The Sheikh's Assistant Read online

  The Sheikh’s Assistant

  Published by Emily Walters

  Copyright © 2016 by Emily Walters

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews – without the permission in writing from its publisher, Emily Walters.

  www.EmilyWaltersBooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  About Emily Walters

  Chapter 1

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  “It’s not ready,” Morgan said. Everyone in the conference room turned around to look at her with question marks on their faces. Her friend Brooke leaned closer to her and asked her if she was crazy. Morgan knew that speaking out against the sheikh was a very bold move but it had to be done. She did not think that the drug was ready to be used in clinical trials.

  “Who said that?” Sheikh Sofian Bukhari asked. Finely dressed in an expensive charcoal grey suit and black shirt, he was standing at the front of the conference room, His silky jet-black hair was neatly cut short back and sides. His dark eyebrows framed his face, and intensified his dark gaze. His stubble was just a few day old. He had just the right sized lips, not too thin and not too thick. He had a straight nose and strong jaw to complete his perfect face.

  “I did,” said Morgan.

  “What are you doing?” Brooke whispered.

  “The drug isn’t ready,” Morgan whispered back.

  “He’s the expert and he says that it’s ready,” Brooke said, referring to the sheikh.

  The sheikh walked towards Morgan. His long legs closed the distance pretty quickly. Each stride was filled with so much authority. Everyone stared at him as he approached Morgan.

  “Now he's coming here,” Brooke whispered. Morgan could tell that she was nervous. She was too. It was their first time being in such close proximity to the sheikh nor had they interacted with him. His family owned Bukhari Pharmaceuticals, and they were royals. Morgan and Brooke were low-level researchers that did not attend the important meetings, and this was their first real meeting. They had been allowed to attend because the sheikh had requested the presence of everyone who had anything to do with research for that drug.

  “I know,” Morgan whispered back.

  “Why isn’t it ready?” the sheikh asked her.

  “She doesn’t know what she’s saying. It’s definitely ready,” said Joe Smith, Morgan’s manager. He looked at her sternly, as if he was warning her to keep quiet. Morgan shrugged her shoulders and played with her fingers. She knew that it was not her place to speak out but she felt that she really had to. She did not feel that the drug was ready to enter phase two of the clinical trials.

  The sheikh stood in front of Morgan with his arms folded over his chest. He did not pay much attention to what Joe had just said. Morgan swallowed nervously.

  “I really do not think it’s ready,” she said. She felt a little bit intimidated. She was the only one in that entire room that thought so. Everyone else was either not saying anything or urging for the drug to enter the second phase.

  “Why do you think it’s not ready?” he asked her again.

  “The pharmacokinetics suggest that there may be some side effects that would cause hormonal changes in women.”

  “What?” Joe whipped his head in her direction. He was looking at her like she had very well lost her mind. Brooke raised her eyebrows and looked at Morgan.

  “There may be?” Sheikh Bukhari repeated.

  “There is,” said Morgan.

  “There isn’t,” Joe interrupted.

  “How certain are you?” said Sheikh Bukhari.

  “Very,” said Morgan.

  “Everyone can leave, you stay behind.”

  Brooke and Morgan looked at each other. “Watch what you say,” Brooke whispered to Morgan before she stood up and left the room. Morgan had a habit of saying what she thought. She did not beat around the bush and she certainly did not sugarcoat anything.

  Morgan laced her fingers together as she waited for everyone to leave the conference room. They all looked at her as they left. It seemed that everyone thought she was a fool for speaking out, especially in the sheikh’s presence. One wrong word, and Morgan could lose her job. She had heard of the sheikh’s short temper and no-nonsense personality. It made her nervous that he had asked her to stay behind and speak to him.

  “So, tell me what your views are on this drug,” said the sheikh, after the room was empty.

  “It needs some adjusting. There is potential to cause side effects,” said Morgan as she rose to her feet.

  “Hormonal changes, you say.”

  Morgan nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Which department do you work in?”

  “I work in the pharmaceutical lab, north wing.”

  Sheikh Bukhari raised his eyebrows slightly. “As what?” he asked her.

  “Research assistant.”

  “What are your qualifications?”

  Morgan frowned slightly. She was telling him that his drug was not ready, but he was questioning her qualifications and her job position. It was hardly the time. “I have a degree in biomedical science,” she said softly and stopped there. She wanted to ask why it was relevant.

