“I fled from the palace.”
“What?”
“I overheard your conversation with Adil. You were monitoring me,” she says, not giving me time to explain. “I know you were planning to wait for our child to be born and then give me the option to leave alone. You thought I was a gold-digger and that I would use my baby as leverage, so I ran away.”
The strangest thing is that I don’t focus on the gravity of what she’s saying—that because of me, she could have been kidnapped or even killed. Instead, I wonder why Madeline doesn’t try to free herself from my arms.
I look at her, and I don’t see the vibrant girl who professed her love for me.
Instead, there’s someone who’s built a wall around herself.
“What you heard . . . It was a misunderstanding.”
“Yes, it was. You thought I was one of your exes. I never wanted your money; I just wanted you. I’ve always only wanted you.”
“Madeline, I—”
We hear the commotion of the paramedics before they come into the tent, followed by Zarif. This is the only moment she shows any emotion: surprise at seeing my brother.
“Your Excellency, we need your authorization to transfer Her Excellency, the future princess, to the palace’s hospital.”
For security reasons, there’s a hospital for the Royal Family within the palace walls.
“They need to examine you, okay? I will go with you in the ambulance.”
“It goes against your security protocols.”
“Nothing is more important than the two of you.”
She nods, looking exhausted, and then lies down on the stretcher as instructed. I follow behind with my brother, who, like me, gets into the ambulance right after Madeline.
She seems asleep, and then Zarif says in a low voice, “They got him. Odin took less than fifteen minutes to locate Adil’s second phone. He was at the border, trying to escape.”
Madeline opens her eyes. “Got who?” she asks.
“Adil. We believe he was behind all of this,” I explain, not going into the details of what ‘all of this’ means. We’ll have time to talk later.
“If it was him, then maybe he has an accomplice. The man who tried to kidnap me said he would take me to someone.”
“Can you describe him?” I ask, but then Adil’s phone, still in my pocket, vibrates.
“Just a moment,” I say and pick up the phone to see who it is.
There’s a text with a single sentence that confirms our suspicions.
“She escaped.”
It’s from an unknown number, and I show it to Zarif. “Yes, Adil has an accomplice.”
“Odin will find out who sent this text in the blink of an eye. Keep this phone. It probably has evidence we’ll need for the bastard’s conviction.”
“Kamal,” Madeline calls.
“Yes,habibti[22]?”
“I broke my phone, but I’d like you to do me a favor,” she asks formally, as if we are mere strangers. “Call Zoe or Christos. I want my family with me.”
My family.
