Stella shook her head. “Sam would kill him for saying something like that to you and then walking away. Zale has to know that. These men play for keeps.”
“I agree with Stella,” Raine said. “Sam’s so quiet, but underneath, he’s a volcano. You’re family to him. If someone messes with his family, he’d go after them. Leading you on qualifies as messing with you. Zale knows Sam and he would never violate a code they have.”
Zahra frowned. “I don’t know Zale at all, but I do know Sam. He lives his entire life by a code of honor. If Zale is anything like him, if he told you he wanted to marry you and have children with you, Vienna, I can’t imagine that’s a lie. Why go that far?”
That was a good question. It made no sense at all. Zale would have known he could have seduced her back into his bed. She was extremely susceptible to him, and she wanted to be with him in spite of telling him to leave her alone if he didn’t mean the things he said. She had to decide whether or not she believed he was an honorable man.
Her gaze dropped to Shabina. Shabina hadn’t really weighed in with an opinion once they’d all started talking about what Zale had said to her. She sat very still, her face pale, her large eyes very blue, her dark lashes veiling her expression.
“Shabina, what do you think?”
Shabina shrugged without looking up. “I’m not someone you can ask. I don’t know the first thing about men. I stay away from them and if I get too close, I nearly always misread every single thing I think they mean.”
“You’re upset over something Rainier said to you.” Vienna made it a statement.
“I’m always upset over anything Rainier says to me. Anytime he comes around. He sometimes shows up in the middle of the night to check on things. To see to my security, he says. He treats me like I’m still a child. No matter how hard I try to overcome the things that happened to me, he throws me right back to that girl that can’t breathe or think. I panic when I’m around him. It’s pathetic. He has a way of being so superior, almost amused and above it all, while I’m struggling just to maintain my equilibrium.”
Raine, the closest to her, put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I doubt Rainier tries to make you feel that way, Shabina. He was there when those terrible things happened to you. He saw you at your worst. That’s bound to bring the memories too close. He can’t help that.”
Shabina nodded. “I tell myself that all time. I think he tells himself that as well. He goes really blank when he’s around me. Impossible to read, you know, but sometimes I think I hurt him. He thinks I can’t stand for him to be around me. I don’t blame him for what happened to me, and I’m not afraid of him because I saw him kill all those men. If I could have done it myself, I would have.” She bowed her head at the confession.
“Why are you afraid of him?” Vienna asked gently. Shabina seemed the most fragile of all of her friends. She’d fought hard to overcome her past. She’d opened up her own café and made a success of it. She lived on her own with her protection dogs, although she did have security, but that was mandated by her father. Vienna didn’t blame him after hearing what had happened, and she knew Shabina had downplayed her experience, given them just the bare bones. The fact that an experienced operative had lost his sanity and killed everyone in the camp rather than get her out without anyone the wiser was testimony to what he must have found.
“You see him. Aren’t you a little afraid? I saw him in action. I know what he’s capable of. He did that for me and he’d do it again.”
“So, you are afraid of him because you saw him killing all those men,” Raine clarified.
Shabina shook her head. “Not exactly. Not that he did it or could do it. That he did it because of me. Because of what he saw they did to me. He’s very controlled. Extremely controlled and disciplined. He doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t do anything without purpose, and he doesn’t screw up. That was a major screwup. What he did could have ended his career. He made enemies that to this day have put bounties on his head.”
Raine nodded. “That’s true. Rainier has the largest bounties on his head I’ve ever seen of any operative. He’s definitely the most-wanted man any of the high-profile terrorist cells are looking for. Not only that, but they have vowed to pay any mercenary who brings them his head.”
Shabina rubbed her temple as if she was getting a headache. “I didn’t know that.”
“Fortunately, they don’t have good photos of him, but they keep the chatter going on their news channels. He’s considered one of their greatest enemies.”
“Because of what he did when he rescued me?” Shabina asked.
Raine started to reply and then hesitated. “Rainier is wanted for a lot of reasons, Shabina. I’ll have to leave it at that. He’s a very active operative.”
“Do you believe Wallin will send his assassins after me to Knightly?” Vienna changed the subject. Shabina looked mutinous, and if Raine was getting into classified information, she would never give up the data. Vienna didn’t want the friends upset with one another.
“Assuming we’re correct about Wallin,” Harlow clarified. “If we’re wrong and he’s really a good guy, then I don’t have a clue who wants you dead, Vienna.”
“Maybe Elsa stepped on someone’s toes and she was the true target all along,” Zahra said.
“She’s such a firecracker.” Vienna hated that Elsa had been shot, especially since she was certain she was the cause. “I’m going to ask Mom and Ellen to visit her. If Verma needs a place to stay, maybe they can put her up. Their apartment is large and it’s near the hospital. Elsa will be there for a little while, I’m afraid.”
“That would be good,” Zahra said.
“If I am the real target, and you all know most likely I am, then it isn’t safe to be around me,” Vienna pointed out.
Stella glared at her. “Don’t be silly. We’re all in this together. In any case, in Vegas Wallin could have you followed, but in Knightly a stranger would stand out. We’re going on our hike, and if we leave tomorrow morning there’s no chance anyone will have time to find you. We can ask our friends in town to keep an eye out for strangers. I’ll talk to Sam before we leave.”
“Do you really think it’s a good idea to stick with the plan, Stella? We’ll be four days off hiking on our own,” Vienna said. She really wanted to go. She didn’t see how a city boy like Wallin could find her, but she didn’t want to endanger her friends.