  “So you do not have much foundation in chemistry?”

  Morgan narrowed her gaze. She knew where he was going with this, he did not think she knew what she was talking about. She did not have any qualifications in chemistry, nor did she hold a good position within the company.

  “I do not, but I have been working on this drug for almost a year now. I have noted down all of the abnormalities and have analyzed it. I am pretty sure that it is not ready. Something needs to be adjusted, so that there are no effects on female hormones,” said Morgan.

  “Why should I believe what you are saying?”

  “You do not have to, you just have to see for yourself.”

  “Further testing costs money.”

  “But it will benefit you in the long run.”

  “And if you are wrong?”

  “I am not wrong.”

  “You are overconfident,” he said with displeasure.

  “I am not being overconfident.” Morgan fingered a lock of her curly hair. Most of it had been tucked into a high bun, but a lock had managed to fall out. “Sheikh Bukhari, I would not have said anything if I was not sure,” she added.

  He did not say anything for a moment. He just studied her instead. He slightly tilted his head to the side and just looked at her. Morgan felt a little bit awkward. Not only was he incredibly attractive, he was also her boss who held her job in his hands and he was a cold man. He did not have a friendly or warm presence. His stone-cold gaze sent shivers down her spine.

  “Bring me a report first thing tomorrow morning, then I will decide,” he said at last.

  Morgan nodded. “I will.”

  Morgan wanted to run out immediately. It was far too awkward and intimidating to be in his presence. She was grateful for her hazelnut-colored skin that did not t
urn red.

  “You may go.” He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Morgan felt that the hand dismissal gesture was rude but she could not say anything about it, not if she wanted to keep her job. She turned on her heel and just left the room.

  Morgan felt nervous. She had less than a day to write a report for the sheikh. It was not like she had data analysis lying around. She had to start on it immediately and she had to get everything right. Otherwise her job would probably come to an end. The sheikh was known for firing incompetent people. After she had dared to speak out in the meeting, she definitely had to be right.

  Chapter 2

  Morgan frantically checked her laboratory report for the third time. She had to make sure that no mistake could be spotted. After boldly speaking out in front of the sheikh, she had to back up her words.

  Brooke walked into the room and stood right in front of Morgan. “I bet you regret it now,” Brooke said.

  Morgan slightly jumped as she looked up. “You gave me a fright,” said Morgan.

  Brooke laughed a little. “Now you are scared.” Brooke folded her arms over her chest. “This is why you should have just kept quiet like I told you to.”

  “I do not regret my words. I really do believe that the drug is not ready. Of course I had to say something.”

  “That is the problem, you always have to say something.”

  “I do not.”

  “You know it’s true.”

  “I know.” Morgan started laughing. Her mouth had gotten her into trouble so many times. She looked at the laboratory report and ran through the results one more time. They made sense, the proof was right there in black and white. She nodded to herself.

  “What time do you have to meet him anyway?” Brooke asked.

  “At 9 o’clock,” Morgan mumbled.

  “Oh, because it’s 8:58 right now.”

  Morgan whipped her head in Brooke’s direction. “What?” she spat out. She gathered her paperwork frantically and ran out of the room. The last thing she could afford was tardiness. Morgan rushed out of the laboratory area and headed to the elevator. She pressed the call button.

  “Come on,” she whispered as she waited impatiently. She pressed the elevator button a couple of times more.

  It finally arrived seconds later. To Morgan, it had felt like hours. She quickly walked in when the doors opened. She pressed the button for the 12th floor. She cursed under her breath when she realized that she only knew the floor number but not the exact location of his office. Why would she know it? After all she had never been there.

  As soon as the doors opened, Morgan rushed out. Like a chicken with its head cut off, she ran around the place looking for his office. Her eyes widened when she saw a man dressed in a suit. He looked important enough to know the sheikh. She rushed over to him. “Excuse me, do you know where Sheikh Bukhari’s office is?” she asked him.

  “His office is down the hall, to the right. It’s the one at the end of the corridor,” he said to her with a smile. Morgan barely waited for him to finish speaking, before she ran off.

  “Thank you,” she said as she ran.

