Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Rainier gave her compliments when no one in her life had done so. Mama Ahmad had praised her when she was learning to bake or apply henna tattoos, but it wasn’t the same. He didn’t sound as if he was trying to build her up or flatter her. He sounded offhand, matter-of-fact, as if he were simply stating a truth.
“The way you say that, it sounds like you don’t believe you’re a good person, Rainier. I know you. Inside, where no one else sees.” She cupped his jaw briefly. “I’m so grateful that you let me see the real you.”
“That’s what I counted on when I knew your father would do his best to turn you against me. You don’t let anyone persuade or intimidate you into thinking the way they do. If anything, the more he talked against me or demanded you have someone else head your security, the more I knew you’d defend me. You’re faithful to the people you believe deserve your loyalty.”
“The security on the estate was so tight, not just the alarms on doors and windows, but guards everywhere. Still, you always knew when I had vicious nightmares, and you’d slip inside the house. I don’t know why he didn’t turn you in to the cops. I worried so much about that. I’d feel guilty when I’d make you stay with me, and then my father would find out you were there.”
“You should have told me you were worried. I would have reassured you. Jack wasn’t about to call the cops on me. He might want to, but he’s a brilliant man.”
Shabina studied his profile. He was all angles and planes. A strong jaw with a dark shadow that never quite left him even if he shaved. He was the most intense individual she’d ever met. He could be so still; he could blend into the background or exude such lethal energy everyone around him froze in place, fearful of moving. He commanded a room simply by walking into it. Even his dangerous demeanor wouldn’t stop her father.
“You knew something damaging about my father.” She murmured the statement aloud, more to herself than to him. Puzzling. That wasn’t necessarily right. “No, he would be more inclined to protect my mother than himself. Or the two of them together. Something to do with my kidnapping.”
Rainier kept his gaze fixed on the road, his expression giving nothing away. He might as well have been carved from stone.
“A year passed, and the ransom still hadn’t been paid to Salman Ahmad. It was a simple business transaction. All the other ransoms had been paid easily, and the other prisoners had been released. Ahmad was worried, so much so that he had decided to release me without being paid. I overheard him tell his men, and then he came and told me not to worry, I’d be going home soon.”
“Do you know why the ransom money hadn’t been paid?”
“I know they went to collect it on at least three occasions but came back empty-handed. We would break camp immediately and leave the area. Men would stay behind to cover our tracks.”
“What did Ahmad think happened to the money? Or did he believe Jack wasn’t paying?”
Shabina had been secretly happy the ransom hadn’t been paid. She hadn’t realized how much she wanted to be with someone like Mama Ahmad, learning from her, sharing chores, telling stories, holding babies and looking after the children. There was always joy and laughter from the time the sun came up until it went down. She hadn’t been concerned about why her father wasn’t paying until the day she realized Salman Ahmad was worried. Then she paid attention and tried to gather information quickly.
“My father claimed to Ahmad that he’d paid the ransom three times and Ahmad hadn’t delivered. Ahmad said no one showed to give them the money. He was very uneasy, and that’s when he told his men he was releasing me.”
“You believe that Jack paid the ransom?”
“Yes.” She did believe it. “Like I said, we were told that if we were ever kidnapped, it was treated as a business. Cooperate. The ransom would be paid. There can only be one explanation. Ahmad had a traitor in his camp. Scorpion must have intercepted the ransom each time it was paid. He took the money. He had to know when and where it was being delivered, and he got there first or had his mercenaries there to intercept. The only way he could do that was if someone tipped him off.”
“That’s logical,” Rainier agreed.
“When Ahmad said he would release me, word must have been sent to Scorpion, and he and his men came and murdered everyone. It was a total massacre. No one was prepared. They didn’t have a chance.”
Just thinking about that day tore her up. She didn’t want to see the images crowding into her mind, so she slammed that door closed the way she always did the moment vivid pictures formed.