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Angelina knew the majors had no legal authority to give her an order in violation of the chain of command. She would not tell them this, however, but would let them think they’d intimidated her into silence while she ignored their illegal order and informed Captain Zale at the first opportunity.
Chapter 12
Angelina’s first thought as soon as she left the jail was to call Alec and share the good news with him. Then she quashed that impulse. Do not get into the habit of relying on him, she warned herself. Not even to celebrate. A warning that would be difficult to remember, especially since she didn’t want to.
If she couldn’t tell Alec, she couldn’t tell anyone. Certainly not her parents. And none of her friends, either. This was an ongoing investigation, and until all the guilty parties had been arrested, she had to keep what she knew confidential. Except from Alec. Alec, who was here at the king’s instigation. Who’d intervened, as he’d explained to the king, to help break up the assassination attempt. Who’d discussed her with the king—man-to-man, as he’d worded it—to get him to intercede on her behalf with Captain Zale.
Using that as an excuse to do what she wanted anyway, she pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed-dial button for Alec’s office in the embassy. He’d keyed all his numbers into her cell phone last night over her perfunctory objections.
He wasn’t in his office. Or at least that’s what his administrative assistant told Angelina when the American woman picked up the phone. “No, no message,” she said abruptly. “I will call back, thank you.”
She called his cell phone, but it went right to voice mail. She didn’t leave a message.
She was disappointed beyond belief, because she’d wanted to hear his voice. Wanted to hear him call her “Angel” the way no one else did. He’d be proud of what she’d managed to accomplish. Alec had believed in her when she’d been at her lowest point emotionally. Now she wanted to share this emotional high with him, as well.
But she didn’t call back. She told herself she was too busy, and she was. She made sure of it, even though it was an off-duty day for her. She stopped to see her parents and listened to their carping with as much patience as she could muster. She went to the gym, working out with weights as she did religiously three times a week, as well as sparring with her tae kwon do instructor, and having the satisfaction of taking him down twice. She practiced for an hour at the gun range—she was sharp and intended to stay sharp.
Grocery shopping really had been a necessity—she was out of milk and eggs and several other items she used every day. She returned books to the library. She ran every errand she could think of, even laying flowers on the graves of Caterina’s parents— something she’d neglected to do lately, she realized as guilt washed through her. She tried to make it to the cemetery once a month, doing what her cousin would have done if she could.
She found herself loitering near the US embassy for no reason she could fathom, gazing longingly at the windows, wondering which one was Alec’s office. This must stop, she told herself sternly, forcing herself to turn around and head toward her apartment with her firm stride. You are acting like...
Like most of the women of her acquaintance, whose men took precedence in their lives. They had stimulating, fulfilling careers but would gladly trade them for the traditional Zakharian role of wife and mother. Only a handful of women would choose otherwise.
The more Angelina thought about it, the more wound up she became. Back at her apartment, she quickly changed into her jogging clothes and headed out for the run she’d skipped this morning because she’d wanted to get to the jail as early as possible to interrogate the prisoner after Captain Zale told her she could.
She jogged for miles, looping through the central district, then out to the palace on the hill and back again before heading to the walkway that followed the meandering path of the river. She ran until she was drenched with sweat and the sun was setting. With a stitch in her side, she forced herself to walk back to her apartment through the chill of the evening.
Alec was waiting for her by her front door when she got off the elevator. The smile that broke over his face when he saw her would have gladdened the heart of most women if they hadn’t been working themselves into a frenzy the way Angelina had.
His smile faded when she didn’t return his smile, just stared at him with a distant, uncompromising expression she knew held no welcome. “What’s wrong?” he asked, walking toward her, too perceptive not to know immediately something wasn’t right, and too direct not to question it.
