Chapter 16
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.”
The room went quiet as the two men stared each other down.
Delaney felt it settle into her bones.
Ray’s gaze flicked between them before he finally exhaled, raking a hand through his hair. “Get her out of my building. Hell, all of you get the hell out of my building. I want you gone.”
Bobby didn’t hesitate. He turned on his heel, took Delaney’s wrist with steady grip, and guided her toward the door. “Stay close to me.”
She barely had time to register what was happening before Levi appeared down the corridor, eyes sharp, phone pressed to his ear.
Marshal Donovan followed close behind him, jaw set, already scanning exits.
Blaze slipped into place at Elvis’s shoulder as if drawn there by instinct. Hawk remained with Roman, just in case.
“I talked to Dane,” the young computer tech said. “He said to take her to the safe house on the outskirts, where you took Meaghan a while ago. It’s got a hard perimeter and is off-grid. She’ll be safe there until we figure out what to do next.”
The word safe landed in Delaney’s chest like something fragile, while Bobby simply nodded.
“I’m coming with,” the marshal said, and the look on his face told Delaney there would be no argument about it.
Bobby nodded. “Just keep up.”
She hesitated only a heartbeat before breaking away from Bobby’s grasp, promising she’d be right back.
Ray Boudreaux’s stare followed her as she crossed the room.
She felt it on her back—hard and accusing—as if he were carving blame into her spine.
She didn’t give him the satisfaction of acknowledgment, however.
Not now. Not when Roman lay broken beneath sterile lights and the faint scent of antiseptic still clung to the air.
She moved past the director and everyone else in the room, her steps quickening until she reached the bedside of her friend and partner.
Roman looked smaller than he should have, as bruises shadowed his cheekbones and jaw. One eye was swollen nearly shut, and dried blood traced the edge of his hairline. His breathing came shallow, uneven, each rise of his chest a reminder that Leon had been thorough.
She dropped to her knees beside the bed, her hands hovering for a second, afraid to touch him, afraid of hurting him more, before finally settling against the blanket near his hip.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, leaning close enough that only he could hear. Her voice shook despite her effort to keep it steady. “I never meant for any of this to touch you. I’ll check in as soon as I can. I promise. I won’t disappear on you.”
Roman’s fingers closed around hers with what strength he had left. It wasn’t much, she could tell, feeling his fingers trembling, but it was enough. “You better not. I need to see how this plays out.”
The words went straight through her as her throat tightened. Her chest pulled inward as something inside her splintered. She simply nodded because speaking right then was impossible.
Behind her, Hawk stepped closer, his presence quiet but solid, like an anchor dropped into chaos.
“Don’t you worry,” he told her, his voice low and certain.
“We got him. He’s not alone in this. Ray’s team have the place locked down, as do the Silvers.
I’ll make sure he gets through the day and back to where he belongs. ”
Delaney swallowed hard and pressed Roman’s hand to her cheek for one brief moment, drawing strength from the warmth of him before easing his fingers back onto the mattress.
She eased herself to her feet, legs unsteady, heart still lodged somewhere between guilt and fear. Only then did she look up.
Ray was watching her again, only this time it wasn’t with anger. No, this time it was with something much colder.
She met his gaze for half a second—long enough for him to see she understood the damage done, long enough for him to know she would carry it whether or not he forgave her.
Then she turned away, returning to Bobby’s side.
They moved through the hotel with practiced precision, avoiding guest corridors and elevators, slipping instead through service halls and stairwells.
Blaze murmuring directions while Levi peeled away to redirect casino security.
Donovan stayed half a step behind her, one hand never far from his jacket.
Delaney kept her head lowered, clutching a borrowed housekeeping jacket around herself as Elvis swapped his blazer for a maintenance vest someone handed him and tucked his badge out of sight.
She followed his lead, shoulders hunched, pretending to check her phone while they walked at a steady but non-frantic pace.
Her heart hammered as every footstep sounded too loud in her ears. Every shadow felt watched.
They didn’t use the main entrance, nor did they use the valet. They exited through a loading ramp behind the kitchen wing, crossed a staff parking deck masked by linen carts and delivery crates before sliding into a waiting SUV through a loading ramp near the kitchen wing.
However, when she opened the door, there was already another woman in the vehicle along with a man dressed like Bobby.
Seeing them confused her for a moment, but before she could ask what was happening, another SUV pulled up beside theirs.
Doors were flung open, and the woman gave Bobby a curt nod as she took Delaney’s jacket from her and slipped into it.
