cocky about it. Once again, it felt like he was just… sharing.
It really wasn’t a business practice I was used to, but around here, it seemed about right. Besides, he and I weren’t only conducting business together and he was no ordinary businessman, so I listened closely, curious to know more.
“Khaled has exceeded every expectation I ever had tenfold.” He chuckled as he shook his head. “The younger boys still need work.”
I laughed, surprised that he’d tell me something like that, but then he clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder and stopped walking to look at me. “You know, beneath all this Thayer drama, I know your father is proud of you too, Colin.”
I blinked a few times in rapid succession, wondering how he’d made that sound so casual while we were standing in the middle of the sidewalk. “Thanks. I appreciate that, sir.”
“But?” he asked, proving again that he was really good at reading people.
I lifted my chin, not really sure how much to tell him, but on the other hand, he was being honest with me today.
I wanted to pay him the same courtesy. “But I was too young to take over Thayer’s entire financial network when it happened.
I spent my entire twenties cleaning up messes I didn’t make, and so far, it’s taken me my whole adult life to dig my family’s company out of the hole. ”
I shook my head and shrugged. “With all due respect, sir, for the first time in a very long time, I feel like I can breathe again, and I don’t even mean for myself, but for my sister and my younger brothers. As for my father, I honestly don’t care whether he’s proud of me anymore.”
Basel looked at me, but he didn’t say anything, just waiting in that quiet way of his until I spoke again.
“What matters is that my brothers have opportunities I never did. And for me personally, I’m just happy that I can give Deja the kind of life she deserves.”
He studied me with that same unnervingly thoughtful expression he’d worn over beers in Chicago, making it feel like I’d said something he found vitally important. Finally, after a long silence, he smiled.
“Hearing that you’re only thinking about my daughter on what could easily be the most important day of your career is exactly what I needed to hear,” he said. “We need to talk about the wedding, son. Next month should work.”
While my brain hurried to catch up, my mouth dried out. “Excuse me?”
I’d thought I had months left to meet his conditions, but he let out a happy chuckle and clapped me on the shoulder again before he started striding back toward the house. “We’ll have the wedding next month, Colin.”
“Next month?” I repeated lamely, my head suddenly spinning.
He headed down the block where his career had apparently begun while I stared after him, trying to process the fact that by this time next month I could be married to his daughter.