King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (40 page)

Alex tensed up. “Excuse me? What makes you think that Kioni is more likely to be faithful than Zurry?”

“It’s not about that. But I’m stronger than you, and if something happens, I’ll survive. You mourn men you’ve only known for days or weeks, and if you marry Zurry and it doesn’t work out, it will kill you.”

For a moment they stared at each other. Neither said the words, but it was clear they were thinking the same think.

Like Mom.

Alex’s voice was low and raw when she spoke. “You might think that you’re stronger than me, Jenna, and maybe you are. But if by ‘strong’ you mean able to put a thick iron armor around your heart, like you did after Dylan, and not risk loving again because you’re scared of being hurt, then I’ll rather suffer the way I do with an open heart that still believes in true love. I honestly don’t know how Kioni managed to make you take a chance on him, but I’m not going to let you scare me out of taking my chance with Zurry.” A single tear ran down Alex’s face. “Zurry is ready to commit to me and give up his life here, to be with me, because he loves me. Can’t you just be happy for me?” 

Jenna felt shitty seeing her sister cry because of her. Alex had been the most important person in her life since their mother died. “I’m sorry for being such a party pooper,” she said and opened her arms to hug Alex. “I’m just paranoid sometimes, and that whole
love
thing scares the crap out of me. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Alex leaned into the hug and made a sound that sounded like a relieved sob.

“Tell me all about the proposal. I promise that I’ll put my fear aside and be the supportive sister from now on.”

Alex told her everything and Jenna listened intensely.

“Aww, Alex, that’s sweet.”

“I know, and the fact that he’s willing to move to Washington DC just makes me so happy.”

“But you don’t know anyone there, and neither does he.”

“I know, but at least everyone speaks English and it’s still the US.”

“But you could move here and be close to me,” Jenna tempted.

“I’m not ready for that, Jenna. Maybe in time, when Spirima is… different.”

“You mean more modern.”

“Yes.”

Jenna winked. “I’m working on it, and things are progressing fast… and now I’m going to work even harder, to make you want to move here.”

They sat shoulder to shoulder with their backs against the boxing ring, taking a moment to digest the crazy day.

“At least now we don’t have to worry about dying young from breast cancer,” Jenna said and rolled her shoulders to work out all the infiltrations and tension.

Alex tilted her head. “Hey, Jenna, did you by any chance tell Zurry that Mom died from breast cancer?”

“No, I didn’t even tell Kio.”

“Huh.”

“Why do you ask?”

“It was just that when I told Zurry, he said, ‘I know,’ and even though he tried to backpedal, I just got the feeling that he really did know.”

Jenna stopped rolling her shoulders and turned her full attention on Alex. “I had a similar experience with Kio recently – actually, I have had more than one. I keep thinking I must have told him things, but I can’t remember when.”

“You don’t think that…” Alex didn’t finish the sentence; they both knew what she was hinting at.

“No… they wouldn’t.”

And then their eyes narrowed and Jenna wrinkled her nose up. “Would they?”

“How else would he know?”

“Shit.”

Once the words were said –and the realization made – there was no going back.

“The other day I told Kio that you’ve finished your dissertation and he said; “I know, babe,’ and when I asked him how he knew, he said, ‘You already told me.’” Jenna crossed her arms. “But I never did. They must have listened in on our phone conversations. It’s the only explanation. Think about it; Zurry is responsible for security… I bet he could fix something like that easily.”

“I knew it!” Alex exclaimed. “Remember I told you we were being tapped.”

“Do you think it’s all of our conversations, or just a few?”

Alex threw her hands in the air. “Probably all of them… Arghh… I can’t believe this shit. Who does something like that?

“They’ve been spying on us, and we fed them our deepest fears and most intimate thoughts. God, we are so naïve,” Alex moaned.

“Don’t you even start blaming us. We did nothing wrong. Zurry and Kio spied on us; they are the ones we should be mad at.”

Alex rubbed her forehead. “Do you think there is a single man in this world with a moral compass that doesn’t swing toward selfish?”

Jenna gave a loud snort. “In that case I would like to meet him, because with Dad cheating on Mom and our so-called fiancés’ deceitful behavior, the men aren’t doing too well in my book. I don’t know about you, but to me this is a deal breaker.”

Alex nodded. “If my arms and legs didn’t feel heavy as lead, I would get up and punch that bag some more.”

“No, what we need is something else,” Jenna said dryly. “What we need, Alex, is to get even with the bastards that told us to trust them and then betrayed that very same trust.”

“But how?” Alex asked.

Jenna arched her eyebrow. “There is only one thing we can do!”

CHAPTER 34

Panic

Kioni

The look on Zurry’s face when he walked into Kioni’s office spoke volumes. It seemed like an eternity since Kioni had seen his friend so happy.

“Did the cook make your favorite dessert today?” Kioni asked.

“You are looking at your new ambassador.” Zurry pushed out his chest in a gesture of victory.

Kioni got up and walked around his large desk. “Does that mean you talked to Alex about moving?”

“If by talking, you mean proposing marriage, then yes, I talked to her.”

Kioni broke into a wide grin. “From the goofy expression on your face, I take it she said yes.”

