Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
DELANEY WASN’T SURE WHEN she had finally fallen asleep, but it hadn’t been easy.
She probably fell asleep exhausted from all the tossing and turning, her mind scolding her for lying to Bobby about who she really was.
The look on his face had haunted her all throughout the day and into the night, the way he stood there, mouth ajar, brow pinched, disbelief all over his face.
And he knew she was lying to him. But he simply stood there and watched as she walked off.
And she couldn’t get away from him fast enough.
It hadn’t been her choice to run off in the middle of the night with her family.
She had fought it with every ounce she had, thrown a fit as her parents packed the vital things, just a few because it couldn’t look like they were leaving on purpose.
They couldn’t take anything that someone might find later and use it to point to who they really were.
Any little thing could expose them and risk their lives.
At least that’s what she had been told when they dragged her from her room and all her possessions.
And in typical high-strung teenage fashion she told them she didn’t care. She wasn’t going anywhere. She had a life there, a boyfriend, someone she intended to spend the rest of her life with. They couldn’t make her leave him.
But they did.
Her father had sat her down on the bed, his hand on her arm, and explained that they couldn’t leave her behind, not even with relatives.
That the man her mother was giving evidence on would kill her just in the slight chance of getting to her mother.
The four of them had to leave together, and they had to leave that very night.
Her mother would give her testimony the following week, the family being stashed in a safe house until it was over, and then they would be relocated with new identities and new lives.
She didn’t want a new life, but it was never her choice. They actually made her leave everything behind, anything that would remind her of the life she had before that dreadful night.
And the worst part was that she never even got to say goodbye.
She cried a lot that first year, remaining quiet at the new school, refusing to make new friends, refusing to accept that her life was over.
It didn’t matter that they gave her a new one.
She wanted the one she already had. And she forced herself to put Bobby Jenkins out of her mind.
To forget about the long walks along cobblestone streets.
To forget the plans the two of them had made.
At first, she had determined that she would merely wait until she was eighteen and then leave, find Bobby once more, and then pick up where they had left off.
But Marshall Donovan Ashland had told her that even that was impossible.
The people her mother testified against wouldn’t forget about them in a year or two.
They’d forever be watching for them to resurface, any of them.
As much as he hated to tell her this, she could regain nothing of her old life again.
She needed to focus on a new future as Delaney Rhodes, leaving Julia Moretti in the forgotten past forever.
It was the same with her extended family.
They’d be watched, hoping someone would reach out for a birthday or anniversary, send a card at Christmas, or a simple call to tell them someone had died or gotten sick.
Any contact—a phone call, letter, birthday card, email—could cost them their lives at some point, and the government had spent too much money protecting them to let them risk that.
Deke had repeated it over and over until she finally gave up.
But that was then, before she had seen him, before she came face to face with him in the conference room of the casino.
And now she couldn’t stop wondering what had happened to him after her family had entered WIT-SEC.
Even if the criminals had been waiting for her to do a search on Robert M.
Jenkins back then, there was no way they could still be keeping an eye out for that.
She had grabbed her laptop, plopped down on her bed, and typed Bobby’s name in the search bar.
He graduated from their high school with a letter from playing football, but no other mentions.
He went into the Navy almost immediately after graduation and then made it into the SEALs.
She couldn’t find out much about his missions or where he had been deployed, but she could see most of his commendations.
And then he got out and joined others from his team at Garrison Security Innovations.
He was smart, brave as hell, and just as deadly.
He had done great for himself and his country.
And apparently he was still single.
Never married, actually.
And there were plenty of pictures of him on social media that showed why. He had a ton of women hanging on his arm—or other parts of him. Most of them were barely dressed and looked drunk as hell.
So much for him yearning after me.
But she couldn’t blame him. It’s not like she told him to wait. Or even said goodbye. He had every right to move on. And from the look of it, he had fun doing it.
She sighed as she threw her laptop on the other bed and climbed under the covers for a long night of tossing and turning.
At five in the morning, she finally gave up and climbed into the shower, hoping the hot water would wash away the images she saw on her laptop last night. It didn’t work, however.
She had barely finished dressing when a knock came at her door.
“You’re early, Roman,” she called as she slipped into her heels and crossed the floor to the door. “And you better have brought coffee.”
However, when she opened it, Roman wasn’t the one standing there.
She felt her brow pinch. “Deke?” Panic gripped her. “What’s wrong? Are my parents all right? Anna?”
“They’re fine.” He gestured behind her, a hopeful look on his face.
She nodded and stepped aside, letting him into her room. “You don’t ever just visit. So what’s wrong?” It was true. Deke would text, sometimes even call to make sure she was all right, but that was it. A visit in person only meant trouble.
“We got an alert. Someone ran a search on Julia Moretti yesterday morning.”
She stood there, hands on her hips, as she stared at him. “Don’t people do searches on my family all the time, hoping something slips up?”
He shook his head. “No. No one’s ran a search on your old names in forever. Perhaps your mother, when some college kid studying law is looking to write a report, but nothing on the rest of your family. But that’s not all.”
