Obsession (Year of Fire) Read Free Page B

toward them, his eyes fixed on “Mat.” Eliah turned his gaze on the girl. A strange feeling came over him as he watched her reaction. Her fear was evident; she shrank behind Juana, as if seeking her protection. As he studied the girl’s behavior, Al-Saud struggled to understand the meaning of the emotion that seized him, the urge to rush over and wrap her in his arms.
    “Monsieur Al-Saud?”
    Eliah turned to find a woman dressed in the Air France uniform standing next to him. She smiled at him anxiously. Annoyed, he looked down at her with contempt. Realizing that he was not at all aware of his surroundings and had just been startled by an ordinary airline employee didn’t help his mood.
    “My name is Esther and I’m the manager in charge of boarding.” Al-Saud put down his small suitcase and shook her hand. “We regret the delay, but I would like you to know that we will do everything possible to upgrade you to first class.”
    “ Merci ,” he answered. André’s work behind the scenes was starting to take effect.
    “Please come with me to the check-in counter. An employee is waiting to complete your check-in. It won’t take long. Window or aisle?”
    “Window.”
    Before following the woman, Eliah turned back to the group. The girl must really love her father, considering how she was hugging him. He almost scooped her up off the floor, kissing her on the temple. He looked at the blond man next to them. He seemed familiar. Where had he seen that face?
    Matilde accepted her father’s kisses, not minding how his beard tickled her. Aldo had worn his beard long like this for years, one of the many things that had changed about him while he was in prison. Matildesuspected that the years of his sentence had changed Aldo more profoundly than she knew. He had become enigmatic; she knew little about what he did or how he lived. Sometimes he was in São Paulo, others in Marbella. One day he would call her from Johannesburg and the next from Damascus.
    “Pa, thank you for coming.”
    “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
    “Of course we thought you wouldn’t, Don Aldo!” Juana interjected.
    “Matilde,” said Aldo, “here I am. I wasn’t going to let you down, sweetie. Plus, I wanted to wish you a happy new year. Say hello to Roy. He found out you were leaving and came to say good-bye.” Aldo let go of Matilde and took a moment to greet Juana’s parents and brothers.
    “Hi,” Matilde murmured.
    Roy bent down and put his lips on her cheek, where they lingered a little too long.
    “That’s enough, Roy!” Juana exclaimed. “Don’t get all romantic on us now.”
    “You’re unbearable,” he hissed.
    “Only to idiots.”
    “Enough,” Aldo interrupted. “You’re acting like children. So have you checked in yet?” They said that they hadn’t. “Good. I was afraid you might have already. Since I belong to the Air France membership program,” he explained, taking a silver card marked Flying Blue out of his wallet, “I’m due some upgrades. I’ll get you bumped up to business class.”
    “No, Pa, don’t worry.”
    “Of course he should worry!” Juana contradicted her friend. “Don’t listen to her, Don Aldo, get us those upgrades. It’ll be great, Mat! Our first time in business class.”
    Matilde didn’t want to argue with Juana given how excited she was, but it troubled her to have anything to do with her father’s money. She didn’t know where Aldo’s sudden fortune had come from, and although it hurt her to doubt him, she suspected that it wasn’t from legitimate sources. “I’m a broker, sweetie,” he would tell her when she asked him about it. “I buy and sell things all over the world.” Hence his frequent trips and the Platinum card from the Flying Blue program.
    Eliah was the first passenger on the plane. No one else, even those in first and business classes, had been allowed to board. Earlier, Esther and a federal policeman, who had presented himself at the opportune moment,