Forever Betrayed: Forever Bluegrass #3 (17 page)

Zain fished out his phone from his pocket and read through the texts. “The café is on high alert. We might as well send them the security packet so they don’t attack a staffer coming in for dinner.”

“Kenna, Paige, can you stop everyone as they come in and take them to my sitting room? I’d like a moment to talk to my family and then we’ll join you all to discuss a plan,” Dani asked her friends.

“We don’t need to discuss a plan. It’s simple. I’m putting you on the private jet with Nabi, and he’s going to take you and Zain someplace no one will find you,” Mo stated.

Dani and Zain shared a look that said,
yeah, right
.

Zain watched his mother put a docile smile on his face. “Yes, dear.”

His poor father . . . he thought he was going to get his way.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Mila did her job as well as she could, but she’d be lying if she said she was paying full attention. Jackson had come in almost an hour earlier and taken a position directly across the room from her. When she looked up at him, he sent her a wink. The chancellor grumbled and Mila felt her temper rising. She had a right to a life. She had a right to a boyfriend. And she had a right to have friends. People like the chancellor and probably every other diplomat here assumed their staff had no life—that they were meant to serve their employers at all times. But that wasn’t true, and she was getting tired of sitting in the background pretending it was. Especially now that she had been fired.

“What?” Mila asked.

“You’ve represented Germany as a whore and you wonder why I am discontented,” the chancellor whispered.

“As if you were discussing foreign affairs with the Philippine delegate last night at two in the morning. For your information, I love Zain Ali Rahman and he loves me so shove that up your—”

“I’m sorry to interrupt the meeting,” Danielle Ali Rahman said cheerfully as she swept into the room, “but lunch is served.”

The chancellor took his chance to escape. One bonus of always being invisible—she knew all of the best gossip. Mila picked up her notebook and put it in her tote bag. Everyone was filing out. The support staff would be eating upstairs in their break room while Jamal was leading the diplomats to a tent outside where lunch was being served today. She didn’t know what had gotten into him, but Jamal had come in, taken over the meeting, and done a surprisingly good job of it.

“Mila, dear, may I have a word?” Dani asked as she pointedly stared down anyone who dared to snicker. It was common knowledge she’d been fired and why. They all thought she’d sold herself to a prince in hopes of becoming a princess. She didn’t want to be part of that group anymore. Maybe she could become a German professor. One way or another, she was done being invisible.

“Of course, Your Highness,” Mila said since the staffers were paying attention.

Dani smiled kindly. “I told you to call me Dani. I’m having a special lunch in my private rooms and I want you to join us.” Dani linked her arm through Mila’s as the staffers froze and stared as the two women walked out together. It really was a parade of sorts. Ahmed had been standing by the door. He and Jackson led the way with Colton and Landon following behind. All the while Dani chattered on happily about the weather, the summit, and about how ridiculous it was that Mila’s luggage was still missing.

Mila kept looking around as if this were a prank. Dani had always been nice, but this was a bit much. They stopped in the hallway and Dani waved away the men. Colton and Landon headed into a nearby room. Jackson and Ahmed stood at the opposite ends of the very long hallway.

“Abby told us everything. Are you all right, dear? You must have been so scared,” Dani asked as she looked worriedly at her.

“To tell you the truth, I’m mad. I’m mad that I lost my job because I fell in love. I’m mad that someone thinks it’s okay to go after loved ones just to stop a summit. I’m mad that you and your family are in danger.”

“And you, dear. Don’t forget yourself. You say you love my son, right?”

Mila blushed. It wasn’t a conversation she really wanted to have with her boyfriend’s mother. “I do.”

“Why?”

“Excuse me?” Mila asked. She wasn’t sure she had heard Dani right.

“Why do you love my son?”

Well, this was embarrassing, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t already been embarrassed so many times that day that she’d lost count. “He makes me laugh,” Mila said as she thought about Zain. “He makes me live again. I want to try new things with him, and I want to be there for him every second of every day. I can’t wait to tell him something I thought of. In this short amount of time, he’s become my best friend. It’s as if we’ve known each other our whole lives. Why? I don’t know, I just do. Heart, soul, and everything in between.”

