Page 214 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

SHE SHOULDN’T TALK. She shouldn’t want to talk. But whatever fairy dust Desmond had sprinkled in the room the night before must be in effect again, because she began telling him her story.

“I met him one night when he dropped his wallet,” she said. “It was Mardi Gras, when I was still young and excited enough to go. He was visiting New Orleans, trying to get a buyer for some new energy drink he claimed would keep people partying all night long. I was with my friends, and I’m really not the party type, so when I returned his wallet and he gratefully asked me to dinner as a reward, I agreed.”

It was surreal, how narrating the events of that evening so many years ago was bringing back smells, colors, and sounds: music from a brass band several meters away; an acrobat dressed in neon yellow, contorting himself into shapes just to her right; the smell of barbecue and burnt sugar. And Malik’s dark, handsome face, peering into hers as if surprised and pleased at what he’d stumbled across.

“His life sounded so exciting. His business ventures. He’d opened a chalet in Aspen, had food trucks in Oklahoma, traded crypto currency. He’d been to so many places, and…well, I was feeling a little trapped then, so meeting him felt like some kind of release. We started dating right away, and I followed him out to Dubai, where he was wrapped up in something there—horse racing, I think?”

“It’s pretty lucrative in the Gulf.”

“Not the way he did it.” There was acid in her voice, but she didn’t care. “I got a job as a teacher and I sponsored him while he worked on his business ventures. There were loans he took out, things he had me sign…” She realized then that she was sounding increasingly disjointed, but she couldn’t have explained it better.

“I was a fool.”

“Hey, now,” Desmond said, quietly.

“No, no, Iwas,” she said resolutely. “I don’t mind admitting it.”

“You weremarried.”

“I was a fool,” she said crisply. “And he was dismissive and mean. I thought it was because he didn’t have money, because he was waiting for that one big thing to pay off. Right before everything fell apart, he looked me right in the eye, like he actually saw me for the first time. He told me that he was glad he’d married me, because not many women would have put up with him.”

“Was he that bad?”

“That’s not the point.” Val gave a quick shake of the head. “The point is that—I don’t know how to articulate it—but I felt like such apushover. Like he’d stayed with me simply because I wouldn’t call him out on his shadiness, and all those years I thought he’d want to change for me, but I was fooling myself.”

“Why didn’t you leave?” Desmond looked faintly impatient.

A lump was rapidly rising in her throat. “Because I’m pathetic.”

The words hung in the air between them. Desmond sighed, all traces of impatience gone from his face.

“You’re not pathetic,” he said simply. “I can think ofmanypathetic things, and you being taken advantage of isn’t one of them.”

She nodded. She had no idea why he was being so sympathetic, but he was looking intently at her, as if willing her to absorb every word she was saying.

“Val, do you hear me?” He leaned forward and took her hands. “Don’t give him power by blaming yourself. Especially when it wasn’t your fault!”

Tears stung Val’s eyes. The validating words were unexpected, brief, and yet touched something in a place she’d kept protected for years. “All I’ve wanted since then is to be free of him. To be free of men, really. And then—”

Comprehension dawned in his eyes. “I’ve mucked things up for you nicely, haven’t I?”

“Something like that.”

“How much do you owe him?”

She swallowed. “I don’t see how that’s—”

“How much, Valentina?”

“I am nearly a million riyals in debt.” She looked at him to gauge his reaction. He kept his face carefully blank.

“That’s a lot of money.”

She felt her insides twist. “Not toyou, I would imagine.”

“You seem very close with Sheikh Rashid…”

Her lips twitched. “You have no idea.”

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