by C. J. Miller
He knew all that. “Frederick updated me on that matter this morning.” Despite his orders for Frederick to rest and heal, the man could not stay off his smartphone, tablet and television. He devoured the news like he was at a buffet.
“What about Sarah?” Mikhail asked.
It wasn’t like his brother to pry into his personal life. Why did he want to know about her? “I need to speak with her about our relationship.”
“Are you planning to keep her as your mistress?” Mikhail asked, narrowing his eyes, not approving of the idea.
“She would never stand for that,” Saafir said. People were circling, looking to speak to him. He lowered his voice. “Cut to the chase, Mikhail. There are a lot of people here and I have much to do.”
Mikhail took Saafir’s shoulders. “I need a big favor. The biggest you’ve ever done for me.”
“Will granting you a boon mean you will stop sulking around?”
“Yes. If you help me, my entire life will come back together.”
Saafir waited for the request that would be a miracle healer for his brother.
“I’m in love.”
“With Alaina,” Saafir finished.
Mikhail appeared dumbstruck. “How did you know?”
“She was looking at you in a certain way. You’ve been spending time with her to help me. I put it together.”
“I want to marry her,” Mikhail said.
“How does she feel about it?” Saafir asked.
“She feels the same way,” Mikhail said.
If Alaina married Mikhail and her father approved of the match, it would forge the ties that Saafir needed between the Loyalists, the royal family and the Conservatives. “I will speak to her father about it and make the arrangements.”
Relief seemed to billow from Mikhail. “Thank you, Saafir. I’ve been worrying about telling you. I didn’t know if you’d feel like I’d stolen her from you.”
“Alaina was never mine to steal,” Saafir said. “I’m in love with someone else, too.”
Mikhail nodded swiftly. “I thought as much.”
“But remember your promise to me. Stop sulking. Go spend time with Alaina and let’s keep up appearances.” Feeling free of his obligation to Alaina, Saafir went in search of Sarah.
Chapter 13
Sarah watched Saafir greeting Alaina Faris as she entered the lobby with her father. Alaina was even more beautiful than Sarah had imagined. Tall, thin and Qamsarian, qualities that Sarah did not and would never have.
Though it wasn’t in her best interest to watch them, it was difficult to turn away. Perhaps seeing Saafir and Alaina together would give her closure. But every second felt as if knives were twisting in her heart. Finally, Sarah looked away. She didn’t feel closure. She felt unabated sadness.
Saafir’s sister, Laila, and his brother-in-law, Harris, had spoken to Sarah and thanked her for hosting the event. Did they know about her and Saafir’s affair from the media, or Iba or maybe even Saafir?
Needing a place to be alone with her thoughts, Sarah fled to the coatroom. She couldn’t bear to see Saafir and Alaina talk and laugh together. They’d have their happily ever after. Not begrudging Saafir his happiness wasn’t the same as smiling while having it shoved in her face.
Sarah sat on the small footstool in the coatroom. It wasn’t the most elegant place to sit, among the few coats and shawls hanging in the walk-in closet. After the night she’d had, she needed to rest before her legs gave out from under her.
How had everything gone from bad to worse with Saafir? She had convinced herself she was better off alone. She’d had to let him go. Just like she’d had to let Alec go when she couldn’t help him anymore and she couldn’t let herself be pulled down into his spiral of destruction. Just like she’d had to let go of the idea of being part of her father’s life.
Sarah let herself cry for a few minutes, and when the emotion was expunged, she stood and wiped under her eyes, hoping tracks of running mascara didn’t give her away. She wished the tiny room had a mirror. She must look a wreck.
The door opened and Saafir appeared in the doorway. His frame filled it and Sarah was struck again by how handsome he was.
He was her client. At least, until this event was over. “Everything okay?” she asked. If he said one word about Alaina, she might kick him in the shin. Emir or not, she couldn’t stand to hear about his new love.
“Everything is not okay.” He pulled closed the door and locked it.
“What are you doing?” Sarah asked. She tried to go around him, but he took her shoulders.
“Getting you alone and talking to you. No interruptions allowed. I need you to listen to me.”
Sarah removed his hands from her shoulders and took a step away. As their fingers brushed, heat smoked between them. “People are watching you. They’ll know we’re in here alone. Your wife is out there.”
Saafir advanced on her and Sarah let him take her in his arms and hold her against his chest. It felt too good.
“I am not married. I do not have a wife. Alaina will be Mikhail’s wife. It seems during the time that I was falling for you, she and my brother were falling for each other.”
Sarah felt her jaw slacken. Saafir had fallen for her? Mikhail and Alaina were in love? “Are you upset?” What about his political plans and Qamsar’s future?
“Why would I be upset? I am not in love with Alaina. Our marriage was always about politics. I’m in love with you, and I won’t let you get away. I came here tonight to tell you that.”
