Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Nash didn’t wait for the door to close fully before he attacked. He lunged for the blond guard, caught the jerk’s hand in a savage grip, and halted the rise of the weapon that the man had clearly been pulling.
Nash whirled the guard to the side, slammed him into the wall, and he twisted the man’s wrist even as the fellow howled in pain.
“Stop.” A low, hard command.
Nash didn’t particularly feel like heeding the command. So he drove his head into the blond’s, and he snatched the gun from the falling creep. Spinning, Nash brought the gun up and aimed it at the second guard, a man who was already trying to snatch out his own gun.
“Don’t,” Nash told him. “Or I’ll have to shoot you.” He sidestepped. Two sidesteps. And he made sure Delaney was shielded behind him. “Is this really any way to greet a winner?”
Mocking laughter. Not from the guard. But from the man behind the big, mahogany desk.
“Get out of here, Tobias, Luke. Now.” An order from the person who was clearly in charge. The guy with the white t-shirt and battered jeans. He strolled from behind the desk, crossed his arms over his chest, and quirked a brow at Nash. “I believe we have business to discuss.”
The blond guard groaned as he tried to rise.
A sigh and an eye roll from the boss. “Luke, help Tobias. Take him to a medic. Make sure something is not broken.”
“Oh, I don’t believe I broke anything,” Nash allowed. He cast a critical eye at Tobias. “Probably a wrist sprain. Someone just can’t handle his pain well.” He returned his focus to the real threat in the room.
“What are you?” the guy in the t-shirt asked. “A doctor?”
Nash smiled at him. “And what are you? An asshole criminal?”
Luke hauled Tobias out of the room. The door closed behind them.
The man in the white t-shirt rested his hip against the side of the desk. “My name is Logan Sterling, and I own this casino.” A pause. “And the hotel where you’re staying.”
“Considering the hotel and casino are connected, I figured you had to own both.” Nash had turned the gun toward Logan Sterling.
As if he didn’t know who the man was. Before they’d arrived in Vegas, he’d done recon work on their destination.
He knew who owned the location. Just as he knew he was staring at a man who supposedly hated Kurt Wellington.
Mortal enemies, if the gossip was correct.
Logan’s gaze was on Delaney. Or, rather, he was trying to put his gaze on Delaney as he attempted to peer around Nash’s body. “Are you her human shield?” Logan mockingly asked Nash.
“Yes.” Not mocking at all. Dead serious.
Logan wiggled his dark brows. “And here I thought you were her husband.”
“Pretty sure that’s what a husband’s job is—to protect his wife from any and all threats in the world.”
Logan cocked his head. “Do I look like a threat?”
Did Nash look like an idiot? “Your dumbass guard just pulled a gun so…yes.”
“Ahem.” A delicate throat clearing from Delaney. “Is this meeting about our winnings? Because it does not feel that way. I’ve yet to hear the word ‘congratulations’ and there is an awful lot of gun play happening here.”
Logan smiled. “This meeting is about the fact that I have CIA operatives running wildly through my property. A big annoyance, if you want the truth.”
Nash kept his gun aimed. He also kept his body positioned protectively in front of Delaney.
“You think I don’t know who you are?” Logan shook his head. “In my business, knowledge is always power. And my tech team here at the Sterling Casino and Hotel is actually pretty good. I believe in hiring skilled workers. You get what you pay for in this world.”
“Wouldn’t know that based on Tobias,” Nash pointed out. “Unless you deliberately paid for a shitty guard who doesn’t know how to hold on to his weapon.”
Logan pushed away from the desk. “He’s new.
The team that runs my tech is not. They are fully aware that the CIA has tapped into my security feeds and are treating themselves to an all-you-can-watch showing of my facilities.
” He paced toward Nash. “I’m assuming all of this was done without warrants. How very illegal.”
“You really want to talk about illegal?” Nash challenged him.
Logan laughed. “Fair enough.” He held up both hands. “I’m unarmed. And I need to talk to the bride.”
“Just because you don’t have a weapon in your hands, it doesn’t mean you’re unarmed.”
More laughter from Logan. “Fair enough. How about this? I have no intention of hurting the bride in any way, shape or form. How about that? Better? Does that satisfy you?”
Nash felt a tap on his back. One tap. Two.
“I have a name,” Delaney declared quite loudly. She gave him a third tap. “I don’t particularly enjoy being called ‘the bride.’ Makes me sound like I’m with Frankenstein’s Monster.”
Logan’s eyes gleamed. “Noted.” He stared straight at Nash. “How about you step to the side?”
