Chapter 23
I don’t know what the hell happened in that car, but from the minute we got out of it, Rio hasn’t let go of my hand.
Something shifted.
He made it clear where he stands, but right now, we feel so… together. I don’t know if I’m foolish to believe that, if I’m leading with my heart for the first time in my life, but the way he hasn’t let go of me makes it hard not to.
He brought us to a hotel in the middle of nowhere, a small boutique place, but that’s still very Rio-lux.
At first, it felt like a better option than going back to Monarch Hills.
In some ways, Monarch Hills is safer, with guards, gates, and people everywhere.
But I don’t want to bring trouble to their doorstep.
Whether I like it or not, I’ve started to care about the people behind those gates, and the thought that my dad—or Luther—might bring violence into a place that feels that peaceful makes my chest ache.
So yes, the hotel is a good idea for now.
Until we reached the door.
One keycard.
He taps it against the reader. It beeps. “Sorry,” he says, glancing back at me. “It was last minute. This was all they had.” He pushes the door open and steps inside.
I follow him in and clock only one bed. “I mean… beggars can’t be choosers, right?” The words come out lighter than I feel.
All my attention is on the massive California king, dressed in crisp white sheets, taking up the center of the room.
I know we already kind of did it. We just got each other off in his car, but this… this feels different. More intimate. More of a situationship than a situation.
For the first time in my life, I’m standing with a man and thinking this might not just be physical. That thought alone is enough to make me uneasy. I’ve never been with anyone before, and now my heart decides to choose someone I can’t have?
Rio shrugs out of his jacket, loosens his tie, and drops into the velvet armchair. His phone is in his hand before I’ve even taken a second step into the room. He taps the screen. It rings once.
“Yeah, David. Sorry to call you at an ungodly hour.”
His tone is calm. Too calm.
“I’m opening up full access. I need more. Faster.”
A pause on the other end, and then he leans forward slightly, forearms braced on his thighs, his voice lowering just enough that I have to listen for it.
“I know you’ve found threads to Iron Covenant,” he says, “But check out Black Ridge, too.”
Black Ridge? Is Rio crossing that line? Pulling Luther into this puts a target on his back bigger than the one I’ve drawn with that blackmail.
If Luther is found to be part of trafficking, or in on any of the deals my dad has, he could throw Rio under the bus as part of a plea bargain. He could expose him purely out of spite.
Rio answers to something David says. “Yeah, your new access will help with those blind spots.”
He goes still after that, listening and responding, and I don’t understand all of it—not the systems he’s talking about, not what “full access” really means—but I understand enough.
This isn’t him containing the situation. This is him stepping into it.
For me.
“Listen, David, I know this is a lot to ask, but I need more by tomorrow. We need a location for the women now. A witness has come forward, so we could start petitioning for a warrant, but we need more. Any dirt you find is gold dust right now.”
Rio pauses for a beat. “Local jurisdiction isn’t your problem. Your role is getting us the data points so we can put together a dossier. Can I count on you? I need something tangible tomorrow.”
David clearly wants to please his boss because Rio responds, “Great. Thank you.”
When Rio hangs up, he scrubs a hand down his face and lets out a sigh in a tone I never would have expected from this man the first day I met him.
“You’ve given David full access?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. I just heard it.
Rio doesn’t look at me. “Yes.”
Is what happened back at the hotel what pushed him to move more quickly?
Luther found me. With Rio. This is bad. Really, really bad.
I want to run and get as far away from being drawn back into that world but I can’t…
leave him. I led Luther right to his doorstep and gave him even more to hold over Rio’s head.
And still, he presses on to find Beatriz and Isabel. He protects me here, in this luxurious hotel room. He immediately left the venue when I asked him. No questions asked.
It’s starting to look as though he cares about me as much as I do him. But maybe this is actually just about the women?
I study him for a second, then press. “I guess Luther finding me is the pressure you needed. To find the women. To get me out of your hair.”
I’m fishing. I know I am. It shouldn’t matter if he cares about me. I need out of here more than ever, and taking Rio with me, as if he’d ever leave, isn’t possible. But still, my heart wants to know.
He glances up at me, those eyes of his filled with questions of his own. “I know you need to leave. I’ll make sure you get that.”
Do I want to leave?
I thought in my new life, I would finally get what I want but it turns out that’s not true.