Bobby passed his shirt to the other man, taking a spare from the seat, and then the others were out of the vehicle and climbing into the other SUV.
She turned to Bobby, her brows arched in question.
He pulled his shirt down in place as he looked at her. “Decoys. Hopefully, whoever is after you is watching and thinks you slipped into the other vehicle. They’ll have two SUVs to track now.” His grin grew. “And that’s just for starters.”
She settled back in her seat, and only after they had shut and locked the doors did Delaney allow herself to breathe, trusting Bobby to take care of her.
The city lights faded behind them as Bobby merged onto the highway. Deke sat in the passenger seat, not saying a word as he kept his eyes on the mirrors, always vigilant.
She curled into the back seat, arms wrapped around her middle, trying to quiet the tremor that still lived in her hands.
They swapped vehicles three more times, always under cover, and always with people dressed like them. The last time, they changed clothes once more, and then headed out, Bobby telling her it was the last time they’d trade cars.
She settled back, sliding down in the seat, afraid to even look out the window for fear someone would see her.
Then she heard Donovan speak up. “We’re heading east. Your guy back at the casino made it sound like your safe house is west.”
Delaney sat up straighter, leaning forward. “What?”
Bobby blew out a slow breath, but kept driving. “We’re not going to that safe house.”
Her stomach dropped as the marshal ran his hand through his hair. “What do you mean?” she asked.
He met her gaze through the rearview mirror. “Everything we said back there was for anyone listening. We wanted everyone to think we had a predictable destination in mind. The truth is, we’re heading somewhere quieter, somewhere out of the way.”
Her pulse spiked as she sucked in a stuttering breath. “And just where is that?”
“A cabin,” he told her. “Middle of nowhere and isolated.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her head tilting to the side slightly, narrowing her eyes as she stared at him. “A what?”
“It’s a private place. Off radar and owned by someone I trust. Only a handful of people even know it exists.”
Donovan turned and stared at him. “That wasn’t the plan.”
Elvis shrugged. “It’s always been the plan. Just not the one we let everyone hear.”
Delaney stared at him. “You really think Leon was listening in?”
“I think he has eyes somewhere,” he told her, looking at her in the rearview mirror. “After all, he found your partner. I had no intention of giving him a target with cameras and access logs.”
“You lied to me back there.”
He gave a curt nod as he looked back at the road. “I did.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“Nope. I didn’t. Wasn’t time.”
“Did the rest of your team know what was happening?”
He glanced at her once more in the mirror. “They did. The decoys are heading to the safe house we mentioned. Hopefully, whoever is watching still believes you’re heading there.”
“I’m impressed,” the marshal said with a slow bob of his head. “Smart move.”
“Well, I’m not impressed,” she snapped, anger tightening her body. “You don’t get to decide things for me.”
His shoulders tightened under his shirt, and she saw him flex his grip on the steering wheel. “I did it to keep you alive.”
They drove in silence after that, the highway giving way to narrower roads that curled through stretches of darkened countryside. Pines rose on either side like quiet sentinels, their branches knitting together overhead until even the moonlight struggled to find its way through.
The tires crunched over gravel as Elvis turned onto a dirt road so thin it barely qualified as a road.
The headlights cut a pale tunnel through brush and shadow as dust drifted behind them in a soft cloud, settling slowly over weeds and fallen leaves.
The road dipped and twisted, uneven from years of rain and neglect, forcing Bobby to slow even more as ruts in the ground pulled at the steering wheel.
Delaney watched it all pass through the windshield, her pulse keeping time with the rhythm of the tires. Every bump reminded her how far they were from anything familiar. Every curve felt like another step away from the world she knew and deeper into whatever waited ahead.
The trees pressed closer here, trunks thick and dark, the forest swallowing sound until even the engine seemed muted. Somewhere in the distance, something moved—an animal, maybe—but it faded as quickly as it came, leaving only the hush of night behind.
She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned back against the seat, exhaustion settling into her bones, tangled with adrenaline and the lingering echo of Roman’s bloodied face. She told herself this was safer. That Bobby knew what he was doing. That the detour meant survival.
Still, the isolation clawed at her.
Finally, a cabin emerged from the shadows.
It sat at the end of the road like someone had carved it straight out of the woods, weathered boards and low rooflines blending into the landscape.
Unless you were really looking, you wouldn’t even know it was there.
Light spilled softly from the windows, warm and steady, a quiet promise against the icy darkness surrounding it.
A single porch lamp cast a pale circle over the steps, illuminating drifting moths and the rough grain of the railing.
But it also revealed the man standing on the porch, staring at them.