Page 65 of Strangers in Love

I loved her, but I was now glad that she hadn’t been waiting for me on the plane. It was awkward enough being trapped on a sixteen-hour flight with Eoin. It would’ve been a nightmare with Freedom. Eoin might not have thought very highly of my intelligence, but at least he wasn’t babying me or hovering. In fact, he hadn’t even looked at me since we’d gotten on the plane.

I was glad for that, though. I wasn’t sure how I felt about what’d happened between us at the hotel last night, and I was grateful that I had more than half a day to wrap my head around everything, including him.

If Freedom had been here, she would have been monitoring every single thing about me. My pulse and blood pressure. How much I ate. When I went to the bathroom.

“I should have insisted on a doctor,” Freedom said. “I don’t like the fact that you haven’t had any medical treatment. And it’s not a short flight home.”

“I’m okay,” I reassured her again. “Band-aids and antibiotic ointment will be fine until I get home.”

I wasn’t even going to try to talk her out of taking me to the hospital when I finally arrived home. It was the smart thing to do. Even if I felt fine and didn’t think I needed to go, I would, if for no other reason than to appease my family.

Evidence didn’t really come into the equation. I’d already showered, and while I supposed pictures of any injuries could be considered evidence, I didn’t see why they would be necessary. The crime hadn’t occurred on American soil, and I hadn’t filed a formal complaint, or even spoken to the police back in Tehran. I hadn’t seen the point of the latter.

The fact that Freedom had felt it necessary to hire people who were essentially mercenaries, and they’d come into the country under false pretenses, told me that she hadn’t trusted the locals. Besides, this wasn’t the type of thing that would be resolved in a courtroom. Who knew if there’d be any way to hold anyone accountable for it?

“I know it’s late, but you’re going to talk to people about the others right away, right?” I needed to hear her make the promise. “I’ve been told the military has already been alerted, but we both know that wheels move faster when people with money and influence help push.”

“Yes, I’ll start making calls right after I tell Mom and Dad that you’re on your way home.” She sounded sincere, which made me relax a little. “I’ll have to fill them in a bit. I didn’t tell them about what I did since I didn’t want to get their hopes up. They believe they’re waiting for the ransom drop.”

It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only person she tried to protect.

“Make sure you get enough to eat.” The nagging tone was back. “You need to build up your strength.”

“I know.” I was trying hard to not lose my patience, but it wasn’t easy. I’d been through hell, and the last thing I wanted to do right now was listen to a lecture on what I needed to do to take care of myself. “Listen, I’m exhausted. It’s a long flight, and I’m thinking sleep will do more for me than even food right now.”

“Oh, of course.” She sounded surprised, as if me taking charge of the conversation had thrown her, which it probably did. “Um, if you need anything, please call me.”

“I will.”

“I love you.”

I smiled. “I love you too.”

And I did. She might annoy me at times, but I loved her, and I was glad we’d been able to talk. I could only imagine what this had been like for her. For a short time, I’d thought she might also have been kidnapped, and it’d been awful. My nightmare last night had brought Freedom into my hell too, which was what had sent me into Eoin’s arms.

It had to have been so much worse for her. She’d spent days not knowing where I was, only that I hadn’t shown up at the airport, and then she’d seen that ransom video. She’d had no way of knowing what my captors had been doing to me or if I’d ever come home.

Putting things into perspective like that helped me end the call without snapping at her that I wasn’t a child. Besides, she was the one who’d been forced to also handle our parents through all of this. I was sure they blamed her, at least a little, but she’d done nothing to cause what’d happened to me.

I had no doubt that Serle would have sold us out, even if Freedom hadn’t been in the hospital that last week. I might not have rejected him so emphatically, but she would have continued keeping him in check, and not always in the politest ways.

The one positive thing I could say about how things happened was that our parents hadn’t gone through it alone, especially after our father’s heart attack. Both of us being taken probably would have killed him. For the first time, it hit me how much physical damage my kidnapping might’ve done to my father. My chest tightened, and I had to close my eyes, try to calm my breathing.

Through my near panic came a feeling I hadn’t expected.

Anger.

To my further surprise, it wasn’t just anger at the men who’d kidnapped me. No, I was furious with Serle. This man who had repeatedly harassed me and had been unable to take a rejection had sold me to men he knew could possibly rape and kill me. But I still could’ve forgiven him for those atrocities if I’d been the only one affected. What he’d done to my parents was unforgiveable.

I’d been honest when I told Freedom that I was exhausted and wanted to sleep, but I didn’t know if I’d actually be able to do it. My mind was just too busy. Thoughts about Serle, my time in captivity, what could have happened to my family, what might be happening to the others, the men Eoin had killed, what Eoin and I had done…they all kept going around in my head until I couldn’t think.

“Aline?”

I opened my eyes to find the man with the buzz-cut hair standing next to me. He smiled and held out a hand that engulfed mine as we shook. “I’m Cain Hudson. I run the agency your sister hired to come get you.”

That was a polite way of saying it, I thought before registering the name. Cain. I had a vague recollection of Freedom having dated a man named Cain a while ago. They hadn’t been serious, and I’d never met him, but she hadn’t said anything negative about him after the breakup, leading me to believe it had been amicable. He didn’t say it, but I’d have bet he was the same Cain.

Freedom having hired this particular group made sense. Her normal procedure when it came to major life decisions – or even little ones – was to do as much research as possible. Finding someone to rescue me, however, was more time sensitive than, say, buying a new car. Reaching out to someone with whom she’d had a positive previous relationship would have meant she could cut out all her normal research time.

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