No Way Forward Read online

  She stood. “I said I’m not going anywhere until you tell me the truth. I doubt you’re going to get me past security at the airport if I’m shouting bloody murder.”

  “Don’t talk like that.”

  “Try me.”

  He sighed, rubbing his temple.

  “Oh, and in case you think this is some movie of the week, they’re not going to let me get on the plane drugged either.”

  “Novette, you’re being dramatic.”

  She started to tell him where he could go when one of the men stormed into the dining room. “Sir, we have an issue.”

  Her dad spun around. “What kind of issue?”

  “There’s a fire down at the boathouse.”

  “A fire? How in the—” her dad began. He frowned and glanced at her before turning back to the guard. “It’s got to be a diversion. Was there anything on the camera?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Have the other men check it out. Novette, you come with me.”

  “I’m not—”

  He grabbed her arm and compelled her out of the dining room and down the hall. Her dad thrust open one of the doors along way and pushed her inside. “Stay here.”

  “Wait.”

  He slammed the door, and she heard a key turn in the lock. This small, sparsely furnished space wasn’t exactly a panic room, but as far as she knew it was the only room in the house with a key to the inside and outside of the door. The narrow windows in two walls were situated near the ceiling. Even if she could get through them, she would have trouble getting up there.

  She hugged herself, wondering if Zaid was the one who set the boathouse on fire. If he did, he had come back for her at last. Her hope was that he would get past the extra men her dad hired to secure the property. Perhaps before nightfall, she could be with the one she loved once and for all.

  Chapter 23

  Zaid had wanted to wait for nightfall before he made his move. He knew he was taking a risk waiting so long, but he kept an eye on the mansion. If Richard decided to leave before he was ready, he would have made a move. Now he had no choice but act because of all the activity.

  He watched as men scrambled over the property, headed toward the lake. Black smoke billowing in the air made him hesitate. If he didn’t set the fire, then who did? The person must have done it to create a diversion. Some of the guards may have stayed near the house, so he took his time working his way around to the north side of the mansion.

  Making it to the kitchen door was a nerve-wracking adventure. He shot off a text, and the reply came immediately. The door opened, and the maid stepped back to let him in.

  “Mr. Zaid, please hurry. He’s locked her in one of the rooms, and he says they’re leaving now.” The maid’s voice shook, but the steady light in her eyes told him she wouldn’t betray him.

  “I appreciate the help,” he whispered and stepped farther into the kitchen, straining to catch the sound of anyone approaching.

  “Of course. I’d do anything to help you.” She twisted her hands together in the apron she wore. “You were the only one who believed in my brother and helped him out of that trouble. Mr. Richard wouldn’t even give me a chance to tell him what happened.”

  Zaid knew the maid’s brother wasn’t a high enough profile to warrant Richard’s attention, and his pockets weren’t deep. The maid’s anguish had gotten to Zaid, so he helped her with a few connections of his own. Not the legal way, but he’d done what he could. His actions meant the maid owed him. Today, Zaid called in that favor.

  “I would help anyway,” she said. “Ms. Novette doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t treat her like a loving father should. If my dad—”

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t stick around. I’ve got to get to Novette. Do you know which room he’s put her in?”

  She told him, and Zaid stepped into the hall. Footsteps nearby sent him running toward the only open door on the opposite side from where Novette was being held. She must have heard him run by because she banged on the door.

  “Daddy, let me out of here. Do you hear me? I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m done!” She kicked the door.

  Zaid grinned. That was his girl, always fighting. His arms ached to hold her and comfort her. While she defied her dad, he heard the fear in her tone as well. He needed to get through that door and let her know she was safe.

  The person he heard stepped into the hall as soon as he ducked behind the door across the hall. He held his breath. That wasn’t Richard’s tread, but it might be one of the guards. He coiled to attack as soon as the man got close enough. The best thing to do was to quietly strike from behind because no matter how good he thought he was, he couldn’t take on more than one at a time.

  “Who are you?” Richard demanded from the other end of the hall. “What are you doing in here?”

  Richard bellowed for his guards just as Zaid stepped into the hall behind the intruder. He reached for the guy. Three shots rang out. Richard fell, and Novette screamed.

  Zaid’s hand landed on the man’s shoulder. Two more men appeared at the other end of the hall. More shots, and the intruder slammed against Zaid and knocked him to the floor. Zaid’s ears rang. He shoved the man off him and struggled to his knees. It was obvious the man was dead.

  The bodyguards he lived with and trained with ran down the hall, but they didn’t try to take him. One of the men knelt down next to the intruder to check his pulse. Zaid ran a hand over his face. “Don’t bother. He’s dead. What about Richard?”

  “Novette,” came a weak cry. Zaid hardly recognized it as Richard’s.

  “Get her out,” Zaid demanded.

  While one of the men phoned for an ambulance and the police, the other searched for and found the keys for the room where Richard had locked Novette. Zaid snatched them from him and unlocked the room himself.

  Novette bound out, spotted him, and threw herself into his arms. Tears wet her beautiful face, wrenching his heart. He crushed her to him, dreading the moment when she would see Richard lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor.

