“We don’t know. When Reiter was arrested, she took off. She’s in the wind. You don’t have to worry about her coming to Scarlet. We put out an arrest warrant, and TSA knows to be on the lookout. My guess is she’s on her way back to Germany. They won’t extradite their citizens to the US.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Sasha lurched to her feet and darted from the room.
Darius hurried after her and held her hair while she threw up, a process that clearly caused her intense pain because of her ribs. Feeling absolutely helpless, he rubbed her back, held her hand, tried to offer her reassurance. “It’s going to be okay, angel.”
Damn it!
Afterward, Darius handed her a cold washcloth, helped her rinse her mouth and brush her teeth. “Come. You need to rest.”
Chapter21
Sasha awoketo find herself alone, Darius’ side of the bed cold. She slowly sat up, put on leggings and a T-shirt, and made her way downstairs to find him talking on his phone in her office.
His gaze softened when he saw her. “I’ll see you this afternoon in Denver. Thanks for the update, Kelso.”
He was leaving?
Sasha’s heart sank.
She wasn’t ready to say goodbye. They’d never talked about their relationship, never spoken of what would happen when the case was resolved and the bad guys were in custody. She’d never told him how she felt about him.
He ended the call, slipped his phone into his pocket. “Hey. My phone kept buzzing. I didn’t want to wake you, so I came down here. How do you feel?”
Sasha wasn’t sure how to answer that, especially not now that she knew he was going home. “It still doesn’t seem real. You’re going back to Denver today?”
“The feds have taken over the case. My part is done. We’re holding a joint press conference in Denver this afternoon at one. The Slovak police have held off on going public so we can break the news first.”
“That’s good, I guess.”
“It gives us time to prepare for the media onslaught.”
“Oh. Right.” She hadn’t thought about that.
“There’s more.” Darius drew her into his arms. “German police arrested Braun in Munich this morning. The State Department is working with them to question her. At this point, it looks like German authorities will put her on trial and sentence her there.”
“Will I have to testify?”
“I don’t know.” Darius drew back, looked into her eyes. “I’m really sorry that things turned out this way.”
Sasha touched her palm to his cheek. “Don’t be sorry. Everyone thought it was Bren Riggs and Watts. But you stuck to the evidence. Because of you, the person behind all of this is in jail now. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He kissed her forehead. “You hungry? I thought I could make some omelets.”
“That sounds really good.”
While Darius chopped onions, red peppers, and mushrooms for the omelets, Sasha made coffee and checked her messages. There were a half dozen from Scott, once again asking for her response to Maritza’s harsh comments yesterday.
“Bad news?”
“Just my manager. He’s pushing me to do interviews. Apparently, the climbing world is waiting with bated breath for my response to Maritza.”
“He’s behind the times.” Darius popped four pieces of wheat bread into the toaster, then went back to making omelets. “I’ve got a proposition for you. Why don’t you come to Denver with me?”
“For the press conference?”
“You can give a statement, give the media something to chew on for a while. Then, rather than coming back to Scarlet Springs afterward, you can stay at my place for the week. You can avoid reporters, and we can spend some real time together. I’ve asked Irving for the week off.”
Sasha’s heart lifted. “I would love that.”