Zurry grinned and nodded his head.

The two old friends met in a masculine hug and patted each other’s shoulder. “Congratulations, my friend. Now we’ll be family.”

“I know, but Alex is worth it.” Zurry winked.

“What did your father say?”

“He was a bit shocked, and it came as a surprise since he doesn’t know Alex, but he likes Jenna. You know how it works: to him my marriage has always been about power and connections. and now that I’m marrying the queen’s sister, he’s a happy man.”

“And how did he react when you told him you were moving abroad?”

“That part he didn’t like too much; he wants to be close to his grandchildren.”

“Of course.”

Kioni sank down on the edge of his desk. “If only there was a way we could persuade Alex to move here instead.”

“Maybe in time, but for now I’m happy with taking small steps.” Zurry planted himself in the large leather chair placed in front of the desk.

“You are moving to another country to be with her; I would hardly call that a small step.”

“I know, but I just meant that I’m not going to pressure her. I’m hoping that having her sister living here will eventually be enough to make her want to move here with me.”

“Good. And you know you’ll always have a place on my council when you return.”

“Thank you.”

Kioni crossed his arms and looked thoughtful for a second. “Does Jenna know?”

“Yes, she went to talk to Alex a few hours ago. She’s not going to be happy about it.”

“No, she’s not. But eventually she’ll get over it.”

“She thinks I’m a danger to Alex and that I’m going to break her heart.”

“Are you?” Kioni asked in a serious tone. “I hope you understand that choosing Alex means giving up other women. You know that, right?”

“Of course.”

“If Alex is like Jenna, fidelity and trust are everything to her.”

“I’m not going to cheat on her, Kop. I don’t want anyone else anyway.”

“That’s how I feel about Jenna,” Kioni said when his phone started ringing. “Excuse me.”

The number on his screen revealed it was a call from security.

“Yes.”

“Your Majesty, this is Hanus – we have a situation.”

“What situation?”

“I apologize that we didn’t catch this right away, but with the wedding there’s been a higher level of activity, with people going in and out of the palace.”

“Just get to the point,” Kioni hurried the nervous head of security.

“It’s the queen, or the future queen, that is – she has left the palace. She’s gone.”

“What do you mean she’s gone?” He almost shouted the words.

“She went to the airport. I fear she might be flying back home.”

Kioni felt his legs give under him and sat back down on his desk. “Is this a bad joke?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“She wouldn’t fly back home… we’re getting married on Saturday.” As Kioni spoke the words, doubt crept in.

“We would have alerted you sooner, but with all the increased activity at the palace I didn’t catch it until now. I didn’t want to alarm you for nothing, so I contacted the airport and apparently two tickets have been booked for the queen and her sister.”

“No!” Kioni said almost inaudibly.
This is just not happening.

“How is this possible? You should have been alerted the minute she left the palace. Didn’t the guards at the gate see her?”

“I’ve already spoken to the guards at the gate, and no vehicle has left the palace with Ms. Davis as a driver or a passenger. Her sister, however, did leave with two of the other architects about an hour ago. I believe they must have smuggled Ms. Davis out because her phone tracker tells me she’s already at the airport.”

Kioni’s worst fear hit him in the head like a hammer.
Jenna has gotten cold feet and she is running away.

“What’s going on?” Zurry asked with a deep frown line on his forehead.

At that moment Kioni knew exactly what he had to do and looked straight at Zurry. “Shut down the airport. Jenna is leaving. I have to stop her.”

“Oh, so now you wanna shut down the airport, but when it was Alex, you said I couldn’t.” Clearly Zurry hadn’t understood the severity of the situation.

“Alex is
with
Jenna; she smuggled her out and they have tickets for the next plane leaving for the US.”

Zurry grew pale. “Ohh shit.”

“Just shut down the fucking airport,
now
!” Kioni roared with a heart frozen in fear.

Those words moved Zurry into action, and he got his phone out and started making calls while Kioni continued talking to Hanus. “Make sure the gate is open. Zurry and I will be leaving in two minutes, and we’ll need a police escort to get us to the airport as fast as possible.” He was already up and moving, forcing his legs to cooperate. He didn’t need to tell Zurry to come along; his friend was right on his heels. They ran through the palace, heading for the garage.

This is just not happening… Jenna can’t leave me. I thought she was happy. Did I do something wrong?
He could find no plausible reasons and wasn’t far from a panic attack.  

“I told them to hold back all departing flights,” Zurry said as they turned a corner and almost knocked over a servant carrying a tray.

There was no more talking between them until they got into the car and drove out of the garage and up to the grand gate. Kioni held his foot on the brake while at the same time pushing the gas pedal, making the car roar with aggression.

“I told them to have the fucking gate open. They are slowing us down,” he growled.

Thirty seconds later, the gate was open and they took off with Zurry, in the passenger seat, trying to use his phone to track Jenna.

“Do you have her signal?”

“Not yet, give me a minute.”

Sirens were heard in the distance, and a few minutes later three police officers on motorcycles took up position and helped clear the way for them.

