“I received a call from Mark in Development,” Papa said. “He said you’ve cleared renovations on the San Diego Bay building? Aaliyah, we don’t do things behind one another’s backs. That shows me you’re incapable of handling things. You need Zayn to help you.”
“I’m proving my capability to you,” she said through her teeth. Her emotions were too fresh. She struggled to keep them at bay. “Why can’t you see that?”
“Because I don’t,” he said.
“Maybe if you didn’t keep such a tight tether on me, I would have run things past you in the first place.”
His heart rate on the machine beside him accumulated more bumps. He was growing agitated.
Aaliyah inhaled through her nose. She should never have brought it up. She thought he’d changed, but clearly, he hadn’t.
“We should talk about this later,” she said. “When you’re feeling better.”
His voice grew stronger. “We’ll talk about it now, Aaliyah. As CEO, you have to run decisions like this past the board. There are certain stones to step on before crossing the pond. You completely surpassed the appropriate steps. You disregarded my opinion, as well as Mark’s and a handful of other partners’. That doesn’t exactly instill confidence in your decisions.”
Humiliation welled within her. She thought she was prepared. She thought she was ready for this, and that she held enough sway in the company to have her orders taken seriously. This slice of humble pie was bitter, and it quickly made way for indignation.
If she’d been able to branch out, to get a job or start her own business like she wanted to, she could have learned firsthand what to do. She could have had experience and made smaller scale mistakes to build from.
Instead, she’d been shut out of every board meeting, every inquiry cast aside. She’d been told to go to the pool, drive her car, enjoy her pampered life.
“I feel like I can’t trust you,” Papa said. “I’ve given you everything a girl could hope for, and it’s still not enough.”
Years of resentment fought for attention inside of her, threatening to overflow. The emotion was completely unfair, she knew. Her father was in the hospital. Her feelings didn’t seem to grasp that.
“All my life,” she said, “whenever I wanted to try anything, you constantly pushed me down. Why? What would have been so wrong with me moving into a place of my own? With starting my own hotel line or even just getting a job so I could get some experience in business? In life?
“Mama wanted that for me. She didn’t care that you didn’t have business sense when you two first started this resort line. Look how well you two managed without it.”
“Aaliyah,” he said wearily.
She went on. “You were controlling before Mama died, and since then your grip has been even tighter. I’m my own person, Papa. I’m not your property. Not only that, but I’m also an adult. You can’t tell me where to go, who I can see, even who I should marry. That’s not how this works.”
She’d never known herself to lose it like this before, to spill everything, every thought, every hurt, in one swoop. It seemed a different version of herself had emerged, a version she’d been trying to suppress for years.
Her father wouldn’t stand for this behavior, she knew. Even being in a hospital bed wouldn’t keep him from putting her in what he thought was her place. As he’d said, he was a fighter.
In that moment, she realized she was a fighter too. She was through with being shut down, tired of being pushed aside and seen as nothing more than a trinket to him. If he really was dying, she couldn’t let him without standing up for herself. She couldn’t live with the regret that she’d never had the courage to tell him how she actually felt.
“How long have you felt this way?” His voice was quiet.
She couldn’t believe he didn’t know the answer to that. Then again, she’d never made it this clear before.
“My whole life.”
“You think I have been controlling you?”
“What else would you call it, Papa?” Her calm tone matched his.
“Love. Protection.”
She lifted her hands. “You can’t protect me from everything.”
“I have given you everything, and you have only seen me as controlling. You have betrayed me from the start.” He turned away from her.
Her throat closed. “Don’t say that, Papa.”
He said nothing. She made her way around the bed to be in the direction he was looking.
He turned his head the other way.
“Papa? Please, don’t do this.”
Tears stung her eyes. This was worse than the thought of him dying. He couldn’t see her as being ungrateful. She’d hoped they could be open, that they could find a resolution. She wanted closure before it was too late. She couldn’t leave things like this.
“Papa, I am grateful for everything. I know you’ve done what you thought was right. I’m just trying to tell you how I feel.”
“Hey there, Mr. Elir,” said the nurse, coming in with a clipboard in his hands. He paused, either at Aaliyah’s tears or at the stiffness swimming between father and daughter, Aaliyah wasn’t sure. How uncomfortable it must be, to be a nurse, she thought. How many intimate conversations do they end up interrupting?
“Excuse me,” the nurse went on, “but I’ve got to check a few things for your father. If you’d like to wait in the hall, we’ll be just a minute.”
Aaliyah glanced at Papa, waiting for him to alleviate her distress, to smile or placate the situation. He kept his face to the wall.
Another tear slid out. “I was just leaving,” she said.
She was heartbroken. She should never have accepted that lamp from River. It had brought her nothing but trouble. It had given her false confidence to fling herself at a man who wanted nothing to do with her. False confidence to make rash, impulsive decisions in the company she apparently knew nothing about running. False confidence to verbally obliterate her father in what could be his final moments with the truth of her feelings.
And now that she’d lost the lamp, everything was backfiring. Losing her temper on her father while he was in the hospital, of all places, making a fool of herself with the Development team, with the Board of Trustees.
