Page 57 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

Millie, Rome, Italy, 2020

Mason’s called me three times in the ten minutes he’s been gone. I haven’t answered because I don’t want him to hear me crying. I’m still sitting on the bench in the piazza when my phone rings again. It’s Dad. I pick it up quickly. I need to hear his voice so badly right now.

“Dad?” I say as the tears start streaming down my face again.

“Sweetie,” he says softly. “You’re okay. Everything’s okay. Mason called me. He told me about Amar. He’s not your dad, Mills. You know that—”

“I know.” I’m sobbing again. I can barely get the words out. “I n-never thought he was.”

“Millie. Honey, where are you right now? Are you safe?”

“Y-yes.” I sniff loudly into the phone as I try to wipe some of the tears off my face. “I’m still in Rome. I’m sitting in a piazza. JJ died. Mason had to leave—”

“I talked to him. I know about everything. I need you to get home right now. Okay? Can you leave?”

“I think so.” My voice stops shaking a little bit. I honestly forgot I could leave. I guess my job’s done. I need to get back to Dad.

“Okay, why don’t I stay on the phone with you while you walk back to the hotel?”

As I stand up, I see Amina Petrovic rushing across the piazza toward me.

“Millie?” Dad says. “Are you still there?”

“Dad, I have to call you back.”

“Where is he?” Amina screams. She’s changed out of her tea-stained white dress and is now wearing a very wrinkled cotton shirt with jeans. She looks every bit as disheveled as she did the first time I met her in Sarajevo.

“Millie, what’s wrong? Who is that?” Dad yells.

“Dad, patch Raine into this call—”

“Millie!”

“Dad, just do it, please. I’ll leave the line open, but I can’t talk anymore right now.” I slip the phone into my shirt pocket.

“Amina,” I say calmly. “What are you doing here?”

“Amar must have finally put the battery back in his phone. I tracked it and arrived at the villa just in time to see you leaving with one of your protectors, but he’s left. It’s just us now. Where is my husband?”

She has her hand inside her crossbody bag. I’m guessing it’s holding a gun.

“Amina, you’re being followed.” I sit back down on the bench. “Don’t take the gun out. They’ll shoot you.”

“No one is following me.” She takes a step closer to me, her hand still in the bag. “I would have noticed.”

“I don’t think you would have. They’re pretty good at being invisible.”

“Where is my husband?” Her voice lowers into a growl, but it’s shaking. She at least half-believes that someone’s watching us. I’m guessing by this time Raine has called it in. I haven’t heard anything from my phone since Raine initially got on the line. I hope she’s still listening.

“Amar’s in custody. The authorities have already taken him away.”

She starts shifting nervously. I can almost see the wheels turning in her head. “Did he give it to you? Where is it?”

“Amar didn’t give anything to me.”

“Then who did he give it to?” Her hand gets more active in her bag.

I smile. “If you mean the flash drive that contains all your communication with Sayid, he gave that to the authorities. Your time’s up, Amina.”

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