Chapter 4
S afe for the moment, Heather slowly slid upward into her seat, looking around carefully before buckling up. The tarot cards vibrated happily in her pocket. They were tuned into her emotions in the most incredible way.
The incessant buzz of the seat belt alarm stopped. Royce smiled. “Thanks for doing that. That thing is pretty annoying.”
“I would take that over the sound of Faheed’s voice any day.” He glanced at her sharply, and she shrugged. “I only became a prisoner after my sister’s death.”
“Do you know why?”
“No, but I have a good idea,” she shared. “I don’t think Faheed realized that the controlling interest of our family’s company was never in my sister’s name. So, with her death, all her shares reverted to me. I just know that he’s got lawyers on it right now, trying to break my father’s will, but I’m really hoping it doesn’t happen.”
“Well, considering he kidnapped you and held you prisoner,” Royce stated, “I’m sure there’s something your lawyers can do to stop it.”
“Maybe,” she muttered. “Yet I’m not in England, and they haven’t been able to reach me.”
“Once we get to a safe house and off the streets, we’ll see about having you call them.” With that said, he immediately pulled into an alley, behind a dumpster, and grabbed her phone, opening it. Then he nodded and returned it to her. “Checking to make sure your phone wasn’t bugged.”
“Oh wow,” she muttered.
“Yep, we don’t want to waste this opportunity. Let’s make your freedom useful and permanent.”
She grinned. “Now that is an attitude I can get behind. Who the hell brought you into this?” she asked curiously.
“The British government is looking for your assistance in putting away Faheed.”
She shuddered. “Will they send me back if I don’t help?”
“I would never let them do that. Your safety should come first, even though we know that governments tend to be a little fanatical when it comes to making things happen their way.”
“You’re not kidding,” she muttered.
“Does Faheed have any enemies?”
She nodded. “I would imagine he has lots. My sister used to laugh about it because he was so powerful. I guess he’s powerful either way.”
“Was she happily married?”
She winced at that. “Unfortunately I’ll say yes. I say unfortunately because I don’t think she ever really realized what he was truly like, but the yes is also because I do know that she was happy. Therefore, I can’t really be that angry with him.”
“What if he had something to do with her death?”
“I always thought he did, but I have no proof,” She stared at him, her heart breaking. “Do you?”
“I don’t, but it is something that we’re all looking into.”
She sank back against the seat, tears forming in her eyes. “My sister had a history of health problems. She was delicate, but I… Look. I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead. I just don’t know how much were health problems versus convenient excuses for attention.”
“Oh, that’s interesting,” he noted, staring at her.
“And I feel like an absolute shit for saying that.” She groaned. “So don’t mind me.”
“No, I think it’s important that we understand what’s going on here because this?… Well, it’s confusing.”
“Yeah, it is,” she muttered. “I don’t really know what I’m saying right now. I’m just confused and upset at the thought that Faheed had something to do with my sister’s death.”
He nodded. “As you should be. What I can say is that this is a government-sanctioned rescue, and that’s why I’m here.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He grinned at her. “No problem. Also, your phone call came through a group called The Guardians.”
She stared at him. “My phone call? Guardians?”
“Yeah, Guardians,” he confirmed, with a grin. “Terk is the leader of that group.”
“Terk, Terk, Terk,” she repeated. “Why do I know that name?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Do you know that name?”
She shrugged. “I feel as if that is a name I should know.”
“I don’t know how you should know it,” he began. “They used to work for the CIA, and now have gone private and are living out of England, where they do jobs like this for MI6.”
“He has my thanks,” she stated in a formal tone. “I’m sure a price tag is involved, and I would be happy to pay for my freedom. I told Faheed that I would pay for my freedom too, but he just laughed and told me not to worry, as I would, indeed, pay.”
“Ouch.”
“I know, right? How is that for finding out that you’ll pay in ways that you can’t even imagine,” she muttered. “If it was anyone other than Hannah,… I wouldn’t have stayed.”
“I’m curious why you did stay,” he replied.