It was almost harder to know that he loved her when they had no future together. “Take it back, Saafir. Don’t tell me you love me when you know we can’t be together.”
His mouth was drawn into a firm line. “We will be together. I won’t settle for anything less.”
How? She wasn’t Qamsarian. She wouldn’t be accepted by the people in Saafir’s country.
“I’ve missed you. Owen told me how he cornered you into agreeing to spy for him,” Saafir said.
“I didn’t spy for anyone,” Sarah said, lifting her chin.
“I know that now. What I don’t know is if you’ll forgive me for not trusting you and giving you a chance to explain.”
“This isn’t just about trust. What about your country? I will never be accepted in Qamsar as your girlfriend.”
Saafir brought his hand to his jaw. “You’re right. You wouldn’t be. It’s not proper for the emir to date an American. But if I marry you, they’ll have no choice but to accept you.”
He would do that for her? Put her before his country? Put her first in his life?
“I want another chance. I want to prove that I can be the man you need.”
He made it sound easy. “I love you, Saafir, but how will we...” She didn’t know how to finish the thought.
“We will together.” Saafir delivered a kiss she felt across her entire body. Heat speared from his mouth and her worries melted away.
Together was a good way to think about the future.
“I won’t accept being one of many wives,” Sarah said.
“Is a condition of accepting my proposal that I disperse my harem?” he asked with a smile.
She swatted him. “No harem. No other women. Just me.”
“Then the same applies to you. Just me.”
Saafir and Sarah sealed the promise with a kiss.
A loud boom that sounded like gunfire had Sarah jolting. “What was that?”
The musicians had stopped playing and screams filled the air. Saafir pulled his comm device from his pocket and slipped it over his ear. He listened for several moments. “There are three men in black masks demanding to speak to me alone or they will start shooting people.”
“You can’t go out there. You’ll be ki
lled.” Sarah grabbed his sleeve, desperate for him to stay where it was safe. His guards and the hired security would take care of the problem or they would contact the authorities.
“I have this under control. If I hide in here, they’ll open fire on the crowd. They’re saying for every minute that passes, they’ll kill someone.”
Now that he was in reach, she wouldn’t let Saafir be taken away from her. “Think this through. There has to be another way.”
Is this how Saafir would be forced to live his life? Wasam was dead, but the attacks kept coming.
“Adham is reporting at least five masked men, one at each entrance and three in the lobby.”
Saafir took Sarah’s face in his hands. “I am not a coward. I will not cower in here and worry about saving myself when other lives are at stake.”
He had told her he loved her. She wanted a future with him. How could she stand here and watch him walk to his death?
“Do you know of a way to get to the kitchen from here without going through the lobby? I want to lure them away from the guests,” Saafir said.
The strength in his voice made it clear he would do this, with or without her help. She might as well do everything she could to help and trust that Saafir knew what he was doing. “There’s a service hallway that leads behind the ballroom, to the kitchen.”
Saafir touched his earpiece. “Five seconds until they shoot someone.” He closed his eyes. “Adham, tell them I’m in the kitchen.”
With no time to spare, Sarah pressed a kiss to Saafir’s lips. He slipped from the coat closet. Saafir’s guards came to attention and flanked him as they walked.
Sarah felt like her legs would buckle under her. She wouldn’t stand around and wait for the extremists to kill Saafir. She would help how she could. He had said they would face the future together. Her plan took less than five seconds to form in her mind. She returned to the ballroom. The guests were sitting on the floor, belts, handbags and jackets tossed to the center of the room in a pile.
Seeing no sign of a shooter, she found Harris standing with Laila and Mohammad Faris. Harris was an FBI agent. He could get help. As quietly as she could, she explained the problem, that Saafir had gone to the kitchen to face the extremists.
Harris nodded. “The shooters went to meet him. They claim to have eyes on the room, which is why no one is moving. But you’re making me wonder if that was a lie.”
“What can we do?”
After exchanging nods with his wife, Harris faced Sarah. “We’ll take a chance the shooters are lying about their numbers and try to save Saafir’s life.”
* * *
Sarah, Harris, Mikhail and Mohammad crept toward the kitchen and crouched behind the swinging door. Harris was leading them. He said he would act when the time was right. They needed to know how many men they were facing. Sarah peered through the gap between the door and the wall.
Her stomach dropped and her heart seized.
Saafir was talking to Rabah Wasam. He was alive! Wasam had a man on each side of him holding a gun on Saafir. Saafir’s guards had to be close, perhaps at the other entrance to the kitchen.
“You didn’t really think I would let myself burn to death, did you? I had a body planted to mislead you.”
“You’re a master planner,” Saafir said.
Wasam was shouting and sweat beaded his forehead. He was looking erratically around the room, perhaps anticipating an attack from the royal guards.
