4| THIS/THAT

Tequila paced the whole length of her room in anger and she doesn't know what to do anymore. Now her phone is missing and she doesn't even have any means of reaching anyone outside this place. 

Since her almost successful attempt to escape secretly failed, she has been locked in here for almost three day now. They bring Uthman at night and take him before she wakes up because he won't sleep without her. Her mind wandered to Aliyah and Aishah and she knew they would probably be serving a stricter punishment right now since they helped her get away from the palace. 

She had no idea how the Sheikh knew they were at the airport waiting for the next flight that's going to the US. She couldn't forget how her heart dropped in hopelessness as she saw the very livid Sheikh approaching them. If he were a cartoon character, smoke would've been coming out of his ears. 

She half expected him to shout at her or worse hit her. He just muttered some things in arabic before picking their tiny luggage and he asked them to follow him. Everyone was starting to stare because it's not everyday you meet your sheikh at the airport so Tequila just obliged and they left. Since then she has been stuck in this room since then. 

She sat down by the window side while drinking in the amazing view of the country. She wasn't going to stay in bed and sulk all day, at least she's not in chains. She can't reach Dream or anyone, her phone is nowhere to be found and she can't even spend the day with her son. Damn the Sheikh for being illusional and thinking Uthman is her son. Uthman surely had arabian roots because his father is from there but his father doesn't even have an inkling about him nor does she remember his face again.

 The hotel had a strict policy of keeping the names of their client classified and when Tequila found out she was pregnant, she wanted to reach out to the father so he wouldn't have a childhood like hers, a childhood without a father. The hotel refused strictly and she also lost her job as a stripper. Not that she needed the job anymore because the cheque was enough for them to live comfortably for a long time. 

"Are you trying to jump down from that window habibti? Allow me to remind you that you're on the thirty first floor and any diving skills that you want to show off will definitely end your life" The sheikh said and Tequila whipped her head back in shock. She didn't realize when he came in and seeing the lazy smile on his face seemed to infuriate her more. She wanted nothing but to scratch off the smile with her nails, too bad she didn't keep one. 

She ignored him and she went back to looking out of the window while waiting for him to say whatever he wanted to say. She could hear him move towards the dressing table and she heard ruffling of papers too. 

"You're free to leave Ikram whenever you wish" He said after a while and Tequila turned in shock. She was waiting for him to say it's a joke or something similar but nothing came after that. She threw her hands up in excitement and she rushed towards her little bag. His next words made her stop mid-way. 

"However, you can't leave with Uthman. He's a royal citizen of Ikram and we won't let our heir out of the land until he's old enough to make his own decisions" He dropped the bombshell on her and Tequila felt all the previous excitement drain out of her body. She turned to him as if she couldn't believe what he was saying. 

"What do you mean?" She asked in shock. She didn't know how to react at this point because She had to play safe so she could leave this damned place with her baby. Before she could say jack, the sheikh was standing in front of her and his eyes blazing with fury. 

"I would like to know why you didn't contact me after all these years habibti. You knew you were pregnant and you kept such a huge thing from me. You think I won't want to be in your lives?" He asked in one breath and the fury in his eyes didn't reduce one bit. Tequila was starting to connect the dots in her head. 

"I don't understand you" she whispered and he scoffed. He stared at her like she was lying and she didn't understand what's the cause of the sudden change in behavior. 

"Are you trying to insinuate you no longer remember me? That explains why you didn't even recognize me when we met. I didn't remember you too, remember everything happened in the dark from the dance to the night long passion. We spent the night together at Deluxe Royal in New York. I left before morning and I remember leaving you a check" He said with a smirk on his face and Tequila gasped. 

Never in one million years had she thought she would bump into the Sheikh again in her life. She tried to say something but the words won't form and she kept on blinking her eyes. 

"I asked a simple question Tequila, when you found out you were carrying my child, why didn't you contact me?" He asked again in a dangerously low voice and Tequila swallowed in fear. This was a dead end. 

"I tried to, I swear. The hotel refused to give me any details about you. They thought I was lying and I got fired" She replied and he shook his head. Tequila knew he didn't believe her but she was telling the truth. 

"Its all in the past now and I don't give a damn. There's only one thing that's going to happen here, You're either going to leave Uthman here and return to your life in New York and read for the oral test you failed because of Ali's death or.." He was about to finish his talk before Tequila interrupted him. 

"You can't separate Uthman from me and you have no right to. I'm leaving this damned country right now with my son and If you're not careful, you'd never see him again" She replied back with fire in her eyes and the man burst into laughter. 

Tequila didn't find anything funny in what she said and she didn't know why he was laughing. The Sheikh stared at her as if she just told the funniest joke in history and she didn't get the point. 

"If you think you can threaten me like that habibti, then you're wrong. I would have dealt with you in my own way if we didn't have pressing matters to discuss. It's either that or you marry me and stay here with Uthman. Either works for me so the choice is yours. By tomorrow if you don't leave Ikram then I'd assume you want to be my bride and trust me I will be very glad. It's been long since I had a fiery one like you in my bed" He added with a smirk before moving away from Tequila to pick up the file he brought in. 

"Are you joking?" Tequila asked and he turned to look at her with a smile "I'm afraid not my lady" He replied before walking out of the room and leaving the door ajar. What the hell just happened in here?!