The Sinner's Bargain (Contracts & Deceptions #2) (28 page)

“No?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Nahir!” The man who’d taken her to the room rushed back in. “Bring me my files.” The two of them continued to examine the other as if trying to find similarities. Amara wished she would have found none, but he had the same color eyes with the same almond shape as she.

“You look just like your mother,” he said with a small smile. “The most beautiful daughter I had. Too bad she had to go and marry that trash. I should have married her off to Philip. He always had a weakness for her. Would have been better than that…. trash.” He muttered the word under his breath a couple of times before Nahir handed him the files. Amara watched as her grandfather took out papers, glossies, from what she could see, and leafed through them. He asked Nahir to hand them to her, which he did.

Amara glanced down at them in confusion as she looked from one to the other. They were series of black and white photos, most taken from a distance so that it was difficult to make out who was in them. When she reached the ninth one, she nearly dropped the entire pile. Amara saw an image of herself walking down the street in Paris. It wasn’t anything unusual, except that in the following five pictures, the same man followed her, never more than just a couple of steps away. As she continued to flip through the photos, the scenery changed from Paris to New York, but the subject of the pictures was the same. Some of them were recent, showing Amara and Colin walking hand in hand, smiles on their faces, as the man followed behind them. How could somebody be following her for that long and she never noticed? Amara glanced up at the sultan who was waiting for her to respond.

“Did you look at all of them?” he asked.

“No, but I see your point. Somebody was following me. Did you send somebody to follow me and take the photos?”

“Those are Philip’s photos.” He paused to glance down at his lap, where another file sat. “We took them from him when we brought you in.” He kept pausing, waiting for her to speak, but she didn’t. She’d learned the value of simply listening, and that’s what she needed to do now. “He must have called in a favor to get access to the street camera footage. It makes me wonder why he hasn’t come to me with this information. I pay him enough for it.”

“We were supposed to come to you yesterday,” Amara said, giving him a hard look.

“I got impatient.”

“What do you want from me? I can’t give you any more information than what you already have.”

The sultan chuckled and signaled the two women who’d been sitting on the pillows to leave the room. “Keep looking.” She sighed and did as she was told. Near the end of the pile, there was a close-up of the man who had been following her in New York. The sultan knew the moment she recognized him because she finally did drop the pile in her hands, all of the pages drifting forward and spreading like wings over the floor. Amara began to shake as she covered her mouth, tears springing in her eyes.

“I don’t understand,” she said in a whisper as she looked at her father’s face in the photograph. He was in disguise, but, forced to really look at the image, there was no question of his identity.

“He betrayed you just like he betrayed your mother,” the sultan said. Amara was afraid to ask what he meant, and his next words were like a punch in the gut to her. “Nahir! Bring her!”

And in Courtney strode.

“Maybe now we’ll get real answers,” the sultan said as Courtney was delivered to the middle of the room between Amara and the stage where her grandfather sat. Samuel walked in within seconds, and if she hadn’t already been scared, the look on his face would have made her shudder.

“What is going on Vladimir?” Samuel asked.

“Did you find Philip?”

Samuel shook his head. “He’ll turn up.”

“Somebody needs to give me some answers!” the sultan said in a rattling shout, but Amara was too busy looking at Courtney to acknowledge him.

“I already told you everything I know,” Courtney said, bowing her head to him. “And I brought her to you, just as you asked.”

“You brought her?” Samuel asked, confused.

“What do you mean you brought me?” Amara asked at the same time, their voices overlapping one another’s.

“What difference does it make?” her grandfather spat. “Who else wants the contents in my safe?”

“Why does it matter who wants it? Nobody can get in!” Amara said.

Vladimir’s glare cut to her. “Don’t speak unless you’re asked to! It matters because I need to know who’s trying to get what’s mine.” She kept her eyes on his as he spoke. “There are very important things in that safe. Things that can take away all of the power I have.” He looked at Samuel. “If I find out the United States government is trying to fuck me out of what I do best, I will bury them.” His grip tightened over the papers he held on his lap and laughed. “I’m glad I took those papers out of the safe months ago. I’ve been carrying them with me ever since word got back to me that people were sniffing around for them.”