“Because she was… She was this lost bird,” Heather shared. “You had to meet her to understand. She was very unique to the rest of the world around her, and Faheed was fascinated by it, but he didn’t understand her. Although she was happy to be taken care of and happy to be part of his world, I don’t know how long that happiness would have lasted. I thought her fascination of it all would end fairly quickly and knew that she would need my support. Instead, well,… it ended in a way I wasn’t expecting.”
She stared out the window, her fingers clenched tightly together. “I was hoping he would continue to treat her well because she was spoiled in every way. So, for a guy like Faheed, spending money was easy, and so spoiling someone like her with money was also easy because no emotions were required.”
“Of course,” Royce agreed.
She looked over at him, seeing his firm jawline and his capable handling of the vehicle as he drove swiftly and surely. She questioned whether she should be quite so open and honest with him. Yet, unless he had some ID on him, she had no way to verify his identity. “I guess I should ask you for an ID.”
He laughed. “Yeah, you probably should have,” he confirmed, “but I don’t have time to take it out of my pocket right now. As soon as we get to the safe house, then I’m all for exchanging details.”
She smiled. “Honestly, the biggest thing about all this is the fact that I’m out of there,” she exclaimed. “So, even if you’re not who you say you are,… I still thank you.”
“I am who I am,” he declared, with that same note of laughter in his tone again, “and you’re perfectly safe with me.”
She sank back into the seat. “That would be very satisfying to know,” she whispered. “It’s been very hard to know who to trust here lately.”
“What about Faheed’s brother?” he asked, looking over at her.
She shrugged. “He makes my skin crawl.”
“That’s an interesting observation. Do you have anything a little more tangible? Any way to elaborate on why that is?”
She snorted. “You mean, a reason to hate him? I guess there isn’t, outside of the fact that he does his brother’s bidding all the time and that he made my sister uncomfortable.” She cringed at the expression on Royce’s face. “No, not really in that way. He was just one more of Faheed’s minions.”
“And yet a loyal one, I presume.”
“Very,” she declared. “Uncomfortably so. It’s almost as if he relished his role.”
“Any reason why he wouldn’t?”
“I don’t know. I have no idea what Saheed’s role really is,” she admitted, “but he got all the perks without the responsibility that his brother supposedly has.”
“That alone is a very interesting observation,” he noted. “When you think about it, with a brother who is a diplomat, Saheed would get to travel the world like the truly rich do, plus get the same immunity as his brother because Saheed is part of Faheed’s entourage, and still Saheed can do whatever he wants.”
“And he does,” she stated.
“What about women?”
“They both have women whenever they want them,” she shared, staring out the window, hating to even get into that discussion.
“And your sister?”
“She hated it. She hated that Faheed had other women over all the damn time, but he did. She knew it, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it, just accept it or not, and, in her case,… she found acceptance was the easier path of life.”
“You’re saying she really loved him, or was it the lifestyle?”
She frowned at that. “You didn’t know her, so I can forgive you for questioning that, but I’ll tell you right now that she loved him.”
“Good enough,” Royce replied. “The bottom line is that she lost her life because of him, and now we’re trying to prove that Faheed had something to do with it. Not just her death but all the wives who went before her. Every one of his four wives died, and, in each case, Faheed inherited a very substantial fortune.” He paused for a short beat.
“Four wives?” Heather repeated.
Royce nodded. “Did your sister know?”
“She knew that he had been married before. Faheed told her that his wife died in a car accident a long time ago.”
“She did,” Royce confirmed. “That was wife number one. Your sister was Faheed’s fourth wife,” he pointed out, “but the diplomatic immunity makes it damn near impossible to nail his ass to the wall, even if he did kill all of his wives. Yet I don’t want to just nail him to the wall. I want to ensure he’s off the streets, out of commission, and pays for every one of those lost lives.”
“What if he didn’t do anything to cause any of his wives to die?” she challenged.
He smiled at her. “If he didn’t, then he’s innocent, and he can go free. Maybe, just maybe, it’s possible, but somebody will have to prove it to me first,” he stated, giving her a hard look. “Because those four women dying, all while married to him, is not a coincidence that I’m willing to ignore.”
“I’m not sure I ever believed in coincidences,” she whispered. “You’re right. That’s a bit of a stretch. If it was just two…”
“Two?” he asked. “I suppose that two could be bad luck on his part but not four,” he declared, as he took a left-hand turn onto a small road and then into a driveway, where a garage door opened right in front of her. He pulled in, shut off the engine, then turned to face her. The garage door shut behind them. “Come on out now. We’re at a safe house.”
