This book is dedicated to my mom.

Thank you mom, you are the best.

For Daddy, and all my truest friends. Thank you.

 

 

PROLOGUE

 
He paced the floor unable to fight the feeling of complete irritation. His silk garments rustling softly, echoing his disturbed state. The wind whispered gently into the warm room, trying to calm him, but he waved it away, slamming the old Arab windows shut with ire. He exhaled, trying to still the fury in his chest. Everything could have been so simple. He had had it worked out as soon as that silly woman had showed up with the information. 

Women! They got too emotional and careless. He thought briefly of his own mother. She might have destroyed  his father if she had lived longer. The deities had other ideas, though. She died early allowing the old man to build quite an empire separate from his medical surgery. This woman now, she was quite a problem. If she hadn’t been so careless everything would have worked out just fine. He hated it when people ruined plans that he had laid out with diligence and painstaking care.

 
Too many times since his plans were first laid out, that woman had gotten too emotional, too careless. It had changed everything. Instead of just two people in the deal, now there were five. One was stupidly ambitious. Three were incredibly greedy. The other one, the one who had come up with the ideas in the first place, was very dangerous. 

And he was just using them all. He didn’t care if they got the money or died trying. All he wanted was what he had wanted from the beginning. Some times, he could almost taste it on his lips. Money and power in that combination.

 
He hated sharing. When he was growing up, it had bothered him to have so many siblings and relatives sharing his family’s home. Somehow, he had managed to hide it well. In the end he had turned out as his father’s favorite. He had heard his father describe his favorite son to his friends as kind, warm and generous. 

There was no warmth in his heart. More often than not, he was irritated by how weak, insipid and dependent people could be. He hated giving anything he had worked hard for.

 
This latest project – he had worked very hard for on it. He would rather have reaped the rewards all on his own. Still, he was sure that if he were patient enough, he would probably have his way someday. 

Someday.

 © Juliet Maruru 2009 www.jmaruru.wordpress.com