  “Novette,” he began.

  Her dad coughed, and she drew back from Zaid, going pale. She jetted to her dad and dropped to her knees. The tears fell in earnest. “Daddy!”

  Zaid took his time joining them. If Richard hadn’t been such a hard case about everything this wouldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t have hurt her.

  “Hold on, Daddy,” Novette pleaded. She took his hand and looked up at Zaid. “We have to get him to the hospital, Zaid.”

  “We’ve called an ambulance, but it might not get here in time. Let me get him.”

  “No,” Richard rasped. “It might not be safe for her.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Richard. Besides, the man is dead. He’s there. The guys got him.”

  He shook his head. “No, she must be safe. Please. Zaid, take care of her.” He struggled for a breath.

  Novette stroked his cheek. “Shush, Daddy. It’s okay. Just relax and let Zaid take you to the hospital.”

  Zaid started to lift him, but Richard smacked his hand. His wide eyes turned glassy. “Tell her.”

  “Tell me what?” Novette looked from Zaid to her dad and back again. “What does Zaid know that I don’t?”

  “Don’t blame him. He kept it secret for me—because I couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t ever lose you, Novette. I love you more than my life. I would lose you if you knew the truth. I would lose….”

  A siren blared in the distance, but it was too late. The light went out of Richard’s eyes. Novette wept over her dad, her heart broken.

  Zaid lay behind Novette, watching her. She had tossed and turned for a while, crying in her sleep. At last she seemed to be getting rest. He wouldn’t allow anyone to disturb her.

  After the police interviewed them for hours, she’d had to deal with getting the household staff under control. Zaid remained by her side, and at last they were alone.

  Someone knocked on the bedroom door. Wrenching it open, he f
ound the oldest of the maids. Despite being his elder, she cowed at his expression, and he tried to pull himself together.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you, sir. I thought Ms. Novette could use some hot tea and a sandwich. She hasn’t eaten all day. I don’t want her to get sick.”

  “Thank you for your kindness.” He took the tray. “And I apologize for my attitude.”

  “It’s understandable. You’ve both been through a lot. If you need anything, just let me know.”

  “Honestly, I’m surprised to find you helping us now.” He told the younger maid to be sure to be alone when she let him in the house. One could never know where the staff’s loyalties lay.

  Pink settled in the older woman’s cheeks. “She’s the mistress of the house now, but even still…”

  Zaid understood that no one agreed with the way Richard treated Novette. Take the rest of the evening off. I’ll see to whatever she needs.”

  The maid nodded and uttered her thanks. “I’ve always known you loved Ms. Novette and that she loves you. I’m glad she has you in this difficult time. In the long run, I think she’ll be better off.”

  “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, sir.”

  He agreed with her although he didn’t admit it.

  Novette cried out. “Zaid?”

  “I’m here, sweetheart.” He rushed to the bed and sat down next to her to take her hand. “You should sleep some more.”

  “I can’t. Everything that happened keeps running through my dreams. It’s like I’m not resting at all.” She sat up and drew her knees to her chest. “You’ve been avoiding telling me what my dad was talking about at the end, but I want you to tell me now.”

  “Novette.” He hated creating new wounds when she was so weak and broken.

  “My dad asked me not to blame you. Did you do something?” She seemed hardly able to look at him, but when she did the fear in her eyes tore him apart.

  “You’ve been through enough for one day. Let’s think about that tomorrow.”

  “No. The secrets and the lies are over. Just say it. The fact that my dad didn’t want to tell me whatever it is until it was almost too late lets me know it’s huge. Does it have to do with Diane Leggett?”

  His eyes widened. “How do you know that name?”

  She looked sick. “So you do know about her. And yet, you chose not to tell me, the one you claim to love.”

  “I love you more—”

  “Don’t.” She held up a hand. “That’s what he said, and he had a funny way of showing it. All the mess he put me through, that’s what love looks like to him. And you’re the same.”

  “I’m not.”

  Her big brown eyes sparkled with anger. “Then prove it, Zaid. Make me understand why you would try to ‘protect me’ by not telling me about my real mom.”

  “I wasn’t trying to protect you. I was helping him to protect himself—because I believe he loved you. If you knew the truth, you would leave him, and he couldn’t handle that.”

  Chapter 24

  Novette dreaded to hear the truth, but she was determined to hear it. All these years, her dad had lied to her. No, her entire life he had, and she needed to know why.

  It shocked her to know that Zaid knew the truth and kept it from her. He knew what drove her dad to treat her like a prisoner, and he did nothing to help. Now he was telling her he did it to protect Richard and not her? The confession hurt. She wanted to understand, but she didn’t.

  Zaid chose her dad over her? It made no sense. She considered whether what he said should make her break up with him, but right then she didn’t have the strength to go it all alone. She had no family, no friends, no one to stand with her. When she ran away, that’s exactly what she’d done, and she couldn’t face that hardship again. It was beyond lonely.

  “Novette,” Zaid whispered gently.