“I have enough evidence to know that it’s not them trying to get it,” Samuel said.

“You’re sure about this?”

Amara was glad it wasn’t her he’d asked, because the chilling look he gave Samuel made her hold her breath.

“I’m sure.”

“And you! You double-crossed me,” the sultan said, looking at Courtney again. She shook her head rapidly, her ponytail swaying.

“I didn’t.”

“You did!” He growled, standing. “You were informing Amir about what was going on the whole time, you stupid whore! Do you know what the punishment is for betrayal?”

“Vladimir, I’m sure—” Samuel started, moving to stand between Courtney and the sultan.

“Do. Not. Speak!” This time, they all shook with the rumble of his voice. He sneered at Courtney as he stood and stomped forward, leaning toward her face. “What did you tell Amir?”

Courtney didn’t answer right away, and when she did it was a mumble that Amara couldn’t make out.

“Speak up!” The words came from Samuel, who was standing off to the side.

“I didn’t tell him anything important!” she said.

A sudden sense of unease struck Amara. She clutched on to the armrest until her hands started to hurt. “You’ve been talking to my father this whole time?” Her unwelcome words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“I’m sorry, Amara,” Courtney said in a small cry. “I really am.”

“What did you do?” Amara growled, standing so quickly the chair squeaked against the marble.

“He said nobody would get hurt. He said he only wanted information about you, where you were, who you were talking to, what you had said. He said nobody would get hurt,” Courtney repeated in a whimper as her shoulders shook.

“Who? Who said this? Amir?” Samuel asked sharply.

“Yes. He said he didn’t want anybody getting hurt. That he just wanted the money.”

The sound of the sultan’s slap on Courtney’s face echoed through the room, her face turning with a loud cry, her head whipping to the side as if it had been unhinged from her neck. Amara gasped as Samuel took a step forward, and Courtney held her face as her shoulders shuddered with her sobbing.

“You’ve been informing him on Amara’s whereabouts while I’ve been paying you to get her
here
?” he shouted, his amber eyes wide with rage. “Do you think this is a game? I can lose everything! I will have you both killed!”

“You can’t kill me! I have copies of the papers inside that safe.” Courtney said as she spit blood beside his feet. “You’ve been supplying your army with the United States’ weapons. You’ve been aiding terrorist attacks for over ten years, you’ve been—”Her statement was cut by another slap, this one much harder than the last. Amara screwed her eyes shut with a cringe. She wanted it to stop. She wanted all of this to stop. In that moment she didn’t care if Courtney had been telling her father what she had been up to—it just didn’t matter. It didn’t matter because Amir had no power to do anything, but men in this room did, and the power they had made her blood run cold.

“What is she talking about?” The sultan’s question was posed for Samuel, who shook his head in dismissal.

“This is the first I hear of this.”

“Where did you get that information?” Vladimir asked in a dangerously low voice. He turned his glare from Courtney to Samuel, who was still rooted in place, though his eyes bounced around the room as if he was trying to figure out an escape route. Amara hoped he would think faster.

“I told you—I have copies,” Courtney mumbled. When she spit this time, the bloody spittle included the dislodged teeth.

Amara couldn’t see her face from where she stood, but tears formed in her eyes at what she must be going through. She knew Courtney had done terrible things, but knowing about them and witnessing the consequences were two completely different things. The idea that this was so normal to her that she was able to stand there and take the beating made Amara’s heart hurt. Such a beautiful girl—she could grace the cover of any magazine if she wanted to—and there she was, stuck in a dungeon being beaten and threatened. A loud gasp escaped Amara’s lips as Courtney turned to look at her. Her friend had a large bruise on her cheek and thick rivulet of blood dripping from her mouth.

“Amir sent someone after Colin,” Courtney said, her voice strained as she spoke.

“Colin has nothing to do with this!” Amara said, surprised she could even speak through the ball lodged in her throat.

“He’s going to use him as bait. He knows you’ll do anything for him.”

“How could you do this?” Amara cried, trembling as tears fell over her face. Why would you do this to me?” Her voice shook with anger as she cried.

