Her breath came in gasps, her heart about to leap up her throat. “You fooled an innocent woman.”
Tears brimmed his eyes again. “I did, but I would never let her go with any man. That’s why I took her away.”
“What happened?”
“We got caught because of an emergency cash withdrawal I did at an ATM. They took her with them, and I fought them, but I couldn’t take on three men. They took my Mary away.”
“How long ago did this happen after she arrived here?” Nassor asked.
“They took her about four weeks after we met. They had her for a couple weeks, then she turned up dead. That’s when I decided to go to the woods. There was nothing left for me.”
Two weeks. Tears pricked behind her eyelids.
Two weeks. She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining the kind of pain she must have endured. Mary. Mom. She’d never called her mom, and now she never would. Her heart squeezed. A part of her had clung to calling Mary by her name or referring to her as a stepmother out of self-preservation. She’d lost so much before and didn’t want to take more risks. A weight slumped over her shoulders. From now on, she’d honor Mary by calling her what she had been all along—without fear. My mother.
“Who killed her?” Nassor asked.
“I wasn’t there, but Taavi Cisse’s men took her away, and they’re the ones I’m hiding from.”
An hour later, Nassor’s legal team composed of two older men and a woman in her thirties arrived in the conference room.
Izzy had chosen to go to this meeting with Nassor, while John had stayed behind to keep an eye on Obasi. Obasi was now an important witness and they couldn’t let him go. But he’d also have to pay, she added inwardly.
Izzy had no idea about how the legal system in the kingdom worked, but hoped the authorities would be invested in arresting everyone involved in that despicable scheme. Including Obasi.
After Nassor introduced her to the team and they briefly shook hands, everyone sat around the long oval table. He gave them an explanation and used the paper evidence he had, passing the pages around.
The oldest lawyer fixed his glasses. “What’s the plan? I mean, what kind of outcome are you expecting from this, Your Majesty?”
“I want the four guilty men who were mentioned arrested and questioned. There’s a prostitution ring and human traffic happening I won’t tolerate.”
The female lawyer made some notes on the notepad on the desk. “Would you like to do this quietly? We can use the law to our favor.”
“What do you mean?” Izzy asked.
The female lawyer glanced at her. “Well, if the king rules this a matter of national security, all four men can be arrested and have their rights stripped from them. So will Obasi. But the public doesn’t need to know.”
“What?” What kind of justice was this, swept under the rug? Izzy shook her head, the idea sending her blood into a boil. “How can these guys be arrested and people not notice?”
“They will, but the reason doesn’t need to be disclosed.”
“We’d do this to protect King Nassor,” the older lawyer said. “He just hired an adviser involved in a dangerous operation. What’s to say people won’t start a revolution after they learn the king made a bad decision?”
“That he’s made a bad decision and is correcting it,” Izzy said, standing up, too restless to stay still. “Nassor, tell me you don’t agree with his idea.”
Nassor rubbed his chin. “You want justice for your stepmother, right? I always told you I’d make it happen and I will. I’ll also make sure whoever is involved in this disgusting operation will be arrested. We’ll look into policies in place to protect women.”
“That’s nice and great, but the way you’re talking about it is like you’re covering it up.”
“How can the king work on policies to empower women if they don’t trust him?” the female lawyer said. “You’re from America. Things are different here, Ms. Lima. We’re miles away from your idealistic views. We finally have a king who cares about our people, and I’d hate to diminish his chances before he even gets started.”
Izzy gave Nassor a sideways glance, but he remained sitting, shoulders stiff, lost in thought. “What kind of sentencing will these creeps get?”
“Twenty-five years in jail is our maximum time,” the third lawyer, who’d been quiet until then, spoke. “The king can deem the men as national security threats and he can execute his power to veer from the court. But a board formed by the skilled homeland security team will vote on the amount of time each person will receive.”
“Why can’t the king vote?” Izzy asked.
“This is the way we do things so there’s no abuse of power,” Nassor said.
