the newspaper as they inadvertently balled into fists. “Not him!”
“What do you mean?” Gloria asked. “You mean the king?” Gloria moved closer, putting a reassuring hand on Electra"s shoulder. “Dear, what"s going on? Are you really dating King Abbas? Is that you in the picture?”
Electra couldn"t answer, the pain of his betrayal too great. She"d been having a n affair with King Abbas? That was impossible. There must be some mistake, some error in recognizing the man in the picture. Dharr was a real estate developer. Wasn"t he? He couldn"t be a king, and definitely not the king of one of the wealthiest countries in the Arab world!
She quickly turned the pages to the article and almost dropped the paper. There were pictures from Paris, Switzerland and even London on the night they"d met. How in the world had they recognized him so quickly? Had these pictures been floating in the tabloids all this time and she"d just never heard about them? “How long have they been speculating on my identity?” she asked, terrified of the answer but needing to know. She had to know everything in order to figure out what she should do. This was all so incredible, she was stunned. No, horrified was a better word.
“Well, I"ve seen small blurbs about it occasionally for the past several weeks but I never bothered to pick up the paper. I only read the front page when I"m paying for my groceries,” she clarified, apparently worried that Electra might think she read these kinds of rags on a regular basis. “But when I saw your picture kissing that gorgeous man, well, I just had to buy it,” she laughed self-consciously. The woman was settling in for a good gossip, unaware or just unconcerned that Electra"s heart was about to break into two. “I knew you"d been dating someone, but a king?” she asked, emphasizing the last word. “What"s he like in real life? He looks absolutely scrumptious,” she said.
Electra shook her head in denial. “He"s awful!” she cried out, pain and betrayal taking over. There was no small amount of humiliation as well. Some of these pictures were very compromising. She"d had no idea cameras had beenso near. She hadn"t seen them anywhere but even if she had, she"d have assumed the people taking the pictures were just tourists trying to get a sunset or pretty mountain scene. There would be no need to take a picture of either of them, if he"d been who he"d said he was.
She ignored the fact that she hadn"t given Dharr her real name. That was irrelevant in this situation. He"d lied to her and told her that he was buying buildings and land and such. Whenever they talked about their weeks to each other, he would tell her about meetings with boring old men and people who disagreed with him or people who were trying to sell him something. Never had the concept of royalty been brought up.
Then another thought struck her. This one was so much more horrifying than the last, she actually had trouble breathing. She glanced at the name in the text. Blinking, she read the passages again, sure that the world was not really as cruel as it was beginning to seem. But no matter how hard she focused, the name didn"t change. The words she read over and over again still formed the name “King Dharr Abass”. The horror of it struck her like a knife wound and her knees almost feel out from underneath her. She was having an affair with her guardian! The man who had made her life miserable for the previous eight years and wouldn"t even return her calls now at her continued request for a simple meeting! The gall of the man!
A tear slipped from her eye and she swiped it away angrily. She didn"t want her boss to see how much the article affected her but since she was sitting on a tiny chair crying, there wasn"t much use pretending any longer. She wanted to run and hide and then tear up the newsprint as if that kind of violence would help her ease the pain tearing up her insides. Could this get any worse? She couldn"t imagine how.
She was just about to turn around when she saw something flash out of the corner of her eye. She didn"t understand what the flash meant initially, but as her shock frozen brain started working slightly, the situation crystallized in her head. “No!” she