“You stole it, Marty. When I wasn’t looking, you took it right from my chest.”
What was he saying? She stared back at him in shock.
“I love you, Marty,” he said then, and she saw the truth of it in his eyes, in his expression. “I love you until there’s no tomorrow without you. Until I think I would die a cold, lonely death without you.”
He loved her.
She stared back at him, still not entirely certain that she was awake. Had she fallen asleep? Had she somehow managed to slip into her greatest fantasy to hear the words she had needed to hear for so very long?
“You’re not saying anything, Marty.” He reached out, his fingertips caressing her cheek, then her jaw. “What’s wrong?”
She had to swallow tightly to speak.
“Say it again.” Was that her voice? So desperate, so filled with hope. “Please, Khalid, say it again.”
“I love you, Marty Mathews,” he said simply, softly. “With everything inside me, I love you.”
He loved her.
She wasn’t dreaming. This wasn’t a fantasy. It was real, and she wasn’t losing her mind.
“You love me?”
“I love you.” He gave her a small, gentle smile. “More than you can ever know.”
She couldn’t stem the tears. They filled her eyes and slid slowly down her cheeks as he stared back at her, a small, confused frown darkening his brow.
“I’ve loved you since I was fifteen years old,” she whispered. “So much, Khalid. I’ve loved you so much.”
Her arms went around his neck as she buried her face in his chest, fighting to stop the tears. She didn’t want to cry. She didn’t want his face blurred because of her tears. She wanted to memorize it. She wanted to preserve this moment in time.
“He loves you so much.”
They both froze for one second before jerking around to stare in shock at the figure who stood in the doorway, an automatic rifle cradled in his arms.
Aman Mustafa.
Marty knew his scarred face instantly. The thick black hair was pulled back into a ponytail; a ragged, ill-kept bushy beard covered the lower part of his face.
She couldn’t move. She stared at the barrel of the rifle as it pointed toward her chest, the evil smile on his face as he moved into the room, terrifying her.
There was no mercy in that gaze. There was no compassion. There was only evil. Pure, black-hearted evil.
“This was so easy.” He laughed at them as he moved inside, an arrogant swagger in his step that screamed conceited confidence.
Her weapon was tucked under the edge of the mattress, so far away. She lay against Khalid on his side of the ultra-king-size bed, the edge of the bed a good body-length from her.
“Aman.” Khalid’s tone was ice, his body tense against her.
He stared around the room curiously as he moved to stand at the foot of the bed. “I’m surprised you have no third with you tonight. I expected it.”
He didn’t know Shayne was there.
“I didn’t need one tonight.” Khalid held her close as he sat up fully and stared back at his brother.
“Ah, surely you are not giving up on such pleasures?” Aman propped his foot at the bottom of the bed. “I thought for certain that if you did not give them up for the memory of Lessa then you would give them up for no woman.”
Marty kept her eyes on Aman, but her senses concentrated fully on Khalid. Aman was trying to piss him off, to hurt him. The memory of Lessa was one Khalid had never let himself forget, nor had he ever forgiven himself for her death.
There was also a sense of hope. Shayne was in the house. There was a chance, a slim one at best, but a chance that he could return to the bedroom and distract Aman.
“Does it matter why I gave it up?” Khalid asked, further drawing Aman into the belief that no one else was there. “Tell me, Aman, how did you get past my security guards?”
“They were easy.” Aman smiled as he shrugged. “Very complacent in their abilities and their technologies. Unfortunately, I was here long before the full force actually arrived. Your poor cook slipped me in this afternoon, just after you and your lovely Agent Mathews left the house.”
“And the call that the Saudi ambassador’s assistant made from the party last night?” Khalid asked.
Aman smiled. “To Ayid, as I’m certain you know. I’ve been here for a while, brother.” His gaze slid to Marty. “Long enough to nearly kill your whore the night you almost caught me in her apartment.”
It wasn’t an unknown assassin. Aman had been here all along.
Khalid breathed in deeply behind her. A controlling, patient breath as Marty clutched the sheet tighter to her breasts.
“Americans amaze me.” Aman sighed, as though they were children he didn’t understand. “They believe they are so full of wisdom and answers. But living is the understanding that such things cannot be controlled. Allah controls all things instead, and he reaches back, forsaking us when vengeance is owed us.” He glared at Khalid then. “Vengeance is owed, Khalid. Allah provided a way for me to strike.”
“I thought you said the cook provided that?” Khalid drawled.
Aman’s glare intensified. “You mock me, Khalid?” He snarled. “You mock Allah further? The unholy alliances you partake of with other men’s wives is a sin against all men. You should have been stoned as an infant. Destroyed before you could infect others with your perversions.”
“I’ve heard this all before, Aman.” Khalid sighed. “It’s becoming boring.”
“Then hear this, traitor…”
The rifle went off.
Marty flinched then screamed as the bullet tore a hole in the pillow no more than a breath from her head.
“Fuck you, Aman!” Khalid yelled furiously, as he pulled Marty closer to him, despite her attempts to throw herself to the other side of the bed and the gun within easy reach if she could just make the distance.
“Perhaps I am only trying to liven things up,” Aman sneered. “As you tried to liven them up the day you killed mine and Ayid’s wives. The day you and Abram thought you could destroy our lives and our plans, forever.”
Marty dug her nails into Khalid’s wrists in an attempt to force him to release her.
“Abram did nothing,” Khalid snapped.
The rifle fired again. A volley of bullets tore into the mattress beside Marty as Aman screamed out furiously. “You bastard liar! We know better! We have always known better! Tonight I came to kill your whore. Ayid will be with Abram now, ensuring he never breathes another night. But you, my brother, you will live to suffer as no man on earth has ever suffered.”
He was insane.
Marty fought to hold herself in place, to still the need to fight Khalid’s hold until it eased just enough to tear herself from his arms at the next opportunity.
She was halfway behind him now as he jerked her back and came forward. His muscles were tense and bulging as he held his rage in check, obviously waiting as well.
“You won’t live to make me suffer,” Khalid assured him. “Trust me, Aman. I’ll hunt you both down like rabid dogs.”
Aman chuckled at that. “I may die, but you will suffer. You will suffer the truth. The knowledge that your actions have caused you to lose the only woman you have ever truly loved. Ah, yes.” He smiled. “I heard your vow of undying devotion to your little cunt. Words you have never given another woman. They have signed her death warrant rather than the mere raping I had intended for her.”
She would rather die than have him so much as graze her with his demonic touch.
“Don’t force me to destroy you, Aman,” Khalid warned him, his voice powerful despite its softness. “I will. Harm her, and I’ll make certain you die in agony.”
“No more agony than you will know, my brother.” The rifle lifted again and aimed toward her hip.
“Aman!” Khalid screamed out his name as the weapon fired.
