Page 32 of The Sheikh’s Christmas Present

“This won’t take long. You allocated a lot of money to a charity called Christmas Crates.”

“Your point?” Just because he and Maria weren’t together anymore didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to follow through with his promise to help them out.

“I’ve emailed you some links. Read them.”

Halil ended the call, and Jarik quickly pulled up his email. It wasn’t like Halil to be so abrupt with him. When he clicked on the links and read the news article on Christmas Crates, he felt bile rise up in his throat.

A huge chunk of money was missing from the charity, and the press was crucifying them for it. Someone in the company was stealing the funds.

He couldn’t believe that Maria would lead him astray in order to steal money from him, but he couldn’t discount the notion just yet. First, he’d deal with Kivi.

Then, he’d deal with Maria.

15

Maria couldn’t find much joy and bliss in handing out the toys this year. Despite the laughter in the camp, she wished that there was someone else there sharing the day with her. She had kicked Sebastian out of the camp and sent Tessa with him to make sure that he upheld his end of the agreement. Christmas Crates was on shaky ground, and unless her brother went public with his mistakes, the business would be sunk. The press would crucify all of them and there would be no coming back from it. Her brother had screwed up huge and like it or not, he was going to fix this. She didn’t like throwing him to the wolves—but she wasn’t going to let him get away with dodging responsibility for what he’d done.

“He’s not a bad guy,” Tessa had whispered as she hugged her. “He made some mistakes. We’ve all done things we’re not proud of..”

Maria had shaken her head at her friend. “He’s been stealing money for the past two years, Tessa. This isn’t a one-time thing. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner. All those absences. I thought he was avoiding me because he didn’t want to get yelled at. I had no idea things had gotten this bad.”

“He’ll fix it, Maria. Give him a chance to make it right.”

“If it looks like he’s going to back out, you need to tell me. Immediately.”

“He’s not going to. I was with him last night, and he feels awful about what he’s done and how it’s affected you.”

“You were with him last night?”

Tessa had blushed at that, and Maria had chuckled. They’d left early that morning for the airport, but they had an important stop to make on the way.

Maria settled in her hotel room and turned on the television. For once, she wasn’t running to make a deadline. She’d deliberately cleared her flight schedule to give her a week off after Christmas so she could have a cooldown period. She briefly thought about returning to the Gulf. It had been a long while since she had the time to work on her tan. After a few minutes, she watched the news.

Sebastian’s face filled the screen, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He’d gone through with it.

“I’m sorry to say that my gambling addiction led me to make some severely misguided decisions that impacted the operations of Christmas Crates. I will be stepping away from the charity until I can get some help. My sister, Maria Walken, and my good friend, Tessa Danbridge, will continue to use Christmas Crates to do a great deal of good in this world, and it is my sincere hope that you will continue to support them. I would like to apologize for misleading the donors and the press. In time, I hope that I can ask for your forgiveness. In the meantime, I will be entering a rehab program. Thank you.” There was a murmur of voices volleying questions at him, but he held up his hand. “I’m sorry, but I won’t be taking any questions right now. Please, excuse me.”

Maria breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the pillows. So long as Christmas Crates stayed clean, next year should go much more smoothly. She would help take care of Sebastian’s gambling addiction by paying for his rehab program. She loved her brother very much, but it would take a while before she forgave him for the mess he’d created.

She was about to turn off the television when another familiar face filled the screen.

“Jarik,” she whispered. Quickly, she turned up the television.

“Sheikh Jarik Shadid, second in line for the crown of Al-Harmid, appeared in court today in Beirut with evidence against Kivi Mahaas, the famed con man. Mahaas was arrested last year for targeting both the wealthy and the poor in an investment program offering exceptionally high returns in what amounted to a Ponzi scheme. It looked like he might walk after the key witness in the trial decided not to testify, but Sheikh Jarik Shadid showed up unexpectedly with enough evidence against Mahaas to ensure a long prison sentence.”

“Oh, God.” Maria’s shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes. She’d been so wrong about Jarik. Here, she’d been thinking that he was trying to get to some fancy party, and all along he was making a court date.

Was Kivi the old friend he was meeting? Just what was going on? Rolling off the bed, she opened her laptop and stared at her accounts. One million dollars. That was what Jarik had offered to give Christmas Crates. Of course, after she’d pushed him out the door, she doubted that he’d actually give her that money.

She’d pushed him right out the door because she was too afraid of her own feelings.

Sighing, she was about to shut the laptop when she got an email notification. Opening it up, she leaned down and gasped.

It was from Jarik. He wanted to meet to discuss the terms of his donation.

“No. No, no, no.” She couldn’t accept his donation. Not after everything they’d been through. A clean break. That was what she needed. She and Jarik were too different to make anything work, and she didn’t think she could be near him.

She slammed her laptop closed while biting her lip. Maybe if she pretended she hadn’t seen the message, she could ignore it for now and he’d give up. But on the other hand…a million dollars would go far in helping others. While her brother’s ideas for expanding the charity had been too grandiose, therewereways they could grow and make even more of a difference for refugee children all over. Could she really be selfish enough to deprive her charity of all that money because she didn’t think she could face Jarik? That wasn’t the kind of woman she was.

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