“I don’t know why he seduced her, but the baby she was expecting was Adil’s. Odin found evidence this week. Adil visited her a few times, without any apparent reason to be alone with the Sheikh’s fiancée. It was him, Kamal. I’m sure of it. We can exhume her body, if necessary, to recover the fetus’s DNA, but everything points to him.”
“If we do that, people will know about her pregnancy and her parents will fall into disgrace.”
“And if we don’t, a murderer will escape.”
“You said he disappeared?”
“Yes, just like your future wife,” he replies, confirming what Raez informed me over the phone a little while ago.
Seconds later, my cell phone rings and an unknown number flashes on the screen. My heart races when I hear the voice of the woman who holds my heart in her hands.
“Kamal? Come and get me. I need you.”
Chapter 50
Fear is not a feeling I welcome, but from the moment I heard Madeline’s voice until the moment we arrived at the Bedouin camp, following the instructions of the people who rescued her, I felt suffocated.
I’ve dealt with terrorist attacks, various political and religious crises in our country. I’ve survived my father’s death. And yet, as I step into the tent, I pray with all the faith I have that my wife and child are safe.
On the way, I spoke to Odin and asked him to help me locate Adil.
Meanwhile, Zarif asked Raez to issue a warrant for my advisor’s arrest.
It’s as if the life I knew exploded in my face. Everything I was sure of dissolved in a matter of seconds.
The betrayal of a man I believed to be my best friend. The discovery that my brother, whom I once hated, has always been loyal to me.
And most crucially: the realization that no matter how much power I have, today I could have lost everything if something had happened to Madeline.
I reach the entrance of the tent, and I know that the ambulance will come for her in a couple of minutes, as I asked one of my security personnel to arrange it. However, before that, I need to see for myself that she is okay, since Madeline didn’t provide any details on the phone about what happened, only stating that she needed assistance. She didn’t want to keep talking while I drove to her either.
“Your Excellency, it’s an honor to have you in my humble home,” an elderly woman says when I arrive. “The future princess is resting.”
I don’t want to waste time, but I need to know at least one thing. “What happened?”
“She was running away from someone. A man who, according to what she told us, tried to kidnap her. She passed out shortly after, so we had to wait for her to regain consciousness to be able to call you.”
“Take me to where my wife is.”
The place is relatively small, and I don’t take long to find her, but when I finally see her, I’m horrified by the scratches on her face and arms. There’s also a small cut on her chin.
Kidnapping.
They tried to kidnap her.
I’m so confused I can’t fully grasp the details, but what matters now is that Madeline is alive.
She allows me to hug her, but she doesn’t return the embrace. I sit beside her and hold her face, but she doesn’t look at me.
She’s probably in shock.
“He tried to take me,” she says, but it’s like she’s talking about someone else. Her voice doesn’t reveal any emotion.
“Who, Madeline?”
“I don’t know. A man. He was going to kidnap me. He told me that my life as a princess was over. I don’t know his name, but he knew mine.”
“How did he manage to reach you?”