She was afraid to ask, so she didn’t. She simply stood there and waited.
“They also did a deep dive on Delaney Mae Rhodes. Graduation. College. Current employment. Even asked if you had pets or what your favorite color is. Any idea what that’s about?”
She sighed. Shit. “I might have a clue.”
She closed the door and moved back into the room, turning back to the U.S.
Marshal, who stood there, hands stuffed into his jeans, wearing a dark blazer over a beige button-down shirt, badge and Glock at his hip, barely noticeable.
He wore well-worn leather boots and looked like all he was missing was a cowboy hat to finish the ensemble.
His hazel-green eyes penetrated her, like he was bracing for the worst.
And she had it for him. God, did she have it for him.
She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her upper arms. “I ran into Bobby yesterday.”
He blew out a slow whistle. “Son-of-a-bitch.” He shook his head, dropping his gaze to the floor. “Well, there’s a name I haven’t heard you mention in a decade or more.” He looked back up at her. “And you didn’t think to call me?”
“To be honest, I was a little shaken at the time, and then busy as hell here.”
“And you didn’t know he’d be here?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I haven’t kept tabs on him because you drilled it into me how dangerous it would be. I’ve known nothing about him until I looked him up last night.”
Marshal Ashland ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair.
“I knew letting you take this job was a bad idea. You were better off staying in your offices back in Oregon. He ran both your names, almost back to back. If someone was monitoring you to see if someone did an internet search on Julia Moretti, they could very well figure out the same person did one on Delaney Rhodes.”
She growled. “Do you know how fucking weird it is to keep talking about me as if I’m two different people.”
“For all points and purposes, you are,” he told her. “And now there’s someone who can put the two of you together. How did you handle it?”
She shrugged. “I told him it wasn’t me and walked off.”
Deke barked out a laugh, turning around in a circle. “You told a former Navy SEAL you weren’t who he knew you were, and you just walked off. Only you would think that worked.”
“I didn’t know what else to do. And I didn’t know he was a former SEAL at the time. I thought he was simply Bobby Jenkins, the man I fell in love with in high school and was ready to marry.”
“Well, you can’t stay here,” the marshal said. “We need to get you out of here before anyone else puts it together. We need to move your entire family.”
“What? Why the hell would we do that?” There was no way she was giving up everything she had worked so damn hard for. She had lost everything once. She refused to suffer that loss again.
“Because if someone pieces together that you are indeed Julia Moretti, then it’s not an enormous leap to think Delaney Rhodes’ family is actually the Morettis. Your family isn’t safe. We need to get them out of Oregon and you back with them.”
“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave a quick jerk of her head. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to do a job, and I will see it through.”
“You could get killed. It’s not safe.” He shook his head, lips pressed into a thin line. “I know it sucks, but there’s nothing we can do. Your identity has been compromised, so we need to get you a new one. I’m sorry. But it’s the only way to keep you and your family safe.”
“I’m not doing it. I won’t do it. I’m not losing everything again. If you need to get my family safe until I get this figured out, then move them to a safe house, but I’m not leaving. Not yet. Bobby would never hurt me.”
“Not directly. But by doing his search on you, he pointed a finger at your true identity. You might have been better off telling him the truth when he asked you.”
She rolled her eyes. “After everything you drilled into me, my first response was to deny and run. Nothing prepared me for this. I mean the odds of us seeing each other…”
“You staying here’s a bad idea, Delaney. It could risk everything your family has sacrificed over the past decade and a half. It’s not worth it.”
She smiled at him. “Bobby Jenkins was worth it back then, and he’s worth it now. I’m worth it. He would never hurt me. And after all these years, he deserves the truth.”
The marshal simply stared at her, and she could see the battle behind his eyes, knowing he wanted to grab her and drag her into his protection once more.
Finally, he sighed, his shoulders loosening slightly.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll send people to watch over your parents and sister for now.
We need to talk to Robert Jenkins and get him to stop his web searches.
But you can only tell the truth to him, no one else, and I still think it’s a terrible idea.
Even if he wouldn’t hurt you, you can’t expect him to let the matter simply drop, not to trust his friends, those he went into battle with. ”
“I’ll deal with it,” she assured him. “We can trust him.”
She knew it with every ounce of her being.
Another knock on the door.
“Delaney, you still in there? Time to get some more of those terrible scrambled eggs.”
Deke cocked a brow as he questioned her.
“My partner, Roman,” she told him. “He’s here to get the day started. I’m usually at the security room by now.”
He gave a curt nod as she moved to open the door. Roman glanced at the marshal, but then shook it off and turned to her.
“Something’s going on,” he told her. He looked back at the marshal and then, by the look on his face, he must have noticed the badge and gun. “Um, are you all right? You’re not in any trouble, are you?”
She ignored his questions. “What’s going on?”
He stared at the marshal for a moment longer, then turned back to her. “Silver Security. They’re buzzing like hornets. And your name keeps coming up. Someone new joined them this morning as well.”
Delaney simply stared at him. Shit.