Though I knew she had another motive aside from finding the gold with Street like she had claimed, I never once asked because I saw past whatever she was concocting.
I saw her.
I fell in love with her.
I cared for her and had ignored whatever deceit came with her because I trusted she would eventually feel comfortable telling me whatever she had been keeping to herself.
But then again, I could have handled every scenario of possible things she would have wanted out of coming here and doing things under my protection, but the last thing I expected was this.
A flash drive dedicated to her.
I didn’t check it.
The last thing I would do was learn something about the woman I loved through a hardware device made by someone who could speak the truth and still not be as in-depth as it would be coming from her directly.
I drank from the whiskey glass, dropping it on the table as my eyes returned to the drive.
ZAHRA FAIZAN
The first time I saw the drive in that box after reaching the underground a day ago, I had completely ignored the drives labeledMCSSandTHE SERPENT SOCIETY. I picked up and left with the one I’d never expected or predicted would be there.
I couldn’t determine the future, and I had no idea how their mission had gone today, but I couldn’t risk her flash drive entering into the wrong hands, so I took it and left the rest.
Casmiro had tried to convince me to check it and to grab the one markedMCSS. But I didn’t care for those. They couldfall into the enemy’s hands—it would most likely be doing me a favor. I didn’t care about their affairs, seeing as they were sovereign—but I hadn’t found a flash drive with my name on it, nor had I found one with my father’s or my empire’s names. I had found one withhername on it, and I needed answers.
Asking her to be the one to get the drives wasn’t a test per se—she was supposed to piece two and two together when I gave her the password and told her the flash drives would be in a separate space from the gold.
Upon seeing her flash drive missing, I expected her to know who was responsible. I was the only one who knew the password, and if the safe had been hacked prior, she would not have needed a password to get to it.
I did not know what she was hiding, but I knew I had already forgiven her—that is if it had anything directly to do with me. I wanted answers because I’d failed to predict her actions; I was beyond positive Zahra would return to me with the flash drives.
But she hadn’t.
I needed to know what had gone wrong, if it pertained to whatever she wanted to discuss with me, and why she had chosen to do something so drastic, knowing she could lose her friends’ trust and possibly mine. What could have—
Gunshots sounded suddenly from outside my hotel room, and my thoughts halted as I listened in—muffled thuds, grunts, and combat that was too smooth and fast, enough to be missed if one didn’t pay attention to the rise and fall of the sounds the atmosphere around them provided.
Suddenly, they stopped, and the sound of a door opening and closing reached my ears. I stilled but didn’t turn.
My hand fisted around the flash drive in a vise grip, listening to the careful footsteps entering the bedroom—searching for me—a whiff of her perfume hit my nostrils, and I closed my eyes as her footsteps drew nearer, entering the small office-like space the hotel suite provided.
The footsteps stopped, and then what followed was the click of a gun leaving its safety.
I smiled.
“Turn around and get on your knees.” Her scratchy voice, on edge, thick with emotions, had my jaw locked.
“Are we role-playing?”
“Do I sound like I’m fucking around?”
“Hard to tell,” I spoke into the silence, listening to her unsteady breathing. “You do not sound quite like yourself at the moment.”
I couldn’t see her, but I knew she’d probably just shifted on her feet. I knew her heart was pounding—from the way she sounded, I knew she was hurt, though not physically—and from the way she talked, I knew something else had happened.
“Turn around, Elio.”
Allowing another minute, I flexed the corded muscles around my neck and tentatively turned.