“I’m sorry,” Courtney said, as tears of her own dripped down her face, diluting the blood gathered near her lips.

“Why? Why would you do this to me?” Amara repeated.

“It was a job.”

“A job?
A job
? This is my life!” she screeched, lurching forward and hitting what felt like an invisible wall when she was grabbed by her shoulders and restrained. Her eyes cut to Samuel, who seemed just as shocked as she was. He gave Amara a curt nod, which she understood as the international symbol for, “I’ll take care of it.”

“Vladimir?” Samuel said.

The sultan acknowledged Samuels question with a nod of his head “Amir needs to—”

“That’s taken care of. Anything else?”

“Find Philip.”

“On it.”

Samuel gave Amara one last meaningful look before he walked out.
I’ll be back
, it said.
Hold on tight
. If nothing else, Amara had faith that he would keep Colin safe, and in that moment, as scared as she felt, it was the only reassurance she needed.

Amara buried her face in her hands to stifle her sobs. After everything she’d already been through, she couldn’t believe it had come to this. Was her father really that money-hungry that he would use Colin that way? The kid who used to spend countless hours teaching him how to use new programs on his computer? Colin could have wiped him out of business, but instead, gave him for a pension from his old company. Amara felt embarrassed to say that he was her father. She felt ashamed to have ever defended him.

“Get her out of here!”

Amara popped her head up and wiped her tears as a man’s hands grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her out of her chair.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, startled.

“I’ll call for you when I need to finish this conversation.” Just as Amara was led under the threshold of the room, he called to the guard to stop. “I changed my mind. Sit her over there,” he said, signaling to the pillows on the floor. “She should see what happens to people who betray me.”

Amara’s eyes widened, her bottom lip trembling as she was led to where the two women had been sitting. She stood, still being restrained by the shoulders. He didn’t let her sit, but stood behind her so they were facing the sultan’s back. Courtney’s blue eyes were swollen half shut, but Amara could see that she was looking at her. She looked mournful, repentant, and even though Amara didn’t know if she could forgive her, she still didn’t want to see Courtney beat again.

The sultan called out and a man walked in the room soon after. This one, unlike the rest, was young—no older than thirty—and wore a beige military uniform. He had a shotgun strapped over his shoulder, which he swung over his arm and placed between his feet as he made a salute signal with his hand. Amara’s eyes bounced between the men and Courtney. What were they going to do? Would they shoot her? Is that what happens when somebody betrays him? The sultan said something that Amara couldn’t make out and the guy nodded, responding in their native tongue. It made her wish she’d paid more attention when her mother had tried to teach her the language.

In a quick series of movements, a group of men wheeled in a strange-looking table that had what looked like a guillotine-type blade suspended above it. Courtney was placed in a chair with her arms tied in front of her. As the scene unfolded, Amara was vaguely aware that what she was watching could be part of a horror film. Courtney thrashed her hands to try to get them out of the thick ropes, but it was a futile struggle. Amara lurched forward, only to be stopped by the man holding her shoulders.

“Do not move,” he said near her ear. Amara bit her lip to keep from shouting. Her eyes burned with tears as she looked at the fear on Courtney’s face.

“Please,” Courtney said. “I’ll tell you everything,” she screamed.

Amara looked on in horror as the sultan and the man beside them chuckled in unison. The blade came down hard and fast over Courtney’s wrists. Screams filled the room as both Amara and Courtney shrieked in terror. Amara felt like she was being smothered, unable to draw a breath. Thick drops of blood dripped down the table as Courtney continued to scream, her voice dipping down to a crying rasp and picking back up to a shriek that made Amara’s eardrums throb.

Amara wrenched her eyes from the bloody floor to the thin fingers attached to the detached hands of her friend. Her heart hammered as she glanced to the bloody stubs of Courtney’s wrists, the white of the bones colored pink, where blood still spurted from the wound. Amara’s stomach began to heave. She wrapped her arms around her midriff and crouched as far forward as she could, with the man’s hands still on her shoulders. Vomit spilled from her mouth and tears fell freely as her mind still tried to process what she’d seen.