Page 54 of Saving Jennifer
Noah’s eyes held a promise that made her breath catch. “You and I are going to have a long talk and figure out what comes next. Together.”
The judge’s gavel sounded, calling the court back into session. Jennifer squared her shoulders, ready to face whatever came next—the cross-examination, the legal battles that would surely follow, the possibility of a fortune she’d never known existed.
But for the first time since this nightmare began, she wasn’t facing it alone. She glanced at Noah, drawing strength from his unwavering support, and knew with sudden clarity that some treasures were worth far more than billions.
The setting sunpainted the sky in brilliant hues of orange and pink as Jennifer sat on Gator’s deck, watching light dance across Lake Pontchartrain. The gentle lapping of water against the pilings beneath them created a soothing rhythm that should have calmed her racing thoughts. Instead, she found herself replaying everything that happened in the courtroom over and over again.
“Two billion dollars,” she whispered, still unable to comprehend the figure.
Noah sat beside her, his shoulder brushing against hers, a glass of bourbon held loosely between his fingers. The past two weeks had been a whirlwind of danger, revelations, and unexpected connections. The district attorney had reported they’d arrested a paralegal in their office for leaking the information on Jennifer’s safe house locations to Karim Amir. Now, in the aftermath of the trial, everything was suddenly…still.
“You okay?” Noah asked, his voice low and gravelly, full of concern that made Jennifer’s heart flutter despite everything else swirling through her mind.
She turned to look at him, studying the profile she’d come to know so well. The strong jawline, now relaxed without the constant tension of watching for threats. The slight crinkles at the corners of his eyes that deepened when he smiled. The scar through his eyebrow that she now knew came from an accident years ago when he’d been in bootcamp.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “It doesn’t feel real. Sayifa and Rashid are going to prison. Abdullah doesn’t blame me for testifying against his family. And apparently, I’m an heiress—a freaking billionaire.” She let out a shaky laugh. “Just your average Tuesday, right?”
Noah’s lips curved into a smile before he took a slow sip of his drink. “Nothing about you has ever been average, Jennifer.”
The wooden deck creaked as she shifted in her chair to face the water again. Through the glass doors, she could see Gator moving around his kitchen, giving them privacy while remaining nearby—a habit from years working for the Agency that he couldn’t quite shake, she was sure.
“Do you think Abdullah is telling the truth? About protecting me from the rest of the family?”
Noah was quiet for a moment. “Gator trusts the source who’s working with Abdullah. I don’t know the man personally, but I know him by reputation, and his word is gold. And from everything we’ve learned, Abdullah was as much a victim of Sayifa and Rashid as you were. Different circumstances, but the same manipulative cruelty.”
She nodded, remembering the testimony about how Sayifa and Rashid had drugged Abdullah and confined him to a mental institution to prevent him from interfering with their plans. “It’s strange to think I have family out there, people connected to me by blood. Who I’ve never met. Who my father wanted me to know.” She still had trouble wrapping her head around that, after craving a family for so long. Muhammed Amir had proven he cared about her, and she’d never known—until now.
“Are you thinking about going to Dubai?” Noah asked, his tone carefully neutral, but Jennifer caught the subtle tension in his tightening of the skin around the corners of his eyes.
“I don’t know.” She grimaced, starting to feel like those three words had become her mantra. “Part of me is curious about the life my father led, about the half-siblings I was never allowed to meet or talk about until a few months ago. But another part of me…” She trailed off.
“Another part of you what?” Noah prompted gently.
Jennifer turned to face him fully. “Another part of me is terrified the moment I step off a plane in Dubai, this will all start again. Different players, same game.”
Noah set his glass down on the small table between them and reached for her hand. His fingers were warm as they entwined with hers. “Whatever you decide, you won’t be alone.”
Something in his words made her breath catch. For the past few weeks, he had been her shadow, her protector, her bodyguard. They’d developed a connection that transcended professional boundaries, but they’d both been careful not to define it, though neither could ignore it, even when danger lurked around every corner.
“But that’s just it, isn’t it?” she said softly. “It’s over. The threats, the danger—it’s all finished. Abdullah Amir has ensured Sayifa and Rashid have been cut off from all their personal money, as well as any family money, their accounts emptied. He’s also promised they will not be a problem from behind bars because my father’s inheritance to me has been exposed. No more secrets. You don’t have to be my bodyguard anymore.”
The implications of her statement hung in the air between them. Without their professional obligation, what were they to each other now?
Noah’s thumb traced slow circles on the back of her hand. “Is that what you think? That I’ve just been fulfilling a contract this whole time?”
“No,” she whispered, her voice barely audible above the sound of the water. “But I need to hear you say it.”
The last rays of sunlight caught in his eyes as he looked at her, and Jennifer saw something there that made her heart race.
“Jennifer, I crossed the line from professional to personal a long time ago. When I thought I might lose you in that bombing in New Orleans, when I saw what Skinner had planned for you…” His jaw tightened at the memory. “I’ve never been more scared in my life, not even when I stood in the middle of a firefight in Kabul, not when I faced a dishonorable discharge, and the threat of losing everything I thought was important. None of those things terrified me like the thought of losing you.”
She felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. “Where do we go from here?”
Noah shifted closer, his free hand coming up to cup her cheek. “That depends. What do you want? Not what your father wanted, not what your inheritance demands, not what anyone else thinks you should do. What doyouwant?”
The question was so simple, yet so profound. For so long, it seemed her life had been defined by pretending, by reacting, by surviving. She hadn’t had the luxury of wants and desires beyond trying to please everybody else.
“I want…” she began, then paused, gathering her courage. “I want to find out who I am without fear shadowing my every move. I want to use this money to do something meaningful. And I want…” She swallowed hard, looking directly into his eyes. “I want to find out what this is between us, without danger pushing us together or professional boundaries holding us apart.”