She stared around, realizing the chance she had taken, coming with him, a stranger to her.
He smiled again. “It’s okay. I’m really not the bad guy here.”
She took a deep breath. “Glad to hear that because I’ve had enough of those to last me a lifetime.” And, with that, she got out of the vehicle, slammed the door hard, and walked toward whatever awaited her on the other side of that connecting door.
*
Watching her inside the safe house, Royce noted how she checked all the windows and doors and spaces to confirm she was truly safe here. He watched with his arms crossed and leaned against the wall in the hallway. “You’re not a prisoner here, you know?”
She shot him a glance, nodded, and then added in a curt tone, “But essentially I am until I’m free.”
He pondered that. “I guess if you mean that you’re a prisoner here in the sense that you must hide from him, as he’ll be coming after you, then yes.” He noted her hand instinctively going to her pocket, recognizing the security the tarot cards gave her, as in confirmation or reassurance of the psychic message she was receiving. “On the other hand, you’re free to walk out that door anytime, which you weren’t at the hotel.”
She snorted. “I might be free to walk out that door, but I’ll also get my ass kicked if Faheed or Saheed find me.”
His smile fell away. “Was Faheed abusive?”
She shook her head. “No, he doesn’t need to be. He controlled my sister quite easily by keeping her delicate and completely useless.” She groaned and raised both hands. “That sounds awful, though I don’t mean it that way. However, my sister was totally okay to be this pampered orchid. She didn’t want to do anything with her life, and that suited Faheed because that’s how he wanted her, as an arm piece, as a showcase for his whatever .” She gave Royce an eyeroll. “That’s not me. I’m very active in my company, and I don’t want him having any part of it, and I certainly don’t want to be a prisoner and kept as a replacement.”
“Has he made any attempts to talk to you about being a replacement?”
She shook her head. “Not directly but he made veiled comments. However, I definitely got the impression that I wasn’t quite up to snuff.” She gave a half laugh. “He likes his women beautiful and stupid—but Hannah was definitely not stupid. Quiet is probably a better word for her. I know that I certainly wouldn’t fit the bill. I also can’t stand the man, and I would never marry him,” she declared. “So, in the future, should it ever look as if I’ve changed my mind on that, rest assured I am being forced by him. So please get me the hell away, if you can.”
“It won’t happen,” Royce replied. “I’ll ensure that.”
“I would love to believe you,” she noted. “Yet you don’t understand what he’s like. He gets his own way at everything. So, the minute Hannah died, I couldn’t wait to get away. I wanted to get away earlier, and I wanted her to come with me, but she refused to have anything to do with that idea.”
“She didn’t think her life was in danger?”
“Not seriously enough, it seems.” Heather frowned at that. “I saw no dissension between Faheed and Hannah, and there didn’t appear to be any sign that he was unhappy with her. So I just don’t know. And Hannah seemed happy enough with him, except for the other women he had and…” Heather looked over at Royce sadly. “It would be horrific to think that she had outlived her usefulness.”
Royce stared at her intently. “Particularly if Faheed thought he was getting your company.”
She studied Royce and nodded. “I imagine he was quite angry when he found out that Hannah didn’t have the controlling interest in the company and that it’s essentially mine and not something he can take over. They had a fight shortly before her death that Hannah refused to talk about. It could have been about my business.”
“Yet he might control your company if he has control of you.”
“And that was the next unpleasant thought I had,” she admitted. “Yet I’m no fool, and I am very aware of the machinations that had been going on,” she stated. “If Faheed had anything to do with my sister’s death, then he can rot in hell,” she declared passionately. “Not that it will be easy to prove, as she was cremated instantly.”
“His own religion would be against that.”
“Yes, but she wasn’t part of his religion, so that apparently wasn’t an obstacle.”
“Right. Of course.” Then suddenly he looked around, as if he remembered something. “How about food? Do you need food?”
She grimaced. “If I could calm down enough to eat, then yes. However, at the moment, I’m still too wired,” she admitted. “I fear he’ll burst through that door at any moment.”
