Chapter 19
Ramit stared at the contents of the envelope. The naked pictures of his sister were there, spread out over his desk. They’d fallen out of the manila envelope with a note that said, “The land deal is off.”
Just like that? The idiots returned the photos and called off their demands that he finance their building project?
And why the hell had they sent him printed photos? What had they done to the digital images? The ones that Todras and Mathis had sent to him via email?
What the hell was going on? He wasn’t sure, but he would ask his security team to investigate Todras and Mathis. Ramit needed to figure out what those two idiots were up to. Their blackmail scheme had obviously gone ridiculously wrong. Were the two men as bad at blackmail as this seemed? Surely no one was this stupid!
However, Ramit wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. But who had sent him the incriminating pictures and why? He couldn’t compare handwriting since Todras and Mathis had only communicated with him via email.
His thoughts flashed to Maggie. Had she done this? Had she somehow realized that he was being blackmailed and addressed the situation?
No, that didn’t make sense. Maggie was…?
He was going to say that she was a self-centered bitch. But that wasn’t true. Maggie was soft and sweet and…and she’d just wanted a bit of spoiling. Was that why she’d sidled up to Barney Mathis? Or was there something more going on?
He’d never know.
With a heavy sigh, Ramit picked up the scattered pictures, stuffing them back into the envelope, and walked out of his office.
“Where’s my sister?” he asked of his assistant, Hamud.
Hamud jumped to his feet, and bowed quickly before he replied, “I believe Princess Ciara is in her office, Your Highness.”
Ramit nodded, then turned down the hallway. Ciara had set up her personal office outside of the administrative wing of the palace. He’d never understood why she’d chosen to be so far away from everyone else. Nor had he ever figured out exactly why she’d needed an office. What did she do all day? Years ago, he’d thought that his sister shopped for a living. Ciara was always well dressed in the latest fashions. And she traveled to all of the fashion capitals around the globe. Hell, she’d just returned from Milan two days ago.
Is that where she’d met the man in the pictures? Did she have other lovers? An even more important question; did her fiancée know about the other men?
And why the hell wasn’t Ciara married yet? She’d been betrothed to her fiancée over ten years ago on her seventeenth birthday. She’d looked star-struck on that day.
However, he hadn’t seen that expression on her lovely features since then. In fact, the last time Falk bin Alon, Sheik of Itim, had come for a visit, Ciara had been mysteriously absent.
Why hadn’t Ramit realized that something was off with his sister’s engagement? How had he been so oblivious about his sister’s happiness? And why hadn’t she set a date for the wedding? Was she waiting for him to give her the go ahead? She’d been betrothed for ten years! If she was waiting for Falk, it was well past time for her to move ahead with the plans!
Ramit paused in the middle of the hallway. Images of Maggie laughing at him as he’d stared at a painting in the art gallery, attempting to see what she saw. He’d been such a misogynistic ass! He’d viewed the images through a male perspective, never questioning the women in the paintings. He’d arrogantly assumed the same beliefs as the artist; that women were for marriage and child rearing.
Was he doing the same to Ciara?
Maggie. His body ached every time he thought of her. It had been months since he’d last seen her. Why did it still hurt when he thought of her?
Banishing the image of Maggie’s soft, sweet smile and the way she’d felt when he’d held her in his arms…Ramit shook his head and forced his thoughts to focus on the present. Maggie, as beautiful, soft, and lovely as she’d been…Maggie was in the past. She’d betrayed him with another man, and he wasn’t able to forgive that.
“Ramit?” his sister called out.
Startled, Ramit realized that he’d been lost in his thoughts outside of his sister’s office. Shifting, he found Ciara standing in the hallway with a cup of coffee, looking amused as she watched him.
“What are you doing out here?” he demanded brusquely.
She laughed and he was surprised by the lovely, musical sound. “I could ask you the same thing. It’s not often that we find you in this part of the building.”
Building. Not palace. She’d said “building”. Was that significant? He suspected that it was, but for the life of him, he couldn’t put his finger on why.
“I came to speak with you.”
She waited, her eyebrows lifting as if prompting him to speak.
“Alone.In private.”
They both looked around. The hallway was wide and open, but there were guards and servants hurrying about.
Ciara gestured to the door. “Why don’t you come into my office, then?”
Ramit nodded and followed her through the doorway. In her office, he was surprised to discover that there wasn’t just a personal assistant sitting at the reception desk. There were several people moving about as if they had important tasks to complete.
