Roman lifted his head at that, eyes glassy but alert. “Hey, hey. Don’t you dare put this on yourself. Even if you had left, he probably would’ve come after me to see if I knew where you went.”
Elvis stepped forward. “Who came after you? Did you see him?”
Roman swallowed. “That guy we saw on the monitor. What did you say his name was? Leon.”
She rocked her head. “He only went after you to get to me.”
“But he didn’t get to you, did he?” Roman made a weak smile before a coughing fit shook his body.
Every muscle in Elvis’s body locked.
“He was in my room when I came back from grabbing coffee,” Roman continued. “Didn’t even try to hide it. Just… sat there like he owned the place.”
Delaney’s hands curled into fists.
“He wanted information,” Roman continued. “About you. About her.” His gaze flicked to Delaney. “He kept asking if you were Julia Moretti. Said he knew your mother betrayed people. Wanted to know what I knew about who you really were and where you were.”
Elvis felt something cold slide down his spine. “What did you tell him?”
Roman shook his head, still keeping his gaze fixed on Delaney. “Nothing. I swear. I told him I was just the tech guy. That Delaney was clean. That I knew nothing about her past. That she had always been Delaney Rhodes to me, and he wasnuts.” His voice cracked as he barked a painful burst of laughter. “That’s when he got angry.”
Delaney pressed her forehead against Roman’s shoulder, shaking.
Elvis clenched his jaw so hard that it hurt. He dragged a hand down his face, guilt burning hot behind his eyes. This was on him.
Every bruise. Every broken piece of furniture. Every drop of blood.
He’d gone looking for Julia Moretti, and her past had answered. And it answered hard.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
RAYMOND BOUDREAUX’S TEMPER DID not arrive in a shout, but more as a flexing of his jaw as he flattened his hand against the doorway of Roman’s destroyed hotel room. He appeared like a man ready to explode as he swept his gaze over overturned furniture, bloodied linens, and discarded medical wrappers, like he was cataloging damage reports instead of the aftermath of violence.
Delaney felt his attention settle on her long before he spoke. “This,” he said, his voice sharp as he gestured toward the wreckage of the room. “This is exactly the opposite of what you were here to do.”
She eased herself to her feet, stepping away from Roman’s bedside, her knees stiff, her hands curling at her sides as she forced herself upright. Her chest still ached from the sight of him battered and broken in a place that should have been safe.
“They brought you here to audit my security team,” Ray continued, frustration bleeding through his controlled exterior. “Policies. Procedures. Weak points in our camera coverage and personnel. No one asked you to bring in marshals or to lure in whoever the hell just tore through one of my guest rooms.”
Roman shifted against the pillows, pain etched across his face as a groan slipped from his lips. “Director?—”
Ray cut him off with a curt motion of his hand, then turned back to Delaney, his eyes hard and narrow as he glared at her. “You were supposed to be invisible,” he continued. “But now I have paramedics in my hallway and armed men who don’t work for me running surveillance inside my building. Just what the hell did you bring to my casino?”
Her throat tightened. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I’m sorry.”
The man gave a humorless exhale. “Nobody ever does, but the truth of the matter is you caused this, and now I want you and your…” he glared at Bobby, his upper lip practically curled, “friends out of my hotel.”
Before she could say anything back to the man, Bobby stepped forward, placing himself between Ray and her. He didn’t raise his voice or try to posture. He simply stepped in to protect her, a wall against the director’s anger.
“That’s enough,” he said. “There’s enough hostility here now, don’t you think?”
Ray stared at him, clearly unused to being blocked. “This isn’t your casino, and you’re supposed to be working for me.”
Bobby held his ground. “No, I work for Silver Security. And she isn’t your liability. And the fact someone got into this man’s hotel room without breaking down the door and then did all this with no one hearing or responding or even seeing him breaking in on some hallway camera pretty much tells you what her audit will reveal, now won’t it?”
Ray’s nostrils flared. “She brought danger into my casino.”
Bobby leaned closer, his voice low, almost a growl. “She’s the danger they’re after. Now back off.”
