The Untamed Sheikh (a Fazza novel)

Chapter 8: Falling into Old Habits

Hamdan's POV

Faisal and I were not connecting and I could not get him to do so. He admired me – or used to rather – but since finding out I was his dad, he took a very different attitude toward me that I was not expecting. Or maybe in a way, I did perceive it but had hoped that would not be the case. In truth, the boy was hurt and his mom was not at all the sweet girl I remembered her to be when we were his age.

It pained me to see that her relationship with our son was not at all good. They fought, she saw him as a screw-up but something told me he wasn't because he was diligent about his studies and got nothing but straight A's. Yet, I saw something else in his eyes. Underneath the rough attitude and sarcasm, and the fists that were ready to throw punches at a moment's notice, I saw an emotionally injured boy who was desperate to be loved by his mom and dad. Yet, that was something that he lacked from his own mom. He lacked it even from me because we were apart since he was born. But the love I felt for him as a dad, was something I was more than ready to give to him.

Only, it was not going to be easy. He was not going to be easy to get through, especially he was a teenage boy who was forced to grow up a little too fast.

After calling his sister to ask if he was ok, she assured me all was fine and that he would be spending the night with her to help her with the new apartment she rented. Then I called Saeed Hilal to prepare the car and go visit Isabella at her hotel before leaving. We were going to have a serious talk and one that would give her a clear message that I absolutely did not approve of how she treated my son.

Arriving at the hotel, I walked up to the forty-fifth floor and knocked. She instantly opened the door. She looked just as beautiful and just as radiant as I remembered. Only, she looked even better now and was more like a fine wine that only got better with age.

"Hamdan" she said.

"What happened to you calling me Fazza?" I asked, somewhat pointedly.

"Hello to you too" she sighed. "Come in."

"So how much longer do you plan to stay?" I asked, trying to give her a clear and brash message that would alert her I was mad. I walked into the hotel, noticing her luggage was in the process of being prepped.

"Wow, you want me to leave this quickly? I seem to remember a time when you begged me to stay in your room even though my parents would be asking questions about my whereabouts."

"I'm not asking you to leave. I just asked you a simple question."

"So you came to ask me when I would be leaving."

"No, I also came to talk to you."

"About?"

I turned around and looked at her with yet another pointed look. "I think you know what I'm here to talk about."

"If you came to talk about Faisal, who's been nothing but trouble, I'm not sure what more we can talk about. Then again, he got his sister to rebel against me, his mother."

"And I seem to be missing the part where he made her rebel against you?!"

"I tried getting Piper to come back to LA with me, but she refuses because I'm leaving him here with you. Whether he talked her into rebelling against me or not, the fact is he did."

"Izzy!" I snapped.

"Wow, and you're calling me by my nickname" she started to smile as if she was getting nostalgic all of a sudden.