Read Online Guilty Pleasure by Lora Leigh - Free Book Online Page B

the shadows and pacing the rooms, Abram.” Shayne grunted. “He doesn’t know if he’s coming or going.”
    Khalid’s lips tightened as he turned away from the bar.
    “There is no need for guilt, Khalid.” Abram’s quiet statement made him pause.
    “Isn’t there?” Khalid asked before shaking his head and continuing to the sitting area arranged in the middle of the room. “Why are you here, Abram?”
    He couldn’t imagine what would make his brother risk his life, as well as his place within Azir Mustafa’s heirship, to visit his little brother.
    “Actually, I managed to manipulate Azir into ordering the visit.” Disgust filled Abram’s tone as he spoke of their father. “He wishes the trip to remain a secret from Ayid and Aman. According to him, it would only upset them needlessly.”
    Rage ignited inside Khalid at the thought of Azir’s loyalty to his two youngest sons. They were terrorists, men who sought to destroy everything the royal family, Azir’s distant cousins, had ever fought to maintain.
    Azir had protected them for far too many years. He had lied for them, defended them, stood in front of his king and swore that Khalid lied, and that, as an American citizen, Khalid had no loyalty to Saudi Arabia or to the ruling family. And therefore, there was no basis to believe his account of the death of Lessa Mustafa, Abram’s young wife.
    “And how did you manage such a manipulation?” Khalid sneered, thinking of Azir and his own manipulations where his two youngest sons were involved.
    “There are rumors.” Carrying his drink, Abram moved to the sofa across from Khalid and took his seat once again. “Azir has heard that you were involved in the capture of a small terrorist cell moving into D.C. several months ago. Two of the men were killed. Ayid and Aman were involved with this terrorist cell. Azir fears you’re going to target this once again.”
    “So I have.” Khalid sipped at his drink as he stared back at Abram, reading the hatred and icy rage in his brother’s gaze.
    It was a rage that filled Khalid as well. A rage born of blood and death, of deceit and hatred.
    “Azir does to Ayid and Aman the same as he does to us.” Abram grimaced in anger. “You know this well. He defends them, refuses to believe the truth. That we will destroy Ayid and Aman, no matter what it costs, and vice versa. The world he lives in is not one that reality touches.”
    “At least not in this matter,” Khalid agreed. “Did the old bastard send you to beg me again not to kill them?”
    Each time his brothers fucked up, Azir sent a plea to Khalid to stay his hand, to leave his brothers unharmed. Khalid ignored each plea, and with every bit of information and proof he could garner, he sought to take his brothers down.
    “This is a fair description of the reason he sent me,” Abram said, his tone rasping with fury and pain. “As though the past had never happened.” Abram shook his head. “As though the blood of my wife does not stain their hands.”
    The blood of his wife, as well as the blood of Aman’s and Ayid’s own wives.
    “They won’t forget the vendetta they have against the two of you,” Sebastian warned them as he and Shayne remained at the bar. “They’re only growing in strength and numbers, Khalid. The men you helped capture in D.C. was only a small number of them.”
    Khalid was well aware of that.
    “That mission you and Shayne cooperated with was one Ayid and Aman were counting on succeeding,” Abram said as he leaned closer, his gaze becoming cold and hard once again. “It is only a matter of time, Khalid, before they learn for sure of our involvement. When they do, they will strike once again. I do not wish to see you lose what I lost so long ago. Your woman must remain safe.”
    “There’s no way they can find out.” Khalid shook his head. “I’ve learned how to cover my tracks, Abram.”
    That was something he and Abram both hadn’t known how to do effectively during