Kidnapped by the Arab

Campbell wasn’t used to carrying all the pressure of the company on his own. He feared that Ahmed’s family wouldn’t allow him to return. His friend hadn’t even called him, and he learned about the death of the Sheikh through the news. The thought of taking complete responsibility for the company scared him.

That day, he decided to go out for a drink at a bar; he needed to unwind. His relationship with Thara was going well, but it was a long-distance one. He entered a bar near the building where his apartment was, sat at the bar, and ordered a rum.

Until now, Campbell understood all the tension Ahmed was living with, making all the decisions for such a large company was not an easy task. He didn’t want to imagine how his friend felt under all that pressure in Dubai. Ahmed had been appointed as the new Sheikh, and he was also given the leadership of the United Arab Emirates government. Now, he not only had the responsibility of his country but also had to deal with economic issues within the Federation, among other things. Relations with some countries were tense due to the increasing oil prices.

There was no doubt, Ahmed had entered the wolf’s den, and perhaps there was no turning back on this path.

A beautiful blonde interrupted his thoughts, she was young and very tall, with luscious and sensual lips. She wore a revealing black dress that left little to the imagination, and Campbell couldn’t help but get lost in that cleavage.

“Hello handsome, I noticed you’re all alone. Maybe you need some company? I was supposed to meet my friends here, but they haven’t arrived yet.”

“Hello beautiful, perhaps we can keep each other company.”

The girl smiled and sat next to him at a secluded table in the corner of the bar, while a woman watched them attentively from the bar.

Campbell excused himself to go to the bathroom for a moment, and when he returned, he continued the conversation with the blonde. He downed another rum after the previous one. After two more drinks, he started feeling overwhelmed, and his vision blurred. He decided to say goodbye to the girl and head back to his apartment.

The next morning, he woke up with a pounding headache and a terrible hangover. He took a shower and went down to the kitchen to have some juice to hydrate himself.

His phone started ringing insistently. It was strange for his secretary to call him on a weekend morning.

“Hello, Anne, what’s going on?”

“Boss, have you seen the news on the internet?”

“No, what’s happening?”

“You better take a look; you won’t like it at all.”

Campbell hung up and immediately turned on his laptop. He was surprised at first, but soon, a tremendous fury engulfed him.

“What the hell happened?”

The main pages showed a video of him with the blonde from the bar. Campbell couldn’t remember anything; the video was explicit, and some pages edited it, while others showed it in its entirety. The girl had made sure their faces were clearly visible in the scenes.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

He realized the video was taken in his own room. That woman had come with him, but he only remembered feeling dizzy after returning from the bathroom.

“Damn it! When did I let my guard down?”

He had fallen victim to the same scheme as Ahmed, but the difference was that the woman succeeded in her plan.

“But what does she gain from sending the video to the media? Someone must have paid her to discredit me.”

He tried to find a thread that could lead him to the person responsible for his situation, but it was impossible to know. He had played around with so many girls before, any of them could have paid to ruin his reputation.

He had to act quickly to resolve the issue; otherwise, Ahmed might think he wasn’t capable of handling the company if he couldn’t even solve his own problems.

Zafir had gone to Dubai with Ahmed, so Campbell would have to find the means to fix these problems himself. He called a guy in charge of the company’s cybersecurity to remove the video from all the pages where it was being reproduced.

He took a painkiller to alleviate the throbbing headache and lay down on the couch. Before he knew it, he fell asleep.

The next evening, loud knocks on the door woke him up. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see the beautiful Cuban woman in front of him.

“My love, how great that you’ve come!”

But before he could finish the sentence, he received a hard blow to his face.

“I came all the way here just for this. You deserve it, you idiot. Never contact me again.”

Thara turned around, her eyes filled with tears, and fury clouding her vision.

Campbell tried to stop her, but it was futile. He had gotten himself into quite a mess by accepting the company of the blonde.

“Damn woman, I’ll find out who you are.”

The next day, the main news questioned whether Ahmed Assad had made the right decision leaving such an important company as ASTECH in the hands of an irresponsible playboy like Campbell Morris, who seemed to think with everything but his head.

Campbell watched the news, clenching his fists. What did these idiots know about him and his life? His phone started ringing, and he saw that it was Ahmed, so he hurried to answer.

“Hello, Campbell.”

“Hey, buddy.”

“What the hell happened? You’re all over the news, and so is the company. What were you thinking, letting yourself get recorded in that video?”

“Friend, I need you to believe me. I was at a bar having a drink on my way home, just trying to unwind for a moment. A beautiful blonde approached me, and we started chatting. After a while, I went to the bathroom, and when I returned, I had two more drinks. I started feeling unwell, and then, I don’t remember anything else. When I woke up, Anne called to inform me about what’s happening.”

“Uhmmm, this story sounds familiar. I’ll immediately send Zafir to help you investigate what has happened.”

“Thank you, brother. Thara came furious and broke up with me. I have to clean up my reputation and win her back.”

“Zafir is an expert in investigation, I know he’ll help you.”

After hanging up, Ahmed had the feeling that maybe Sara had something to do with all this mess. It was her way of acting – what better way to affect him than to provoke a big scandal involving his company? Undoubtedly, the company’s stocks would plummet after such an event.

That woman was the devil disguised as a woman. If she was guilty, this time he would take care of destroying her.

Arkham had been trying to find a way to get closer to Mía. She followed Ahmed’s advice and would run away from him whenever she noticed his presence.

At night, Ahmed would enter Mía’s room. He did it every day. He had tried to sleep in his own room, knowing that if his family found out, Mía would be in big trouble. But the nightmares kept haunting him, so he preferred to sleep by her side.

Arkham felt desperate; he wanted to win that girl over, especially because he hadn’t noticed anything more than friendship between her and Ahmed. This gave him hope that he might have a chance to conquer her, just like his brother always did with beautiful girls.

A sad expression appeared on his face as he remembered Lyna, the beautiful red-haired Swiss girl who had stolen his heart at that party. If she had chosen him, she would still be alive. He had investigated her death and knew that everything happened because of his brother’s misbehavior.

Ahmed didn’t deserve her, nor did he deserve her children, who should have been Arkham’s. He remembered Lyna’s smile, that shy and pleasant girl. He thought she had the most beautiful smile in the world. They had been chatting all night at that party, and he thought she was interested in him, so it surprised him when Ahmed introduced her as his fiancée later on.

The pain that news caused him was like a dagger piercing his chest. He hated his brother even more than he already did. His father had taken away his succession and handed it to Ahmed because he considered him the perfect son.

When problems arose because his father didn’t consider Lyna worthy of his son, Arkham was somewhat relieved, thinking it would end their engagement. After all, Ahmed always did what their father asked. To his surprise, he didn’t end it. When Ahmed left, Arkham had hoped his father would reinstate him as the crown prince, but it didn’t happen.