Mila focused back on Dani and saw her wipe a tear from her eye. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted for my son. You’re all I’ve ever wanted for my son. But I fear this now puts you in danger as well. Our friends are meeting inside to discuss what to do. You’re one of us now and I want you to join me in finding a solution to this problem.”

Dani opened the door and the sound of dozens of people talking rushed out. Ahmed and Jackson moved behind them and Mila had the feeling she was entering the lion’s den. Then Abby and Greer hugged her before the rest of the girls she’d had dinner with hurried forward. But the room quieted as Zain walked in with his father.

Mo looked at the tears in his wife’s eyes, and Mila worried she was going to be kicked out. But Dani just put her hand on Mila’s arm and smiled. Mo’s thunderous expression turned soft. He walked past Mila without acknowledging her. It hurt more than it should, and she fought not to cry.

“Mila,” was all Zain said before capturing her lips in his. The room went quiet and Mila felt the eyes of an entire town on her. “I missed you. Are you all right? I heard your voicemail, and I’ve been so worried. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

“I’m fine. I’ve been worried sick about you. I couldn’t get in touch with you, and I was so scared I was too late in warning you,” Mila dropped her voice. “Who are all these people?”

Zain placed a quick kiss on her forehead and turned her to face the room. He kept his fingers laced with hers as they faced the smiling group. “These are the people who are going to help us. Of course, you know the Rose sisters and their husbands, Charlie, Anton, and John."

The group of six senior citizens waved. Well, senior citizens might be stretching it a little. It seemed like this group had been around since a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

“Why are they holding a broom, spatula, and wooden spoon?” Mila whispered to Zain.

“It’s just their thing. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been hit with each of those. They brought all of us up right. We stepped out of line and
thwack!
Ever wonder why all us men have impeccable manners?” Zain winked before looking back at the group. “You’ve met most of them before and Abby said you met this rowdy crew earlier this morning."

Mila looked to where Porter, Parker, Jace, Colton, and Landon stood next to Greer and Cassidy. “Hi,” Mila said and felt like a dork as they all smiled back at her.

“And these are all of our parents,” Zain said as a way of introducing the group of men and women standing together on one side of the room. Mila saw Ahmed place a kiss on the cheek of a woman who must be his wife. She was enthusiastically showing a gun to a curly-haired redhead wearing a sheriff’s uniform.

“That’s Bridget, Ahmed’s wife. The gun-toting redhead who looks all too excited to shoot someone is Annie and next to her is her husband, Cade,” Zain introduced. Mila nodded and wondered how she was going to remember all of them. She needed a spreadsheet.

“Who are the two scary-looking guys?” Mila asked as Layne and Riley made their way over to join her.

“Those are our dads,” Riley said with a roll of her eyes.

“The one with darker hair is my dad, Miles. And the woman with dark-black hair and silver streaks is my mom, Morgan,” Layne said.

“No wonder you haven’t had sex in seven months,” Mila whispered as Layne turned red and Riley burst out in peals of laughter.

“As if you have room to laugh. Uncle Cy asked to borrow Ahmed’s drone the last time he found out you had a date,” Layne spat at Riley. Mila looked at the man with more muscles than a man in his early sixties should have. The nearly shaved head completed the image of an overprotective father.

Riley closed her eyes as if praying. “Sadly, you have a point. And that’s my mom, Gemma.”

“Gemma Davies?” Mila asked suddenly. “The writer?”

“That’s her,” Riley smiled proudly.

“I love her books.”

“Gemma, Mila loves your books,” Miss Lily called from the other side of the room.

The room groaned in unison. “We never should have suggested they get hearing aids,” the man who looked to be the youngest of the parents said with exasperation.

“That’s Pierce and that small woman with spiky blond hair is his wife, Tammy,” Zain whispered. “And lastly, the man in the sheriff’s uniform is Marshall and the tall blond next to him is his wife, Katelyn.”

“I’m sorry I’m late. I was at the training track and got the town text late.” A tall man with an athletic build hurried into the room and headed to give a kiss to a woman in a suit.

“Will Ashton and his wife, Kenna,” Riley supplied. “Sienna and Carter’s parents.”

