She was handling the whole situation surprisingly well. No way could he not admire her. But, then again, he’d always admired Delaney. Mostly, he’d wished that he could be as kind as her. Her heart had been so big when she’d been a kid, and it had just stayed wide open and generous when she’d become an adult.
Back when she’d been a teen, Delaney had been the one to organize the group who volunteered at the local food pantry. Delaney had been the one to get other high schoolers to spend Saturdays walking dogs at the animal shelter. Delaney had been the one in charge of coat drives, shoe drives…hell, had there been a drive she hadn’t been involved with?
And he knew plenty about the work she’d been doing in Milan. Yeah, fine, he liked to keep tabs on her. Sue him. She’d gone to design school, and from all accounts, Delaney was a fabulous costume designer, but in her free time, she worked with local kids in their theater productions. She designed all the costumes for them, and he knew she did it for free.
Now that she had her grandfather’s fortune, he didn’t think Delaney was about to become some spoiled, pampered princess. That just wasn’t her. In fact…
He brought her hand to his lips as they began to walk through the casino. His gaze swept the scene, taking in every threat. His body was alert and ready to attack at any moment. “What are you going to do?” Nash asked her.
Her body drifted toward the right. He, of course, drifted with her.
“Do?” Delaney repeated. Her eyes were on a massive slot machine. One that had to be over fifteen feet tall and had a handle that was easily the size of Delaney’s head.
“With your grandfather’s money. The houses. The fortune.”
Her head turned toward him, and her cute nose scrunched. “Pretty sure that’s all ill-gotten gains.”
His lips twitched at “ill-gotten gains” because no one in the world but Delaney would actually use that phrase.
Her gaze darted back to the massive slot machine, then returned to him. “I figure at this point, the CIA will probably seize everything, won’t they?”
Probably. Yes.
“I’ll just go back to living my life the way I did before I met my grandfather.”
He tensed. I was there before. Will you go back to me? “But what if you did get to keep it all? What would you do?”
“I’d set up some charities. Actually, I’d love to do this sort of innovation tank program.” Her eyes lit up. Brighter. Golden. “I read about this online. You find these great people with ideas but no backing. People who just need a little help. If I had that money, I could help.” Easy words.
I could help.
Words he’d heard before.
When he’d been a dumbass high school teen. Older than Delaney. And his damn truck had broken down. Delaney had casually strolled up and paused by his ride. She’d frowned at the steam coming from beneath the hood. I could help. Her words. If you want.
He’d started to dismiss her, his pride hurt because his little sister’s gorgeous friend was offering to help him. But Delaney’s dad had owned the best garage in town, and she could, in fact, help. She could. She had. She’d changed his whole world that day.
Delaney had loved her dad so freaking much. She used to spend hours and hours with him in that garage. And…she doesn’t know that her grandfather had him killed.
Nash swallowed.
“What’s the plan?” Delaney leaned toward him. “I know you have a whole master plan, and I think I should be clued in on it, don’t you agree?”
“The plan is to see and be seen. To attract attention.” She’d be attracting plenty of attention in that killer red dress.
“How?” Delaney asked. She glanced around the casino. “Everyone is playing. No one is looking twice at us.”
So wrong. The men were doing double takes at Delaney. Annoying. He glared at one guy who hurriedly glanced back down at the cards in front of him. The joker needed to be playing blackjack and not staring at Delaney’s legs.
“How?” Delaney repeated. She was back to staring at the massive slot machine. The pale, white lights at the top flashed and rolled, and chiming music spilled from the machine every few moments.
“We’ll play at the tables. Win big or lose big, but the result will be the same. One of Kurt’s casinos is right next door to this place.”
Her head whipped toward him. “Right next door?” A squeak.
“Yeah, so I’m betting someone here…” Probably a few someones. “Someone will have ties to Kurt. A plant that he has in place to watch the competition. Those eyes will find you. Me. And we’ll go from there.” Once we are spotted, that intel will be reported to Kurt right away.
“Okay.” Her shoulders squared. “Okay.”
