“I’m going to meet with Emir,” Talib said and the words broke the silence that had hung in the room for the last few minutes.
“Now?” She frowned.
“I know.” He gave her an off-kilter smile. “It’s almost four thirty in the morning but he starts his day at five, sometimes sooner.”
They were both wide awake. And while he was sure sleep was at least another day away for him, he doubted if it would be any different for her. The only one getting any sleep was the boy and a thought struck him that maybe it would be nice to have her company. He would cut short his trip to see Emir and then take her around to the family compound, maybe sway her mind to relocate there. It was an argument he wasn’t ready to drop.
“Come with me. You can bring the baby.”
“You said I was safe here,” she said. “I’m not leaving, Talib. Just tell me it’s safe.”
“You are,” he assured her. No matter how much he’d rather she go to the compound, he couldn’t lie. He’d prepared for such a situation and now that she’d made it clear by refusing once again, that it was a done deal, it was time to tell her. “In fact what I haven’t told you is that I’ve hired a twenty-four-seven guard duty. There’ll be someone patrolling this hallway at all times. So if I’m not here and you need anything, anything at all—even...” He looked over at the boy. “Cookies or biscuits, whatever...”
“Biscuits,” she said with a small laugh.
“You know what I mean, Sara. You have round-the-clock protection. The man who has the day shifts will be Andre.” He went over to a desk in the far corner of the room and picked up a sheet of paper. “Here,” he said as he handed it to her. “It has their names and shifts and a picture so you can verify their identity.”
“You’re frightening me.”
“No, Sara. It’s nothing to be frightened of.” He leaned down and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. Yet he wanted to turn her to face him and kiss her hot and wet on the lips. He took a step away and turned to grab his keys off a small stand. “It’s a necessity until we catch your blackmailer.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” she interrupted with determination running like steel through her voice. “I just needed you to know. To be on board with this. To...”
“Protect him.” He nodded. “I know. And you need money, too, I’ll have some wired to your—”
“Talib, no. You make my head spin. This is too much. The money I mean. Thank you, but I won’t accept unless this is a loan.”
“No loan,” he said. “Get the information to my assistant and she’ll facilitate the transfer. I insist on not only protecting you and my son, but supporting him, too.” He looked at her and ran a finger gently along her cheek.
He met her questioning gaze.
“I wish I could say no, but...”
“It’s all right,” he said. “My assistant will contact you.”
She shook her head.
“You can trust her. Give her Tad’s contact information and she’ll get the money to him,” he continued.
Her eyes were bright with tears. “I’ll pay you back.”
“Sara...” He touched her shoulder. “Let me do this. And as far as the blackmailing piece of camel dung, trust me, he won’t get everything he wants—not yet. Only enough to buy some time.”
“I don’t understand,” she said with a frown. “If he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll...”
“Do nothing,” Talib said. “There’s nothing he or whoever he is partnered with can do. Trust me, Sara. Holding back money may make him careless.”
“Buy time,” she murmured.
“Exactly,” he agreed.
Enough time for him to take him down and have him drown in his own blood, he thought. They were words he would never say to her, in front of his son or otherwise. “And, it goes without saying when this is over, I’ll be supporting my son.”
Silence hung between them. If he was reading her emotions right, he would say she was stunned or possibly just in a state of disbelief. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it didn’t feel right to think that she might have, in some way, expected the worst from him.
“And maybe you can get a few hours’ sleep before I get back. You’re right, you’re probably better off here than trailing along after me. Besides, that would wake the baby.”
She looked at him oddly.
“His name’s Everett.”
“I know,” he said thickly, but the name stuck in his throat.
He picked up his son. Somehow he was able to think of him in terms of a relationship, as an entity but not as a name, an individual who somehow made their situation all too glaringly real.
“I’ll walk you both back to your room.” He gazed down at the bundle in his arms. He looked at Sara and circled her shoulders with his arm, drawing her along with him to the door.
She smiled, a rather tired effort, as she reached to open the door.
“As far as your blackmailer...” He met her eyes as if delivering a silent promise. “Like I said, we’ll deal with him. I promise you, Sara, this will work out. No one will hurt either you or the boy.”
She nodded.
He realized that again he hadn’t referred to the child by name. He thought of him as his, but the name, somehow, in an odd way, meant acknowledging his son’s mother. Because Everett was a name that he knew Sara loved. She’d once mentioned that if she ever had a boy, she’d call him by that name. Saying the name felt like he was accepting what she had done and in doing so, forgiving her for not telling him. He wasn’t ready for that.
* * *
“WHAT’S GOING ON?” Emir asked as Talib slouched down into one of the leather chairs that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s before that. The leather sank beneath his weight, yet not so much that it still wasn’t providing support.
The office was a place that he considered the heart of the family compound. It was a place that reminded him of the strength and loyalty of his family and where Nassar Security had begun.
“You look terrible, Talib,” Emir said. “Something on your mind besides the obvious? I’m betting it’s not the breach of security and the explosion at Ian’s hotel either.”
