Page 17 of Her Brutal First Love

They both knew he was hers.

Always was.

Always would be.

But—-

Sarica struggled against the urge to seethe in jealousy.

Was there really someone else who had Giancarlo's one and only bare-chested photo?

The thought nagged at Sarica as afternoon bled into evening with no sign of his return. She paced the luxurious prison, remembering how careful he'd been with his answers, how guilt had flashed across his face at her assumption.

Hmm.

There was only one way to get him back to the room, and Sarica put her plan into motion first thing the next morning.

"I'm sorry," she told the attendant who regularly brought her breakfast, making sure her voice carried to the others hovering nearby. "But I'm going on a hunger strike."

The effect was immediate. The staff started to panic, speaking rapidly among themselves in Arabic, and thank God for Dauphin's insistence on language training, which allowed Sarica to catch fragments of their conversation.

The master will kill us...

But we're not supposed to disturb him...

What about his wife?

Sarica's knees buckled, and she grabbed the back of a chair just in time to keep herself from crashing.

His wife?

Surely they could not be talking about her Giancarlo.

Right?

The room suddenly felt too small, the air too thin, and Sarica could feel her face lose color as memories assaulted her heart.

Wasthiswhy he wanted her to leave?

Wasthiswhy he had tried to keep his distance?

Wasthiswhy he did not want to hear her speak about her feelings?

Chapter Seven

The head of security made his call and sent his report to his superior, who also made his own call as he sent an envoy to Cayed, in which a closed-door top-secret meeting was ongoing. The envoy delivered the handwritten message to the concierge, who then passed it on to an executive assistant. The older woman folded the piece of paper after reading the message and knocked on the door before handing it to her employer.

Sheikh Nassif read the note with a raised brow before passing it to the man seated next to him.

"I think this is for you, my friend."

Giancarlo frowned as he unfolded the piece of paper—-

She has stopped eating.

—-and got to his feet as soon as he read its contents. "Please excuse me," he said tightly before walking out of the room.

"Please accept my apologies on my husband's behalf. Both of us love how fieldwork adds spice to our marriage. But even I have to admit that it does have its drawbacks—-" The woman's cherry-red lips curved in an appreciative smile as the restaurant staff came in with their entrées. "This is one of them, for sure. Don't you think it's unfortunate that Giancarlo has to miss this gorgeous piece of lamb?"

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