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“My sweet, your beautiful face had my attention.”
She wished he’d take her seriously, but his words warmed her heart. Ziva loved hearing him call her, his sweet. “I’m not as defenseless as you think.”
“Oh, I know. I was there when you knocked Rajani out cold.”
“I’ve never hit anyone in my life, so I was shocked. But that was years and years of fear and hatred coming to the surface all at once. What do you know about her? Was she really behind all the evil here?”
“I only know what little she taunted me with during my not-so-lovely stay. My father and hers started this human trafficking business many years ago. Maybe even before my brother Brice was born. When her father died, she took over the family business. She hoped I’d be interested in doing the same.”
“How could she think you’d be interested in such a thing?”
“How did you think I was like my father?” Alex gave her a wink. “I’m that good.”
Ziva rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I have you figured out now.”
Alex arched a brow. “Really? Then tell me, what do I do for a living?”
She had no clue. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing but sit home and watch movies,” she teased.
“I do sit home a lot, but I travel mostly. What I’m going to tell you, no one knows. Not even my family.”
“You’re a spy?”
Alex chuckled. “Only in my head. Or maybe, should I say, only on paper. I’m an author. I write espionage books. You know, terrorist and drug lords and all types of crime stories.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No. Why, what’s so funny about that?”
She looked him up and down. “The way you handled things when we were captured. You were so calm and cool. Like you’d done that before. But in all honesty, I saw the storm brewing in your eyes, even though you acted calmly.”
“Nope. Just wrote scenes like that before. It worked in the books, so I figured might as well try it in real life. But yes, there was a storm brewing, I realized how truly evil and sadistic Rajani and her muscled minions were. Greed is a powerful motivator to people like them.”
Ziva’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you telling me you risked our lives based on what you thought worked well in a book? That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. If I’d have known then—”
“Did my plan work?”
She studied him for a minute. He was cocky, but he was right. It had worked. They both made it out safely, and he got the bad guy. Or woman. “You got lucky. Life is not a book. Trust me. I’ve read so many with the happily ever afters. The happy endings are pure fiction.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way, Ziva.”
She met his gaze. He wasn’t offering anything, and it really didn’t matter. She knew where she belonged, and he didn’t fit. “Alex, don’t try to write a chapter that won’t fit in the story. Some books just end. You only have to enjoy the story while you’re reading it. That’s all.”
Surprisingly, Ziva didn’t want it to end, but she understood the truth. It must. Going forward, pretending any differently would be lying to each other. I’m done hiding and pretending. I want to keep it real. She didn’t know what her life would look like. The policemen who had taken her had to work for the police department in town. She would be known here now. What will I do?
“What are you saying, Ziva?”
“That we can’t have it all, Alex. This isn’t one of your stories.”
“I know that, but what we have, it’s good. You can come back to Boston with me, and we can give it a shot.”
Oh yeah, that’s what every girl wants to hear.“Alex, I don’t belong in that world, any more than you do in mine. We both know that. And besides, I have work I have to continue in Tabiq. You may have taken out the head, but our government is full of people waiting to step in and take Rajani’s place. I have to be there to make sure someone speaks out against it.”
“You can do that from Boston. There is no reason why you need to risk your life every day,” Alex said.
“Yes, there is. This is my home. My people. It’s what I do, Alex.”
She could see he was putting the pieces together and starting to see things from her point of view. Ziva hated being right this time. With all her heart, she wished there was another way. Leaving would cause such pain with worry and him staying... well, he’d hate it. Who wouldn’t? Tabiq is a god-awful place. But it’s my home.
