“I’m here to see Ra’if.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m so pleased. He’s taken a step backwards since his brother left.”
And just like that, Olivia exhaled. She had done the right thing. She had been betrayed by Zamir, and she would probably never forgive him, but she still loved him. And that love extended to his brother, because he was part of Zamir’s family.
That mattered to her.
“Would you take me to him?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Delores beetled around the desk with far more alacrity than a woman of her portly shape should have been able to muster, and then she was off, unlocking doors and shuffling down the corridor with impressive speed.
She paused outside the door. “He can be quite foul tempered at times.”
Olivia thought of his brother and smiled. “That’s fine. I can manage.”
“Very well.”
Delores knocked sharply, twice, and then pushed the door inwards.
Ra’if was sitting in a chair, staring out of the window. The grilles across it were depressing, but Olivia understood their necessity.
“You have a visitor, sir,” Delores said loudly, then smiled encouragingly at Olivia. It w
as as though Delores thought the younger woman might flee in terror, after all. She stepped out of the room and pulled the door behind her.
“That fat nurse thinks I am deaf because I do not speak her language as a native,” he grumbled in a tone so shockingly like Zamir’s that Olivia was momentarily flummoxed.
Ra’if’s eyes scanned Olivia with interest. She had dressed conservatively; it was cold out and she’d been drawn to black clothes of late. But still he studied her with undisguised admiration; eyes the exact shade and shape of Zamir’s lingered on her gentle curves. They were not as impressive as they’d once been. Having barely been able to eat for a month, she was at least a whole dress size smaller than normal.
“ I do not know you,” he said simply.
“No.” She forced herself to cross the room. Her legs were like jelly. What an idiotic thing to have done! “I worked for your brother.” It was simpler to stick to a version of the truth.
“Did you?” More speculation.
Olivia was glad then that she didn’t blush easily. She took up the seat opposite him. “Yes. Though I didn’t meet you, I came to this clinic with him every day. I wondered if you are missing him.”
Ra’if’s lip lifted in a cynical smile. “Why do you wonder this?”
Because I am missing him, she thought wretchedly. “Because,” she leaned forward, a conspiratorial smile plastered on her face, “If you are, I have the perfect solution.”
He laughed. “Whether I am or not, I will say that I am interested to hear what your plan is. For you speak with such glorious deviousness, it must be good.”
She laughed, and though she hadn’t expected to find him charming, he was. “Well, you see, in my family, I am the undefeated champion of Monopoly. Ask my sisters. They’ll tell you how ruthless I am.”
His brows arched and his lips smiled with true amusement. “I find it hard to believe you have a ruthless bone in your body.”
She deflected the compliment. “Is that your way of saying you know you’d never beat me?”
“I understand the spirit of your challenge.” He settled back in his chair, and stared at her, as though weighing his options up. “Fine.” He said after a long pause. “We shall play.”
Olivia didn’t realise until then that she’d been holding her breath. She smiled at him and then looked around. “Where is the board?”
“In the shelves, behind the door.”
Olivia fetched it and walked towards the table. “Here?”
“Yes.”