Page 118 of Rescuing You

“I have to know everything, including what’s going on with her health.”

Leila opened her mouth to argue, but Michel spoke over her.

“It is my business because she spent the last ten years of her life with terrorists. For all we know, she’s sick because she’s been in contact with some kind of a biological or chemical weapon.”

“My sister would have nothing to do with that.”

“Maybe. Maybe they’re being built on the property. She could have brushed up against something and not realized what it was. The point is, I need to know.” He turned and took Leila’s hands.

The warmth of his touch, and his gaze, threatened to melt her guard.

“I love you, Leila.”

Oh.

It was the first time he’d said those words to her.

Michael paused, perhaps expecting her to confess her own feelings.

She wanted to. But there was still so much she didn’t understand. She wasn’t sure anymore what they were.

When she said nothing, he continued. “I would not have risked my life and my career and my future to get you out of Iraq if I didn’t love you. If everything I’ve done so far hasn’t proved that to you, then I don’t know what will. Your sister is an unknown. My love for you cannot blind me to the fact that she may be on the side of terrorists, and everything she’s saying and everything she’s doing is because of some larger plot.”

The very idea of it seemed so outlandish that Leila nearly laughed. Sweet, innocent Yasamin, a terrorist?

Michael was a fool if he thought so.

But she didn’t laugh.

Because Michael was deadly serious.

“Qasim, the man who owns the house where she lived, is a terrorist,” he said. “He’s also a brilliant tactician and strategist, and it’s possible he’s set this entire thing up for a purpose, for his purpose.”

“They tried to stop us leaving. They shot at us.”

“Yeah. And maybe we got away because God protected us. Maybe we got away because that was the plan all along.”

“But they came after us. They were going to take us.”

“I know. Which is why I tend to believe her.”

“You should believe her. Jasmine could not do such a thing.”

“I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m saying you have to trust me. I have to protect my country. And innocent lives. Whatever these terrorists are planning, it’s going to involve death and destruction. It always does with Qasim. Do you know how many major terrorist attacks have been carried out in the US since September eleventh?”

She shook her head.

“None. There've been small ones, committed by homegrown terrorists, but nothing large scale. And it’s not because the terrorists quit trying. It’s because of men like me. It’s because we’re better than they are. I’m better, and I have to stay that way. And one way I do that is by not being ruled by my emotions. I love you. I hope you’re right about your sister. But I’m not certain that you are. I will find out all Jasmine’s secrets. If you can’t accept that…”

His words trailed, and with them, her hopes. Her dream of America floated overhead and popped, proving to be as tenuous and flimsy as a soap bubble.

Just like her relationship with Michael.

Because if he forced her to choose between him and Jasmine…

She’d choose Jasmine. Her twin. Her other half. How could she not?

But if Jasmine was a terrorist…?