Forever Betrayed: Forever Bluegrass #3 (22 page)

Mila sat back up and looked around. Miss Lily, Miss Daisy, and Miss Violet were hanging out of their ATV with two other older women. “Who are they?” Mila asked.

“Betsy Ashton, Will’s mother, and Marcy Davies, the mother of, well, all the Davies kids. I forgot they meet Wednesday mornings for coffee and gossip.”

Abby rolled down her window as the ATV skidded to a stop an inch from her door. Behind the ATV rolled a familiar large car with Anton behind the wheel. A minivan rounded a corner on two wheels behind them.

“That’s Pam Gilbert. She used to be the head of the PTA until her sons grew up,” Abby said, gesturing to the minivan flying up behind them. “Ah, and there’re the Rooneys.”

Mila looked up at the luxury sedan speeding down the street toward them. “Is it just me or is the car shimmering?” Mila asked.

“Yup. Henry had it painted to match his suits. He must have been a snake oil salesman or a mobster in a previous life. Can’t really decide which one. But if he was a mobster, he was definitely more of a Fredo.”

Mila watched as he got out of the car. The sun shined down on him, and Mila had to shield her eyes. “I see what you mean about the suits.”

“That’s his wife, Neely Grace, and his daughter, Addison. Let’s go have a little chat. I’ll let Miles know we’ve hit a snag.”

Abby spoke into her comms as they got out. Mila walked around the car and saw Miss Daisy gleefully tapping the palm of her hand with a wooden spoon. Miss Lily was sliding on a pair of gloves when she looked up and smiled. “Good morning, dearie. Will got me a pair of these gloves from his football team. They’re the type those receivers use to grip the ball better. I’ll deliver a good whack of my broom with these babies on.”

Miss Violet held up her spatula and then looked at the crowd of young people coming toward them chanting “Nan-
NO-
tech.”

“I think I need bigger ammo,” Miss Violet murmured. “Betsy dear, hand me the crêpe pan.”

Mrs. Davies shook her head. “What a horrible chant. No originality. Oh hi, Mila, I’m Marcy. It’s so lovely to finally meet you,” called out the woman in the black slacks, bun in her gray hair, and bright yellow cardigan over her shoulders.

“This is going to be great. Just like back in the day with those hippies.” Miss Lily tested her grip on the broom.

Mila blinked. She didn’t have words. Then she didn’t have vision either when she was suddenly blinded. “We haven’t even met yet and you’re already blinded by love,” a masculine southern voice said from somewhere behind the light.

Mila shielded her eyes with her hands and took in the leather loafers and the shiny silver suit. The man was handsome for an older man. But his smile was an unusual mix of playfulness and sleaze. Mila flinched when she felt water drops hitting her suddenly.

“Bad!” Henry’s daughter reprimanded. Mila was hit with water again.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I get you wet?”

Mila wiped her face with her hand and looked at the classy young woman with her mother’s brunette hair and her father’s sharp cheekbones. She was stunning. Then she saw the spray bottle in her hand.

“Sorry. I’m Addison and this is my father, Henry Rooney, and my mother, Neely Grace. I’m trying to break my father of his pick-up line habit.”

Mila snickered. “You’re using a spray bottle?”

Addison shrugged. “The flirt jar didn’t work. Bridget Mueez said this worked on dogs, so I thought it was worth a shot.”

A woman with hair lightened by age, wearing perfectly creased khaki pants and a pink polo, came hurrying up. “What’s the game plan? Who are these people? Hi, Mila.”

“Hi.” At this point, Mila was debating on the possibility that aliens had abducted her and were messing with her mind. Who were these people?

“I’m Pam Gilbert. Nice to meet you. Now, what are we going to do about these protesters? We can’t let them get to the farm, and we can’t let the media see them either.”

“We need to block the roads. The media are already on their way from Lexington,” the rounded John Wolfe informed them as he slowly got out of the car with Anton.

Betsy snapped her fingers. “I’ll have a horse van break down and block the road.” Betsy pulled out her phone to make it happen.

“We can block them in by our law office,” Neely said. “There’s no access back to the road. We block the road there and they can’t get out of town unless they walk all the way around.”

“The farm is four miles from town,” Abby said. “They’re on the move now and I don’t see any cars. That’s what I noticed first. I think they want the media to cover them marching to the summit. If they leave now, which they are doing, then they would get to the farm about thirty minutes before the summit begins.”