I want Rio.
And by the way he concentrates on the floor right now, his shoulders tense, fingers crossed together in faraway thoughts, maybe he’s feeling the impossibility, too.
“Rio, I understand what this is costing you. The risk of finding them. I’m… I’m very grateful.”
“It’s the right thing to do,” he says, not lifting his gaze from that poor spot on the floor. “We’ll find them, Delilah. I’ll figure this out. Trust me.”
I do trust him.
That’s the worst and the best part about all of this.
It’s the best because I truly believe one day, Rio will liberate those women and put my dad behind bars. But this feeling, this trust, I only wish I didn’t have to leave it behind.
When I first came to Rio, I don’t think I fully understood just how impossible this situation was for him. I stare at him now as he looks across the room, lost in his thoughts and for the first time, I worry about him.
He’s not the man I thought deserved my hate. Well, some of him is. He is controlling, dangerous, intelligent, and probably ruthless in many ways. But he’s also caring, loyal, fierce… and a really good dancer. I really don’t hate him at all. Just the opposite.
I slip off my heels, the soft carpet grounding me as I cross the room. He doesn’t move, doesn’t seem to notice me until I’m right in front of him.
And then I lower myself into his lap.
At first, surprise flickers across his face but soon he wraps his hand around my lower back. I drape my arm across his broad shoulders.
“Are you okay?” I ask, considering every crease between his furrowed eyebrows and the seriousness swimming in his deep brown gaze.
“I’m always okay, Princess.”
The corner of his mouth tilts, but I know that look. I’ve worn it myself a thousand times.
“I don’t believe you.”
A rough laugh leaves him, his hand settling against my thigh. “I’ll find them and get you out of here.”
Is that all he thinks I want? Is that all he wants?
I swallow down the questions. He’s been good to me and the man needs someone to care for him in return right now.
I run my fingers through his thick, dark hair. “But how are you going to get out of this?” The question catches slightly on the way out. “You’re not thinking about that?”
“I can’t worry about that right now,” he says simply.
“They’ve come for you. I know you won’t leave without finding Beatriz and Isabel, and now that I know about them, I can’t leave them out there either.
So we take it one step at a time. Find the women.
Build the case against Marcus and anyone tied to Iron Covenant. And then…”
“Hopefully it’s just my dad,” I finish quietly. “If Luther isn’t arrested, you can at least deal with him separately. Control it.”
The words are meant to reassure.
They don’t, because the moves are Luther’s to make. No amount of planning can change what Luther plans to do with the man his father kept on a leash.
An honest silence stretches between us.
My eyes sting. It’s so unfair. Why are good people paying the price for any of this? Rio made mistakes when he was younger, but he and GhostEye have atoned. He’s probably saved thousands more people than were ever hurt by petty thugs like there were at Black Ridge in his day.
I’m making excuses for him now.
Jesus, I’m in deep.
“Rio,” I murmur. “I get that you’re on the verge of throwing your life away here.”
His jaw tics. “I’d rather not think of it that way.”
I cup his cheek. “I don’t want you to feel like it’s for nothing.”
Rio tilts my chin up. “Princess, you aren’t nothing–”
He gazes at me like an innocent, as if I’m not the things I’ve been made to believe I am.
He brushes his thumb across my lip. “–you’re everything.”
Why did he have to say that? How can I ever leave now? I have to save him, too. There’s got to be a way.
One single, stupid tear streams down my cheek. He brushes it away with his thumb.
“Come here.” He pulls me against his chest, his arms wrap around me.
For a second, everything settles.
He kisses my hair. “It’s been a long night.”
Before I can respond, he shifts, one arm sliding under my knees, the other braced at my back, and lifts me easily from the chair. There’s nothing showy about it when he carries me to the bed and sets me down gently. He tugs the blankets up around me, the movement practical, almost automatic.
He picks up the concierge phone. “I’ll get toiletries sent up—”
“Just—” I stop him. “Come here.”
He pauses, then hangs up the phone without another word and crosses back to the bed. He sits on the edge beside me, close enough that I can feel the heat of him. The back of his fingers brushes a strand of hair from my cheek, unexpectedly gentle.
Don’t think about where this is going, Delilah.
Don’t think about what happens after this.
Seize the moment you have or you’ll regret it.
I take his hand in mine.