Royce walked to the garage door and threw the bolt at the top of the door. “Now, they’ll have to get through the lock and the bolt at least.”
“No,” she argued, “they just have to slam the door open. I’ve seen his cronies do that more than once.” She hesitated. “Do you think my guard is okay?”
“Do you want me to phone the hotel and ensure they check for him?”
She nodded. “Yes, please. I don’t want anybody hurt because of me.”
“It could already be too late for that,” he shared. “You know that, right?”
She winced, wrapping her arms around her shoulders as she collapsed in the nearest chair. “What was I supposed to do? Stay a prisoner in order to not have my guard get hurt? Faheed doesn’t tolerate dissension. Faheed doesn’t tolerate arguments. Also he doesn’t tolerate any resistance or failure. His plan is his plan, and that’s just all there is to it.”
“Would Faheed hurt the guard?”
“No. He wouldn’t get his hands dirty.”
“And his brother?”
“His brother is one creepy SOB,” she snapped. “Nothing about him is normal or nice.”
“He does Faheed’s bidding, without question?”
“All of it, usually with a big smile on his face—as if he can’t wait. He’s never touched me though, and he never touched my sister.”
“We can be thankful for that.”
“Sure, but it still doesn’t make him a nice man. If Saheed found me now, believe me that he would be quite happy to teach me a lesson.”
“I presume that lesson would be physical.”
“Yeah, it sure would, probably involving rape.” She grimaced. “He’s very much that domineering male where women are chattel and not a whole lot else,” she reminded him. “So, just the fact that my sister didn’t run the company in Faheed’s mind meant that I couldn’t run the company either because we women didn’t have the brains for it. He would never accept that I lived for that company all these years. Hannah didn’t even want her shares in it, but our father insisted, and I was okay with it because she didn’t want anything to do with managing the company. I just cut her checks all the time,” Heather shared, with a laugh. “And, when she married, I was really worried that’s what Faheed was after, but he already had so much money that it didn’t make sense.”
“He may have a lot,” Royce agreed, “but I think he also spends it at a pretty good rate. All his other wives also left substantial inheritances behind, so he may have money, but that’s the thing. It’s never enough for those types.”
“My same conclusion.”
“I have to ask, outside of Faheed, would anybody else have had the temerity to hurt his wives?”
“Meaning did somebody else close to Faheed kill them? I don’t know why that would be the case,” she replied, thinking about it. “Yet I guess it’s always possible. I hate his brother, but that doesn’t mean that Saheed’s a killer. He’s just… an abusive psychopath who likes to inflict pain.”
“And that’s quite a bit right there. What if he was out to create pain for his brother?”
“Which also doesn’t make sense because, if you think about it, his brother was the source of everything given to Saheed.”
“Maybe it was a way to get back at him.”
“Maybe.” She raised both hands. “That’s a mental twist that I don’t have any experience with,” she murmured. “Would it be possible? Absolutely. I just don’t think Saheed would do anything to go against his brother.”
“Do you think Faheed would have killed Hannah himself or would have arranged to have your sister and his other wives killed?”
“If it’s what he wanted, yes,” she said instantly. “Something is very cold about Faheed.”
“Yet your sister loved him.”
“She did. I know she did.”
“So obviously he had some redeeming qualities.”
She glared at him. “If he did, I never saw them.”
“That’s not true,” he countered. “You told me yourself that he treated your sister exactly as she wanted to be treated.”
“I guess, but that doesn’t excuse him if he had something to do with her death.”
“Which we don’t know yet,” he muttered, as he looked down at his phone. “My partner will be here in a few minutes, so don’t freak out about it.”
“I won’t freak,” she replied, staring at him. “I am getting tired, but I’m not tired enough to unwind and sleep, but too tired to make a run for it, if we need to,” she noted in resignation. “Adrenaline only goes so far. We got lucky today, but now I feel as if we were too lucky.”
“We got lucky. Yes, that’s exactly what we did,” he said. “And it worked, and you’re free, and now we need to figure out how to get you out of the country and back home again.”
“That would be lovely,” she murmured. “I arrived on a private plane but without any paperwork. Faheed kept it all.”
“Paperwork we can manage, but, more than that, we need a way to get you safely home.”