“In my day, we used to distract them with pot brownies. They usually forgot what they were protesting then,” Marcy told them.

“I have brownies. Does anyone have any pot?” Miss Lily asked.

“We’d better hurry and block the road. They’re getting close to turning on the road,” Pam said, ignoring the pot question and hurrying to her minivan. She revved the engine, and tires smoked as she peeled out.

“We’ll block the alley!” Henry called as his family rushed to their car.

“Miss Lily, park behind Pam. I’ll use this car to help her block the road and then Mila and I will take the ATV to the farm.”

“Right. See if anyone there has any pot,” Miss Lily called out, speeding down the street.

“Do not worry,
ma chérie
,” Anton winked as Abby started the car. “I have pastries for the conference in the back of the car. I’ll tempt them with those. I’ve never known a college student who could resist free food.”

“He does have a point.” Abby smiled to Mila as she maneuvered her car half onto the sidewalk and half on the street. Anton crept forward and parked in such a way that his one car blocked the whole street ahead of Pam and Abby. “Come on, we have to hurry.”

Mila jumped out of the car with Abby and shouted her thanks to the group of Keenestonites setting up to help them. Mila slid onto the seat of the ATV and held onto the steel frame.

“Since I don’t have to stick to the roads, we can take a shortcut I know,” Abby smiled as she put the pedal to the floor.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Zain stood behind his father and mother as they watched a video update from Dirar on Fatima’s condition. Mo was pale. Dani wrung her hands and her lips were thin with worry. Zain’s fear had turned into boiling anger. Someone had hurt an innocent old woman. They had also torn the heart out of his parents and uncle. Jamal was shaking as he paced waiting for news. And then they got it. Fatima had required stitches on her upper arm. Other than mild signs of shock, she was in good shape. Her bodyguard, however, was still in surgery fighting for his life. The palace had released no statements about the queen mother’s situation. They had wanted the person who ordered the assassination to believe it had worked.

“I’ll kill her!” Dirar shouted. “Bring her to me immediately. I don’t care if you have to drag her kicking and screaming onto the plane, but Suri will pay for this with her life.”

“What did you get out of the assassin?” Mo asked.

“Nothing. The bastard’s still in a coma. Our people defended their queen mother,” Dirar said proudly. “However, we didn’t need to get anything out of him. He had a boat receipt from Surman in his pocket for his travel to Rahmi. Now, bring Suri to me.” The screen went black and everyone in the room let out a breath.

“Nabi,” Zain said quietly. “You and Kareem go get Suri.”

“As you wish. But I sent Kareem to patrol the grounds since we’ve slowly been transitioning everyone out of the house,” Nabi told him.

“Cassidy arrived thirty minutes ago. Apparently the queen has a long beauty regimen for the morning and enjoys breakfast at the same time. So you need to be careful,” Dani instructed. “We can’t put Cassidy in danger. Maybe wait until Cassidy needs to leave the room for something?”

“I’ll take up position down the hall so I can watch the door. I’ll notify you before I go in,” Nabi told them as he walked across the office. He opened the door to find Cassidy arguing with Dylan.

“Stop being so stubborn. I need to talk to them,” Cassidy was yelling.

“They are on a video call with the king. They are not to be disturbed,” Dylan said in his usual unflappable voice.

“So help me, I’ll tell Mom if you don’t move out of my way,” Cassidy threatened.

“Come in, Cassidy,” Dani called out with a slight smile on her face over the threat of bringing Tammy in to discipline Dylan. Dylan may be well over six-foot-three and two hundred twenty pounds, but he had nothing on five-foot-one Tammy. They had all seen him hang his head and apologize after his mother lit into him about a number of things. They all knew that felling very well. It didn’t matter how old a child was; a mother didn’t hesitate to bring you to task. Heck, old Mrs. Davies still did the same to her boys and they were in their sixties.

Cassidy pushed past her brother. Zain sympathized. There were hardships of being an older brother. “Dylan, you might as well come in and see what your sister wants. Hold on, Nabi,” Zain called out.

Nabi shut the door after the siblings walked inside. He took up position at the door and watched quietly. Cassidy, on the other hand, hurried into the room speaking a mile a minute.

“Slow down. What’s so important? We are about to confront the Queen of Surman,” Zain told her.

