Page 57 of Fighting for Mallory

“With all of my heart.”

“Your faith is not misplaced. I have seen strange men in the area.” Ali paused. “I do not wish to die, Mallory Hayes.”

“I can save you, Ali. You’re an intelligent young man. You can have a future if you renounce Neheb’s teachings. They don’t make sense in the modern world. Go to my avenging angel. His name is Luca Martinelli. Detective Martin Scope in Jefferson County can help you find him. Lead him to me, and I will protect you, Ali. I promise.”

“I am in defiance by being here without permission.”

“You’re a kind, compassionate man. You know the difference between right and wrong.”

Ali lifted her head and gave her some water. “It is a great risk I take.”

“Yes. And you’ll be rewarded with your freedom.”

“I have much to think about.”

“Do you have a family, Ali?”

A shadow of pain crossed his face. “Yes.”

“Think about them. Think about your love for them and theirs for you. Please, Ali. Do the right thing.”

“I must go now, Mallory Hayes.”

“Ali, will you be back?” God, she hated how pathetic and weak she sounded.

“Before the harvest moon? I cannot say.”

Sleep claimed her again when he left her alone.

Low, angry voices dragged Mallory from sleep. Awake, her brain registered that her back was on fire from a hundred bee stings. She wiggled onto her right side and groaned. Her movement caught the attention of the men who were arguing. Ali, Omar, and…Neheb.

Her heart pounded in her chest. She remembered his dark, reptilian eyes, the coldness of his features, and his painted body. The irrational fear he’d instilled in her the night he drove her and Bentley to the fundraiser ran up her spine and crawled across her scalp like tiny ants. Her breathing grew ragged, and a terrible, dire chill settled in her soul.

Neheb sauntered over to Mallory. The cold, murderous expression on his painted face augmented her terror of him, but she refused to cower.

“You butchered my husband. Why? Though not a good person, he wasn’t the evilest, either. There are men who traffic women and children, and rape and murder them. Why are you not weighing their hearts?”

“Bentley Hayes was responsible for the slaughter of a decent man and his wife and children. He deserved the death he received.”

Mallory’s heart skipped several beats. “Bentley murdered our chauffeur and his family? Why?”

“He did not pull the trigger himself. Someone else did. Because Andre Lapeno would not turn a blind eye to your husband’s and Senator Keane’s corruption.”

Ah, Senator Keane. Beneath his wholesome image, he was like everyone else of his ilk. Greedy and power hungry. “What did Lapeno know?”

“He had knowledge of a land development deal between your husband and Senator Keane meant to rob poor, working families of their homes.”

That Mallory could believe. “And how do you know this?”

“Because I did not lie when I told you and Bentley Hayes that Andre and I were cousins.”

Mallory never would have guessed that family connection. “So, you killed him to avenge your cousin. That’s why his death doesn’t fit the full moon pattern. Why did you frame me for my husband’s murder?”

“That was an unfortunate consequence. Sloppy. We did not foresee U.S. Attorney Judd Morgan and the police would be so quick to judge you guilty.”

Mallory shot him an incredulous look. “You left the murder weapon in my hand. His blood was on me. What other conclusion did you think they would draw?”

“I do not know.”

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