Mila turned the knob and walked into the beautifully appointed half bath. She locked the door and looked around. There was a white and gray marble vanity to the left of the door. Opposite the vanity was a large window with sheer gray curtains. Beyond the window was a nook for the toilet. She quickly finished her business and headed to the vanity to wash her hands.
Mila looked into the mirror over the vanity and sighed. Before those shadows under her eyes could go away, she needed eight hours of sleep after more mind-blowing sex with Zain. Until then . . . Mila pulled the concealer from her purse and dabbed some on her finger. The curtains fluttered in the soft summer breeze and Mila wondered why the window would be open with this heat outside. She shrugged it off and went back to dabbing the concealer under her eyes.
She put the concealer into her makeup bag and was looking for foundation powder when movement in the mirror caused her to look up. Mila didn’t have time to scream before the long sheer curtain from the window was wrapped around her neck. She managed to get one hand underneath the silken curtain as the man with the ski mask pulled against her windpipe.
The softness of the curtain turned hard as he wrapped it around his knuckles and pulled. The sleek fabric burned against her skin as Mila struggled against it. He pulled harder, and she remembered the makeup bag she had in her hand. Mila threw it as hard as she could against the mirror. It made a thump and some of the makeup went crashing onto the counter and the ground.
“Mila?” Abby asked from the other side of the door. “What was that noise?”
When Mila didn’t answer, she heard the doorknob turning. Dammit, she had locked it! Mila raised her pumps and scraped the sharp heel down the man’s shin. He grunted and loosened his grip.
“Help!” Mila yelled. The door reverberated as Abby kicked it. The man let go of the curtain and shoved Mila forward as hard as he could.
Fear shot through her as she tripped over her own feet and pitched forward. Her arms pinwheeled and Mila ducked her head, hoping to avoid smashing into the marble vanity. She fell to the ground short of the sharp marble edge and slid head first into the cabinet doors.
The door splintered and Abby stormed into the bathroom. Mila didn’t have time to warn Abby that her attacker was against the wall by the door. When Abby rushed through with her gun drawn, he slammed his hand down on her wrist. The gun she had been holding went skittering to the ground and out of sight under the curtains. Mila opened her mouth to scream, but her breath was taken from her when the man kneed Abby in the stomach. It was as if Mila herself had been hit. Mila scrambled to her feet and grabbed her large tote bag. She swung for all she was worth and connected with the man’s head. He staggered back and Abby charged. Abby hit him around the middle and they both went flying backward. The man hit the partially open window and went crashing through it with Abby pushing him.
Mila hurried to the window and looked out. The man was on his back with Abby on top of him. Abby slammed her fist into his stomach and the man lashed out with an elbow. Mila screamed as it smashed Abby’s nose. Abby fell to the side and the man crab-walked backward until he was free of her. He jumped up at the same time Abby did and took off running. Mila looked at the broken door and then at Abby running after the man, yelling into her security comm.
Mila swung her feet out the window and jumped down the short distance to the grass. She kicked off her shoes and tore after them. A gunshot stopped her sprint toward them. She dove to the ground as another shot was fired. Mila looked around and realized they weren’t firing at her. She quickly rose and took off around the side of the house where she had last seen them.
Abby stood there cursing. “Dammit! We lost him.”
“What happened?” Mila called out as she ran toward a bleeding Abby and security from inside rushed out.
“I was closing in on him when Parker fired at him. He grabbed the wrought-iron chair and hit me with it. There was a bed sheet from the linen closet hanging out the window. Parker fired again, but the coverage from the magnolia tree made him miss. By the time I got to the bed sheet, he was already up there with the sheet cut from the window. He’s back in the house so that means he’s someone who can blend right in. Unfortunately, that’s all the Rahmi guards and half the staff from the house, not counting the staff the diplomats all brought.”
“Mila! Abby!” Jackson called as he ran toward them. “Damn, Abs. Are you okay?”
“Just another broken nose. He’s inside the house, Jackson,” Abby told him as Jackson gently cupped her face in his hands while he examined her injury.
“We’ll find him. I promise. Let’s get your nose fixed. Mila, are you hurt?” Jackson turned his silver gaze to her, and she knew the instant he found the red marks on her neck. “Shit. Zain’s going to be fit to be tied.”
“What happened?” Ahmed asked as he jogged over to them. Mila saw his face harden in anger at the sight of blood on his daughter’s face before turning uncharacteristically gentle. “Abigail, dear, another broken nose?”
“Yes, Dad,” Abby said with a weak tilt of her lips.
“Let me see it.” Ahmed used his thumbs to feel along her nose. “This is going to hurt me more than you. One. Two.” Crunch.
Mila grimaced and Ahmed looked like he was about to pass out as Abby let out a string of cuss words. Her eyes teared and she put her head back, taking in great gasps of air. “You need Dr. Emma to look at that and put some stabilizing tape on it. I think I got it back into place. Can you breathe easier?” Ahmed asked as Abby took deep breaths.
“Yes, but it hurts like a mother . . . oh hi, Zain,” Abby said quickly. Mila, Jackson, and Ahmed turned around to see Zain racing toward them. “Jackson has something to tell you.”
“Thanks a lot, Abby,” Jackson murmured under his breath.
“But you love me and will forgive me because I’m hurt,” Abby said in a singsong voice.
“What the hell is going on?” Zain asked when he joined them.
“About that,” Jackson said as calmly as possible. “Um, everyone’s fine.” He tried to reassure Zain whose eyes flew from Abby’s bloodied nose to Ahmed’s pale face and finally to the red marks across Mila’s neck.
Mila would have laughed if the horror in Zain’s eyes hadn’t been so real. His fingers brushed back her hair to get a better look. “What happened, love?” he asked quietly while his fingertips barely flitted against her bruised skin.
“Just a little incident in the bathroom. At least it wasn’t a snake in the toilet bowl. That was always my nightmare when I was a kid. This time it was just a man strangling me with a curtain.” Mila tried to sound casual. The anger in Zain’s eyes showed that it didn’t work. “But Abby was spectacular. She defended me and pushed him right out the window… well, through the window. He had to break her nose to get away from her.”
Zain didn’t say anything. He just pulled her against his chest and hugged her. He rested his chin on the top of Mila’s head, and she could feel him struggling to control his breathing. “Go see Dr. Emma. I’ll have someone take your place on Mila’s detail,” Zain said to Abby over Mila’s head. “Although I am liking the idea of locking Mila in the secret room with ten guards and a stockpile of weapons.”
Zain couldn’t let Mila go. He wanted to keep her there in his arms where he knew she would be safe.
“Zain! Mila! What happened?” Zain heard his mother as she ran across the green carpet of their garden.
“Mila was attacked. She’s all right, though. Just bruised around her throat,” Abby explained. “But the attacker got away. I’m sorry.”
Zain felt Mila shaking her head against his chest. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Abby. You saved my life. I don’t know how to thank you.”
Zain waited for his mother to freak out, but she didn’t. Instead, she nibbled on her lower lip as she looked around. “Hurry, all of you back inside. Ahmed, send Cy to cover for Abby while she gets her nose looked at. We must act as if nothing happened.”