Entangled with the Prince - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,39

ass back here and figure out what the hell is going on! Because I’m about to counter attack and I won’t be as reserved!”

With that, Amit ended the call and Gaelen almost threw his phone across the room. Yes, he had to leave in order to sort this out. But how could he tell Savannah? He couldn’t reveal what was going on. This issue was top secret. She might inadvertently say something to the wrong person. Especially at an event with so many people around. Too many times, a casual comment had been overheard by a passerby and…well, things tended to escalate when inadvertent leaks happened.

He couldn’t risk it. Damn it…why now? What the hell was Santos thinking?! Pacing back and forth, he tried to process what he knew. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough information.

With a sigh of frustration, he called his aides. “Tell Santos that we need to meet immediately.” He glanced at his watch. “In the next hour, if possible.” Maybe if they met fast enough, he could get some answers and still make it to Savannah’s graduation ceremony!

Two hours later, Gaelen paced back and forth across the carpet of the conference room, grinding his teeth as fury continued to boil inside of him. “Are you seriously going to sit there and tell me that you didn’t attack Izara, despite growing evidence that you did?”

Sheik Santos el Fazir straightened to his own impressive height, his expression blank. “I’ve already spoken,” he replied, his dark eyes cold. “You have accused me of something I did not do, nor would any of my generals do. Not now. Not when we are so close to resolving so many lingering issues.” He leaned forward, his biceps straining against his shirt as he glared at Gaelen. “Furthermore, you insult me by not accepting my word!”

Gaelen mimicked the man’s posture, leaning forward and glaring right back. “You’ve said you didn’t do it, and yet, it was your country’s bomb that exploded.”

“Impossible!” the man replied, coldly controlled.

The door opened and Gaelen’s assistant came forward, the pictures Gaelen demanded in hand. “Here,” he said and took the folder, pulling the pictures out. Slapping the first one down. “Is this not the missile that your country built in the southern district? I believe it’s the new design that your country developed, is it not?”

Santos glared at Gaelen for a long moment before slowly standing up and taking the picture. He glared at the picture.

Gaelen watched the man intently and saw the moment the leader recognized the missile’s remains.

“And this,” Gaelen slapped another picture down. “Tell me that this serial number isn’t one of your missiles!”

Gaelen continued to observe, his instincts firing hotter now. He saw the exact moment when the penny dropped for the other man.

“I have to go!” Santos announced, icy fury in his voice. He started to turn away, but stopped, glaring across the table at Gaelen. “You manufactured this evidence, didn’t you?” He leaned forward slightly. “Your country did this!”

A moment later, he walked out of the room, leaving behind a stunned silence.

Gaelen’s eyes narrowed at the door where the man had just departed. Was this a tactic to push the blame onto Izara? Or did Santos truly believe that…?

“What the hell just happened?” Gaelen muttered, glancing over to his assistant.

The other man, shorter and not nearly as muscular, but sharply intelligent and wise in politics, shrugged.

“I don’t know, Your Highness,” he replied. “I admit, the attack at this particular juncture in the negotiations was unexpected. And ill-advised. From all angles I can evaluate, a maneuver like this would only….”

Gaelen had already come to the same conclusion. “…Stall the talks,” he finished.

Once again, Gaelen glanced at his watch. He was going to miss Savannah’s graduation! Ealayk allaena, she would be devastated. Suddenly, something she’d said several weeks ago came back to him. Her father…she’d convinced herself that she wasn’t worthy enough for her father’s attention. Her bastard of a father hadn’t attended Savannah’s high school graduation. That meant that he sure as hell wasn’t going to be there today!

Rubbing his face, he tried to tamp down his panic. She’d look up into the stands and he wouldn’t be there!

“This is so wrong!” Turning to his aide, he shook his head. “Have someone go into my bedroom. There’s a ring on my dresser. Get it and wrap it up so that it doesn’t look like a ring. I don’t want Savannah to be in danger of being robbed. Get it to her with a note,