This wasn’t what he was expecting. And that, again, raised the question of what his sister did all day. He was starting to suspect that Ciara wasn’t the bit of fluff that he’d assumed.
“Ramit?” she prompted again, leading him towards a set of double doors. She pushed through, waited for him to follow, then leaned out of the doors and said to her assistant, “Would you push my next meeting back fifteen minutes?”
Ramit paused, startled that she had meetings, but also wondering if his conversation with her was going to take longer than fifteen minutes. But that’s when he realized that he rarely gave anyone more than that allotment of time during his day. There were just too many people who needed some of his time, so he had to be strict about boundaries and time limits.
She smiled politely at her assistant, although he didn’t hear the other woman’s response. Ciara nodded, then softly closed the doors and turned to face him. She walked over to the white desk and sat down, gesturing to one of the visitors’ chairs in front of her desk as she sipped her coffee.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
Ramit glared at her for a moment, wondering why he suddenly felt like a guest in his own damn palace! Why was his sister treating him as if he were…a client!
Pulling the pictures out from under his arm, he tossed them onto her desk. “I retrieved these for you.”
When she leaned forward to examine the pictures, Ramit stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched for her reaction.
It wasn’t what he’d been expecting.
“Well…uh…thank you?” she offered, blinking up at him. “I’m not sure why you wanted to retrieve someone’s sex pictures for me, but…?” she paused, tilting her head. “Should I thank you?”
He stared at her, stunned by that question. He was also surprised at how lovely his sister was. When had she changed from an obnoxious elf that had chased him around the palace to…this stunning beauty?
Shaking his head, he reminded himself of the current problem. With a tilt of his head, he asked, “Are you seriously going to tell me that isn’t you in those pictures?”
Ciara blinked, then leaned forward again, staring at the images again. “I can guarantee these aren’t pictures of me,” she told him, her tone icy now. “And I have no idea who this man is either.”
Ramit stared at her, stunned. “Are you sure?”
Ciara leaned back in her office chair, lacing her fingers over her stomach. That’s when he realized that his sister was painfully thin. Was she not eating well? When was the last time he’d shared a meal with her? He couldn’t remember.
“Yes, big brother. I’m quite certain I’ve never had sex with a stranger and allowed another person to take pictures. But thank you so much for your belief in my integrity and morals.” She flipped one of the pictures around, examining it more closely. “Plus, I have a small birthmark on my shoulder right here,” she said, pointing to an area of creamy skin that clearly didn’t have any mark.
Ramit flushed, then sighed and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Turning, he started pacing. For a long moment, he ran through the thoughts in his mind, trying to work out the details and figure out where he’d gone wrong with this situation. Had he been blackmailed by fake pictures of his sister?
But his mental flagellations were interrupted when Ciara asked, “Do I need to participate in this conversation any longer?”
He turned and stared at her. Yes, she was too thin, but his baby sister was…beautiful! Not just pretty, but her soft gaze and full lips, long, thick hair, and…just everything about her comprised a woman who was truly beautiful.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out. Those words were a surprise. He’d never apologized. Ever! Hell, no one had actually told him that he was wrong before. That realization made him cringe inwardly. Because he was human, and that meant that he was fallible.
“Sorry about what, big bro?”
He smiled at the casual nickname. “I’m sorry for believing those pictures were of you.”
She lifted one of her dark eyebrows and Ramit chuckled, suddenly understanding her silent rebuke. “Okay, I’m also sorry I’ve been a horrible, absentee brother for so long that I didn’t even recognize that the images weren’t of you. Have I abandoned you?”
Ciara rolled her eyes and leaned forward, propping her elbows on the desk in front of her. “You’re not a horrible brother. You’ve been an absentee brother, but that’s okay. However, I’m an adult, in case you haven’t noticed, and can take care of myself.”
He looked around as he realized he felt free, almost weightless. He hadn’t realized how much those pictures had bothered him.
“What is it that you do around here?” he asked.
Instantly, her expression turned wary. Even her body tightened. He noticed the tension in her shoulders when, before, she’d been amused and relaxed.
“Does it matter?”
He narrowed his eyes and considered her question. “I think it does,” he finally replied. “I suspect that it matters very much.” Moving closer, he stopped about a foot from her desk. “How do you spend your time, Ciara?”
She shifted in her chair, her hands tightening around her coffee mug. “Are you going to try to stop me if you don’t like what I do?”
