Page 46 of Wired Fear

“You must not tell Pim Wat that I spoke with you. Or I will get much, much trouble.” Armita grasped Sophie’s hands; hers felt small and soft as a child’s. Her eyes welled as she scanned Sophie’s face searchingly. “Your scar. It’s not as bad as I worried it would be. You are still so beautiful.”

Sophie was unsure what to ask first—she had so many questions. “Why did you come here in the middle of the night? And climb up to my room?” She gestured to the deck. “It’s three stories to the ground. I didn’t think anyone could approach that way.”

“You must not tell Pim Wat I came,” Armita repeated. Her mouth quivered. “Please.”

“All right, I won’t. Did Mother fire you or something, after the kidnapping?” Sophie squeezed Armita’s hands reassuringly, disturbed that the woman was so agitated and fearful. “She told me that you left—that you quit working for us because you didn’t want a job where you were put in danger.” Now Sophie’s chin wobbled as she remembered how devastated she’d been—Armita had been her mother in everything but name from her earliest memories. The nanny’s abrupt disappearance, on top of Sophie’s trauma from the kidnapping, had always haunted her. “Where did you go?”

“I was not fired. I am Pim Wat’s personal servant; I have been all of these years. She would not let me see you after I had failed in my duty to protect you.” She let go of Sophie’s hands and turned away, her slender shoulders slumping. “I am so ashamed.”

“What? Two armed men broke in and took me! They hit you on the head!” Sophie exclaimed. Anger lit in her breast as she remembered sleepless nights in her little bed, crying for Armita—and the poor woman had been blamed, and kept away! “I can’t believe this. Mother would not be so cruel.”

Armita’s eyes were hard as black diamonds as she gazed at Sophie. “You do not know your mother the way I do. She says she is cruel to make me strong. She said that you too must be strong.”

“I was seven years old! I’d been kidnapped and kept in a closet for ten days!” Sophie shook her head. “But you did not answer my question. Why did you come to my apartment the way you did? Why now, after all these years?”

“I came when she wouldn’t miss me. I came a way that would not be seen by those watching you. I came now because I had to warn you.”

“Who is watching me? And warn me of what?”

Armita stood. “There are many watching you, and one of them wants you dead. But your mother—she wants you to serve her. She wants to own you, like she owns me. And she is planning something. She usually tells me everything, but she has not told me this, and it worries me.” She drew a breath and sighed it out, her fingertips touching Sophie’s arm lightly. “Do not go to Thailand, to the stronghold of the Yam Khûmk?n. You may not be able to leave if you do.”

“I won’t,” Sophie said fiercely. “I’m pregnant, Armita. I must protect my baby.” She hadn’t meant to tell the woman, but the words had just popped out.She still trusted Armita.

Armita’s face seemed to light with a glow of joy as she smiled. “Oh, Sophie Malee! How wonderful!” She leaned forward to embrace Sophie, her small hands fluttering around Sophie’s face and hair like butterflies. “In my fondest dreams, we were reunited. And I cared for your children as if they were my own.” Her eyes were wet. “I am so happy! I thought you could not have children, after Assan Ang.”

It was jarring that she seemed to know everything about Sophie, but oddly reassuring too.

“I thought I could not have children either. This has been a surprise, and will be a big adjustment, but I’m happy about it. And I would love you to be my child’s nanny. Leave my mother. Come live with me. I know I will need help; I can’t do this alone.”

Armita stepped back. Her smile was deeply sad. “If only that were possible. And now, we both have a secret to keep from Pim Wat. I must go.”

“Please don’t! Stay with me until the morning, and go out the front way,” Sophie pleaded. She patted the bed. “There is plenty of room, and I will sleep better with you here, I know it.”

Armita shook her head. Tears gleamed on her high cheekbones in the light from the lamp. “I am so glad to have seen you, and I will be watching out for you as best I can. Remember my warning.” The petite woman slid open the door, climbed over the balcony railing, and disappeared.

Chapter Thirty-Three

By the time Sophie went out on the balcony and looked over the edge, Armita was gone. “She’s a ninja,” Sophie whispered. “Was that whole encounter even real?”

Sophie went back inside. The dogs milled around, sensing her agitation, and she wanted to go for a run—but nausea tickled the back of her throat at the mere thought.

Where was Jake?Why hadn’t he come and let himself in and gotten into bed with her to snuggle, if nothing else? If she had needed confirmation that something was very wrong, she now had it.

Sophie went to the sink, filled a glass with water, and stared out at the night as she sipped, mulling the situation over.

Maybe she should just go to him. Let herself into his apartment and get in bed with him. They didn’t have to talk. Their bodies had spoken best, anyway.

But did she want to be with him, when he might not want to be with her? His love for her wasn’t very strong if he couldn’t forgive her for being with Alika just one time, when she and Jake hadn’t even been a couple…if this was a “deal breaker” for him, was he the right partner for her?

But if they were having a baby together, they wouldhaveto work things out.

And if they weren’t, it was better to know now, and end the romantic aspect of their partnership. “Like ripping off a Band-Aid,” Marcella’s voice said in her mind.

“Ugh,” Sophie said aloud. “Oh, it hurts.” She wrapped her arms around herself tightly.

Sophie understood how Jake felt about Alika so much better now, understood his wound from the past and how it made it hard for him to imagine being a father to another man’s child. Maybe he wasn’t up to that challenge, but she owed it to him to reach out, for all the times he had reached out to her.

Resolved, Sophie pushed the dogs aside, locked them in her apartment, and exited onto the exterior corridor. Would she encounter Jake’s security detail outside his door?

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