She shook her head. Annoyance turned into a cooling frustration. What guarantee would she have that this board of security people wouldn’t be involved too? For all she knew, they could all be corrupt. “So there’s a chance if we choose this route that the security gods may give them, let’s say, five years?”
The female lawyer gave her an apologetic look, then sighed. “Unlikely, but yes, sentencing is their call.”
“Well, that’s not reassuring, is it? Given the king just hired an adviser who happens to be a human trafficker and a murderer, I hardly think we can trust your background checks, let alone your justice system.”
Izzy surged to her feet, with both hands on the desk, ready to launch at the team of lawyers who might as well have been public relations people. None of those people cared about Mary. None. Except, maybe…Nassor? Her heart skipped a beat, and she turned to him.
Tension crackled in the air.
When his gaze met hers, a glint of irritation—maybe more?—flashed in his eyes. The lawyers must have noticed, too, because they looked at each other in silence.
“I need the room,” he demanded, his voice sharp.
Chapter Fifteen
Nassor shut the door after the last lawyer left the room.
She had a point—in his first decision as a king, he’d screwed up by hiring a lowlife who exploited women and who had possibly killed her stepmother. Fuck. Two weeks in charge, and he was already fucking up. Anger thrummed through his body, flaring his insides.
“What are you thinking?” Izzy asked, within a safe distance from him, folding her arms over her chest. Her eyes darkened, the brown one shifting into almost black, and the green one shifting into a gloomier shade. “Tell me.”
He drew in a breath. This was not the time to be selfish. But if she was to be his partner, why couldn’t he share his thoughts? Popping his knuckles, he exhaled. “There’s one more thing I wanted to talk to you about, not in front of the lawyers. It’s crossed my mind, and it’s small, but I trust you.”
She tilted her head to the right. “What is it?”
“My top priority is to remove these creeps from their jobs, have them arrested, and give Mary Roberts justice,” he said, resolute. “I also want us to work,” he added, gesturing at the space between the two of them.
She uncrossed her arms, perching her hands at either side of her waist. “What does one thing have to do with the other?”
“If the prostitution ring news is leaked, there’s a chance our situation will come to light too. How we met,” he said, thinking of Rasheed. What if someone else used the opportunity to show his hypocrisy? “It’s safer for us to proceed with caution.”
“I don’t care about how I will look to the media. I care about—”
“Justice, which is what you’ll get.” Maybe if he talked to the authorities, they could find a way to use Taavi Cisse and the other three men that Obasi had named as bait, and ambush them.
She lifted her chin, challenging him. “No. I’m not so sure I’ll get it if a bunch of privileged men will decide the fate of other influential men who may as well be their golf buddies.”
“Listen, if you want to go through the regular route, that’s fine. It’s your decision.” Well, it was officially his decision, but he was giving it to her. Despite what going through the right route might mean to them down the line, that’s what she wanted to do—and that’s what she’d get. He couldn’t give her any less, not after what she’d been through.
“Is it really? Because I sense you’re trying to convince me otherwise,” she said, her voice wavering.
“I was studying our options. Damn it, Izzy. I asked for them to leave so we could make this decision together—you and me. A decision that can impact the future of my country, and that I’m putting in your hands.”
“I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask to make decisions on the future of Gwokon. All I want is—”
“Yes. Justice. I know. I’m giving it to you, but all of a sudden you want more. You want to expose those men. That’s what this is all about.”
“It’s not that I don’t care about your reputation—”
“My reputation?” he repeated, elevating his voice, his heart rate spiking. “I was trying to spare you, too, Izzy. I’d do anything for you. Hell, I was blackmailed a few days ago by an old adviser and I gave in—a mistake, I realize now, so he wouldn’t tell the world how we met.”
Tears brimmed her eyes, but she blinked them away, drew in a breath, then said, “You never told me that.”
“I didn’t want you to feel bad about it, or like—”
“Like I’m holding you back? Like I’m a lifetime liability for you and your precious kingdom?”
He lifted his hand in disagreement but at the same time erased the distance between them. “Izzy, don’t.”
