Sheikhs, Lies and Real Estate: The Untold Story of Dubai (23 page)

So a salesperson’s job was to find the next
fool and convince him to buy at any cost. I think I had the hang of it. That
afternoon, Connor and I headed out for lunch at a nearby café on the Sheikh
Zayed Road, where I decided to find out a little more about him. 

‘So, Connor, tell me how you ended up here at
Milestone. It’s a long way from home for you, isn’t it?’

‘Fuckin’ long way. I was in a dead-end job as
an encyclopedia salesman. I decided to pack it in and travel across the Middle
East on my own a few years ago, you know, trying to find myself or some shit.
So I ended up in Dubai and bumped into Tariq at a friend’s barbeque. We got
talking about Dubai property, and he tells me “Dubai is like Rome”. I’m like “how?”.
So he’s like “It’s going to be the greatest city in the world”. Next thing I
know he’s offered me a job. I needed the money, so I thought, what have I got
to lose? And boom, here I am.’

‘Connor, can I ask you something?’

‘Sure, buddy, shoot.’

‘Is there a girl called Alesia who works at
Milestone?’

‘Hot Alesia with the sexy legs?’

I assumed we were talking about the same girl. ‘Yeah,
I guess that’s her.’

‘There was, yeah. She left recently. The rumour
was she was a bit of an entrepreneur and had a few other projects on the side.
Some say she even had another job. Beats me. All I know is she was freakin’
gorgeous, a real knockout. Do you know her?’

‘No, I just met her once. Very briefly.’

‘Lucky you!’ he winked. ‘Anyway, listen, I
gotta get back to work, but I hope with my pearls of wisdom you’ll be closing
that Marina plot in no time.’

‘What Marina plot?’ I asked as he got up to
leave.

Connor froze. ‘What? Nobody has told you about
the Marina plot yet? Jeez, that should have been the first thing you learned
here. The Marina plot is the Holy Grail!’

I was intrigued. ‘What do you mean?’

Connor sat back down and lowered his voice. ‘It’s
the last prime piece of land available in the Dubai Marina. The best damn plot
looking over the Persian Gulf. Don’t ask how we got it, but between you and me,
it came through Tariq’s connections at the highest level.’ He winked.

‘You mean from the sheikh?’ I whispered.

‘My lips are sealed.’

I read between the lines. ‘So what’s the deal
with it?’

‘Well, whoever finds a buyer will make at least
a million dollars in commission. Everybody at Milestone is secretly working on
it, whether they tell you so or not. It’s like a bank vault waiting to get
robbed. You sell this plot, you’re made, buddy. Good luck!’

I salivated at the thought and thanked him for
the tip. 

My desk at Milestone was tucked away in a cosy
corner near the business development team. It wasn’t a separate office as I had
hoped for, but a deliciously soft leather swivel chair and a panoramic view of
the Sheikh Zayed Road made up for that. Directly behind my desk was a giant
panoramic map of the city, which covered the breadth of the back wall. It
featured all the existing communities like Emirates Living, the Marina and Jumeirah,
as well as most of Dubai’s up-and-coming developments. As I stood in front of
it, my eye was immediately drawn to the palm trilogy that dominated much of the
vast coastline. The Palm Jumeirah was dwarfed by the Palm Jebel Ali and the
even larger protruding Palm Deira. Hovering between the Palms was the cluster
of World islands, and to the far left of the map another peculiar landmass
extended outwards and around the Palm Jebel Ali like a giant dinosaur claw.
This was the newly announced Waterfront, which was planned to house a further
1.5 million people, the largest manmade development in the world. There was
hardly any open desert remaining on the map, and it was only a matter of time
before the little that did remain was transformed into the next mega-project.

My business cards were waiting for me on my
desk as soon as I arrived. I took one out of the box and stared proudly at my
new title:
Head of Investments
. It oozed status and importance. I smiled
at how far I had come. Less than three years ago, I was a humble analyst at the
bottom of a steep and slippery career ladder. Today, I was the head of a
business division in the leading company in the globe’s fastest-growing market.
In Dubai, it didn’t matter that I had no property experience. At the age of 27,
I was at the peak of my career and it felt incredible.

