"Rhoda!!" Roche gasped, falling back a step at Hassan's threat. "How dare you bring that bitch here!! She killed my son!!" He raged at Hassan, his voice showing the pain he had suffered at his son's death, loud enough to silence the orchestra playing in the ballroom, playing soft mood-music.
"He was killing me!!" Rhoda hissed from behind Hassan, no longer cowering, but standing tall and straight. "It was your idea to keep me locked in your prison!! Trent's idea to keep me drugged!!" She accused them harshly. "Roche's idea to treat me like a whore!! I was trying to shoot myself, to get away from his vileness towards me!! He knew I would do anything to get away from him!! That was why he gave me the gun!! It was just another sadistic way of his to make me afraid of him!!"
"Shall we leave?" One of the male guests asked Trent, who was waving his gun at Rhoda and her escorts, moving towards them cautiously.
"No! Santanelli, just give me a few minutes to get these gate-crashers out of here!" He replied firmly controlling his anger over Roche's stupidity.
"What possessed you to bring them in here?!" The Lion berated Roche curtly, before moving towards Fatima who was frantic with worry for his safety, her hands flapping for him to go to her.
"What was I supposed to do? Lock them all in the cellar?" Roche scoffed. "They wouldn't dare come alone! I bet his Chinamen are crawling about the place, as we speak!" He gave Drake a scornful glance. "At least together we can keep the yellow devils from getting in here!" He added and suddenly swung round to look at Akmed. "Where is your twin, your Highness? Leading the yellow devils, I suppose!" He answered his own question, then turned towards Rhoda his look disparaging, as he glanced from her covered head to her bare toes. "Get them tied up!" He growled to one of the guards.
"No!" Hassan pulled Rhoda close into his side protectively. "We haven't come here to fight with you!" He stated scornfully, scowling at Roche and Dinnon; the Lion. "We came to tell you, Trent, we are betrothed, Rhoda and I, and our marriage is being arranged. I came to tell you that whatever you expected to gain from your attempts on Rhoda's life, will never be yours. I am her protector and her, soon-to-be husband. I have been Rhoda's betrothed since her birth. Whatever you thought to gain, will be Rhoda's through me. I won't leave her unprotected as long as you live, so there is no way you are going to get your greedy hands on the inheritance you crave." He stated with confidence, despite the gun aimed at his chest and a dozen rifles aimed at his back.
"Are you going to kill everyone here to keep the authorities from knowing what you have done to Rhoda's family?" Hassan added, seeing movement behind his right shoulder, and realised Akmed, Brad and Drake had moved in close behind Rhoda, protecting her back from the gunmen in case they got twitchy fingers.
Trent had moved closer and as Hassan turned back to look at him, he caught the tip of the small gun's barrel across his right cheek, jerking his head back, but he just growled in his throat, a warning for Trent to back off, which he did.
"Congratulations, your Highness." Trent scoffed, then lowered his voice, his next words only for their ears. "You won't find any bodies. They all disappeared and I could not find them for a long while, then I heard of a red-headed woman on a camel train which I checked out, naturally, and there she was, my older sister, Lady Katherine, slumming it as a dancing girl. Well, I couldn't let her bring shame to the family could I?" He looked smug, his eyes glazed with memories. "There was a brat too! A skinny little red-headed brat, which one of my associates wanted, but he sent an idiot to get her, who let a six year old brat stab him to death.! Hardly my fault, too, that one of the dancers was jealous of Lady Kate and added some poison to her dinner one day." He waved his gun about as he spoke of them, grinning.
