Delaney’s stomach dropped as the men surrounding her argued amongst themselves about what was too much to reveal and who deserved what answers. Her mind raced. She had beenso damn careful when she started her company, keeping her face off the website, staying behind the scenes with news conferences and interviews. This was her first time to venture out, and all hell had broken loose.
“Enough!” she yelled, bringing everyone up short. “Enough. I’m not running, and the problem is already here. We need to get ahead of them for once and put an end to this. I refuse to live my life this way.”
Blaze grinned at her as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I knew you would say that. You’re friends with Elvis after all. However, the marshal’s right. We do need to get you somewhere safe for now.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off with an uplift of his hand. “In the hotel. Elvis will finish his job and you can work in the Silver’s room with your partner here to finish yours.”
Deke looked at her, a stern expression pinching his face. “If we can keep you out of sight, then you might be all right for the time being. Especially surrounded by security personnel.” He sighed. “You’ve always been stubborn, but this is the best I can offer you.”
Blaze chuckled. “I can see what Elvis likes about you.” He winked at her as he gestured to the door. “I’ll help your friend here get everything he needs and meet you up there.” He looked at the marshal and gave a curt nod.
Delaney sighed, but didn’t argue. It was the best they were going to allow her, and she knew it.
She headed for the door, the marshal right beside her. “And for the record,” she said. “I’m only stubborn when I’m right. I just happen to be right more than most people.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE DAY COULDN’T GET over fast enough. And it wasn’t even like he could concentrate on what he was doing. He was useless to the Silvers because all he could worry about right then was Delaney and what he had caused because he had to prove he was right about who she was.
As soon as the day was over and the last speech given, he headed straight for Colin’s room where the others were waiting. He didn’t knock, just scanned his key card and entered. The scent of freshly brewed coffee and tension hung in the air like competing colognes. Roman, who wasn’t even supposed to be there, sat at the desk, two laptops open, fingers dancing across keys in a rhythm too fluid for casual work. And beside him sat Delaney, leaning over one of the screens, her dark hair spilling forward, brows knit in concentration. How on earth could she concentrate like that on her work when everyone who spoke to him today had to repeat themselves because his mind was somewhere else? He could only smile at her dedication to her job amid all the chaos.
She had gotten rid of her blazer this time, just a silky top and slacks that looked expensive and sharp and like they didn’t belong in a war zone. Which, to be fair, this casino might becomeat any moment thanks to him. But really, it wasn’t his fault. Not really. He just wanted closure. Wanted answers about what happened to the one girl he had fallen in love with so many years ago. The course of his entire life had been set because of her vanishing one night, and he wanted to know why. He thought he deserved at least that much.
“I was hoping you’d still be here,” he said as he crossed the room to be closer to her.
She didn’t flinch, which told him she’d either seen him come in or was too locked into what she was working on to care. “I’m told I’m not allowed to leave.”
Thanks to Blaze texting him earlier, letting him know they were moving to the Silvers’ command room, he didn’t waste time searching her out. Of course, Blaze also told him there was another problem in the form of an unknown man pretending to be on the casino’s security team. The safest place was a room the man, whoever the hell he was, wouldn’t think to look. Still, that hadn’t stopped the pit in Elvis’s stomach from getting tighter.
As his gaze swept the room, he clocked Levi standing in the corner, arms crossed, and the marshal nursing a coffee while sitting at the table, like it might save the world. No one looked alarmed, just tired as well as focused.
“Have we found him yet?” Elvis asked once he reached her, glancing over at Blaze and Colin.
Blaze shook his head. “No, but I managed to track both pings on her name, both names, and it all traced back to the same IP address in Florida. I’ve already passed it on to Dane and the others.”
“Two names?” Roman spun in his chair as he stared at Delaney. “You said that earlier. What names? D., please… what the hell is going on?”
Elvis watched as Delaney looked around the room. Everyone there but her partner knew what was going on, and he could seeby the look on her face that she didn’t like it. He knew the exact moment she decided to tell her partner her secret. She glanced at the marshal and then shrugged, as if to say sorry.
The man just growled back at her as he rolled his eyes. “Why not? You haven’t listened to me yet.”
She moved to sit down beside Roman, rubbing her hands back and forth on her thighs as she took a deep breath. And then they all stood or sat wherever they were and listened as she told the man everything, all about her mother being an accountant for Alberto Serrano, who was a powerful and ruthless East Coast crime boss with a sprawling criminal empire that included money laundering, racketeering, extortion, and contract killings. Her mother didn’t know any of that at the time, of course, or the full extent of the operation when she did start getting glimpses into the grittier side of things. She worked for the company under one of its legitimate fronts, Serrano Holdings. But then she uncovered clear financial trails that led to a murder-for-hire payment and tracked it to an offshore account, which she discovered funded illegal arms deals. It was then she feared for her family’s safety if they ever found out what she knew.
“But it got worse,” she went on, “when Mom came across some surveillance footage hidden under something she thought was mislabeled data that showed the execution of a man who had tried to flip on Serrano. It wasn’t just damning; it was irrefutable proof of Serrano ordering a murder.” She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck. “She made copies of the video and then reached out to the authorities, which led to one nightmare after another before finally costing me my life back then.”
“Holy shit,” Roman hissed, staring at her, disbelief all over his face. “That had to be frightening as hell.”
“It was,” she assured him. “Mom wouldn’t even tell us what was going on at first. But then she had to testify. That along withthe evidence she had found and some of her forensic accounting records, became the backbone of the prosecution’s case. And that’s when it got even scarier.”
She glanced over at Elvis, and he could see the anguish in her eyes. “Other witnesses started disappearing,” she went on, turning back to Roman. “Mom received death threats, and we were even followed at different times. They kept us hidden until the trial, and then after Mom’s testimony, they shoved the four of us into Witness Protection. It happened all in one night, and I could only bring certain things, not even allowed to tell anyone I was leaving. My real name is Julia Moretti. Fate turned me into Delaney Mae Rhodes. And I’m sorry I had to keep all this from you.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “I suppose that’s why no childhood horror stories. You couldn’t tell the scariest of them all.”
She nodded, lips pressed into a thin line.
“But now she needs to go back under with an entirely new identity,” Donovan said, giving her a pointed look, arms over his chest. “Especially with Leon roaming around the hotel and casino. We have to get you out of here.”
Elvis stared at the man for a moment, and then turned to Delaney. “It’s your decision. What do you want to do?”
She looked at him, really looked, and he could see the choices flashing through her mind. Then she took a deep breath, arms folded over her chest, as she stared at the marshal. “Get my family out of sight. We need to end this. If we can connect Leon to the Serranos, then we can put them all away, and I can get my life back.”
