Blood of the Nile (15 page)

It was then that
Ramses lifted his head and gazed into her eyes. Even through the foggy haze of
arousal, she observed the prophetic expression that canvassed his face. It was
almost haunting; nothing like the lust-filled perusal he displayed earlier in
the midst of their lovemaking.
A gust of anguish, of
gut-wrenching betrayal.
At once, Maliyah knew something was amiss.

Maliyah shot up
from the mattress, her fingers flexed toward Ramses’ broad shoulders, urging
him to halt their sensual play. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “What are you
not telling me?”

Ramses sat up on
his knees. He scrubbed his hand over the stubble that had grown on his cheeks,
then
shook his head vigorously from left to right. “Forgive
me,
habibti
. I only meant to spare you a moment of
pain,” he said as he drew Maliyah into his lap. He caressed the soft skin
underneath her chin, a gesture she knew was meant to keep her calm. “It is your
Uncle Shahad. He’s the man responsible for your despair. Boris sent me
undeniable evidence.”

“Uncle Shahad?
Salma and
Husani’s
father?”
Maliyah’s cocked her head sideways. Her eyes narrowed quizzically. “That piece
of scum is dead! He got what he deserved long ago.”

“No,
my love.
That was only speculation on your
father’s part. He had no proof of
Shahad’s
demise.”

Maliyah stood
abruptly and shot across the room. She rubbed two fingers over her aching
temples. “How can you be so sure? And why would he hurt my father? He was the
only man who ever showed Shahad a scrap of compassion!”

“Greed.
It’s the only possible explanation. It can seep into a man’s spirit
and
wreck havoc
,” Ramses confessed, his gaze cold and
distant as if remembering something from the past. “It has made many a man,
including me, make poor decisions.”

Pressing a palm to
her forehead, Maliyah tried to make sense of the information Ramses had shared.
She needed to think of a way out of this mess. “So what do we do now? How do you
expect me to tell Salma and Husani that their father is behind this charade?
They’ll be devastated. Ashamed!”

“Let’s go home to
Cairo. I’ll arrange for safe passage as soon as possible. That way, we can
break the news to your cousins face to face. Besides, Shahad and
Anat
have undoubtedly fled the island and we’ll need time
to come up with a plan to draw them out again.”

“Ramses, I’m not
sure I can handle
anymore
of this. Maybe I should just
catch the next flight back to Italy.” As Maliyah spoke the words, her vision
suddenly went fuzzy. Her body broke out in a cold sweat. She felt her body
waver. Without warning, her knees buckled and she sank to the ground. She sat
there speechless as tears streamed incessantly down her checks. The stress of
the last few weeks had pushed her to the breaking point.

Ramses was there
as soon as she hit the floor. He wrapped his arms around Maliyah, cradling her
in his comforting embrace. He pressed a kiss to her brow and whispered soothing
words while he wiped away her tears. “
Shh
.
Everything’s going to be okay,
habibti
. I know I keep
promising you that, but it’s true.”

 
“When will this nightmare end? It’s too much
to bear,” Maliyah managed to mutter between sobs. She continued her blubbering
tirade, until Ramses scooped her up and carried her to the bed. He gently laid
her down on the mattress,
then
slid in next to her,
letting her head rest against his bare chest. He didn’t utter a single word. He
didn’t need to. Safe and warm, she snuggled up next to him and wept. She cried
so much that soon, the tears refused to fall any longer.

Lying in the darkness
listening to her lover’s even breathing, an idea swirled around inside
Maliyah’s head. For hours, her mind raced with possibilities until she’d concocted
an elaborate ploy from beginning to end.
The perfect card to
force her uncle’s unruly hand.
But in order for it to work, she’d need
Eva and Andreas’s cooperation.

