Page 46 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

He shakes his head and looks back up at her—a slight smile coming to his face. “Did you know we were married—your mom and me?”

“I didn’t know that.” Millie’s voice is shaky. I want to reach out to her, but I don’t. She’s working. She’d be pissed if I interrupted her. “When did you get married?”

“Two days before you were born.” He’s smiling broadly now. I can’t see Millie’s face, but I’m sure she’s not sharing his glee. “You know you were born early? She wasn’t due for another month. Or at least that’s what we thought. Nejra was having problems. We thought we were going to lose her—and you—that night.”

“Why did you marry her, Amar? I’m not your daughter.” Her voice is still shaky.

He ignores her question. “Nejra was in so much pain. Sayid was beside himself. That’s why he had me get Mrs. Hadzic. If she hadn’t come over to help us that night, no one would have known about you. We hid Nejra’s pregnancy for all those months. We would have been off to Italy before anyone knew. We had it all planned out. It would have worked if you hadn’t come early. We thought she was going to die. We had to get help. We would have been so happy—such a happy family.”

“Amar.” She reaches out and touches his knee. Everything about that pisses me off. Even though he’s cuffed, I still don’t want her that close to him, but I know it’s an interrogation technique. “I’m not your daughter. Why did you marry her?”

He ignores her again. “I saw you at our house earlier. I never left Rome. I’ve been watching the house, waiting for her to make a move.”

“Who? Amina? What do you mean ‘make a move’?”

“She never got over him—your uncle. After all these years, she’s still deeply in love with him. That’s why she did it. She would have done anything for him. I knew that, but I never thought she’d go this far. But I would have done anything for Nejra, too, so I guess I understand.” He’s rambling. His eyes are all over the place.

Millie scoots back a little on the couch. “What did she do? And how do you know?”

He finally focuses back on Millie. “I found her records. I was going through her jewelry box looking for the first engagement ring I gave her. It belonged to my mom, and then I gave it to Nejra. I wanted you to have it.” He pauses for a second. “The flash drive was right there in her jewelry box.”

“What’s on the flash drive?” Millie glances over quickly to see if Raine’s in the room. She just arrived with Butch and Brad.

“It has records on it—records of what she did for Sayid,” Amar says, looking up at the ceiling and sighing. “She worked for him for decades. I had no idea. How could I have been so stupid?”

“Where’s the flash drive, Amar?”

He looks back at her quickly and then looks around the room. His eyes are getting panicky again. “It’s safe. She noticed it was missing and searched my office. That’s when she found my new will. Did she tell you about the will? I put you in it.”

“Amar,” Millie says in a harsh tone that I’ve never heard from her. “Where’s the flash drive?”

Butch walks over to search him again. Hawk patted him down for weapons and explosives, but he didn’t do a deep search. Millie waves Butch back.

“If I give you the drive, you will end our conversation,” Amar says slowly. “I have more I need to tell you.”

“We can talk more, but you need to tell me where the drive is first.” She smiles at him slightly. “You can trust me.”

Amar nods slowly. “It’s in the left internal pocket of my jacket.”

After Butch gives the drive to Brad, I walk over to Amar. His nose has started to bleed more heavily from where Hawk punched him. I grab the tissues from the table and push one up the nostril that’s bleeding. As subtly as I can, I tear a small blood-stained piece off.

“Watch him,” I say to Hawk as I follow Raine, Butch, and Brad out the door. “Raine, wait.”

She’s halfway down the stairs. I walk down to her and hand her the tiny piece of tissue. “Test it against Millie.”

“Mason.” Her eyes widen as she slowly shakes her head.

“Do I have to ask you again?” My voice lowers into a low growl as I shove the tissue into her hand.

“No.” She takes it and heads back down the stairs where Butch is waiting to escort them back to the guest house.

“The results only come to me,” I say to her back.

She stops and looks over her shoulder. “I understand,” she says quietly as she turns back around.

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