Chapter Ten
Rafiq liked having Liliana in his bed.
Liked the feel of her lying in his arms, the softness of her skin, but he loathed the tears that fell on his chest, even if she tried to hide them.
He had that post-sex clarity, almost the same high that came after a run.
Absolutely he could fix things.
‘That shouldn’t have happened,’ she said.
He gave a low laugh, ‘Well, it did.’ He reached down and moved her hand from his stomach. ‘And if you don’t want it happening again, you’d better stop.’
Liliana pulled back her hand. ‘I meant, I wanted things to be sorted properly before we slept together. If they can ever be sorted.’
‘They can be,’ he said far more assuredly than possibly he should. How the hell did he explain his and Yara’s situation without betraying Yara? Liliana had gone all shy after they’d had sex and he guessed she felt guilty, when there was absolutely no need for her to be.
Her threat to leave had unsettled him.
What if he promised to be more open, to be more like the man she had met that night?
What if he proved it by opening up now?
That was how much he wanted Liliana in his life, in his bed.
Before he could talk himself out of it, Rafiq spoke up. ‘Khalid told them how they could capture me.’
Liliana, whose hand was back playing with the hair on his stomach, froze. She actually held her breath, so scared was she that even that sound might interrupt.
But no.
‘There is a tunnel under my home in Belgravia—it used to be less secure than it is now. Only three people knew of its existence. My father, Khalid and me.’
‘No-one else?’
‘My father insisted that the rebels perhaps had someone follow me, or it had been somehow leaked, but we both know that is not the case.’
‘How?’
‘My captors told me. At first, I thought they were lying, but from the details they gave…’ He shook his head.
‘And my father knows it’s true, because we cannot talk about it.
I know that it kills my father that Khalid did that.
’ He closed his eyes. ‘He’d only been captured a few days when he broke. ’
‘Poor man.’
Rafiq’s eyes widened at her response. He didn’t need her sympathy, but shouldn’t that be more leaning to poor you?
‘He was married, wasn’t he?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you think they blackmailed him, threatened his wife?’
‘Probably.’
‘You don’t think you’d have done the same?’
‘Absolutely not. I would never have betrayed my brother.’
‘God only knows what he went through.’
‘Wild horses wouldn’t have dragged it from me.’ Rafiq shook his head. ‘He wasn’t just a brother—he was the crown prince. His death could have ended the lineage.’
‘I doubt he was thinking that far ahead,’ she suggested. ‘How did you get out?’
He shook his head.
Wasn’t that enough revelation?
But they were in the space they found, the quiet of night, and he wanted her to remain.
If she wanted to be here after hearing this.
‘Balach,’ he said. ‘He was a night guard. He only came in every couple of weeks.’
He told her how he’d watched all the guards, trying to work out the weakest. About Balach’s food, and his wife having a baby.
And it did not feel as if he was serving his guts up on a plate.
It was just a slow revelation. He could feel her breath on his chest, and occasionally she moved a touch, rearranged her leg, but as he revealed the darkest parts, he felt somehow lighter.
He told her about the baby needing surgery and his offer to help.
‘He said yes?’ Liliana checked, anxious to get to the end, to know the baby was okay.
‘No,’ Rafiq said. ‘He said it was too dangerous. There were too many guards and there was also a checkpoint on the bridge to here. They were checking papers, opening car boots…’
‘So what did you do?’
‘I waited,’ Rafiq said, ‘but I was getting weak. Soon I wouldn’t be able to walk and I told him that. He gave me his meal that night and we spoke. I persuaded him.’
‘How?’
‘I said it was his baby’s best chance. I promised him a new life.’ His voice cracked, and she dared not look up, because he would hate her to see him like that.
She wanted to press Fast Forward. To know what happened so she could breathe out in relief and then concentrate. But she was also scared to ask. There was a darkness to Rafiq and she was terrified she might know why.
‘He still said no, but he started to tell me a plan. There were two guards on the perimeter,’ Rafiq said, having cleared his throat.
‘And there was one at the main entrance to the tunnel, but he was lazy, Balach told me. He spent a lot of time on his phone, or away from his post. Time was the biggest danger—the guards changed shift just after sunrise. His baby was getting weaker too. We agreed the next time he was guarding me that we would leave.’
Rafiq thought back; it had been three weeks before Balach had worked again, his body was fading, he barely had strength and he was worried Balach had revealed their plans.
‘Then he arrived, and it was time to escape. Balach was right, the guard was lazy, and asleep. We got past the perimeter and his wife was there with the car.’ He paused. ‘And their baby.’
‘She must have been terrified.’
‘No, she was very stoic. She told me to get in the trunk—we all knew if they inspected it, we were dead.’
‘Were you stopped?’
‘There was a border.’ He was silent. ‘I heard the guards asking for papers. The plan was if they asked him to open the trunk to just drive straight through. Make it to the other side and hope.’
‘Were you terrified?’
‘I think I was too weak for that. I just…’ He closed his eyes, his heart started thumping, and it was not a pleasant feeling, having a heart that beat with emotion and it caused his voice to catch.
‘I felt guilt. They were trusting me, and they had a baby. I had told him it would work, that I would make sure of it, and because I am a crown prince he believed in me. The things is, I was using him.’
She lay very still, could hear the rapid beat of his heart and knew he must be reliving it, and she wasn’t sure now she wanted to get to the end. ‘What happened?’ she ventured.
‘The guards barely glanced at the papers. They waved us through. I kept waiting for gunshots, yet we were driving. We made it to a safe house.’
And it should be a happy ending, but his voice was so flat.
‘The baby?’
‘She had surgery a week later, in London. She is still there.’
‘Do you see her?’
‘No. They have a new life.’
‘Surely you would like to see…’
‘I doubt they would want to see me. I put them in grave danger.’
‘You saved their baby.’
‘Perhaps, but that was more luck.’ He was honest. ‘I manipulated him,’ Rafiq said. ‘I knew his weakness—his love for his wife and for his child.’
Liliana peeled herself from his body and sat up.
‘Love wasn’t his weakness—it made him strong,’ Liliana said. ‘And the same for his wife. It made them brave enough to take the chance.’
It was a different way of looking at it; in fact he hadn’t really looked at it that way before. It had been too painful to think about, the guilt as to how it might have turned out too appalling to consider.
Yet despite pushing thoughts aside, of course he had.
Over and over the worst-case scenarios had invaded his mind.
Then her hand closed around him and he felt the softness of her lips.
And there were no more thoughts.