Emerald's Pride

PROLOGUE

From the diaries of Daniel St. Clair

At eighteen, Ruby had been the rebel and troublemaker, while Emerald, her twin, had been reclusive to society and never once given me a headache. Though it came as a shock to me when her chosen profession was modeling, posing in front of the camera for other people to see. But when she had no work, she just remained in her penthouse at Carnegie Hill, hiding from the rest of the world.

That attitude had dubbed her as the 'wintry maiden' of the fashion industry. But those arctic gazes melted with fire when she was in the company of Khalil Al-Farsi. Either my granddaughter is just naïve about her nemesis' status or didn't give a damn when she was insulting him for everyone to hear. Sometimes I'm afraid that my Emerald would be carted to the nearest police station for offending royalty.

From the moment they met years ago. The two seemed to step on the wrong footing with each other. Their sparing has caused many eyebrows to rise on many occasions. Their hostility had been so bitter at times, trying to draw more blood to one another.

Now all of my granddaughters are happily paired off except her. If Emerald thinks she's off the hook—then she is highly mistaken. I will not rest until I see them all married. And the only man I could think that would keep Emerald on her toes is none other than Khalil Al-Farsi. She made a deal with me not to meddle in life in exchange for a small favor on my part.

I know it may sound ruthless, but think of the fun when Emerald felt that she finally outwit me and let her live her life as a single woman. Yes, I will not look for her husband because she will bring him to meet me. I already have a plan for how this will work. Before the end of this year, I will have my last granddaughter marching up the aisle.

I can hardly wait...

Emerald St. Clair's POV

My life will probably end today. At twenty-four, a famous model, a reluctant jewelry heiress with two disastrous relationships under my belt, all my life will end in the hands of these criminals in this foreign land away from my family.

Right now, my heart was pounding so loudly in my chest as I stared at the desert bandits who disrupted our photoshoot at the dunes a few hours ago. Our crew consists of a well-known photographer who always goes to the St. Clair Diamonds, Andrew, my assistant, Candice, Andrew's assistant, King, and two local police officers who they beat up and tied up far from us.

I sighed deeply, trying to move my hands that were bound behind me with a thick rope as our crew gathered at one corner of the Bedouin tent.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is probably how Emerald St. Clair's life will end.

Far away from my family and in the hands of these criminals. They took every valuable we had at the moment. From our bags, Andrew's professional camera, and of course, a million dollars worth of St. Clair jewelry we used for the photoshoot. My heart was pounding so loudly in my chest as I glanced at the men gathered in the middle of the tent talking, using the local dialect in the exotic kingdom of Saqr.

From time to time, I could notice that men gazed at me with a lewd stare that made my blood run cold in my veins.

Great. Damn my life to hell.

I couldn't help but remember my last conversation with Granddad and how the hell I landed myself in this kind of trouble...

"Are you avoiding me, lass?" I took a deep breath when I heard the familiar voice of my cunning grandfather as he went out of the boardroom at the St. Clair Diamonds' office building with his top executives behind him.