  Morgan reached the sheikh’s office seconds later. There was a small reception area outside his office. A neatly dressed woman sat at the reception desk. She looked up as Morgan arrived.

  “I have an appointment with the sheikh,” Morgan said to her.

  “Yes, he is expecting you,” the woman replied as she rose from her seat. She went and knocked at the office door before she entered. Morgan heard her tell the sheikh that she was there. “You may go in,” the woman said to Morgan.

  The sheikh was standing by the window with his hands in his pockets when Morgan walked in. He had his back towards the door. Morgan could not help but notice how broad his back was. His black shirt complemented his strong and wide back.

  “You are late,” said Sheikh Sofian Bukhari. Morgan almost jumped when he spoke. She had been too fixated on his back.

  “Ah, yeah, er, I was lost,” she replied. She could not even find the proper words to say.

  Sofian turned around and looked at her. “That is not a plausible excuse.”

  Morgan glanced at the glass clock hung on his wall. It was 9:04. She was only four minutes late. It seemed that he was as strict as people made him out to be.

  “It is not an excuse, it is–”

  Before Morgan could finish her sentence, Sofian cut her off. “I am not interested in excuses. Give me the report.”

  Morgan did not appreciate his rudeness but she had no choice. He was the employer and she was the employee. It did not give him the right to be rude to her but it meant that she was unable to talk back, at least not as much as she wanted. She decided to bite her tongue and just hand him the report she had written.

  Sofian took the sheets of paper and looked at them. Morgan felt awkward. She was not sure if she was meant to leave him with the report or if she was meant to stand there and wait for him to finish reading it. He had not specified anything. So Morgan just laced her fingers together and waited for him to tell her what to do.

  “The report has an untidy presentation but I see your point,” Sofian said after a couple of minutes.

  Morgan raised her recently threaded eyebrows. “Untidy?” she mumbled.

  “Yes. This paragraph is not aligned properly,” he pointed out.

  Morgan narrowed her gaze. “But do you see what I mentioned about the new medicine?” she asked. That was the point of the document, and not alignment of the paragraphs.

  Sofian looked at her with a blank facial expression. “I prefer everything to be done neatly.”

  “Very well,” said Morgan.

  Sofian put the report on his desk. “I do see why you were brazen,” he said.

  Morgan raised her eyebrows again. “I was brazen?” she asked him.

  “Yes. It takes guts for a person in your position to speak out on something important, and against everyone else’s professional opinions.”

  “Exactly, everyone has a professional opinion and I was giving mine.”

  “And I am saying that it was a brass move.”

  “Maybe, but it was necessary.”

  Sofian did not say anything for a moment. He just looked at Morgan. It made her feel uneasy. She had no clue as to what he was thinking. Nevertheless, she was not going to allow him to intimidate her. She squared her shoulders and stared him down.

  “Before the meeting, had you seen me before? Have we met?” Sofian asked her.

  “No,” Morgan replied. “Why?”

  “Nothing. You may go.”

  Not that Morgan expected some kind of reward or anything, but he should at least have thanked her for spotting such an important side effect. Had she not brought the issue up at the meeting, the drug may have entered the next phase. The sheikh only read the report and then just dismissed her. He had not even praised her or thanked her. Nothing!

  “Okay.” Morgan turned on her heel and left his office. After having asked her if they had met before, Sofian offered no explanation and then just dismissed her.

  Chapter 3

  Sofian called for a meeting instantly. He needed to sit down with the other managers and discuss where to go from there. Even though he had not admitted it to Morgan, he was impressed by her. She had spotted something very important and spoke out.

  He was incredibly surprised at how bold she was. She had never met him before, and she held such a low position within the company. And yet she was not afraid of him, like most people were. All the other employees did not dare to speak their minds in his presence, and in some cases did not even look him in the eye.

  Sofian got up from his desk and headed to the conference room, where the meeting was to be held. He was meeting with all the managers that had anything to do with this new drug. Now that there was proof of what Morgan had suggested at the meeting, the drug needed further testing. They needed to make it safer.

  When Sofian entered the conference room, the managers al
l rose to their feet and bowed their heads. Sofian walked in with so much authority in his stride. He went to sit at the head of the long mahogany table. The managers waited for him to sit down before they too sat down. Sofian had Morgan’s laboratory report in his hand. He placed it on the table and then leaned back into his leather chair.