“Ah.” Mila was starting to feel overwhelmed.

“What’s the objective?” Miles asked.

“Da-a-a-d, this is not a Special Forces mission,” Layne complained from where she stood next to Mila.

Zain gave Mila’s hand a squeeze before turning to the dinosaurs. “We’re going to be talking confidential stuff here, so please no tweeting. Yes, Miss Lily, that means you.” Zain waited until Miss Lily put her cell phone away before continuing. “Someone wants to stop this summit from succeeding and kill the nanotech project.”

Pierce’s brow furrowed. “The one my Piper is supposed to be talking about tomorrow?”

Piper rolled her eyes and Mila suddenly felt both very jealous and very sorry for all the daughters in the room. Obviously they were loved and adored by their parents, but maybe given a little too much attention by the amount of eye rolling going on.

“Yes. There were riots in Rahmi before the conference started. Then there was an attempt on my life while I was driving home the other night. That was followed by someone blowing up a wharf in Rahmi. The interesting thing is that the men Rahmi security captured aren’t Rahmi citizens. They had no identification on them at all, but we ran their faces through our computers and nothing popped up.” The group started murmuring but Zain held up his hands to quiet them. “Then Mila overhead something this morning. I was supposed to meet her in the library but was detained. Mila, can you tell them what happened?”

All eyes were on her again and Mila felt her mouth go dry. But then Zain wrapped his arm around her waist and anchored her to his side. When she looked up at him, he gave her a nod of encouragement. “You’re with friends.”

Mila took a breath and told her story. She saw their faces change when she told them Zain’s loved ones were now in danger as well.

“So, you need us here to head up security since any of your guards could be involved,” Miles said matter-of-factly. Mila was taken aback by the complete lack of hysterics.

“It’s all true, isn’t it?” Mila blurted out.

“Is what true?” Cy asked.

“The terrorists, the assassinations, the international black market dealer . . .”

“What are you talking about?” Greer asked with a cute laugh. Her mother, Paige, sent a look to her husband, Cole, that revealed the truth.

“Haven’t you ever Googled your town?” Mila asked.

The kids turned to look at their parents who suddenly found either the floor or the ceiling very interesting. Cassidy gasped as she looked down at her phone. “Mom, you were sitting on a bomb for over an hour while they literally called in the Army to save you?"

Tammy flushed red. “That’s not accurate,” she defended. “It was the Air Force.”

The room erupted with questions as even Zain pulled out his phone. Mo put his arm around his wife and stepped forward. “This can wait. The past is not going anywhere.” Once the room quieted, he looked up apologetically at Mila. She knew in his look that he was about to say something she didn’t like.

“Yes, Miles. We need your help. We can no longer trust anyone from Rahmi, excluding Ahmed and Nabi, of course,” Mo told the group. “But there was someone else who caught our attention as a possible spy for Surman. That’s the nation that I believe is behind this. Someone who has had two private meetings with the queen over the past couple months. Someone who became close to my son just as he suddenly found himself in danger.”

“Father . . .” Zain warned.

Mila heard the grumblings of the group and felt eyes upon her once again. Normally she would have bowed her head and fought back tears, but the rebel who had lived in her during her younger years won the battle of emotions. Mila felt anger such as she’d never felt before as she ripped her hand from Zain’s and marched toward his father. “You think it was me?”

Dani stepped forward. “I know it’s not you, dear. You love my son, and I trust you. My stupid husband just feels he needs answers. That’s all.”

“So you,” Mila poked her finger into Mo’s stunning suit, “decide to ambush me in front of the whole town of, of . . . of . . . gun and pot-carrying vigilantes?”

“Just so we’re clear here,” Cy cut in, “I was with the CIA.”

Cole shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I was in the FBI.”

Annie raised her hand. “DEA.”

“Sheriff here,” Marshall called out.

“Whatever!” Mila shouted as she poked Mo in the chest again. “My heart stopped in my chest when I heard that Zain was in a car accident. I was in a near fit of panic locked in that hidden room trying to find a way to save Zain, Dani, and even you. You . . . you dick! And all this time you were thinking it was me?”