And River. It was completely illogical, but she was crushed by his rejection. It wasn’t as though she wanted to drop everything and marry him by the end of the month instead of Zayn.
She’d been hoping to date him, just like anyone else. Go to dinner. Learn about his Mustang, maybe even help him fix it. Discover his secrets, things he’d held deepest to his chest, foods he loved, places he’d traveled. She wanted to know him, to see if there was something more between them than chemistry. Chemistry only she had felt, apparently.
She’d lost his lamp, so there was little chance of that now. Now she had to return to the hotel and tell him.
Aaliyah didn’t have to go up to River’s suite. He was standing in the lobby beside a black suitcase, wearing a black T-shirt that tested the muscles of his arms and torso, tan cargo shorts, and flip flops. With his dark hair casually flipped away from his forehead, and the day’s stubble shading his jaw, he looked gorgeous, exotic, and completely forbidden.
Tiredness swept over her. She was distraught and so weary. Her father despised her. River was leaving. Truth was her best bet now, even though it hadn’t done her any favors thus far.
River’s attention perked as she approached, giving her the same laser-like impression that in a room full of people he saw only her. She did her best to disregard it. It was all in her head.
“Hey,” he said. “I heard about your dad. You never told me he had cancer. Is he okay?”
Not only was Papa’s body failing him, but she’d gone and attacked his soul too. Some daughter she was.
She lifted one shoulder. “I guess so. His body isn’t taking the latest round of treatments well.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. What are they going to do for him?”
&n
bsp; “I don’t know.” She’d been dismissed before she could find out. She should have stayed anyway, she supposed, but she was too hurt to be thinking clearly.
Aaliyah blinked, wishing she could run to her room and hide beneath her covers, the way she had as a child. But she was no child. And she had to tell him.
“River, I’m really sorry, but I lost your lamp.”
His eyes flashed with insight. His smile dropped. “You mean—”
She tossed her hands. A family with small children standing beside the fountain glanced over at the gesture. “It’s gone. I’ve looked everywhere for it, but I can’t find it anywhere. I’m so sorry. I know how much it meant to you.”
River gawked, shaking his head in disbelief. That was what he’d been waiting for, after all. Not to say goodbye to her, not to ask about her father. He’d only wanted his lamp.
He remained speechless for several agonizing moments before blinking and saying, “What’s done is done, right?”
She winced. “I really am sorry.”
His lips strained into a thin line. She wondered if it wasn’t an effort at a smile. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got to go. Zayn’s plane is heading back this afternoon, and I’d better be on it if I want a free ride.”
This was so different from the friendliness they’d shared the minute they met. This was ice.
“I’ll keep looking,” she said. “If I find it, I’ll send it to you.”
“That would be great.”
Zayn stepped to his side, nudging his shoulder. He wore a T-shirt and shorts as well and held the handle of his suitcase behind him. “There you are. I was waiting up there, thinking you were still in your room. Hey, Aaliyah,” he added with a brief, disinterested nod.
“No, I came down here.” River spoke with his gaze on her before turning to Zayn. “Car’s on its way.”
“Good. We’ll need to leave the minute it arrives.” He inclined his head at them both before wheeling his suitcase toward the revolving, glass doors.
“Listen, Aaliyah,” River said once Zayn was out of earshot. “I’ve wanted to talk to you. What happened between us…”
She couldn’t listen. She couldn’t handle one more ounce of disappointment. “We were rushing into things because of my father and Zayn. It’s fine. Just a good memory, right?”
His brow puzzled at her. “I thought—”
A black vehicle appeared through the wide, glass entrance. In a moment, Zayn was at River’s side.
“That was fast,” Zayn said. He took Aaliyah’s hand. “Miss Elir, it was a pleasure to meet you. I’d like to apologize again for how things turned out between us. I’m truly sorry things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to.”
She wished she could say the same, where he was concerned, at least. “Sorry about your lawsuit,” she said. “Good luck to you, Mr. Hassan.”
He inclined his head and peered at River. “Coming?”
“I’m right behind you,” River said.
Aaliyah’s mouth was dry. She and River faced one another, and while they stood inches apart, there may as well have been a continent between them.
She tucked her lips over her teeth.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said. “I am happy at how things turned out for you.”
Confusion clustered in her mind. She’d told him she was happy about not having to marry Zayn, but happy was the last thing she felt now. What was he referring to?
“You can have what you want now, right?” River said. “With Zayn leaving, CEO can be yours.”
“I don’t know about that.” She didn’t know how to tell him how thoroughly she’d botched that dream. No wonder her father had always given her the kitten look. How cute, that his little girl wanted to build sandcastles in the sky when all she had was a kiddie shovel and a ladder.
“Aaliyah.”
Their gazes locked. Anticipation built block by block between them. She wanted him to ask for her number, to mention how much he’d come to care for her in only a few days, to offer to keep in touch.
“Goodbye,” he said instead, dragging his suitcase toward the door.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
1,100 miles wasn’t far enough away to get Aaliyah off his mind. River had never strolled with her at Times Square or Battery Park. He’d never met her alongside a hot dog stand or at the mouth of the subway, yet she somehow seemed to permeate the places he frequented.
