Aaliya’s laughter bounces around the conference room, bringing me back to the present. She’s laughing at something while gesticulating with her hand towards a drawing on the board.  That laugh—it manages to punch me in the gut every single time. Fuck! Staying away from her was futile because she lures me like a siren’s song. She looks up at me in that moment, her eyes going soft and I hungrily drink her in.

Today, she’s wearing black trousers with a fitted red silk shirt and black pumps on her feet. Her hair is tied at her nape with a few strands framing her beautiful face. Although her face is devoid of make-up, except for those kohl-lined eyes, she is the most stunning woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. Shit! What is wrong with me? I have to get a grip on myself. My life is a colossal mess already and the last thing I need is the complication of adding her to my fucked-up story. I turn and march to my own office, my stupid heart hurting with every step that takes me away from her.

I open my laptop and find an email from Peter Dighby. He has returned to work and has been in touch with me. His latest email shows that he’s made the payments to Kardesh Areen and all others of his ilk. He’s also attached an Excel sheet that shows how much money we’ll lose once we stop buying diamonds from these entities. The number is big and will eat into our profits by more than thirty percent, but I don’t care. We will make the business healthy through other means. I forward the name of Kardesh Areen and others to Mike to investigate further.

I can understand if any of them wanted to kill my brother or father for not paying them money. But why would they want to kill me? I haven’t existed in my family’s life for five years. I do have my doubts on this, but Mike can use his resources to get answers.

There’s a knock on the door and I look up and find Mike seeking permission to enter. I allow him in with a flick of my fingers.

“Sir, this just came in at the reception below,” Mike places a large box on the table.

I frown looking at the elegantly wrapped black box. “What is it?”

“Security caught a little boy wandering inside the reception with this box in his hand, addressed to you. They called me immediately when he said it had to be given to you. When I spoke to the boy, he said a random woman gave him a hundred pounds to deliver this to you here.”

“What?” I instinctively back away from the box.