After my induction and a lesson in sales from
Connor, I was raring to go. As a first step, I decided that developing close
relationships with developers would be a crucial element for the success of the
fund, as they would provide the important pipeline of projects to invest in
once I had raised the capital. Milestone’s most intimate business relationship
was with a developer called Signature Properties. Tariq was a tennis partner
with the CEO, who in turn had offered Milestone exclusivity to sell three
buildings, so I thought a meeting with Signature would be a good place to
start. But apart from business, Signature Properties was the talk of the
Milestone office for another reason too.

‘I heard you have an appointment with Signature
Properties tomorrow,’ said Sharon one morning. ‘Is that true?’

‘Yep, at eleven am tomorrow,’ I replied as I
typed up an email.

‘Who are you meeting with there?’

‘Erm, some salesperson I think.’

‘Do you have a name?’

I stopped typing and looked at Sharon
curiously. ‘Is it important?’

‘I was just asking, that’s all.’

I ruffled through my papers to find the name,
in the hope that she would let me work in peace. ‘Farishta Hijazi. Do you know
her?’

‘Farishta! I see.’

‘Ooh, Farishta!’ echoed Amy, who sat beside her. 

‘Well, just be careful,’ warned Sharon.

‘Careful? What do you mean?’

‘Farishta is the head of sales at Signature.
She also has something of a reputation.’

‘What kind of reputation?’ I asked sternly.

‘Face of an angel, heart of a devil. She will
eat you alive if you’re not careful.’

‘Eat you alive she will,’ added Amy.

‘Ladies, I’m going to meet her to discuss
business, not to ask her out on a date!’

‘Ah yes, that’s how it always starts,’ said
Sharon. ‘“Just business” they all say. But soon enough she will have you eating
out of her little palm.’

‘Out of her palm, yes,’ added Amy again.

‘Surely you guys are having me on,’ I said
dismissively.

‘Do you know what Farishta means in Arabic?’
asked Sharon.

‘No, I don’t,’ I replied, rolling my eyes. 

‘It means angel. And she’s the angel of broken
hearts, is what she is.’

‘Broken hearts, yes,’ said Amy. 

The routine was starting to irritate me. ‘And
how do you know all this?’

Sharon looked around to see if anybody was
listening. ‘She used be Connor’s girlfriend,’ she whispered under her breath. ‘I
shouldn’t be telling you this, but they were together for a year. He’s never
been the same man since.’

I lost my temper. ‘Well, I’m not Connor. I
appreciate the advice, but I’m meeting her strictly for business, so there’s no
need to be worried, thanks.’

Both Sharon and Amy looked a little hurt by my
outburst. ‘Okay. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.’

On the day of the meeting, I shaved with a
fresh blade and dressed in my finest suit, tie and shirt. If this Farishta was
the heartless man-eater she was being made out to be, I was going to show her I
wasn’t the type to fall so easily. I strolled into Signature’s plush offices
with the swagger of Hugh Hefner and the self-belief of Evil Knievel. I was
shown into the boardroom and waited patiently for at least twenty minutes. She
was late and I began to lose my patience. It didn’t matter how much of a heartless
goddess this woman was, her punctuality sucked.

Just then there was a knock on the door. It
opened slowly and in she walked.

‘Hi, I’m Farishta. I’m so sorry I’m late. We’re
in the middle of a very large deal and I got a little tied up.’

The first thing I noticed were her gorgeous big
green eyes, followed by her flawless olive skin and perfect physique. She was
one of the most beautiful women I had ever laid eyes on.

 ‘N-n-n-no problem at all. I was actually
hoping you would be late.’ I wasn’t making any sense. I needed to pull myself
together fast.

‘So you’re the new guy at Milestone I have
heard so much about,’ she said seductively, sitting down elegantly in the
leather chair in front of me. Her voice was soft and soothing, like music.

‘Erm, yes, I guess I am.’ I smiled like a
smitten schoolboy as she flicked her silky golden hair.

‘How is Connor, by the way?’

‘He’s, er, great. Do you know him?’

‘Yes, I do. We used to do a lot of business
together. And we kind of dated for a while too.’ I caught a glimpse of her left
hand. There wasn’t a ring. ‘So what do you think we can do together?’

As she leaned forward, I couldn’t help gawping
at her tight white blouse, which clung to her shapely physique. My mind was
going into overdrive and I was struggling to keep my composure.

‘Well, you may have heard that I am setting up
a Milestone Property fund, so we will be investing large sums for our investors
into new projects. Considering the strong relationship Milestone already has
with Signature, I think we can build on this and work on much bigger deals
together.’

