Zain blinked at his mother. Instead of hysterics, she was angry and surprisingly calm. She reminded him of a general and decided tonight he was going to find out why she wasn’t more alarmed. He was going to Google his mother.
“We need a cover story. People must have heard the shots. I know I did,” Zain said.
“Duck,” his mom said. Zain covered Mila’s head with his hands and ducked down. His mother laughed. “No, silly. For dinner. We’ll say the cook just finished up a duck hunt. Have Parker fire off a couple more. I believe I heard Anton say we had four ducks for dinner tonight.”
Ahmed spoke into his comms and a couple seconds later two shots were fired off.
“Good idea, Mom. Now we will have to close off the bathroom window. Apparently Abby shoved the man through it. And it was a man, right?”
Abby nodded. “He wasn’t very big, though. But he is trained. He knew how to fight. So he’s military or some kind of guard.”
“But we don’t know whose guard,” Mila said as she pulled her head away from Zain’s protective embrace. “Every diplomat is here with guards.”
“I’ll see what I can find out,” Ahmed promised before walking away with Abby toward the massive garage.
Dani’s eyes narrowed as she took in Mila’s red neck. She unwound the flimsy ivory silk scarf decorated with a horseshoe pattern and handed it to Mila. Zain finally admitted he had to let her go. Mila stepped out of his arms and took the scarf.
“To cover your neck. Do you want me to knot it? I don’t want you to feel out of control again,” his mother explained.
“Thank you, Dani. Yes, please tie it. I never could get these to look right.”
Zain watched as his mother tied the scarf around Mila’s neck. He held her hand and felt her grip tighten when the scarf was tied.
“And I also want you to have this,” Dani reached into her bra and Zain heard something click.
“Mom!”
“What, do you think I’m going streaking?” Dani asked with a mischievous grin.
Zain didn’t know what to think, especially when he saw his mom pull a switchblade from her bra. He was definitely Googling her tonight.
“Here, dear. Take this, too. It has this clip. You can fasten it to your bra right between your breasts. All you have to do to open it is this.” His mother demonstrated how to flick the knife so the blade flipped out. “It’s best to do it all in one motion. That way your attacker will never see it coming. Here, try it.”
“Mom?” Zain asked as if he were seeing his mother in a whole new light.
“Not now, dear. Let me show Mila how to flick this knife open real quick.”
Zain looked over to Jackson and took in his rounded eyes. At lease he wasn’t the only one startled by seeing his mother with a switchblade. And even worse, she knew exactly how to use it. Casually, Jackson pulled out his phone and typed something. Zain watched and his eyebrows shot up as he looked again at Dani.
“Do you have any idea what our parents did before we were born?” Jackson whispered.
Zain shook his head. They were his parents. They didn’t do anything. They were kind of boring really. He knew his father fell in love at first sight with his mother and that Kenna introduced them. He knew Kenna and his mom had worked together in New York City before Kenna came to Kentucky for a job. A couple months later, his mom relocated to Kentucky as well. Nothing exciting about that.
Jackson handed him his phone.
Day two of testimony in the massive corruption and murder case rocking the nation is set to take place today. Danielle De Lucca, a paralegal from GTH law firm, is set to testify on the corruption of FBI Agent Edwards, whom she stabbed in the leg during an altercation in Keeneston, Kentucky, before she and Mrs. McKenna Ashton were shot in an attempted assassination. Further, Miss De Lucca is set to provide testimony connecting Edwards to Senator Bruce and Judge Dick LeMaster. Yesterday’s explosive testimony from Mrs. Ashton, combined with expected testimony from Miss De Lucca, Paige Davies, and FBI Agent Cole Parker, is sure to lead to a conviction.
“What the . . .?”
“Not now dear. We can discuss this later.”
“This has my mom and dad’s name in it, too,” Jackson said as he continued to scroll through the article.
“Not now, Jackson,” Dani snapped. “Now you need to get your head into the game. Put that away. Yes, we weren’t boring women who just sat around knitting and waiting for a man to walk by and ask us to marry him. And, believe it or not, none of you were born through immaculate conception either.”
“That’s not right, Dani,” Jackson said, shaking his head.
“What is right is you have a job to do and that’s to be aware of everything going on around you. Guard our girl here and then we can discuss our previous lives if you really want. Now, Mila, do you feel comfortable with the knife?” Dani asked.
“As much as I can be in a minute of working with it,” she said as she clipped it to her bra.
“Good. I have to get back inside and deal with the bathroom, and you have a summit to finish.” Zain watched his mother walk back toward the house in her summer dress and pearls. His mother had been shot? She had stabbed someone in the leg?
“Come on, let’s get this panel done,” Zain said as he wrapped his arm around Mila’s waist.
Cy met them at the door. “I’m filling in for Abby.”
Mila nodded. “Good. You’re scarier than she is.”
“You have no idea,” Cy grinned.
“No, I do. I’m the only one who did her research.” She winked before sauntering into the room.
Cy chuckled. “I like her. She has spunk. Better than those bimbos you were with before.” Cy punched Zain in the arm and followed Mila into the conference room.
“I like her, too.” Jackson smirked before hitting his arm as well.
Zain shook his head. Yeah, he liked her, too. A lot.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Zain smiled and shook another hand. The meeting had just ended, and his mother was ushering everyone to the dining room for a night of French cuisine. Anton was surely beside himself in the kitchen. Cy was standing behind Mila and giving anyone who walked by the death glare. Seeing him this way was different from the farm owner he’d been since he had married. It also answered the question of whether Reagan and Riley were exaggerating when they said their dad scared off their dates.
Zain headed across the room toward Mila, but the door opened and his father walked in. He expected Mo to come to him, but instead he went over to Mila. Zain’s phone buzzed with a text message. He looked down at it and smiled. His plan was ready. He typed quickly and then headed over to Mila and his father.
Before he got there, Mila threw her arms around his father’s neck and hugged him. “Thank you so much, Prince Ali Rahman.”
“Please, call me Mo.”
Zain stopped next to the group and looked at his father.
“I owed your girlfriend, Mila, an apology,” his father explained.
“You must give a wonderful apology.” Zain grinned with relief. He was filled with pride when his father referred to Mila as his girlfriend.
“I've gotten good at it after thirty years of marriage. You will, too,” Mo winked with that look on his face once again. That I-want-to-be-a-grandfather look.
However, this time it didn’t send Zain into a panic attack. The thought of marriage was like a warm glow to his heart. He liked the idea. As he looked at Mila smiling and talking to Cy, the idea took root.
“Son, before the summit is over, let’s have a quick chat in the living room,” his father said, referring to the comfortable room with the large TV and overstuffed couches. It had been the cozy room in the massive house. The place where their toys had been spread all over, the place from which they cheered on Kentucky basketball, and the place where they were just an ordinary family.
“Sure, Dad.” Zain pressed his hand to Mila’s back to get her attention. “Why don’t you go back to my place and check on Squirrel. Wyatt said instructions would be left beside the cage. I’ll meet you there after dinner. Jamal may beat me back, so don’t be surprised. Okay?”