“That’s it. I heard her talking about your grandmother. By the way, I’m sorry about her getting hurt,” Cassidy sympathized.

“What did you hear, dear?” Mo asked as he laced his fingers with his wife’s.

“They haven’t realized that I can understand them yet. I make them point at everything or do charades. It's rather funny. However, I expected them to say very nasty things about me and about Dani assigning me to them, but they haven’t. They’ve been exceedingly polite.”

Zain took a deep breath and exhaled. “So you’re coming to tell us they’re nice assholes?”

Cassidy shook her blond curls. “No, I’m trying to tell you she isn’t behind the attacks. Her secretary told her about your grandmother, and Suri went into a rage. Especially after she received a phone call telling her the assassin had been linked to Surman. She gave away her whole plan for what she wanted to accomplish here. And that involved earning respect. She wants Rahmi to apologize for treating her poorly when she hasn’t done anything to deserve it. You know, the whole don’t-blame-the-daughter-for-the-father’s-sins thing. She’s excited to talk to Piper today and supports the nanotech lab. She just wants to be part of the family again—part of your family.”

Zain’s brows knit in confusion. “But what about all the rumors about her working with Tahjad?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard her say anything about them. But I did hear her demand her people find out why someone is making it look like Surman is behind the unrest in Rahmi. She had thought the citizens of Rahmi were unhappy, but then she’d learned that the man who blew up the shipyard had come through Surman. Then another person entered with no ID, but had the smallest link back to Surman. She thinks someone is framing her country.”

Zain thought about everything Cassidy said. There was only one way he would believe it, and that was if he could look Suri in the eyes when he asked her. “I’ll be right back.”

Zain strode through the house with Dylan scrambling to catch up to him. “What’s the plan?”

“Suri and I are finally going to talk.”

Zain didn’t bother knocking on Suri’s door. Instead, he flung it open and strode into the room. Suri was sitting at a dressing table. He saw her eyes widen quickly in the mirror before she resumed her queenly façade.

“Good morning, cousin,” Suri said innocently.

Zain looked to her secretary, who stood frozen by a desk, and the makeup artist putting on the queen’s cosmetics. “You two, out.” The secretary looked to Suri who just nodded. “You too, Dylan.”

Dylan didn’t say anything. He simply turned and shut the door behind him. Zain knew he would be standing on the other side with his hand on the doorknob waiting to hear anything unusual.

“What is this display of power all about?” Suri asked as she picked up where the makeup artist left off.

“Look at me, cousin,” Zain demanded. He noticed Suri’s look of defiance in the mirror. “We need to have a very serious family discussion, and we need to be looking at each other when we do it.”

Zain pulled up an ottoman and sat down as he waited for Suri to face him.

“Since when have I been part of the Ali Rahman family?”

“Since now.”

Suri gave a bitter laugh. “As if Dirar would ever allow that.”

“I don’t care what my uncle thinks. My family is ready to open our arms to you. My siblings, my parents, and myself. But I need to hear what you have to say first.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense,” Suri said with a fake smile.

“Who do you think is behind the attacks on Rahmi? We both know it points back to Surman, but you were angry and just as surprised to learn about Rahmi’s attackers arriving from Surman.”

“You have a spy—Cassidy.” Suri shook her head. “She speaks our language?”

“Yes.”

Then Suri did something he wasn’t expecting. She laughed. “She fooled my secretary and me. We tested her with fake news and outrageous comments, but she didn’t react. We determined she really didn’t speak our language. You should have seen what she was having us do to communicate. That girl has gumption.” Suri’s smile then slid from her face. “But you are correct. I didn’t have anything to do with this. I fear someone is trying to make Rahmi look unstable and paint Surman as an aggressor.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I have all my resources working on it. Someone doesn’t want your nanotech lab to see the light of day.”

“I believe you. The trouble is—if it’s not you, then who is it?”

Mila had to pry her fingers from the roll cage of the ATV. Abby had gone through pastures, an apple orchard, cornfields, and a creek. The world was still bouncing even though Abby had turned off the engine and they were sitting in front of Zain and Gabe’s house. The front door opened as Gabe walked out, pretending to be Zain. He took one look at her and shook his head. Or not. Mila couldn’t tell. Everything was still unsteady.

“Abby, what have you done to my love?” Gabe chided as he strode over to her.

“I made Abby hurry. I was so upset over the news you just received that I had to give you a kiss before you start your day,” Mila said louder than normal as Gabe helped her from the ATV.