Her beautiful eyes lit up with delight at my
suggestion. ‘Oh certainly, that sounds great! I would be more than happy to
keep you updated on our new launches.’

‘That would be fantastic’.

She spent some time talking about Signature’s
up-and-coming projects and plans. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her the whole
time she spoke, and I didn’t remember much of what she said.

 ‘Farishta, can I ask you a question?’ I said
as she finished speaking.

‘Sure,’ she replied.

‘It’s not exactly business related.’

She smiled coyly. ‘Okay...’

‘Well, I hear a beautiful French accent, but
you look so exotic. May I ask where you are from, Farishta?’

 ‘I’m French, actually. But originally from
Morocco. My family moved to Paris when I was a child.’

‘Ah, I see. That explains your exotic beauty,’
I smiled.  

She blushed. ‘You’re too kind.’

‘Well, thanks for your time. It’s been an
absolute pleasure,’ I said and prepared to leave.

‘No, thank you. I look forward to working
together.’

‘So do I.’ I almost walked into the glass door
before realising I needed to open it first, and I looked back sheepishly,
hoping she hadn’t noticed. She just smiled as I walked out of the building with
a giant grin on my face. 

***

‘So how did it go?’ asked Sharon as I got back
to my desk.

‘It went fine. You know, I can’t believe you
both. You built this woman up as some dangerous femme fatale, but she’s one of
the nicest, most sincere people I have ever met. I really don’t understand how
anybody can say a single bad word about her. She’s an absolute angel.’

‘Oh no, it looks like she’s got him,’ cried
Sharon.

‘Yep, he’s fallen into the trap,’ repeated Amy,
shaking her head.

‘What trap?’

‘That’s exactly what Connor said after the
first meeting. It’s how she gets her way. She’s just playing her game and
spinning her web.’

‘Spinning her web, yes,’ said Amy.

‘But what the hell could she possibly want from
me?’ I said angrily.

‘Are you blind? You’re setting up an investment
fund, so she sees you as a client to buy buildings and floors from her. She can
make a lot of money out of you.’

And then I lost it completely. ‘Will you two
just stop it? I’ve had enough! I think you have this woman all wrong and I feel
sorry for her. You know what, I think you are just jealous.’

The women looked shocked by my outrage. ‘Adam,
we are just looking out for you,’ said Sharon. ‘We genuinely care about you and
don’t want to see you get hurt.’

‘Well, thanks, but if I want two guardian
angels, I’ll be sure to let you know. Now please let me do some bloody work.’

Sharon sighed before coming to sit on the empty
chair next to me. ‘Do you want to know the full story about her and Connor?’

‘Not really,’ I said. ‘But I know you’re going
to tell me anyway.’

‘They met at a property launch and there was
instant attraction. They started dating shortly after and it all looked very
good. It was around the time that Milestone and Signature started doing more
and more business, so they were working together closely too. They were making
money and looked great, a real power couple. Connor fell completely in love
with her and after almost a year of dating he asked her to marry him. She
agreed and he was over the moon.’

 ‘Okay, go on.’

‘And then a month before the wedding, she completely
disappeared. Connor was searching everywhere for her. She didn’t come home or
turn up to work. He even called the police. Two weeks later she rang and told
him she was in Paris. She said she was pregnant. And he wasn’t the father.’

‘What? So who was the father?’

‘Nobody really knows. There are rumours that
she was a mistress of one of the Abu Dhabi sheikhs, but obviously we will never
know the truth behind that. Some say he was funding her extravagant lifestyle
in exchange for favours. Others say it’s the CEO of Signature’s child.’

‘So what happened to Connor?’

‘He hasn’t mentioned her since. He broke off
the engagement and refuses to discuss it. She eventually came back to Dubai
after the birth of her son, and Connor won’t work with Signature. If I were you
I wouldn’t even tell him you met her today.’

I was baffled. ‘I don’t believe it. It can’t be
true! She seemed so sweet and innocent.’

‘Of course it’s true!’ insisted Sharon. ‘Connor
told me the whole story. There’s more to this woman than meets the eye, Adam.
She is only motivated by money and power. If you’re going to deal with her,
keep your relationship at arm’s length, or avoid her completely. I’m certain
the real truth about her will come out one day and it won’t be pretty.’