Chapter 36
JASMINE
Saying goodbye to Isaac, even just for a few hours, was harder than it should’ve been. All morning, I’d had this weird sense of finality that had absolutely nothing to do with the cruise. That was over, sure, but Isaac was only heading back to our building in Heliopolis today.
I waved at him when Rashid picked us up from the docks.
I was only heading to my parents’ house to talk to my father, but it felt like much more.
I twisted in my seat to watch Isaac until he’d faded from view, late afternoon sunlight turning his hair into a cloud of golden copper and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder like it weighed nothing.
Irrational tears pressed at the backs of my eyes when I finally couldn’t see him anymore, a very real sense that nothing would ever be the same again washing over me in devastating waves. I choked back a sob, keeping my head down to shield my face when Rashid glanced at me in the rearview mirror.
I heard him sigh quietly, but he didn’t ask. He rarely did, which was one of things I appreciated most about him. Instead, he turned up the radio and put on my favorite playlist, leaving me to my thoughts as he drove to the estate.
When we arrived, he opened the door, sending me a soft, understanding smile as I climbed out of the car. “Good luck, Miss Saad.”
“Thanks, Rashid. I’m going to need it.”
With that, I squared my shoulders and headed inside with my head held high, doing my best to appear calm and collected when on the inside I felt anything but. I didn’t see Mom on my way to my father’s study, but that was probably for the best. If anyone would make the facade crack, it was her.
My father’s door was open when I reached the end of the hall, so I drew in a deep breath and walked in. He was sipping a cup of coffee as he studied a pile of reports spread across the desk. He looked up but the smile he gave wasn’t warm or reassuring.
Instead, he looked mildly relieved and a lot more than mildly wary. “You’re home.”
“I am.” I dropped into the chair opposite his desk, crossing one leg over the other while he kept looking at me like he was afraid I was about to pull out a weapon. “What’s going on, Dad?”
“Did you enjoy your trip?” he asked, slowly pushing the reports away and leaning back in his chair. “Where did you go?”
“On a cruise down the Nile,” I said vaguely. “It was wonderful. Your turn. What is it?”
“David came to see me.” His elbows slid onto his armrests and he steepled his fingers, looking at me over the top of them. “He has formally asked for your hand in marriage.”
I shook my head, then shrugged. “No.”
His eyebrows lifted. “That’s your entire response, just no?”
“I could give you the longer version, but that’s the bottom line,” I said firmly. “He asked and I’m saying no.”
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“Neither do you.”
“That’s because I’m not.” The corners of his lips quirked up. “There were preliminary discussions that hinted it was coming. What’s your excuse?”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “This isn’t exactly the first time someone has decided that I’m the missing piece in his strategic life plan, is it?”
He chuckled. “No, it’s certainly not.”
“Yet my answer remains the same as always. A firm, resounding no.”
They always asked Dad’s permission before even considering asking mine, and no man who treated me like another acquisition waiting for board approval was ever going to become my husband. It was that simple.
“I’ve already told him your feelings on the matter,” my father said, and while nothing else he’d told me so far had even made me skip a beat, something in his tone now sure did. “However, his proposal wasn’t entirely personal.”
I frowned. “What does that even mean, not entirely personal? How is asking if he could marry your daughter anything but personal?”
Dad held my gaze, but there was a heaviness in his eyes that scared me. “The proposal he made was two-pronged, Jasmine. If you say yes, he’ll withdraw his company’s design from the running for the development of the industrial complex. If your answer remains no, David gets the bid.”
Icicles shot through my veins and my stomach bottomed out. “What are you talking about? I thought he already got the bid.”
“In principle, yes, but the board is expected to make its final recommendation next week,” he explained. “I’ve been trying to convince the directors that Isaac’s proposal is the better investment, but I’m not sure there’s anything else I can do.”
I stared back at him for a long minute, then laughed, my head shaking from one side to the other. “So this is a negotiation. You told David I wouldn’t marry him, but he couldn’t accept that answer, so he countered with something he knows you want, which is for Isaac to build your compound.”
“I’m not negotiating. I simply told him I would relay all relevant information to you and this is part of it. If you marry him, his company will withdraw, and since we had no other bids, Isaac’s design will be approved by the board.”
“A marriage proposal tied to a multi-billion-dollar development?” I pushed to my feet. “Either way, David wins and we lose.”
“It’s not about losing, sweetheart.”
I threw both my hands out to my sides. “Really? Because it sure as hell feels like I’m losing no matter what I decide here.”
“David believes both outcomes benefit everyone involved.”
“Oh, well, how generous of him. Why didn’t you just lead with that?”
My father pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sweetheart, the only reason I’m bringing this up is because it’s not an unreasonable proposal.”
