Tears spilled down her cheeks, and in the moment it took before Rebecca could speak, the moment where Zaid reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring, holding it out to her, he began to doubt himself, to doubt his certainty that she would agree to be his wife.
“Yes,” she cried and he slid the ring he’d chosen especially for her onto her finger, his heart exploding with joy. “Yes, yes, yes, Zaid. Oh my God, yes. I love you so much.” She threw her arms around him, hanging off him as he stood up, lifting her a foot or so off the floor while the guests applauded and hooted. When he finally set Rebecca down, his father stood to cue the music back up.
Only, instead of music bursting from the speakers, the doors to the ballroom banged open. Members of the military stormed in, flanking Alacabak, the guests of the ball shrinking away from the men. At Alacabak’s signal, four soldiers seized Zaid and Rebecca.
“What is the meaning of this?” boomed the Sultan, from where he stood.
“These two have been conspiring against you, Sultan,” Alacabak accused, and whatever joy was left in Zaid’s heart turned to bitter anger. “Now that they’ve made their alliance official, it’s time to expose the truth.”
The Sultan looked at Zaid and Rebecca. “What are you talking about, Alacabak?” he demanded.
“The terrorist group that has claimed credit for the attacks on Timina had dealings with Ms. Reid,” he accused.
“What are you talking about? This is her first time here,” Zaid responded, fisting his hands to keep from strangling Alacabak’s smug face.
“Are you sure about that? Perhaps you should ask her.”
Whipping his head around to look at Rebecca, he looked at the stricken look on her face, as tears shimmered in her eyes.
“Rebecca? What is he talking about?” Zaid asked her, suddenly worried about her response.
“My parents. They thought they were doing good helping workers at a factory. They…they had said that the Sultan had been abusing his power. My father was helping them to organize a strike but that wasn’t what they wanted. When he found out about the bomb making equipment, he reported it immediately.” Rebecca took a shuddering breath; her eyes grew unfocused as she seemed to remember the event.
“They caught us as we were trying to get out of the country. Held guns to my parents’ heads. I hid Amy’s face so she wouldn’t see. I thought for sure, we were all going to die. But we didn’t. Instead, they branded us as traitors. Even my sister and me. She was so little. Her screams…” Before Zaid could console her, Alacabak strode forward and grabbed her right arm. Pushing her sleeve up to expose her upper arm, he held it up for everyone to see.
“This is not the brand of a traitor but one marking her as one of their own. Rebecca Reid is a terrorist. She and Sheikh Zaid orc
hestrated the attack on the factory in Timina as the first step in a revolt against American interests in Sharjah. Sheikh Zaid Al-Qasimi has been plotting for months to take out all of the American interests in the area. That is why the diplomatic party who has been touring the region was placed in harm’s way during the attack,” Alacabak continued.
“Is this true, son?” the Sultan asked.
“No, sir,” Zaid said with a shake of his head. “Absolutely not.”
“Then, what is he going on about?” the Sultan asked again.
“I’m talking about your son trying to bring shame and dishonor to your family and to all of Sharjah,” the madman continued. “He and his American whore have an illegitimate son as well, conceived during one of his visits to the States, when they worked together. In fact, during the bombing of the factory at Timina, his son was supposed to be caught in the explosion and killed to prevent you from ever finding out about him. When the boy wasn’t sufficiently injured, one of their cohorts attempted to take him away to kill him but at the last moment, Sheikh Zaid stopped him.”
“Is this true?” Rebecca asked. “Was someone trying to take Calum away?”
Zaid froze, remembering that moment. In the rush to find Calum and Rebecca, he had assumed that the man was merely taking Calum to safety. He never considered that anyone would attempt to kidnap him in the middle of all that chaos.
Nodding his head, he wasn’t sure he could speak at that moment. The look of gratitude Rebecca gave him was almost his undoing. “Thank you,” she whispered.
It hit him then the reason why all of this was happening. He’d ignored too many things. Rebecca had warned him at every turn but he refused to listen thinking he knew better. It was time to speak up. If Alacabak gets his way, the people of Rajak and Timina, possibly even all of Sharjah will suffer and he wasn’t going to let that happen.
“We need to get these terrorists out of the Sultan’s palace or we will be at risk for more terror attacks.” Alacabak had started talking truly out of his head. His words made less and less sense as he spoke.
The soldiers shoved at Zaid and Rebecca to get them to move toward the exit. Zaid shoved back at the nearest soldier who happily pressed a gun to his back. He waited, knowing that when the time came, he would easily be able to speak out against the accusations against him.
Rebecca looked at him. “Say something,” she said. “You know he’s wrong.”
He fought off the hands on his shoulders and moved out of the tight circle the soldiers had created around them. Alacabak turned to stare at him. The soldiers standing behind the madmen pulled their weapons and aimed them at Sheikh Zaid. The room let out a collective gasp.
He stood for what felt like forever, his gaze locked on his father’s most trusted advisor, the single man closer to the Sultan than any of his sons. The madman’s dark eyes bore deeply into his, empty of anything except hatred and greed. They were the deepest black. They tried to pull him in but he would not be moved.
15
Adrenaline surged through him as he faced Alacabak. While he never liked the man, he had never suspected the lengths he would go to disrupt the realm, as the final pieces of the puzzle he’d been contemplating fit in place.