Page 100 of Earned Husband

“No.” The word came out of me like a gunshot, but I meant it and I wouldn’t let her talk me out of this. “I’m not flying back toEgypt, getting married, and pretending everything is fine while you could be charged with tax evasion.”

Jane blinked hard. “Alex won’t let that happen, Colin. I’ll be fine, but this deal is too important for?—”

“Okay, let me put this another way.” I pushed my chair back, stood, and started pacing. “There will be no wedding unless I fix this.”

“Excuse me?”

“I won’t do it, Jane. I’m not tarnishing Deja’s name by saddling with her with ours.”

“She knows about the case and right now, as far as she and everyone else in the world is concerned, Dad is already guilty, but she agreed to marry you anyway.”

“Sure, she knows that, but she doesn’t know what it’s like to have to live with a reputation like ours following you around.”

“Okay, but you don’t get to decide for her whether she’s strong enough to find out.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” I stopped pacing to look at her again. “When I agreed to this, I thought we were well on our way to clearing Dad’s name. I thought that by the time the wedding happened, all of this would be over, but unless I can find what everyone else is missing, that’s not going to happen.”

“So you’re saying that you won’t marry her unless Dad’s conviction has been overturned.” Jane shoved a hand into her hair. “Even if we find the evidence we needtoday, that could still take years, Colin.”

“I know, but at least if we find that evidence today, I’ll know that Deja is marrying into a family that’s going to be redeemed. I will not saddle her with the burden of being a Thayer otherwise, and I’m not saying I’ll find evidence to overturn his conviction. I just need to find the missing piece to at least save what we’ve built Thayer into after.”

My sister blinked at me, clearly stunned, but I’d said my piece now, so I spun on my heels and left the conference room. As I walked into my office, I caught a faint whiff of the cologne Deja had sent me so many weeks ago. The room had been shut all the time I’d been gone, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise, but the scent still made me want to book the first flight back to Egypt.

Instead, I dropped into my chair, ready to start calling people. Alex Westwood wasn’t the only person who had contacts. I had plenty of my own across a wide span of occupations, banking, former investigators, and forensic accountants.

Before I picked up my phone, however, a strange thought surfaced in my mind. There was one person who’d been CEO after my father had gone to prison. People underestimated him because he spent most of his time surfing, drinking cocktails, and wearing shirts that looked like they belonged in a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, but he’d had access to our accounts. He’d been here when we’d been in the thick of things—andno onehad been looking at him.

My uncle Andrew.

I wonder if he might know something about that offshore account because I suddenly have a feeling that he does.

CHAPTER 42

DEJA

Directly after Colin had left, I’d come back to Cairo. It hadn’t felt right for me to continue our grand tour of Egypt without him, especially since we wouldn’t even have planned it at all if not to show him the rest our country.

My family had stayed in Luxor, so for the last four days, my life had been uncharacteristically quiet. It would’ve been blissful if not for the fact that I hadn’t heard from Colin either. He hadn’t called or texted, and at this point, I wasn’t sure where we stood.

The ring still felt heavy on my finger where I sat in my office at White Water Lily, staring out at Cairo through the windows. Somewhere out there in the very far away distance, my mom, sister, and aunts were still planning a wedding I wasn’t sure was happening anymore.

That was another reason why I’d left. When I’d gone downstairs for breakfast at the resort that morning, Jasmine and my mom had already been in the dining room. I’d cried my way through a shower and getting ready for the day, and since Jasmine hadn’t been in our room when I’d returned after he’d gone, I’d hoped she’d gotten an early start at the pools.

But no.

She and my mom had been sitting on the terrace outside, plates filled with croissants and fruit as they gushed over ideas they’d had for the wedding. While they’d known he’d gone back to Chicago, it hadn’t made a lick of difference in their minds.

They’d treated it like it was nothing more than a temporary hiccup, and technically, that was exactly what it was. As far as anyone knew, myself included, the wedding was going forward, but after our slight falling out and the way he’d left, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to sit there, helping them plan it.

In the end, I’d been on a plane three hours later, not even waiting for Dad to fill up the jet. I’d simply bought a ticket online, packed my bags, and headed for the airport. As I stared at the sun-lit skyline of the city I’d grown up in, I wondered if I was ever going to hear from him again.

Samples for the winter collection were spread out across my desk, the bottle he’d chosen at center stage. Around the back of my chair was a simple leather handbag he’d bought me in Sharm El-Sheikh when I’d complained about stupidly only bringing a tote. The home screen on my phone was one of the pictures I’d snapped of us at our engagement party.

In the short amount of time he’d been here, Colin Thayer had infiltrated every part of my life, my mind, and my heart, and every time I considered the very real possibility that things might just be over between us, it felt like I would break.

When I felt tears burning the backs of my eyes again, I took a deep breath and grabbed my sketchbook, intent on making something beautiful come from all this heartache and uncertainty. I’d barely stared sketching a label for the winter collection when my office door burst open and Khaled walked in.

I frowned. “What are you doing here?”