Page 53 of Saving Jennifer
In the confusion, Jennifer found herself momentarily alone near the gallery railing—with Sayifa just feet away, her guard distracted by Rashid’s condition.
“You think you’ve won,” Sayifa hissed, her accent thickening with rage. “You are nothing. A mistake my husband made with your whore of a mother.”
Jennifer’s spine stiffened, but she said nothing.
“Did you know he regretted you? That he told me you were his greatest shame?” Sayifa continued, her voice low enough only Jennifer could hear. “Why do you think he never acknowledged you publicly? Why do you think when he died, we turned our backs on you?”
“I don’t care anymore,” Jennifer replied, her voice steady. “Whatever my father thought of me, I’m not defined by his choices or his family.”
Sayifa’s laugh was brittle. “So noble. So ignorant. Did you never wonder why we needed you in Dubai so badly? Why we didn’t simply eliminate you like I should have the moment you were born?”
Something cold settled in Jennifer’s stomach. “What are you talking about?”
“The fortune,” Sayifa spat out, each word laced with poisonous intent. “The one Muhammed left you in his will. Twenty-seven percent of the Amir holdings—nearly two billion dollars. His guilty conscience at work, I suppose. Money that should have remained with his true family.”
Jennifer felt as though the floor had dropped away beneath her. “You’re lying.”
“Am I? It’s why we needed you alive, needed to bring you to Dubai. Once there, you would have signed it all away—willingly or otherwise. The family lawyers had the papers ready.”
Noah appeared at Jennifer’s side, apparently noticing her agitation. “Everything okay here?”
Sayifa’s eyes gleamed with malicious satisfaction. “Ask her about her inheritance, Mr. Temple. Ask her about the fortune my husband left her—the money she’s always been after—just like her greedy whore mother.”
Jennifer’s mind reeled. Her father had remembered her, had cared about her after all? So many years believing he’d forgotten her, that the modest financial support during her childhood had been the extent of his acknowledgment…
“Jennifer?” Noah’s concerned voice broke through her thoughts.
“She’s lying,” Jennifer said automatically, but uncertainty colored her tone.
“Why would I lie now?” Sayifa countered. “It’s over. Your testimony has destroyed us. The shame on the family will cause everything to crumble. But I want you to know what you’ve truly lost—not just a father who wanted you, provided for you, but a birthright. The perfidious idiot wanted you acknowledged before the whole world. He was a fool. I could never allow that to happen. I thought when he died, all his indiscretions would go away, but no…he acknowledged you in his will. You, a by-blow of a French woman unworthy of being the cleaning lady for our family, and he left you billions of dollars simply for existing. I refused to allow that to happen. Fortunately, there’s a clause in the will that says you have to come to live with the family to inherit. I assure you, that will never happen.”
Noah’s hand closed protectively around Jennifer’s arm. “Whatever game you’re playing, it’s not going to work. Jennifer made her choice—justice over money.”
“A choice made in ignorance,” Sayifa replied coldly. “She chose without knowing what she was giving up.”
“No,” Jennifer said, finding her voice again. “I would have chosen exactly the same way.” She stepped closer to Sayifa, no longer afraid of the woman who had terrorized her for months. “My father may have left me money, but he also left me his strength. And unlike you, I don’t need to destroy others to feel powerful.”
Sayifa lunged forward suddenly, her manicured nails aimed at Jennifer’s face. Noah moved instantly, placing himself between them as the marshal rushed to restrain Sayifa.
“You are dead to us!” Sayifa shrieked as she was pulled away. “You will never see a penny of that money! Never!”
Jennifer watched her go, a strange calm settling over her. She turned to Noah, whose face reflected concern, admiration, and something deeper that made her heart race.
“Is it true?” he asked quietly. “About the inheritance?”
“I don’t know,” Jennifer admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. I didn’t testify for money. I did it for Salem. For Chloe. Because they deserved justice.”
Noah’s hand found hers, their fingers intertwining. “For what it’s worth, I think your father would be proud of the choice you made today.”
Jennifer felt tears burning behind her eyes—not for the money she might have lost, but for the father she’d never truly known. “Do you think he really did care about me?”
“Two billion dollars says he did,” Noah replied with a gentle smile. “But I think the real testament to his love is the strength he passed on to you. That’s worth more than any inheritance.”
Jennifer leaned into him slightly, drawing strength from his solid presence. “What happens now?”
“Now,” Noah said, his voice low and intimate, “we finish what we started. You continue giving your testimony, the Amirs will be sent to prison, and…”
“And then?” she prompted when he paused.