bent and took her chin in his hand. He squeezed fairly hard. “If they do, you tell them you want a lawyer. You will never answer any question for them. Do you understand?”
Ezra pulled away slightly without trying to be defiant. “Yes. I understand. I don’t know anything to tell them anyway.”
“You don’t know what you know. What you’ve seen. You never talk to anyone without telling me immediately.”
He grabbed her hair, yanking it back hard, snapping her head back so her face was pointed up. “Do you understand!”
Ezra grabbed her hair at the roots. “Yes. I understand.”
Henry let her go and stepped over the pile of stuff on the floor. He walked into the study and shut the door. Ezra picked her things up as she began to cry. She hated this man. She wanted to help the NSA, and she would with anything she could find out.
She knew Henry kept a ledger in his safe. If she could get to it, she would have enough info to put him away permanently. The problem was, the safe was in his study, and she didn’t have the combination. Besides, Henry never left the study or the house with the safe open. She had never seen it open, not even once.
His next trip away, she would go in there and see what she could find. She was going to work with the NSA and give them everything she could on this monster of a man. Ezra hated him, and now she knew for sure he was helping men he shouldn’t. She watched the news. The men in the pictures were suspected terrorists. They had been in that house. She had served them tea.
She had decided, even if it meant her own life, she would destroy Henry and everything he had built.
Chapter 5
Information
The next morning Ezra got up and made Henry his typical breakfast. They sat in silence while they ate. Henry finally looked up from his paper and stared at Ezra.
Ezra felt his gaze. “What, Henry. Why do you stare at me?”
Henry laid the paper down. “You are a beautiful woman, Ezra.”
Ezra smiled. “Thank you, Henry.”
Henry picked the paper back up and began to read. “Ezra, you cross me, and I will make you disappear.”
Ezra got up and picked up the plates from the table. She put them in the sink and walked out of the kitchen. She went to her workroom where she painted and closed the door. The burner phone was hidden there amongst her painting supplies. She pulled the phone out and texted Agent Bahar.
“Meet today. Same place 3 p.m.”
She turned the phone back off and put it away.
An hour later, Henry opened the door and came in. He came around behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders. He looked down at the painting she was working on. It was a self-portrait of Ezra in a garden. In the portrait, she was crying. Whatever Henry was about to say left him as his eyes fell on the painting.
Henry stared at the painting for a long minute. In it, Ezra was in all white, sitting on an iron bench in a garden full of flowers. The color of the garden was brilliant all around an almost black-and-white version of Ezra. She held a handkerchief in her hand to her right eye, wiping away the tears rolling down her cheek.
Henry just stood there behind her. His original intimidating firm grip on her shoulder softened, and one hand went from her shoulder to his chin. Ezra turned and looked up at him. “What do you see?”
Henry pulled his eyes away from the painting and looked at her face. The hand on his chin came down and gently touched the side of her face. “Beautiful, sad.”
He took his hand away and began walking to the door. Ezra started to speak but stopped. There was nothing there for her to say really. She was a prisoner, and her father had put her here. To defy Henry was also defying her father and her family. She would never be able to speak to them again. If she did this, she would be alone in the world.
Henry stopped at the door, partially looking back. “I’m leaving now. I will be back next week. I will leave you money for shopping on the counter.”
Ezra grinned at the guilt behavior. She mumbled out the words “thank you” as he closed the door behind him.
She wasn’t sure if he knew and would have her killed while he was gone or not. She had been very careful meeting with Bahar and made sure no one was following her when she went to the dress shop. It was a frequent store for her, so there was no suspicion really. She would use the excuse today if asked that she was returning a dress that didn’t fit. A very normal thing for her. She didn’t travel with bodyguards or anything like that. Henry did, but she was always expendable to him, and she knew he would never pay a ransom if she were kidnapped.
She walked to the front window and watched as Henry’s car drove out through the gated entrance. She was alone once again. It was peaceful for her when he wasn’t there. No fear of him getting angry at her as he often did. She could dress as she pleased, eat what she wanted to, and do whatever she wanted. When he was there, she walked on eggshells.
She pulled the burner phone out and powered it up. A text came up immediately.
“I’ll be there.”
Ezra turned the phone back off and looked at her watch. Ten thirty in the morning. She had plenty of time before the meeting.
Ezra went all through the house, making sure she was alone. She looked for hidden cameras as she went. She often wondered if Henry watched her from some phone app to keep tabs on her. She got to the office door and found it locked. She never remembered Henry locking the door before. If he didn’t know, he was definitely suspicious. Ezra knew that would not end well for her.
She left the house an hour later and headed for town, where she would shop and eat and then casually be at the dress store at three. She didn’t have anything, but she wanted to know how far the NSA or FBI would go to help her if she did get serious information. Would they hide her in witness relocation, or were they going to just use her and then let Henry kill her in a rage?
She walked in the store and saw Bahar looking at shirts. The two made eye contact, and Ezra went to the counter. She explained the dress didn’t fit and she wanted to swap for another. The clerk was pleasant and told her to just pick another and try it on. Bahar went to the dressing room and went in a stall. Ezra headed back as well with a new dress. As soon as she was in the room, Bahar came under the wall.
They shook hands. “What do you have? Are you in trouble?”
Ezra sat on the bench in the room. “I’m scared. Henry is suspicious, I know it. I want to help all the way, and I want to get away from him. There is no doubt in my mind that he is helping these terrorists, but I can’t prove it. He has a ledger he writes everything in, but it’s in his safe, and I don’t have the combination. He left today, and he even locked his study door. What am I supposed to do?”
Bahar reached out and took Ezra’s hands. “Slow down. If Henry knew, he would have said or done something. Are you sure you were not followed today?”
“Yes. I was careful and have been shopping for a few hours. I stopped and ate lunch. I don’t have a bodyguard or anything. Henry does,