Chapter Seventeen

The Art of
Deception

They had just
stepped into the lobby on their way to dinner when Maliyah’s cell phone buzzed
in the back pocket of her denim skirt. She recognized the number immediately. It
belonged to her mother. Although the two women had emailed each other regularly
to keep each other up to date on the investigation into Anwar’s death, they
hadn’t spoken on the phone for close to three weeks. Celeste had been off on
another adventure, reporting on the inevitable thaw of the polar ice caps in
Antarctica. Needless to say, cell phone coverage in the Polar Regions had
proven hard to come by. A phone call from her mother could only mean that she
had arrived home to Miami.

Maliyah placed a
hand on Ramses’ forearm, urging him to stop so she could answer the call before
they joined their dinner guests.
“Hi Mom.
You home
yet?”

“Yes, I arrived
this morning.
Any news on the investigation?
I know you’re
eager to get back to Italy.” Celeste sounded tired. Her voice seemed smaller
and more frail than usual. This last assignment must have been especially
taxing on the aging matriarch. Or maybe she was worried about her daughter?
Either way, the genuine love and concern from her mother, made Maliyah’s heart
swell.

Last night, all
Maliyah wanted to do was escape. Run home and forget all about the past month
of her life. But with a game plan in sight, a renewed sense of self-assurance
had emerged. That morning when she woke up, she’d called her boss and told him
she needed to extend her leave of absence. Luckily, he had understood.

“I’m not sure I’ll
be returning to work so soon. We’ve turned up some substantial leads, but we
need more time. Mom,” Maliyah paused in order to prepare both of them for the
enormity of her admission. Even though Maliyah had had a day to let it sink in,
the truth was still hard to believe. “Uncle Shahad is alive. We have evidence
that links him to my father’s murder.”

“What?” A
high-pitched screech came through the other end of the receiver. Clearly,
Celeste was shocked by the revelation. “Anwar had been convinced his brother died
years ago.”

“His fingerprints
were lifted off a glass at a home here in Elephantine. It’s the same location
where
Anat
has been hiding out.”

“Maliyah, please
be careful,” Celeste warned. “Shahad is trouble. Look at the pain and heartache
he’s already caused. Maybe you should take what you’ve learned and go to the
local police. Let them proceed from this point on.”

Maliyah knew that
what her mother purposed seemed logical. They should take what they know
straight to the police. Unfortunately, Maliyah couldn’t do that. Regret had
slowly crept up inside her, making it virtually impossible to walk away and let
the authorities take over. Self-condemnation overpowered her thoughts and emotions
like a cancer plaguing her soul with guilt. Throughout her entire adult life,
Maliyah had sat by and watched the relationship she shared with her father
deteriorate. She did nothing to stop it. This was her way of making amends, and
it had to happen on her own terms. No police. Although she had a feeling her
mother wouldn’t understand her motivation. Better to end the conversation
quickly, rather than get into a long, drawn out debate.

“Don’t worry. I’ve
got a plan.
Gotta
go.
Love you. Talk to you soon.” Maliyah hung up the phone
before Celeste had the chance for rebuttal.

For the first time
in several minutes, Maliyah made eye contact with Ramses. She saw the look of
disapproval reflected in his gaze. He appeared as if he was about to say
something, but instead shrugged his shoulders and clasped his hand over hers.

“What? No snarky comments
from the peanut gallery?”

“As your father
once told me,” he said as he placed a gentle kiss to the inside of her wrist.
“Choose your battles wisely.”

“My father was a
smart man.” Maliyah moaned, instinctively reacting to his touch. The man could
cause a mound of snow to melt into mush.
Even at the slightest
caress, the chemistry between them cracked and sizzled, forcing Maliyah’s body
to bow toward the man at her side.

“Yes, he was.
Smart enough to keep his lovely daughter a fair distance away from me while he
was alive,” Ramses grinned, bearing a pair of protruding fangs from the corners
of his mouth. No doubt, he was turned on. Although he tried his best to keep
the formidable vampire persona he possessed under wraps. Nonchalantly, he
tucked Maliyah’s arm under his elbow and led them to the dining room to meet up
with Eva and Andreas.

