“Um.” A nod from Jezebel. “When Kurt finds out that you dashed off to Vegas in order to marry your ex, I think he’ll come running to stop you. He’ll be so enraged that he won’t be thinking straight. He’ll take unnecessary risks. Make mistakes.”
Delaney took a step back. Then another one. “You cannot be serious.” Was she still dreaming? Still upstairs asleep in bed? Because there was no way the woman was actually suggesting that Delaney and Nash run off to Vegas in order to get married.
“Kurt Wellington is an international criminal. We are lucky to have him on American soil right now.”
Uh, Kurt was only on American soil because of their wedding. Normally, he resided in Milan, but he was an American by birth, just as she was, and he’d wanted them wed in the city where he’d grown up so long ago.
“He’s disappeared. Vanished, according to my intel. But he is still hunting you. So when he finds out that you’re heading to Vegas, I believe that he will head there, too. I believe he’ll want to stop Nash from marrying you because Nash interrupted Kurt’s own wedding to you.”
“You…” Another step back. She was seriously considering running out of that cabin. “You want me to go to Vegas and marry Nash?”
“Pretend marry. We can fake the ceremony.” Utter unconcern from Jezebel. “Or it can be real and we can just get it annulled later. Please, calm yourself. It’s not like I’m asking you to fuck Agent Quinn.”
Four frantic steps back.
Fuck Agent Quinn. Delaney fanned herself because she was flushed and way too hot.
“He’ll come after you. I believe he will do anything necessary to stop you from marrying another man.”
Delaney choked down the lump in her throat. “Will you define ‘anything necessary’ for me? It would be super helpful if you could do that.”
“He’ll kidnap you. Attack Nash. Break laws.” A shrug. “And we’ll catch him in the act. Have him dead to rights. We’ll have everything monitored and recorded, and there will be no chance of him escaping or worming his way out of a conviction.”
“Provided you catch him in the act.” Delaney hated the knots in her stomach. “Provided he doesn’t succeed in, oh, I don’t know, kidnapping me and possibly killing Nash.”
“He won’t kill me.” Utter certainty from Nash. “And he won’t take you from me.”
“There is, of course, a Plan C, as well,” Jezebel announced.
“Plan C,” Delaney gasped out. Am I in the Twilight Zone? Plan C had to be better than the other two options, right? Please, be better.
Jezebel’s expression hardened. She motioned toward the two men who stood near the door. They immediately shifted position, surging forward. “I take you into protective custody right now,” Jezebel informed her. “My guards and I will spirit you to a secure location where you will stay for the foreseeable future while I assemble a team to track down Kurt Wellington. Once he is tracked down and apprehended—hopefully, without a major loss of life—then we will begin the trial process. Though, again, tracking him may prove impossible. Once he’s aware that we are hunting him, I do expect him to vanish.”
Right. Because of all the passports and his international, criminal connections.
Delaney’s head hurt. “Let’s think positively and say you do catch him. Then what?”
“The trial will be based purely on the testimony that you can provide because there is no body for the man who was supposedly murdered.”
“Uh, there is no ‘supposedly’ about it. Kurt murdered him! I saw the killing with my own eyes!” The throbbing in her head intensified.
“But there is no body, and it will be your word against Kurt’s. Just as it will be your word against Kurt’s regarding him holding you prisoner in a closet and him attacking you with a knife.”
Jezebel had certainly been thoroughly briefed on a great deal of information. Nash must have updated the woman when Delaney had been sleeping. One hell of an update, from the sound of things. “I saw Kurt kill a man. I watched him commit murder with my own eyes.”
“And do you know where the body is?” Jezebel asked her.
Delaney shook her head.
“Not having the body makes the case much harder to prosecute. We also don’t know the victim’s identity.” A pause. “Do we?”
“I can describe him. Sandy brown hair, blue eyes, stubble on his cheeks. A scar sliding under this chin.” She pointed to her own chin to show the spot. “I don’t know his height because h-he wasn’t standing. Medium build.” Her hand fell. “He was scared. So scared. Begging to live and Kurt…” Delaney stopped. The memory of that shooting was far too vivid in her mind.
Jezebel advanced toward her. She reached for Delaney’s hand. Lifted it. Stared at the marks on her wrists. “We should photo her injuries.” Brisk. “Keep a log. Get a full statement. At the very least, we could try him for assault.”
Assault. “And how long would Kurt serve if he was convicted of assault against me?”
Jezebel stared at her. “He’s going to have a very, very good lawyer at his trial. And the trial is contingent on us actually catching him. As I said, Kurt will have plenty of passports and plenty of contacts so that he can vanish easily.”