Talib looked at his brother and for a moment wondered why he was here. There was nothing Emir could do or say that would change any of it. Not the part that haunted him, the boy—his son.
“You know, don’t you?”
“Sara came here with your son.” Emir nodded.
Talib’s eyes met his older brother’s. He ran a hand through his hair. “It was that obvious?”
“I guessed,” Emir said. “Am I right?”
Emir smiled in that all-knowing older-brother way that, through the years, had been nothing short of infuriating. This time there was too much on his mind to even think about it.
“That the boy is mine.” He nodded. “That’s what she says.”
“What do you say?” Emir asked, his dark eyes clashing with Talib’s, challenging him.
“How’d you know?” Talib asked instead.
“A blind man could see that, T. He’s like seeing you when you were a kid.”
“I can’t believe she’s here. That she never told me, that...”
“What are you going to do about it?”
He lurched to his feet, as if sitting for another moment was just too difficult. “I’ll take responsibility.”
“A given,” Emir said easily. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”
Talib paced the room before turning to face his brother. “She’s in trouble.”
“I assumed as much,” Emir said as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, his dark eyes fixed on him. “You mentioned once that she didn’t like to travel. And yet, here she is halfway around the world. You two are no longer a couple—so why is she here? I couldn’t think of anything else other than the fact that it’s your business to protect and she needs help. What else could it be?”
Despite his oldest brother’s look, which could be disconcerting at times, this time it didn’t faze him. His brother was bang on as usual.
“She’s in trouble alright, in more ways than one,” he said, thinking of the boy who was innocently caught in the midst of it all. He went on to tell Emir what he’d learned from Sara.
“Tad demanded money at regular intervals. Sara met them all until she ran out of money. It looks like he’s not alone and they’ve upped their demands in the time since then and when she arrived in Morocco. I plan to give them a quarter of what they’re asking. If whoever is at the helm of this in Morocco is outraged enough they might slip up. I’ve already set up a transfer of funds to meet part of the demand,” Talib added.
“We’ve used the strategy before,” Emir said.
Talib nodded. “I’m hoping it may flush them out.”
“I’ll assign another agent to that case I mentioned earlier,” Emir said. “You need to stay focused on this. Has our office found anything?”
Talib went through what he knew. “I’m going back to the Sahara Sunset this morning.”
Emir nodded approvingly. “You couldn’t get a more impenetrable security. A crown prince or two has been known to stay there.”
“You’re telling me it was a good choice,” Talib said with a self-deprecating smile.
“I don’t need to,” Emir said. “Old habits...”
“Never die,” Talib said, referring to Emir’s need as an older brother to give advice to his siblings.
“Have you considered moving them?”
“To the compound,” Talib said. “Yes, in fact I already suggested it. She won’t go.”
“Probably not an issue. From what you’ve said you’ve eliminated, or at least controlled the possibility of any danger at the moment.”
“Exactly. They’re safe where they are. It’s secure.”
“But you’re considering this as a temporary measure. Depending how long it takes to contain the danger?”
“If anything changes, I’ll move them immediately. But the security there is every bit as tight as at the compound. And I know the security team well.”
“Agreed. Is there anything I can do?” Emir asked.
“I’ll let you know,” Talib said as he moved to leave. He hesitated at the door before turning around. “Thanks,” he said. “Sara’s ex is a small-time crook but he’s got someone contracted here that has me worried. Mainly because he’s an unknown entity. I’ll feel better when I have an ID on him. But one thing is clear—he has more resources than her ex-boyfriend.”
“So who is he? Any ideas?”
“The ex-boyfriend’s name is Tad Rossi and he has Moroccan roots. I’m assuming it could be anyone he had connections with here. It might be a deeper dig to find them then I thought.”
“Really? The boyfriend was Moroccan too?”
“Apparently she has a type.”
“A type?” Emir frowned.
“You know dark-haired, exotic—or so I’ve been told,” Talib said with a grin. “Or maybe it’s just tall, dark and handsome.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Seriously, she met him at a Moroccan travel presentation. It appeared to be coincidental, but I don’t believe in coincidence.”
“She was singled out.”
“It’s a possibility I considered,” Talib replied. “Despite that theory, he seems like a rank amateur. It won’t take much to bring him down and close this case. Then I’ll be available.”
“Will you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Emir asked softly.
Talib met Emir’s gaze and somehow he couldn’t acknowledge the obvious reference his brother was making. It was all too big and too incomprehensible.
“You have a son, T,” Emir said gravely. “Our family has an heir. Getting to know him might take a bit of your time.”
An heir to the Al-Nassar wealth and history—it was inconceivable and he’d been treating it all so lightly. He frowned. When this was over, and only then, he needed to rethink his position, because he knew, as Emir had implied, that his son needed to be here—with him.
That wouldn’t go over with Sara, but he’d have time to bring her around.
In the end, he knew she’d do anything to protect their son.
And he’d do anything to protect his family—even if it meant his own life.