“Come on… move, people,” Kioni murmured low, completely focused. With fear and adrenaline pumping through his veins, every minute felt like an hour; that gave him too much time to go over every possible explanation for why Jenna would do something so drastic.
Maybe she was abducted? Or maybe Jenna got so upset with the news of Alex marrying Zurry that she convinced Alex they should both go home…

“If Jenna leaves me because of your proposal to Alex, I’m going to strangle you. You know that, right?” Kioni said with an angry side glance at Zurry.

He got no reply. Zurry was far too busy with his phone to pay attention.

“Finally,” Zurry muttered a minute later. “I got her signal and she’s still at the airport – terminal four.”

Kioni kept calling Jenna’s phone with no luck.
Pick up your phone, Jenna… come on, sugar, pick up.
He only reached her voice mail.

“Call Alex,” he told Zurry

“I already did… she’s not picking up either.”

The ride to the airport that normally would have taken forty minutes was done in less than twenty-five, and when they arrived, they left the car with open doors and ran inside.

“This way,” Zurry shouted and caused people around them to stare, but Kioni and Zurry didn’t care one bit; they were focused only on one thing: finding Jenna and Alex.

“Coun Zurry,” a man called out to them as they approached security.

“That’s our guy,” Zurry muttered.

Kioni was grateful that Zurry seemed to know his way around, since this was his first visit inside the terminal. As a king he didn’t stand in line but drove directly to his private airplane.

“Would you like me to take you to terminal four?” their contact asked after taking them around the line for security.

“No.” Zurry was already speed walking again and threw the last part of his answer over his shoulder. “We’ll take it from here, thanks.”

The airport was small and worn down; it took them less than a minute to reach terminal four, which was really just one large room with five gates. There were no partitions between the gates, and each gate consisted of a simple counter with a sign above and twenty chairs that were bolted to the floor.

Zurry and Kioni stopped and looked around. About half of the hundred or so chairs were occupied but Jenna and Alex weren’t there.

“Do you see them?” Zurry asked, his head snapping from side to side.

“No. Where the hell are they?” Kioni pulled his hands through his hair in frustration.

Zurry looked down at his phone and pointed to the screen. “It says that she should be right here.”

They walked around the small terminal, ignoring the whispers and the pointing fingers.

“Excuse me, Mr. King.”

The sound of the American drawl made both men spin around to see the woman from Jenna’s team standing behind them. She was looking at Kioni and he recognized her, but didn’t remember her name.

Luckily Zurry did. “Erin,” he said. “Have you seen Jenna and Alex?”

She looked amused. “Oh lord, you two look like an alligator just ate your best sandwich.”

Kioni arched a brow. Did this woman not see that they were in no mood for jokes or chitchat?

“Jenna asked me to give this to you.” She held out a bag.

“Where is she… and have you seen Alex?” Zurry asked with a slight desperation in his voice. He had stepped closer to her and it caused the short woman to lean her head back to look up at him.

“Gosh, you truly are tall, Mr. Zurry.”

Kioni ran out of patience; he snatched the bag from Erin and opened it.

“What is it?” Zurry asked.

“Jenna’s cell phone.” It was easy recognizable because it had a bright mint-green cover. “And a note,” Kioni added and pulled out both the cell phone and the small note.

Zurry was eager, and moved to Kioni’s side to read the note himself. “What does it say?”

Both men read in silence before they looked at each other with an oh-fuck expression.

Kioni took a deep breath and read the note one more time.

Dear Kio and Zurry,

If you
ever
listen in on our phone conversations again, we will
leave
you. For real!

Consider this your first and final warning.

Alex and Jenna

“Where are they?” Zurry asked Erin again.

The short woman with curly, sandy blond hair burst into a grin. “I dropped them off downtown before coming here. They wanted to do some shopping.”

“Shopping?”

“Yes, I do it all the time. There is this charming little store by the square where the old church is, and they sell the most amazing little…”

Zurry interrupted her. “Erin, we don’t need recommendations for finding shops, we need to find Alex and Erin – and Alex won’t pick up her phone when we call her.”

“Oh yes, of course, but that’s easy. I could just call Alex, I just spoke to her ten minutes ago, so I know she has her phone on her.”

“Then do it already,” Kioni said, impatient with the woman. He didn’t know whether to be angry with Jenna for putting him through this hell, or to respect her for playing him and teaching him a lesson.

“Oh hey, Alex, it’s me, Erin. I got your two boys here and I have to tell ya, they look like they jes’ walked ten miles to the village dance, only to find out it was last Saturday.”

Zurry reached out his hand, signaling he wanted to talk to Alex.

“Hang on, darlin’, Zurry wants to talk to ya.”

Zurry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Alex,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about this over the phone. Are you with Jenna? Good! Tell me where you are and we’ll come and pick you up right now.”

Kioni was tempted to ask to talk to Jenna, but it would be better to get a few minutes to get past the fear and adrenaline that had mercilessly pumped through his body the last half hour.

“Aha… yeah, I know where that is. Just stay there and don’t go anywhere,” Zurry instructed. “And keep your phone open at all times.”

He ended the call and started to walk before he turned and looked at Erin. “Do you need a lift?”