The Sheikh And The Single Mom (Sheikhs and Sweethearts #4)

1. Rashad

CHAPTER 1

RASHAD

R ashad Al-Zayed, sheikh of Al Soub and prominent businessman, was feeling good. It was a regular Tuesday afternoon, and he’d just closed a huge deal with Medtech Nord, a prominent medical company in Germany. The deal had been six months in the making, but Rashad had gotten what he wanted — as he always did. Now, his own company, Health Trackr, was free to thrive in the European market, with the benefit of Medtech’s infrastructure and technology.

Rashad reached for his cup of strong Al Soubi coffee and took a long sip. At thirty-two years old, he’d established himself as a leader in the business world with his company. He’d developed the enterprise, from creating the initial idea to rolling out the business, first in Al Soub, then in other Middle Eastern countries, and now in Europe. Germany had been one of the last holdouts where Health Trackr had struggled to gain a foothold.

That was over now. Just like in the Middle East, just like in Australia and New Zealand, Europeans would now be downloading the Health Trackr app as their first step towards addressing their medical needs.

Rashad took another long sip of his coffee and looked out the window. His office looked out over the palace gardens, and it was a truly gorgeous view. Palm trees danced in the desert breeze, the water feature sparkled in the bright sunlight, and Rashad could almost smell the roses in his mother’s garden. For many second sons, just living in a palace like this would be enough, but not for Rashad. He’d never been satisfied with being the backup for his older brother, Khalid, who would soon take over from their father as the sheikh of Al Soub. Instead, Rashad had built a business himself, from scratch, and had made a name for himself in doing so. Since Rashad had no interest in being part of a family, Health Trackr was the closest he would ever come to a baby, and he treated the company as such.

Germany wouldn’t be the end of Health Trackr’s expansion, either. Certainly not. Apart from a quick celebratory cup of coffee, Rashad wasn’t about to rest on his accomplishments. Instead, he reached for his cell phone and dialed Hameed Al-Kitabi, his assistant and second-in-command. Hameed answered on the first ring.

“Did you hear about the Medtech Nord deal going through?” Hameed asked.

“Of course.” Rashad grinned. “It’s great news.”

“Certainly. You should be proud.”

“I am, but that doesn’t mean that we can stop pushing Health Trackr forward. I think it’s time for a new challenge.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“It’s time to take on the US market. Health Trackr is a household name across much of the world, but we haven’t even tried the United States yet. The app is ready. The market is ready. We’re ready.”

“We’re ready,” Hameed echoed. “Shall I call a meeting of your business partners?”

“Please. Set the meeting for early next week. By then, we can pull together a full assessment of what will be needed to dominate in the US market. Once you set the meeting, let’s both get started on research. As always, I want to know everything — what similar apps are on the market, who might cause us trouble during rollout, and where our customer base will be.”

“Certainly. I’ll get started.” Hameed hung up, and Rashad sat back in his chair, savoring the last bit of his coffee. Life was good. If his success in other regions was any indication, within a year Health Trackr would be bringing in huge profits from American consumers. After all, health was the one thing that brought everyone together, no matter where they were from or who they were; everyone needed quality healthcare and better management of health records when they got sick. That was what Health Trackr offered, and that was the basis for the app’s astounding success.

The next Monday, Rashad was sitting in one of Health Trackr’s main office conference rooms across from his two principal business partners and Hameed. Abdul Boursani, Health Trackr’s Chief Operating Officer, tapped his fingers on the table.

“The US market, Rashad? I have to say that I’m pleased. You know I’ve been pushing for a move like this for a while.”

“I know, and I’m on board. I just wanted to wait until I could be sure that we’d thrive in the American market before we rolled out. We all have money and our reputations in this game. We have to win.”

“With you at the helm, I’m confident that we will.” Abdul nodded, his fingers still tapping. “You have my full support to start the rollout.”

“Thank you. How about you, Amira?”

Amira Kadif, Rashad’s Chief Financial Officer, didn’t answer right away. She was looking out the window with a distant expression, which Rashad recognized by now as an indication that she was thinking deeply about the topic at hand. A moment later, she turned to Rashad and nodded.

“I’d like to hear your specific strategies for the new market, particularly regarding our competition, but I agree with Abdul. It’s high time that Health Trackr joins the American market.”

Rashad’s heart lifted, though he kept his expression professionally neutral. He trusted his business partners, who’d been with them almost since the moment he’d begun Health Trackr, implicitly. If they agreed that Health Trackr, and Rashad, were ready to join the US market, that was an excellent sign. Beyond the business opportunities, Rashad was looking forward to a trip to the United States after many years of not visiting.

“Wonderful. Speaking of competition, I’ve had Hameed do a little preliminary research into our adversaries in the US market. Hameed?”

