Page 46 of Sheikh's Secret Love-Child

And then, finally, she found him.

He was standing in what looked like a little art gallery, the walls covered with portraits of stern men.

It took her a moment to realize that he looked like all of the men in those portraits.

Shona didn’t linger in the doorway. She didn’t wait for him to notice her or invite her in. Or worse, bar her from entry. She marched straight in, then headed across the gleaming black marble floor toward him.

Head high and chin tilted, as if she had every right.

“I cannot think of a single reason that you should be here.” Malak did not turn and look at her. He kept his gaze trained on the portrait before him, of a man it took Shona longer than it should have to realize was his father.

He didn’t have to look at her to hurt her, she discovered. He spoke in that same hard, dismissive voice that had made her bleed earlier, and that accomplished the same thing.

But the world had changed. She had changed. Whichever it was, she didn’t believe him anymore. She didn’t believe the things that had happened between them were some kind of game he had played. Honey instead of vinegar. Something deliberate and fake to sweeten the acquisition of his only heir.

The only way she could believe that was if she also believed that she was the piece of Louisiana trash she’d spent her life thinking she was. And maybe some part of her would always think that might be true. But the rest of her adamantly did not.

And if she was going to teach her son how to stand up not only for himself, but also for the people who would one day be his to lead, she needed to stand up for herself first.

Right here, right now.

No matter what it cost her. Because whatever the price was, it was better than cowering in an empty room somewhere and believing all the lies people had told her.

Shona was done with that. She was ready for what came next.

And that started with this man who had turned her life upside down—twice.

“I can think of any number of reasons for me to be here,” she replied, her voice cool and even and a weapon all its own. She was proud of herself for that. “But first and foremost, Malak, I love you. Despite the fact you’re being an ass.”