The Sheik's Jealous Princess(47)

Linda couldn’t believe those words. They were impossible! “But you loved Angela! She was the love of your life! You can’t treat her like this!” she said, holding up the shredded canvas.

Laithir backed up in disgust, not wanting to be near the vile woman who refused to face up to the fact that she’d raised two immoral, pathetic drug addicts who sold their bodies to fund their drug use. “Angela shredded her life by abusing drugs in my country, by tricking me into marriage, and by aborting my child without my consent. She threw obnoxious, disgusting orgies against my orders, she brought criminals into my home and treated them as honored guests. If my men hadn’t been following her, she would have helped terrorists bomb the marketplace, and only for money. She didn’t even betray me for ideological reasons. It was only so that she could finance her drug use since I’d cut her off.”

Linda’s hands flew up to her ears, trying to stop hearing his words. “You’re lying! Angela was perfect!”

Laithir shook his head. “She was a perfect monster!”

And still, Linda shook her head. “You have no proof!”

Laithir smiled, but there was no humor in the expression. “Not only do I have proof, but if I hear anyone speak poorly of Shantra, anyone at all, I will ensure that all of that proof is released to the press. So you need to leave this building immediately. You need to leave this country, and I will ensure that you are never allowed entry again. And you will go out into the world and tell anyone who will listen about how wonderful Queen Shantra is, and how perfect a queen she is. Because if I read about any reporter saying something bad about my wife, I will assume that their opinion is based on lies you told them, and will tarnish the image the rest of the world has for your precious Angela.”

Linda’s face paled as she listened to those threats. “But where will I go? I have no money!”

Laithir shrugged. “You abused my wife. I don’t care where you go or how you get there. All of my generosity died when you disrespected Queen Shantra, which,” he paused for effect, “I could consider treason.”

He then looked over at one of his guards. “See that she is escorted onto a plane by this afternoon. She takes nothing with her other than her personal identification.”

A guard immediately grabbed Linda’s arm and pulled her away, down the hallway despite her pleas for leniency.

Shantra stood there, her whole body shivering when Laithir turned to face her. “I’m sorry,” she uttered quickly, aware that she was still holding her guard’s knife in her hand. “I didn’t mean to cause such turmoil.”

Laithir walked over to her and kissed her gently, holding her head and then wrapping his arms around her when he realized how much she was trembling. “I’m the one who should apologize, Shantra. I suspected that those vile women were causing you so much distress, but I didn’t follow through on my suspicions. I should have been more proactive and gotten them out of here so they couldn’t cause you any harm.” He lifted his head and looked down at her. “Can you forgive me?” he asked.

In response, Shantra burst into tears, trying to cover her face in shame. Her fingers dropped the knife, but she didn’t notice it clattering to the floor.

“Ah hell,” he mumbled, and lifted her into his arms. “Take care of her cat,” he said to his guards as he carried her down the hallway to their suite.

When they were inside, he sat down on one of the sofas, just holding her in his arms and rocking her back and forth, trying to soothe her in the only way he could think.

“I’m so sorry!” she sobbed. “I love you so much, and I’ve just ruined everything! I was trying to do the right thing. I should have just ignored both of them, and now I’ve forced you to get rid of them! They were your only reminder of Angela. I knew you loved her, but....”

“I hated her,” he told her.

Her sobbing stopped, and she looked at him. “What?” she demanded, pulling back but ignoring the tears on her cheeks.

“I was infatuated with her for perhaps the first three nights I knew her. After that, I saw through to the real person she was. She was a drug addict. I wasn’t kidding back there in the portrait gallery. And I am truly grateful to you for destroying that picture. Having it hang there in the gallery implies that she was a good, kind person that should be revered. It makes a mockery of the sacrifices and contributions of the others memorialized in that gallery. She was a criminal, an evil person who tricked me into marriage, killed my child when she got pregnant, and really did consort with terrorists. She was going to help plant a bomb for a disgusting amount of money, just so that she could get more drugs. She would have killed people, just so that she could finance her habit.”