There was nothing for it. She would have to face her parents' wrath and be done with it. Would they disown her for such an offence? Who could tell? She had, in traditional El Farahn culture, effectively shamed her mother for all eternity. No one would want her after this.
Was that such a bad thing, though? Steph thought about Mehdi's comment about opening a boutique, about charting her own course. Then again, it was easy to say that when one didn't have to worry about finances.
Steph sat in the car until the driver came around and opened the door, forcing her into action. She stepped out and thanked him, swallowing as she looked up at the beautiful dome of the hotel. The place had nothing on Mehdi's palace, but, she supposed, that was the point.
Stepping into the lobby, no one seemed to notice her. She walked up to the concierge and told them she had lost her room key, which was true, and the woman happily supplied her with a new one. She stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor with a trembling finger. She wondered if acting out had really been worth it in the end. She had never been more scared than she was in that moment, preparing to face her parents.
There was no way she could find her fiancé so she could talk to him first, which was a shame, really. Perhaps if she could have gotten him to see things her way, she would have had a stronger argument with her parents.
The elevator door dinged, and the doors opened. Steph took several tremulous steps out into the hallway and stopped several feet from the closed door, working up her courage.
She could do this. She could face the consequences of her actions. Each step she took felt like she was walking through molasses. Finally, she reached the door and slid her key into the lock, unlocking the door with a click.
Pushing it open, Steph breathed in deeply, expecting to see her mother's scowling face as she walked in the door. Instead, she was met with silence, as the suite was completely empty, and clean. She wondered if her parents had checked out, but then she heard footsteps coming from the direction of her parents' room.
Steph kept her eyes glued to their door until her father walked out and their gazes met. Jerry's blue eyes, so much like her own, widened in surprise and shock, and he froze in place, staring at her.
"Steph?" he said.
Steph could hardly breathe as she waited for her mother to come out and berate her for what she had done. After several moments, it seemed clear that that wasn't going to happen. Instead, her father walked a few steps closer until he was facing her directly.
"Where's Mom?" she asked, her eyes darting behind his shoulder to see if Elora would arrive and break this frozen tableau of anticipation.
Jerry glanced behind him as though he would find his wife there before he turned back to Steph.
"She's not here," he said.
"Oh," Steph said.
It was an awkward moment, where father and daughter stared at one another as though they were complete strangers, before finally Jerry's face melted into a mask of relief and he wrapped his arms tightly around his daughter.
"Thank God you're safe," he breathed, holding her close.
It was hardly the welcome Steph had thought she would receive, though she knew her father's relief would soon be replaced by anger. After a moment, she pulled back and looked earnestly into his eyes.
"Dad, we need to talk."
TWELVE
Steph
Jerry stepped back and gestured toward the plush living room sofas. Steph walked over and took a seat, her father sitting across from her with his elbows on his knees, his expression anxious.
Steph took a breath and plunged in.
"So I guess I made my point about not wanting to go through with this," she said.
Jerry sighed. He looked tired and worried, the lines on his face etched a little deeper. Steph felt a pang of guilt, knowing she was the probable cause of many of those lines.
"What happened, Steph? You were all ready to go, and then when you never came back, we didn't know what to do. Then we get a text from a strange number saying you're okay but giving us no other information? We've had nothing to do but sit here and wait. Your mother is visiting some relatives on the other side of town as we speak, trying to figure out how to determine where that call came from so we could find you."
Steph stared resolutely at the coffee table, unable to meet her father's gaze as he poured out days of worry and stress and frustration.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"I know," he said, and she glanced up in surprise.
"I get it, Steph. It was unfair of us to try to push you in this direction. We just wanted you to be safe and happy. I know an arranged marriage isn't conventional, but we've seen it work time and time again, with your mother and me and with many of her friends, too. It's okay to have doubts. I just wish you would have come to me before running away."
The disappointment in his tone was like a knife to Steph's heart. A tear escaped her eye before she hastily wiped it away.
"I understand," she said.
"Where have you been?" he asked, his gaze searching hers for answers.
Steph couldn't think of what to tell him. Where had she been? Gallivanting with the Sheikh of El Farah, a man who had expressed an interest in marrying her. Perhaps if she told him the truth, he could tell her mother there was an even better suitor in sight than any man they could ever pick for her.
That still didn't solve the problem of her jilted fiancé, though.
"I'll tell you later. Right now, what I need to do is find my fiancé and apologize to him in person. I can't do that without his information, though. Will you help me?"
Her father hesitated. Steph knew if he gave up that information he would be digging them into an even deeper hole of shame. Not only had Steph run away from the wedding, but to see the groom after the fact, before they became man and wife?
There was no help for it. Steph had to face him. He deserved to know why she had run.
After a moment's consideration, Jerry heaved another heavy sigh and reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet and removing a crisp, white business card.
"This is him," he said, hesitating before holding the card out to her.
Steph took it, staring at the name. Sadiq Al Jabal. Looking at it, she felt nothing. Should she have felt excitement or nerves, or something? Instead all she could think about was Mehdi, standing on a beach, waiting for her. Two men, waiting for her at the same time.
It had been an interesting week.
Steph stood, leaning over her father and kissing him on the head. "Thank you, Dad," she said before running to her room and throwing open her suitcase.
She quickly changed out of her beachwear and into a comfortable pair of jeans and a T-shirt with a sweatshirt to stave off the cool night air. She was back in the living room before her father had even had a chance to stand. When he saw her dressed, he looked at her, his expression confused.
"Steph, where are you going?"
"To talk to Sadiq. I'd say it's long overdue, wouldn't you?"
"It's nearly ten o'clock at night. Do you really think he'll be at work?"
Steph shrugged, grabbing her purse and checking that her phone was charged and her hotel key was in place so she could get back into the room-if her mother would allow it.
"I have to try," she said, heading toward the door.
"Steph, there's something I need to tell you about the wedding … "
"It's okay, Dad. We can talk it all out later. Right now I've got to do this."
Steph closed the door before her father could get another word in edgewise and then pressed the elevator button, waiting impatiently as the car rose to the highest floor. When she finally reached the lobby, she shot out into the main room, heading toward the doors.
Pulling out Sadiq's card, she looked at the address before getting out her phone and keying it into her maps app. He worked only a few blocks away from the hotel!
Steph tried to wrap her mind around the fact that her fiancé had been mere blocks away from her the whole time she had been in the country as she followed the directions toward his building. She passed by a food cart not unlike the one she had stopped at with Mehdi, and her heart sank a little deeper.
After a few more blocks, Steph found Sadiq's building. The structure was one of the taller skyscrapers, and it stood out. It looked as though she had walked into a financial district, all the buildings towering cleanly over the rest of the city. The lobby to the building was lit up, even at that time of night, and Steph tested the front glass door, finding it unlocked.