It was seven
o’clock sharp by the time they squeezed into a corner booth in the hotel’s
restaurant. Five minutes later, Eva and Andreas waltzed into the room
hand-in-hand. Maliyah was glad for the distraction. In the short amount of time
they were left alone, the conversation with Ramses had been filled with one sexually
charged innuendo after another. A girl could only handle so much.

Turning her
attention to their impending dinner guests, Maliyah couldn’t help notice the other
female’s relaxed, carefree demeanor. Her eyes sparkled and she had a certain
glow about her. Maybe it was because of the pregnancy, but it seemed to be more
than that. With her husband at her side, she appeared to be the picture of
health – happy, vibrant, and in love. Seeing the two of them together filled
Maliyah with a sense of hope. She, too, wanted to share her life with someone
special and the fact that these two – a vampire and a huntress - could make it
work, helped renew her faith in love.

As the couple
approached them, she caught Ramses staring at her from across the table. An
inexplicable sentiment flickered across his face moments before he reached out
and entwined their fingers once again. He closed his eyes and took a deep
breath. In that instant, Maliyah understood her lover’s inscrutable expression.
Longing.
She felt it too. It was wholly different from
any other emotion she’d ever experienced. Yet with dinner guests a few feet
away, now was not the time to explore these newfound feelings. Unfortunately,
that would have to come later.

Before the other
couple noticed, Maliyah snapped herself out of her short-lived fantasy. “Hey
guys. Thanks for agreeing to meet with us. I feel bad. We’ve already taken up
enough of your honeymoon. We won’t keep you long,” she said, motioning for them
to take a seat.

“Maliyah has some
hair-brained scheme she wants to discuss with you both. She wouldn’t even give
me as much as a hint until you agreed to join us for dinner.”

“It’s nothing
personal, honey.” Maliyah shot her lover a playful wink. “It’s just that
Andreas has certain connections that you lack. We’ll need his expertise in
order to make my plan work.”

Ramses snorted
unceremoniously. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to make me
jealous.”

“No worries, my
friend. I’m happily besotted,” Andreas replied as he wrapped one arm around his
wife’s shoulder, and rubbed the ever-expanding evidence of her pregnancy with
the other. “How can I help?”

“I need you to get
in touch with the trustees at a couple of well-respected art museums. I was
thinking we’d start with the MET in New York City since you’re a member of their
board of directors. And someplace local, like the Egyptian Modern Art Museum.
I’m considering making large monetary donations to both institutions, maybe
funding an endowment or two.”

Maliyah glanced
back and forth between the two men, awaiting some sort of verbal acknowledgment.
They looked a bit perplexed. She knew her request had come out of left field.
But she hoped that once she laid out the fundamental details of her plan,
they’d recognize the genius behind it.

Uncle
Shahad’s
motivation had always been one-sided. Money was
the only thing that ever mattered to him. Hell, he’d abandoned his wife and
children because they were too much of a financial burden for him to bear. Instead
of taking responsibility for his family, he preferred to lead a life dominated
by gambling and debauchery. The greedy son of a bitch only cared about himself and
had proven that further by extorting money from his own brother. When that
didn’t work, he resorted to murder. Maliyah wouldn’t put anything past him.

The only way to
hit a man like Shahad where it hurts was to aim for his wallet.
Or in this case, his lack thereof.
Cut off the head of the snake so it can no longer bite you
, as her
father used to say. Maliyah’s strategy involved the contribution of a large
portion of her inheritance to charity. The idea was that the two aforementioned
art museums would serve as benefactors of said generosity. She was never
interested in her father’s money and giving away half his fortune wouldn’t
bother her in the least. It would, however, rattle her dear uncle. If she
wanted the ruse to work, she had to make the announcement public via a
televised press conference, and then wait for her uncle to retaliate. She knew
he’d start with another attempt on her life. With a little help from family and
friends, Maliyah would be there, ready to catch him in the act.