“I’m the master of a lot of things and soon I will be master of Qamsar. You know what strikes me as the worst about this? No one will know you died screaming like a girl.” He wiped at his forehead and then laughed. The pitch of his voice was eerily disturbing.
Sarah felt sick. What was he planning to do to Saafir? Exact revenge for some perceived mistreatment?
“You can kill me, but I won’t beg. I won’t scream,” Saafir said.
Wasam laughed again, the gun in his right hand shaking. He was holding something in his left. What was it? “It doesn’t matter how you behave. What everyone will know is what I tell them. My version of the story ends with you being a coward. You came to meet your American lover in a discreet place, and when I stumbled upon you, you attacked me. You didn’t want Qamsar to know you had jilted Alaina.”
Wasam didn’t know that Alaina and Mikhail were in love. No one would believe that part of Wasam’s story. “This won’t end well for you, Wasam. The Conservatives are looking for a new leader. How will another problem reunite them and get them behind you?”
Harris, Mikhail and Mohammad had taken a step away from the door and were deep in almost silent discussion. Sarah couldn’t tear her eyes away from Saafir.
“I have a plan,” Wasam said. “Take off your earpiece and kick it over here.”
Saafir did as Wasam asked.
“How does it feel to know you’re doing to die alone?” Wasam asked.
“He’s not alone,” Sarah said, shoving open the door and bursting through. “You have to go through me first.”
Fear registered on Saafir’s face. Despite his outward calm when they had talked to Alec and again while facing Wasam alone, her presence in this room terrified him to the point that he could not hide it.
She stood in front of Saafir.
“You’ll have to shoot me, too,” Mikhail said, stepping in front of her. Mohammad and Harris moved to stand around Saafir, as well.
Saafir’s guards entered through the back door, closing the circle around Saafir.
It was a more level playing field. Sarah reached for Saafir’s hand.
Wasam laughed. “You think surrounding him and pointing your guns at me will stop the bomb from going off? That’s right. I’ve always got a backup plan. My bomb is on a dead man’s switch.” He held up his hand where he was clasping a small black remote. “You kill me and I release this button, the whole building goes up in smoke. How many people will I take with me? A hundred? More? Is it worth it to you, Saafir?” Wasam was shaking hard with rage, his face red and sweat dripping down his temples.
His guards exchanged uncertain looks.
“As interesting as that sounds,” Saafir said, “we won’t let innocent people die.”
What could they do? They didn’t have time to evacuate. Though Iba and Laila had planned to lead people out of the lobby, Sarah didn’t know how many had gotten out safely or if they’d been stopped by guards who Wasam had posted at the entrances.
“This time, you don’t get to decide what happens,” Wasam said.
“Last chance, Wasam. Disable the bomb,” Saafir said.
Wasam laughed. “Ka-boom.” He released the button.
Nothing happened. Silence.
Wasam pressed the button again. Same result.
Everyone around Sarah seemed to move at once. Saafir’s guards, including Adham, surrounded Wasam and apprehended him and his followers.
“You can join the rest of your team outside with the American police,” Adham said.
Saafir’s arms went around her. “I told you I had this under control.”
Sarah spun to face him. “How? How did you know the bomb wouldn’t detonate?”
Saafir smiled. “After the incident with Alec, I had my team sweep the building. They found and dismantled the bomb. We suspected Wasam might still be alive and hoped he would show tonight and we could catch him and his followers.”
“You should have told me what you were planning,” Sarah said.
“No time. Information was coming in as events were unfolding and we were trying to stay one step ahead of Wasam’s plans,” Saafir said.
Sarah rested her head on Saafir’s shoulder and slipped her arms around his waist. She was glad it was over and she could start her life with him.
“Let’s get out of here. As lovely as this p
arty has been, tonight, I want to spend alone with my bride,” Saafir said.
Sarah shook her head. “I’m not your bride. We’re not married.”
“We’re not married yet. But you’re an event coordinator, and I figure you can put something together in a week or two. Then we can get started with a family of our own.”
“A week or two?” Sarah asked.
“With unlimited resources and your talent, should be easy,” Saafir said.
“I’m not a princess. People won’t like this.”
“I don’t care what people think. But you’re right. You’re not a princess. You’re more. You’re the queen of my heart, and nothing, not Qamsar, not duty, not my position comes before you.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from FATAL FALLOUT by Lara Lacombe.
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Chapter 1
“Dr. Fleming, can you comment on the recent alarm at the Central Virginia nuclear reactor after Tuesday’s earthquake?”
“Dr. Fleming, is nuclear power safe?”
“Is the public in any danger?”
Claire Fleming pasted on a smile as she turned to face the handful of reporters standing on the sidewalk outside the Nuclear Safety Group’s building. She’d known these questions would be coming, but had hoped to at least get a cup of coffee first. Mornings were tough enough without facing a barrage of questions, and she didn’t feel human without that first cup of java.
