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“I prefer to think of myself as a strategist,” he said, leaning down and pulling a large Bowie knife from his pocket. He brought the point to rest under her chin and pressed against it until the first drops of blood welled up. “I found the solutions through my problems. I laid in wait, and I executed everything I needed.”
“Yeah, you’re a real free spirit, there,” Brenda bit back.
He chuckled and moved the blade so that the flat side of it was caressing her cheek. She shivered at the warm stickiness on its tip.
Blood. My blood.
“I am going to kill you now, American scum. Then all my troubles will be over.” He drew back the blade and she screamed, trying to kick him away as best she could even with the spasms crippling her back.
The blade descended and it was if time stopped, her whole life flashing before her eyes—her parents, her beloved oldest Haley, and then Jamsheed. All the appointments they had with Dr. Gurpurasad, creating the nursery together. All of the planning to build a life they’d never have, and then all her insecurities seemed so sad, so foolish. How could she ever have doubted that he loved her? That they could last?
Closing her eyes, she cupped her belly. “I’m sorry, Jamsheed. I love you.”
She expected the cold steel in her gut, the rending of flesh, but none of that came. Instead something huge and heavy slammed into the Land Rover. The driver up front cursed, something sharp and biting in Arabic she assumed, and she opened her eyes in time to see him spin the wheel furiously. It didn’t help. The Land Rover made wide donut loops in the sand before sputtering to a stop, stuck in a divet from which it couldn’t escape.
Abir glared at her and raised up his knife a second time, but the door to the back seat was pulled open. On the other side stood Jamsheed and a squadron of his fiercest guards, all armed to the teeth. Her sheikh had a semiautomatic pistol aimed at his cousin’s head.
“Abir, stop. I shouldn’t even think of offering you asylum or anything close, but you’re still royal blood. You can come with us for a trial and fair sentencing.”
Abir snarled and eyed her. “So I can be hanged in a public square, an example to the people?”
“So we can deal with this between us, Cousin. It’s always been about us. You don’t have to make it about her and the children.”
“They matter to you like the throne matters to me,” he spit back.
Jamsheed eyed her, those amber depths promising her safety and so much more. “I love her, and I love them. They’re my whole world. I’d give the throne up for them if I could, but I won’t leave the country I love to a mad man either. Now, Cousin, please, let us be civilized. Either you come with me now or…”
“Screw you all,” Abir said, bringing his arm down fast.
Just as quickly a thunderclap rang out between all of them. She shuddered as the bullet hit Abir first, running through his skull before his knife’s edge reached her. His head jerked back and he fell onto the floor of the Rover, a mess of bone and skin and blood.
Jamsheed and his guards wasted no time pulling Brenda back out of the car. He kissed her and held her tightly to him. “My phoenix, my habibi, are you all right?”
“It hurts,” she managed, in between sharp breaths. She was sure now she was bleeding and that she was about to miscarry. “The babies… I think they’re coming!” Jamsheed tried to keep her on her feet so that they could walk to his own jeep, but even at ten feet from her, it might as well have been miles. The pain tore through her belly and back, and she stumbled. Breathing heavy and chest heaving, she looked up at Jamsheed as he cradled her. “I love you.”
“No, we’re getting Dr. G, and it’ll be all right, beloved. Please, just wait for him.”
She shook her head and kissed him, coughing when she pulled back. “I’m holding on as best I can. But I need you to promise me one thing.”
“Anything,” he said, stroking her hair. “Name it.”
“If you have to choose between saving me and the babies, then save them, please.”
He kissed her and she blinked, trying to fight back the darkness consuming her. “Then I’ll save you both.”