She felt his body shaking with hidden laughter. “Thank you, love.” His Zain impersonation was nearly perfect. “I’m going for a quick walk to calm myself. I can’t talk business right now.”

“I understand,” Mila smiled up at him as she cupped his cheek.

Gabe wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a tight hug. With his lips near her ear, he whispered, “Miles sees three men in the vicinity. One he says is a Rahmi guard. We can’t get a visual on the faces of the other two yet. I’m sorry. I’m going to have to break my promise. Just don’t tell my brother.”

Mila didn’t have time to ask before Gabe planted a kiss right on her lips. It wasn’t just a kiss—it was a lips, tongue, and body-grinding type of kiss. And it was all wrong. He didn’t have the same feel, the same spark that she had with Zain.

“Sorry about that. Too many eyes around to half-ass it,” he said softly before looking down at her with concern. “Why don’t you have that dazed face all the other women get after I kiss them?”

“Why would I be dazed?” Mila asked as Gabe kept his hands on her shoulders.

“Because of my kiss. I don’t mean to brag, but I’ve been told I do it rather well. A fifteen on the ten scale,” Gabe said cockily.

Mila shrugged. “More like a six.”

“A six?” Gabe said louder than he meant to. “Sounds good. I’ll see you at six tonight,” he said loudly after catching himself.

Mila bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. “Sorry?”

“Didn’t the hip-thrusting get you hot?” Gabe asked in a whisper.

“Not really. It was kind of like you were humping my leg.”

“Are you trying to give me a complex? This is a joke, right? I’ve kissed a lot of women and every one of them begged me to take them right then and there.”

“Sorry, I just wasn’t into it. Now when your brother kisses me . . .”

“There it is. The dazed look. Ugh, you got it and my brother wasn’t even here. I won’t tell him we kissed if you don’t tell him I’m a six. Deal?”

Mila let herself grin up at him. “Deal. You know, someday a woman will make
you
look all dazed after a kiss.”

“Jeez, you already sound as if you’re part of the family,” he teased. “Miles is yelling in my ear. I have to go. Be safe. And Mila . . .”

“Yes.”

“You’re perfect for him.” With a faint smile, Gabe turned and strolled away.

Mila watched him go before walking toward the house. “Abby, I need to run a brush through my hair. Is that okay?”

“Give me just a second to clear the house.” Mila took her time walking to the door as Abby went from room to room. “Come on in. You have an angry squirrel in the kitchen.”

“Squirrel!” Mila hurried inside and cringed as she passed a mirror. Her hair looked like 1950s Texas hair. Big, teased, and, well . . . big. Squirrel was beating on the cage door. “Are you okay?”

Mila opened the door and Squirrel moved awkwardly up onto her hand. “It’s okay. I’m here. What’s wrong? Are you hungry?”

“What are you doing?” Abby asked.

“I’m making him a snack. The meetings start soon and he’s hungry.”

Mila fixed a snack for Squirrel who insisted on eating from the comfort of Mila’s arms. She was going to miss the little guy when he healed.

“Are you going to be done anytime soon? The conference starts in a couple minutes. You were supposed to meet the chancellor early, right?”

Mila shrugged. “He fired me already. So what if I get to the meeting five minutes late? I already know what he’s going to do.”

“Shit,” Abby cursed as she hurried to the back door.

“What?” Mila asked. “It’s really not a big deal if I’m late. What else can he do to me?”

“No. Our guy is here. Miles spotted someone hiding behind a tree with a ski mask. Sound familiar? And he’s coming this way.”

“Are they going to shoot him?”

“They can’t get a good shot with all the trees in the backyard. This guy knows his way around. He’s staying out of sight. The team is moving in, but this man will get to the house before them. Go into the guest room upstairs and hide. Lock every door you can,” Abby ordered.

“I’m not leaving you here alone,” Mila said, outraged.

“Yes, you are. Go!” Abby demanded as she pulled a gun from her back. She hid behind the island with her gun trained on the back door.

Mila hurried upstairs with Squirrel tucked in her arms. She paused at the guest room door when she heard the first gunshot. The gunfire increased until there was no beginning and no end to each shot. Mila felt frozen with fear. Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to force herself to move. When she heard the gunfire stop, she waited to hear Abby call for her. But she never did. What she did hear was the first stair creak as someone stepped on it.