  She looked up at him, and he stroked her cheek. Such love shone in his eyes, she wondered if he would give her up if she told him where to go. Her heart skipped a few beats. This man loved her even if it wasn’t a perfect love.

  “Tell me everything.”

  He moved beside her on the bed. “When a case got too heavy, your dad would drink to unwind. I don’t know if something in one of them got to him more than others. All I know is, he drank heavily that night.

  “When I came to check on him and get him to bed, he was feeling chatty. He started talking about a woman named Diane Leggett, a previous lover, and about—her husband.”

  Novette’s mouth fell open. “Her husband?”

  “Yes, she was married.”

  “So you’re telling me he had an affair with a married woman. That’s so common it’s not even funny. I don’t condone it, but I can’t imagine he would be so ashamed of having done it he didn’t want me to find out.”

  “Be patient.”

  She tapped a finger against her lips. “Wait, you’re not saying he got her pregnant, and I’m the baby, are you?”

  “You don’t look like you’re of mixed heritage.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, somewhat amused. “That’s true.”

  “Richard apparently fell in love with your mom, but she was already pregnant with you with her husband. Because she was pregnant, and perhaps because she loved her husband, she didn’t want to leave him.

  “When your dad couldn’t convince her to leave her husband, Richard hired him and sent him to chase down some contract out of town. Richard thought if he could keep your biological dad busy, he might convince Diane to leave him. Unfortunately, during that trip, her husband was killed in a freak accident.”

  “Oh my God.” Novette’s heart sank. She’d heard on the news report that her mom died, but she had been hoping her biological dad was still around. Maybe she could meet him someday. Now, she found that wasn’t possible. Then again, if either of them were alive, she wouldn’t have been adopted in the first place.

  “This next part is what Richard worked to keep from you.”

  Novette’s stomach fluttered. “It’s worse than cheating with a married woman?”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded. “Go ahead.”

  He took her hand and held it. “Your mom knew Richard sent her husband away to try to charm her into running away with him. So when she heard about her husband’s death, she blamed herself as much as Richard. If she hadn’t been unfaithful and allowed Richard to do what he did, her husband wouldn’t have been killed. Then she…”

  “She what?” Novette asked, but she already knew and shook all over.

  “She gave birth to you a few months later, and then depression and guilt took over. She committed suicide.”

  Novette sobbed. She didn’t know the woman who gave her life, but it still hurt to lose her. Just as Richard feared, anger, resentment, and a host of other emotions rose inside her, all turned against him. Such a selfish man, he destroyed two lives and almost destroyed hers.

  She shared her thoughts with Zaid. “And yet he never learned. He tried so hard to hold onto me, he was pushing my heart away. Who does that?”

  “My guess is he was just as broken as she was the day they learned your biological dad died. The difference was, Richard went on living. He didn’t know he was broken.”

  “But you knew he was messed up?”

  “Not exactly. I knew he loved you more than he knew how to say.”

  She laid her head on Zaid’s shoulder and shut her eyes. With each breath, she inhaled his familiar scent. She knew she could never send Zaid away.

  “I feel all these negative emotions over him,” she admitted. “I loved him. There were a lot of great times between us. But all this and the way he treated me the last few days, he almost destroyed everything I felt for him. I mean, if he didn’t die…”

  “I don’t know where we would be right now.”

  She agreed. “It’s not that I wanted him dead.”

  “Neither did I.”

  “Zaid, you’re a good man for continuing to work for him.
”

  “Don’t make me out to be more than I am.” He raised her chin and kissed her lips. “I love you. I want to be with you always. Do you think you can forgive me for not telling you about your parents?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive. You’re not the one who did wrong. He did. He’s gone now. I’d rather take my time to come to terms with my feelings, and then just live my life as happily as I can. With you.”

  He moaned, laying his head on her shoulder. “You don’t know how much that makes me feel better.”

  “I love you, Zaid, but you better not ever keep anything from me again. I don’t need that kind of protection. You got that?”

  “Loud and clear.” He grinned. “I suppose I’m working for you now. That is, if I have a job.”

  “Huh?”

  “Richard left you everything.”

  She gasped. “How do you know?”

  “It’s my job to know everything that concerns him. Rather it was my job. He fired me after he found out about us.”

  The magnitude of what he just told her hadn’t hit yet. She had never had aspirations to the mansion or whatever money her dad had in the bank. Today wasn’t the day to think about it. “How about you be my bodyguard?”

  He smirked. “I’ll happily guard that body.”

  “Lord.”

  “If you will be my wife.”

  Her heart beat faster. “Do you really want to marry me?”

  “I can’t believe you would think I want you for your money.”

  “Not that. I’ve never worried about you using me for money, Zaid. I’m talking about me. Where I come from, my family, none of it is good. I don’t know who those people were who gave birth to me.”

  “You’re the woman I love and want to spend my life with. It doesn’t matter to me what your background is or where you come from. This beautiful woman before me, the one I know today, is the one I want as my wife. So what will it be?”

  “Yes,” she breathed. “Of course. But I kind of thought we established that when we were going to go away together.”

  “We did. I’m just reaffirming. No more running though. We’ll stay and face everything together.”