Chapter 8
Rheadur
The Next Day
As I walk toward Prince Kaled’s private jet beside Jazmina, I try to ignore the bitter look in my father’s eyes.
Does he know we’re running away?
There’s a chance he suspects something, yes.
It was nothing short of a stroke of luck that allowed me to escape in time.
Luck and the prince’s kindness. He agreed, even without knowing the real reason, to grant his sister’s request and take me along on this sudden “vacation.”
My whole body trembles, but I force myself to stand tall, step after step, as if I have nothing to hide.
Inside, I’m terrified, wondering if, at any moment, my father will change his mind and forbid me from going to Paris with Jazmina.
Even though I know that’s unlikely, since not even my father would dare defy the will of the future sheikh, fear isn’t a rational emotion.
Jazmina reaches for my hand and squeezes it tightly, as if sensing that I might faint. “Almost there, Adeela. Hang on.”
When I finally step onto the last stair and into the plane, I can’t even admire the luxury of the aircraft or get excited about the fact that I’ll be flying for the first time in my life, something my father never allowed me to do on any of his trips.
“Where’s the bathroom?” I ask my friend.
“At the back of the plane, but use the one in the suite to the left.”
I make my way there, almost running under the startled gazes of the crew.
Jazmina doesn’t follow, perhaps understanding that I need to be alone.
In the bathroom, the nausea hits hard.
The tension that’s been building since I overheard my father’s conversation with one of his oldest friends finally drains from my body.
It wasn’t just the fact that he arranged my marriage to a man fifty years older than me that shocked me. Even though the idea feels like a nightmare, arranged marriages are still not unheard of, even if, nowadays, women are allowed to give their opinion about their prospective husbands.
My father always made it clear that he saw his daughters as inferior beings, and both my sisters and I knew that when we married, it would be under his approval, though I never intended to let it get that far, since once I went to England with Jazmina, I planned to run away from there to America.
So it didn’t surprise me that he’d be cruel enough to arrange a marriage without even asking me.
But what he said to the man, behind closed doors, in his study, and which I only heard by accident, showed me that there has never been, and never will be, any trace of love in his heart for me.
“I advise you to be strict with her once you’re married,” he said. “Her mother, my ex-wife, was nothing but a filthy prostitute, and my daughter carries her blood. I suggest you keep an eye out for possible acts of betrayal.”
“Don’t worry. I keep my wives within arm’s reach. There’s no defiance a good beating can’t cure. I’m planning to make the engagement official next week. When will you transfer her dowry to me?[28]“
“As soon as we finalize the contract.”
“What are the terms?”
“No returns. If you tire of her after a few months, do whatever you want, just don’t send her back to my house.”
That’s when I stopped listening and ran.
Why does he hate me so much? What have I done, other than being the daughter of the woman who left him, to deserve a life without a single act of kindness? It’s as if he’s been using me all along to punish my mother for leaving him.
Even with all the new restrictions on women’s rights since Sheikh Naim came to power, it’s not common for fathers to despise their daughters the way he does, even if they make it clear that sons are their favorites.
My father went a step further.
He doesn’t just treat me with indifference, like he does my sisters. He’s cruel, as if he spends hours thinking of new ways to humiliate me.
The panic I felt after hearing that conversation sent me wandering aimlessly, until I realized I’d left home and was walking toward the palace. I was in shock, and if I hadn’t run into Jazmina, I might have fled the city altogether with nothing but the clothes on my back.
She took me to her quarters, and there, I finally broke down and told her everything: about the nightmare that is my life in my father’s house, from what I remember of my mother’s departure to what I overheard today.
Jazmina is the kind of woman who acts quickly. Her mind races ahead of everyone else’s, and I felt calmer once she took charge.
She came up with the idea of calling her brother, saying that Kaled would be the only one brave enough to stand up to my father’s wrath.
And here we are.
The prince’s call inviting us to Paris completely ruined my father’s plan to finalize my engagement, since, on paper, we’re supposed to stay abroad for the next three weeks.
That means my father has broken his promise to the man he’d chosen as my husband.
But what only Jazmina knows is that I’m never going back to Rheadur. She’s going to help me escape.
Not temporarily. Forever.
This trip to Paris will not only save me from a forced engagement but also give me time and means to search for my mother.
Once I find her, I’ll go to America.
I wash my face and stare at my pale reflection in the mirror, replaying what happened yesterday. I don’t know what Jazmina told her brother, but before sunset, a representative from the palace arrived at my house sent by Prince Kaled himself.
He brought a phone with him and handed it to my father, saying the prince wished to speak to him.
Of course, I already knew why. But I was still terrified when I saw the change in my father’s expression.
Hatred.
His entire body radiated fury, and I had no doubt it was aimed at me.
His tone stayed calm, but he tried to argue with the prince, claiming that I shouldn’t travel at that time. Yet he didn’t mention the engagement, and I think I know why.
As the sheikh’s advisor and a close friend of the late ruler, he’s a man of prestige. He has to choose carefully to whom he offers his daughters’ hand.
Even if I’m technically unfit to compete with the women who dream of marrying a sheikh or a prince, my future husband should at least be a man of influence and power, as is customary for marriages among the elite.
The man he chose for me, however, is coarse and unrefined, a merchant with no education or wealth.
Those things wouldn’t matter to me if I loved him, but that would be impossible, since I’ve never even seen him before.
In my heart, I know my father chose him deliberately to degrade me, and to make sure my life would be miserable.