“No!” he replied rearing back slightly. Immediately, he pictured Maggie’s angry demeanor if she ever heard him trying to limit a woman’s careers. Hell, he could picture her pretty lips pursing with anger, that one freckle mocking him. He was even shocked that Ciara might think he was that much of an autocrat. “Why would I?”
Ciara picked up a pen, idly spinning it with her fingers. “Well, you assumed that I’d have sex with a man and allow a third person to take pictures. So clearly, you don’t have a very high opinion of me.”
He glanced down at the images, confused by her comments. “A third person?”
“Of course,” she replied and sifted through the photographs spread out across her desk. “Look at the different angles. It would be one thing if the camera stayed in one place and the couple moved. However, the camera angle moves but the couple remains on the bed. You can tell by the background. These images were probably taken by a professional photographer.”
Ramit looked more closely at the images now that he knew that they weren’t of his sister. Sure enough, she was right. The camera angle moved. A third person was in that room while the couple posed.
“Damn, you’re right!” he hissed. “I was–”
“Fooled?” Ciara offered, smiling. Her expression was indulgent now. “That probably happens more often than you think.”
He glared at her and Ciara laughed, delighted with his angry fa?ade. He didn’t admonish her for that though. It sounded nice to hear her laughing. Hell, it felt nice to just talk with her. He’d missed her over the past several months. No, that wasn’t right. Ramit wondered how long it had been since he’d actually had a conversation with his sister. A real conversation and not the annoying murmured comments during official ceremonies.
“How have you been, Ciara?” he asked without thinking.
She stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. “Fine,” she replied, but wariness returned to her eyes. “And you? Are you okay?”
He pushed away from her desk and nodded. “Yes. I suppose.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Busy.”
She smiled and he relaxed slightly. “Obviously.” She stared at him for what felt like a long moment. Then she added, “I think you’re doing an excellent job running the country, Ramit. I don’t agree with your transportation policies, but otherwise, I like the direction your government is going.”
His eyes widened at her comment. “What’s wrong with my transportation policies?”
She shifted slightly, getting more comfortable. “The ten year road plans heavily favor the wealthy parts of our cities at the expense of those who are most vulnerable. The wealthy people don’t need more roads as much as the poorer sections of the cities. For instance, the plan for Ostra,” she continued, mentioning a city in the south of the country, “takes road-repair funding away from the most critical areas that need improvements. Your plan transitions that funding to resurfacing roads in areas that are relatively fine. I don’t know why.” Her eyes narrowed on him. “Property values in the poorest areas of the cities are severely impacted by neglected, rundown roads. A community can be transformed by a clean, new road. Plus, your policies require that the poorest areas be demolished to make way for new road development. The residents of those areas are forced to find new homes and that’s not fair. They don’t have the voice to argue against the road plans. Also, they don’t have the income to easily move to a new place. It’s not just the financial burden of moving. The people your plan displaces are the citizens that have the least amount of time to find a new place to live, meaning you’re putting them further at risk of falling into poverty by forcing them to take whatever new housing they can find quickly. In contrast, wealthy people have the ability and resources to investigate housing options instead of taking whatever is easily available.”
He was shocked by her knowledge of his transportation policy. “How do you know all of this?”
She rolled her eyes, but smiled and leaned back in her chair. “I’m not just a pretty face, Ramit.”
He felt…humbled. Again. “I’m sorry,” he told her, trying to convey his sincerity through his eyes. “I guess I just assumed that you…?”
“Shop for a living?” Ciara finished for him when he didn’t finish his statement.
He sighed, feeling slightly defeated. Again, Maggie’s sparkling, brown eyes popped into his head. “Yes.”
“Nah,” she laughed again. “I do more than shop.”
He hesitated, aware of the back-to-back meetings he had on his schedule for the rest of the day. He’d allotted only fifteen minutes to speak with his sister and he’d already gone well over that. Plus, Ciara had meetings as well. He’d interrupted her day and that was…rude, to say the least.
“Will you have dinner with me tonight?” he asked.
The surprised happiness on his sister’s face made him smile in return.
“I have a dinner meeting planned. How about tomorrow night?”
He nodded. “Wonderful. I look forward to it.” He didn’t know what was on his agenda for tomorrow, but he’d have his assistant move things around so that he could dine with Ciara. He realized now that he needed to make his sister a priority.
On the way back to his office, he stopped by the security office. “I need you to…,” he considered the possibilities for a moment, “punish two men.” When Nittan leaned in, bracing his hands on the desk, Ramit explained what Barney Mathis and Humphrey Todras had done.