She was in the song played by the saxophonist on the street corner. She was in the rumble of the train tracks over his head and the smell of exhaust at the sidewalk’s edge. She climbed up the high rises and into the clouds and back again every time he gazed that direction.
He’d thought things would be easier this way. He would return to New York, return to his bustling life of demands, structure, and solidarity, of scheduled meetings and constant phone calls, of traffic and crowded streets. He thought the busyness of everything would help him carry on without her.
River never expected her to go with him everywhere he went.
He sat at his office desk, and while he should have been focusing on the two meetings Zayn had later that afternoon, his goodbye with Aaliyah shuffled in his mind.
He’d been such an idiot. He could have handled things so much better than he had. Looking back, he realized how brusque he’d been. He’d basically brushed her off, but at the moment, he hadn’t been sure how to act.
In all honesty, he hadn’t wanted to overstep with Zayn. Dating Aaliyah right after she’d ended things with his boss would have been too strange, and while he’d resolved to let things with her be, an impulse had overtaken him. He’d intended to tell her how much she’d affected him. He’d been ready to mention a long-distance relationship, to keep in contact, at the very least.
But then she’d deflected. She’d been so reserved. So quick to cut him off instead of letting him share how he was actually feeling with her. He couldn’t say he blamed her, after the cold way he’d acted.
River tried to tell himself it was for the best, but the argument didn’t stick.
He hadn’t considered what it would mean to get involved with her. After their drive, after that kiss in her suite, his mindset had completely shifted from willing to wary. Logic began to settle in, pitching arguments he couldn’t contest. Being with her wouldn’t have worked. She lived wherever her father was. She traveled all over the world to oversee his hotels, and while there was an Elir resort in upstate New York, the chance of her coming to New York City any time soon seemed slim.
River also couldn’t stop thinking about her father. Aaliyah hadn’t told him Ahmed had cancer. River had only discovered as much after Mr. Elir was taken to the hospital. Was he all right? River supposed he’d find out in the papers if something did happen to him, though he would much rather hear it from Aaliyah.
He peeked through the blinds of his office door. Across the reception desk, Zayn strode from it to his own office beside River’s.
Aaliyah wasn’t the only one who’d shut him out. Zayn had been closed off more than he’d ever been. Ever since he returned from the return-trip to Fiji, he answered River’s phone calls and reported his necessary appointments and requests, but their usual back and forth, friendly banter was gone. Even questions about one another’s well-being had stopped.
River supposed he couldn’t blame him. He had technically dated Zayn’s fiancé behind his back. But this was more complicated than that. Zayn was dealing with so much more. River arranged appointments with his lawyers and overheard conversations between Zayn and Celia, but as for the threat of a lawsuit from Norris, he’d heard nothing.
He didn’t like the cold shoulder. Zayn had been his friend. He had to do something to make it up to him. River hadn’t gone directly to Zayn’s office without being summoned since they returned home, but he was tired of the distance.
Absentmindedly, his hand crept to his pocket only to find it empty. Aaliyah. Just one more thing to remind him of her. She’d been so happ
y, so excited when he’d offered his lamp to her. That made this separation between them all the worse.
River ran a hand over his face and leaned his weight against the closed office door. He was so confused by her sudden coldness. It went completely against the conversation they’d had the night he’d gone to her room. She’d been moonstruck, completely open and vulnerable when she’d admitted how she was feeling for him, how she wanted to end her engagement with Zayn to be with River instead.
At the moment he’d been on a cloud. He’d gone right along with her fantasy, telling himself it could work. However, her behavior in the lobby was so opposite. Had it been because she’d lost the lamp? Had she been worried about his reaction?
River wasn’t sure exactly how he’d responded when she’d told him. He couldn’t believe she’d lost it, but he couldn’t exactly blame her either. It was his own fault for letting it out of his sight. He’d tried making that clear, but maybe she thought he was upset.
River returned to his desk and brought up the Elir resort’s main website, hoping for a glimpse of her. The lamp wasn’t a big deal, not really.
Even though River had always claimed and believed the charm was lucky, he was starting to wonder whether or not it actually was. It’d been a coincidence, to have Aaliyah’s luck change so swiftly. And everything seemed to be falling apart for him since he’d given it to her. But was it really the lamp’s doing? Or was it just a result of choice and consequence?
Zayn had chosen to get involved with Celia instead of focusing on the task with Norris. River had chosen to be his assistant and was, therefore, helping him deal with the consequences. Zayn had chosen to disregard Aaliyah almost completely, as though she were a doormat he could step on whenever he liked. Consequently, River had chosen to spend more time than he should have with Aaliyah.
“It wasn’t luck,” he told himself, staring at rotating images of Elir resorts across the world on his computer screen. Luck would have meant he’d gotten to stay with her.
He supposed he could have if he’d chosen that, too. Left Zayn’s employ, stayed behind in Clearwater. Did luck exist anywhere?
Aaliyah and the Billionaire's Lamp Page 13