“Just a moment.” Hameed tapped a few keys on his computer, and the projector screen lit up with a smattering of logos. “My research has shown that there are numerous companies in the health market in the United States, but not many of them cover the same range of services that Health Trackr offers. Most of them reach smaller segments of the population, such as people with diabetes or pregnant women. Here’s a breakdown of the number of users of the second through tenth most popular health and wellness apps in the United States.” Hameed clicked to another slide.

“That’s a good start,” Hameed said. “With a little targeted marketing, I feel confident that we can draw most of those customers to Health Trackr by showcasing that Health Trackr is a more holistic app. It’s a similar strategy to the one we’ve used in other countries.” Not many of the companies had a significant market share, which was a good sign.

Amira and Abdul nodded as Hameed went on to the next slide.

“There’s one company that’s likely to cause a little more trouble,” Hameed continued. “This app, Heartbeat, offers similar services to Health Trackr and is used by a wide segment of the population. Heartbeat is distinct from Health Trackr, in that it focuses on early diagnoses of disease and connecting people with affordable healthcare, but there are too many service-area overlaps, and Heartbeat is drawing many of our potential customers.”

“That will likely take a more personal approach, like we used with Medtech Nord,” Amira put in. She knew of Rashad’s success in face-to-face business dealings.

“I agree.” Rashad turned to Hameed. “Have you identified the CEO of the company?”

“I have.” Hameed clicked to the next slide. “The founder and CEO is a woman named Nina Kendrick. She keeps a lean staff of employees, mostly on a freelance basis, and appears to run the company primarily on her own.”

Rashad leaned forward to examine the picture of Nina Kendrick that Hameed had put up on the screen. His first impression was that she was gorgeous. The picture, clearly a professional shot, showed Nina wearing a cream-colored blouse and standing in front of a blue background. She had curly blond hair, which was half loose around her shoulders and half pinned back on the sides. Her blue eyes sparkled, as though she were thinking of something deeply amusing, and the corners of her mouth were slightly lifted. If Rashad had met her in a club or at a conference, he might have flirted with her.

Nina Kendrick wasn’t an option for flirting, though. She was his rival, the main person standing between Rashad and the success of his business. No matter how beautiful she was, she was his competition first and foremost.

“Do you know why she runs the company on her own?” Rashad asked. “Do her profits not cover a staff?”

“According to her interviews, she chooses to maintain a small staff so that she can keep the app affordable,” Hameed said.

Rashad smiled at that. It meant that this Nina probably had a kind heart, which likely meant that she was trusting — and that he wouldn’t have too much trouble undercutting her. If that thought made him feel a little guilty, since Nina’s clear blue eyes were still smiling at him from the large screen, he didn’t dwell on that.

“Have you identified any opportunities to approach her?” Rashad asked next.

“I have.” Hameed flipped to the next slide, and Rashad smiled again. His second-in-command knew him well. “Ms. Kendrick is based in San Diego, where she’ll be attending a networking event for healthcare companies next week. That would be a good opportunity for you to approach her.”

“Perfect.” Rashad folded his hands. “I’ll have my travel coordinator make the arrangements. In the meantime, Hameed, please find out everything you can about Heartbeat and Nina Kendrick. I want a full dossier by the time I meet Ms. Kendrick.”

“Of course.”

Rashad turned to Abdul and Amira. “Do either of you have anything to add before I make the arrangements?”

Abdul shook his head, but Amira looked thoughtful again.

“What’s your plan for dealing with Ms. Kendrick?”

“It depends,” Rashad said. “After I get to know her, I’ll either use the information I gather to undercut her company in the open market, or I’ll offer a buyout if her app has anything that we can use.”

Amira nodded. “All right. Keep us updated.”

“I will.” Rashad got to his feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with the developers to get to.”

“I’ll join you.” Abdul got to his feet.

“Perfect. Let’s go.”

As Rashad and Abdul made their way downstairs to their next meeting, Rashad found that he was having trouble getting the image of Nina Kendrick out of his mind. He was no stranger to beautiful women, but something about her stayed with him. Perhaps it was the way her eyes sparkled or the confidence with which she held herself as a female founder in a male-dominated industry. Soft heart or no, Nina would be a worthy opponent, and Rashad found that he was looking forward to meeting her.

If he felt a little bad about putting her out of business, well, that would soon be forgotten. Rashad cared about nothing more than he cared about his company. He’d poured more than a decade of his life into Health Trackr, to the exclusion of anything else. After all, why should he have hobbies, a social life, or a family of his own when he could chase the thrill of expanding his business beyond what anyone had expected?

By the time Rashad was sitting down for the meeting with the developers, he was more or less able to put the picture of Nina out of his mind. He would meet her soon enough, and he’d put her out of business not long after that.

That was just the way things worked.