She shrugged. “I tried to talk to Rainier about Daniel Wallin, but as usual, he wouldn’t listen to me. He just said that he wasn’t going to have the man put a bounty on my head.” There was a hint of despair in her voice. “I wrecked his career. Lost him his woman. I think he stays in that life because he has a death wish. I think eventually someone is going to kill him, and that’s going to be on me as well.”
“Shabina.” Raine’s voice was gentle but persuasive. “Rainier is a grown man. Every single decision that he makes is his own. His choices. He isn’t your responsibility. What he chooses to do on your behalf isn’t your responsibility. You don’t ask him to take on those tasks. In fact, you try to stop him.”
Shabina looked down at her hands. “I don’t have any influence at all on him.”
“That’s my point, Shabina,” Raine said. “You can’t take responsibility when Rainier refuses to consider anything you say.”
Vienna took one look at Shabina’s expression and wanted to hug her. Shabina had never been good at hiding her emotions. She might logically understand what Raine said, but that didn’t mean her feelings didn’t tell her something different.
“You know what, Shabina? I understand perfectly. I think all of us do. We all have issues. Poor Zale is going to spend the rest of his life reassuring me. He doesn’t even know it yet, but that’s what he’s signed up for.” She poured cheer into her voice. “I feel guilt over it, and my birth mother was the one to whisper how men lie all the time. My birth father, who just happens to be his boss and hung me out to dry, left her for his big career. I shouldn’t feel guilt but I do. Just like you. I’m sure every woman here feels guilty over something they shouldn’t, because that’s what we do.”
They all nodded solemnly. “And we’re really good at it too,” Zahra said. “Take for instance the fact that I brought along contraband. Smuggled it right past those guards with guns. I just looked at them and batted my eyelashes. They looked in my backpack and purse, but didn’t really look.”
Raine gasped. Clapped her hands. “Zahra. You wonderful, amazing, astonishing woman. You have superpowers. I love you beyond anything. What did you bring me?”
“Only your favorites.” Zahra got up and approached the bed, looking around the room, up at the walls and corners. “Are there cameras? Do they have you under surveillance? I brought a little locked case for you to keep them in. That way you can have them on the bed with you and no one can get to them.”
She flipped open the lid of the small pale mint green box. It had a lock on it that could only be opened if one knew the long row of numbers to put in the correct order. The box contained several chocolate bars with nuts, and salted caramel, Raine’s favorite.
Raine caught up one of the salted caramels and opened it immediately. “You have no idea how much I love you right now, Zahra. I’d share, but they’d all be gone and I really, truly need them.”
“Zahra brought them so you could have them when you need one,” Vienna said.
“I’ll just have to hide them from Rush.”
“We’ve got that covered,” Vienna assured. “We brought letters. You can put the letters in the box so if he sees you open and close the box one or two times, he’ll think it contains private letters.”
“That’s perfect.” Raine beamed at them. “You all are the best.”
Vienna looked around at her circle of friends. “I agree wholeheartedly, Raine. We are the best together.”