Chapter 17
Prince Rylan Al-Sintra cruised down the street, admiring the mix of architecture around him.
He was en route to another meeting, interviewing engineers for a bridge project in Lativa that was already behind schedule and bleeding money.
Worse, he had serious concerns about the structure itself.
Something wasn’t right—either the math, the materials, or both.
He needed a second opinion, and a name kept surfacing: Sam Bennet.
A brilliant engineer with a reputation for understanding both architecture and structural integrity.
As they passed a quiet block, Rylan’s attention snagged on a woman walking along the sidewalk. She wore loose jeans and a bulky sweater, her dark curls bouncing as she pushed a baby stroller beside a teenage boy.
Rylan blinked, then blinked again.
Was that her?
She looked like the woman Saif had been gutted over last year. He’d seen the pictures—Saif had shown them during a drunken night of cousinly bonding, slurring her name and swearing off women entirely. And now here she was, walking down the street like some ordinary mortal, with a baby no less?
Rylan frowned.
Was that why she’d vanished? Had she cheated? Gotten pregnant by someone else?
For a split second, he nearly told the driver to pull over. But instead, he grabbed his phone and snapped a quick photo.
She looked thinner now. Tired. But that smile—soft, open, luminous—Rylan understood immediately why Saif had fallen so hard. The guy beside her leaned in to check on the baby, and Rylan noted the protective way he moved. Was that the baby’s father?
Their SUV rolled on, but his mind stayed on the woman. Saif wasn’t over her. Rylan had seen it last week at the soccer match. There’d been no shortage of gorgeous women trying to catch his cousin’s attention. Saif hadn’t noticed a single one.
Nope. Not over her.
Maybe seeing that she’d moved on—had a kid, a new guy, and was living her life—might finally snap Saif out of whatever spell he was under.
Worth a shot.