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‘And what’s their job? To rubber-stamp whatever you say?’
‘Not quite.’
‘They must be able to order you to let me go.’
‘Not quite.’
Completely exasperated, Regan put down her fork. ‘Look, you’re making a big mistake here. I know my brother is innocent.’
His eyes narrowed on hers. ‘We’ve had this conversation. Eat.’
‘I can’t. The conversation is killing my appetite.’
‘Then stop talking.’
‘God, you’re impossible. Tell me, what makes you think that my brother has taken your sister? Because it’s not something my brother would do. He’s not a criminal.’
‘He stole a car when he was sixteen and copies of his finals exams when he was seventeen.’
‘Both times the charges were dropped,’ she defended. ‘And how do you even know this? Those files are closed because he was a minor.’
He gave her a look and she rolled her eyes. ‘Right, you know everything.’ She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Chad got into the wrong crowd with the car thing and he stole the exam papers to sell them to help me out financially. We had a hot-water system to replace in our house and no money. He didn’t need to steal the exams for himself. He’s a straight-A student. Anyway, that’s a lot different from kidnapping someone,’ she shot at him.
‘To say that you’ve been kidnapped is a trifle dramatic. You came to my country of your own free will. Now you are being detained because you’re a threat to my sister’s security.’
‘I had nothing to do with your sister’s disappearance!’
‘No, but your brother did,’ he pointed out silkily, ‘and as you’ve already confirmed he has the capability for criminal activity.’
‘He was young and he was going through a hard time,’ she cried. ‘That doesn’t mean he’s a career criminal.’
‘Why was he having a hard time?’
‘I’m surprised you don’t know,’ she mumbled; ‘you seem to know everything else.’
He handed her a warm triangle of pastry. ‘I know that your parents both died of cancer seven weeks apart. Is that what you’re referring to?’
‘Yes.’ Emotion tightened her chest. ‘Chad was only fourteen at the time. It hit him hard and he didn’t really grieve properly... I think it caught up with him.’
‘That must have been hard to have both parents struck down by such a terrible disease. I’m sorry.’
‘Thank you.’ She shook her head and bit into the food he’d handed her, closing her eyes at the exquisite burst of flavours on her tongue. ‘This is delicious. What is it?’
‘It is called a bureek, a common delicacy in our region.’ He frowned as he dragged his eyes up from her mouth. ‘Who looked after the two of you when your parents died?’
‘I was eighteen,’ she said, unconsciously lifting her chin. ‘I deferred my photography studies, got a job and took care of us both.’
He frowned. ‘You had no other family who could take you in?’
‘We had grandparents who lived across the country, and an aunt and uncle we saw on occasion, but they only had room for Chad and neither one of us wanted to be parted.’
His blue eyes studied her for a long time, then he handed her another morsel of food. She took it, completely unprepared for his next words. ‘I lost my father when I was nineteen.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she said instinctively. She missed her parents every day and her heart went out to him. ‘How did he die?’
‘He was killed in a helicopter crash.’
‘Oh that’s awful. What happened to you?’
