How would they ever be able to clear Noah’s name?
Noah seemed to be standing better today, after she had insisted he rest as much as possible on the sea voyage.The swelling in his feet had lessened, but his physical injuries worried her the least.
For three nights in a row she’d had to shake him awake from nightmares, finding him coated in sweat.He’d told her little of what had terrified him, but she was concerned.Cuts and scrapes she knew how to treat.But Osborne had opened some wound in him that she hadn’t even begun to understand.
Ginger slipped her hand into Noah’s as they waited.He’d let his beard start to grow and she’d tinted her hair, but would it be enough to keep them safe?Along with the concession paperwork, Malta had offered the hope of escape that hadn’t existed in Egypt.
She hoped William had kept his promise to take her family home to England.It seemed hard to believe it had been over a week since she’d been with them.Her life had taken such a strange direction since then, tossed into the chaos that Stephen had created.
Whenever she thought of the destruction Stephen had wreaked upon her life, she felt physically ill, hardly able to breathe.And the thought of Stephen being free …
Footsteps, announcing Sarah and Jack’s return, did her the favor of breaking her line of thought.Sarah held up a thin leather pouch, about the length of a sheet of paper.
She found it.
Ginger’s heart thumped.She didn’t know whether to be nervous or glad.
Sarah came closer, then opened the pouch, handing the contents to Ginger.Inside were several documents, including the agreement between Ibn Saud and her father and all the paperwork for the Arab Anglo Oil Company.
Ginger felt the hair on her arms stand up and her heart slow at the sight of her father’s familiar script.
And Stephen Fisher’s signature.
She edged the concession agreement closer to the lamp light, peering at the text.“This says that Stephen owns forty-five percent of the company.”
Ginger met Sarah’s eyes, her stomach sinking.No wonder he’d been so desperate to get his hands on it.He wasn’t simply trying to steal something.He wanted what was rightfully his.
But he would also use this to twist, manipulate … who knew what else?
The papers in her hand shook.So much had been destroyed for these.
Jack glanced over her shoulder.“You’re officially in business with Fisher, then?”He eyed Noah.“I don’t have to ask Noah’s opinion to tell you that’s not the best idea.”
Noah took the papers from her, scanning them.“It explains Fisher’s obsession with getting the papers.And he won’t lose interest in them either.”
“So much greed.”Ginger felt disgusted with herself.Even she’d been captivated with the promise the oil concession had provided.She’d seen it as the solution to her troubles and those of her family.
In the end, it had only done more harm.Brought her more trials and tribulations.She’d been used as a pawn in Stephen’s game—one that had cost Noah almost everything.
Sarah crossed her arms.“Well.That’s that, I suppose.I’m not even sure it feels worth the trouble of having found this.We can’t do anything with this paperwork without the British government and Stephen Fisher getting involved, right?”
“Probably not,” Ginger admitted.
And much as she didn’t want Stephen to get his hands on this paperwork, she didn’t want the government getting it either.She ran her fingers over the dried ink of her father’s signature on the document.
This had destroyed him too.
She glanced at Noah.“Do you care if your wife is completely penniless?”
Noah chuckled, folding the papers.He handed them to her once again.“I knew your father had lost his fortune even before we first spoke.”
Lifting the papers toward Sarah, Ginger found her hands remarkably calm.“Will you be able to survive without that five percent?”
A light dawned in Sarah’s eyes as her gaze flicked from Ginger’s face to the papers.After a moment, she nodded.“I can survive.I always have.”
Ginger bent down toward the oil lamp nearest them, then tipped the corner of the paperwork toward the flame.
“You sure about this, Red?”Jack asked.His face didn’t reveal his opinion.