“No,” I snapped, my hands flying to my hips. “It’s entirely unreasonable, but none of you can see it because it’s about money. Just like everything always is. I’m so fucking sick of it.”
Dad sighed. “Is there any point admonishing you about your language?”
“No, because I really am sick of it. Everything always comes back to money. Every conversation and every decision comes back to leverage to make more of it. Every relationship has to benefit someone’s portfolio.”
“That’s not fair.”
“No?” I snorted. “A man is trying to trade an industrial development contract for my hand in marriage just because his father made some stupid financial decisions and lost all his—let’s say it together now—his money. He lost his money.”
“No one is trading you, Jasmine, and yes, okay. David’s family is in trouble, so he’s trying to help, but?—”
“He’s not trying to help. What he’s trying to do is find the easy way out. That’s either by tempting you into making me marry him if he lets Isaac have the contract, or taking the contract from Isaac with a vastly inferior design simply because he knows you and your board members.”
“He’s not tempting me, Jasmine.”
“Oh, but he is,” I argued. “He knows you brought Isaac here all the way from Chicago to design something you actually wanted to build, something that would put GlobalStar’s Sharm operations on the map internationally, and he knows you want Isaac’s bid to win.
That’s why he pitched his proposal the way he did. ”
“Isaac’s design is better than David’s. We’ve already settled that, but it doesn’t mean I’m tempted to go against your wishes.”
“I don’t care about David,” I said sharply. “I don’t want to marry him, but Isaac deserves better than this. He worked damn hard on that design and I want him to have what’s fair.”
“So do I.”
My eyes rolled. “Sure, as long as your board wants it too, right? It doesn’t matter that Isaac is genuinely talented or that he actually cared enough about your stupid complex to turn it into a work of art. All that matters is the money, and now, because of that, David has you by the balls.”
“Jasmine,” Dad warned, his voice low. “You will not?—”
“Okay, I’m sorry I phrased it like that, but it doesn’t make what I said any less true.
” I held his gaze. “David has leverage over you because your board didn’t care about the bigger picture.
Isaac is a truly passionate engineer who pursued a career in something he has a talent for, and then we have David, who hired a bunch of hicks at the last minute and somehow still won. ”
Dad remained silent, evidently realizing this wasn’t a fight he was going to win, so I went on, the words tumbling out of me in a steady stream.
“When Isaac’s family lost everything, he didn’t take shortcuts to try and get it back.
He worked hard. He found what he loved and he went after it with everything he had.
He’s probably still paying off the student loans for that decision and yet he’s never complained. ”
I inhaled a deep breath. “In his hands, this development could’ve been a significant milestone for our entire country. Like the Aswan High Dam. Instead, it’s going to be just another industrial complex, exactly like so many others around the Gulf.”
“Yes.”
I scoffed. “It’s not fair. How is any of this fair? Life has been a bitch to Isaac ever since he was a teenager, but he’s never let it get him down. He just keeps going. He keeps working hard and he keeps dreaming. If anyone deserves something good for once, it’s him. Not David.”
When I finally ran out of steam, Dad studied me for a long moment. “Do you love Isaac?”
The question hit me so hard that I almost doubled over. It pinged through my brain like a bouncy ball with nowhere sensible to land. Love. Do I love him?
I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t answer the question.
And it wasn’t because I didn’t love him.
It was because one selfish decision from me could ruin the best opportunity he’d had in years.
If I admitted it, chose him, and dug in my heels about not marrying David, Isaac would lose the chance of building something that would make him sought after worldwide.
As little as I knew about engineering, I’d done at least a little bit of research and a project like this could launch Isaac’s career into the stratosphere. Dad watched me carefully as all those thoughts went flying through my head. Then finally, he sighed.
“It’s alright, sweetheart. You don’t have to answer.” He stood up, walked around the desk, and lowered himself into the chair next to mine. “I meant what I said before. I preferred Isaac’s concept and I still do. There are other projects that I intend on pitching to him.”
“Not like this.” I lifted my gaze back to his. “This could be the big one. You and I both know it.”
He inclined his chin. “Perhaps. For now, but there will always be others.”
“Can you promise he’ll get another opportunity to build something like this?
” I asked. “I know there are other projects and I realize that he will be able to keep working as an engineer either here or in America without this development, obviously, but there’s only so many projects that have the potential to shape a region. ”
“That’s true.”
“This is one of those projects,” I said quietly. “If Isaac builds the development the way he wants to, your complex will one day become a tourist attraction, just like the dam. People will come from all over to see it.”
“It’s possible.”
I exhaled a long, slow breath and gave my father a sad smile. “You are the founder, the owner, and the CEO of GlobalStar. At the end of the day, Dad, it should be your choice above anyone else’s.”