Nash did not move. Not yet. He needed this message understood. “I am a fucking monster. Try to hurt her in any way, and you’ll have a bullet between your eyes.”
“Aren’t we the protective one?”
“We are.”
“And a bit violent?”
Nash smiled. “More than a bit.”
The tapping on his back became even more insistent. “You’re not a monster,” Delaney snapped.
Sure, he was.
But he did ease to the side. He kept his body partially in front of her, though, and he stayed poised to attack.
“Hello, there,” Logan murmured. “I have been quite curious about you.”
“Don’t refer to him that way,” she ordered. “Don’t ever call Nash a monster again.”
A considering nod. “Ah, someone else who is protective. Aren’t you two just adorably alike? Do accept my humble apologies. It was a slip of the tongue.”
Nash did not like Logan. Or his BS apology. “Why did you have us hauled up here?”
Logan shifted to get a better view of Delaney. “To congratulate the lovely lady, of course. She’s a big winner.”
“Was the win fixed?” Nash demanded bluntly. “Did you arrange for her to win just so you’d have a reason to pull us into your office?”
“Oh, how insulting.” Logan put one hand to his chest. “Are you suggesting that my establishment is not one hundred percent above board?” A faint smile teased at Logan’s lips. “Hurtful.”
“I will show you hurtful in about five seconds if you don’t get to the point.” Not a threat. A promise from Nash. He did not like this situation. His internal alarms were shrieking.
“I’m keeping the money I won.” Delaney edged to Nash’s side. “There are a lot of people who can be helped by that kind of cash.”
“Oh.” The smile vanished from Logan’s face. His lips pulled down. “You’re one of those. Disappointing.”
“Those—what?” Delaney wanted to know.
“The do-gooder type. You make my head hurt.”
“The five seconds are up,” Nash snarled.
“Right. And you are not the do-gooder type. Much easier to handle.” Logan rolled back his shoulders. “The enemy of my enemy is my very best friend in the world.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” Nash had zero patience left. He was also still holding a gun, so the dick in front of him should not be playing games.
“An old proverb,” Delaney murmured. Her shoulder brushed against Nash because she’d stepped closer. “Pretty sure he’s suggesting a team up.”
Logan laughed. The man seemed to do that far more than was necessary.
“Indeed, I am. You see…” His face hardened.
“I fucking hate Kurt Wellington. The man has been cutting into my business for far too long, and there is nothing in this world that would make me happier…than if Wellington was no longer a problem. Not for me. Not for the bride—”
“Delaney. My name is Delaney.”
“Yes, but you were supposed to be Kurt’s bride. I recognize your face from the surveillance photos I have.”
“Surveillance photos?” Nash latched onto those dangerous and telling words. “Just what game are you playing?”
“The one where I win, of course.” Pure cockiness from Logan. “The house always wins.”
“Ahem.” From Delaney. “Excuse me, but I’m pretty sure I won downstairs. Unless your casino is completely crooked.”
Logan gasped. “You don’t just say shit like that about a person’s casino. Not in this town.” Logan shook his head and pointed at her. “Though your ex sure runs the most twisted games there are. I know for a fact that he’s been cheating his ass off for years.”
“Probably because Kurt is laundering a ton of dirty money.” Nash had no intention of lowering the weapon any time soon. Nothing Logan had said so far reassured him.
“I want him shut down.” Logan’s hand dropped and shoved into the front pocket of his jeans.
“I want him out of Vegas. I want him out of my way.” His right hand rose, and he gripped a key between his thumb and index finger.
“This is to a storage unit on the outskirts of town. You’ll find plenty of my… surveillance work inside.”
“And you think your surveillance is better than mine?” Better than the CIA’s?
“I think I may have access to info that you don’t.” A smirk. “And I think you’ll go look to see what’s waiting for you. Curiosity is a dangerous beast, isn’t she?” He gave the address of the storage unit without batting an eyelash.
Still gripping the gun with one hand, Nash’s other hand swiped the key. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to pass this along to the right individuals.”
“Right ones. Wrong ones. Whatever works.” Logan’s attention had shifted back to Delaney. “Do you have a thing for bad guys?”
“No.” An immediate reply from Delaney.
“Sure about that? You were marrying the worst of the worst. Thought you might go for that killer edge. Then I heard you left Kurt holding his own balls at the altar.” His eyes gleamed. “That shit made me laugh for hours, just so you know.”
“He wasn’t holding his balls.” Prim. She sniffed.
“He was flat on his ass,” Nash supplied. “Went down without a fight.”