“The owner of the Grand MD. The same man you and Driskell are trying to shake down.”
Anger raced through all parts of Nash. “Madaris? It was a setup and you didn’t warn us?” he roared.
“I couldn’t. Like I said, Gause is watching everyone like a hawk. Besides, I thought you and your people were too smart to get conned.”
Furious, Nash clicked off the phone, deciding to call Driskell. There was no way the man could have known their talk with Madaris had been part of a sting operation.
A sudden thought came into Nash’s mind, and before he punched in Driskell’s number he disconnected the call. Driskell was already pissed. He would only see the setup with Madaris as another screw-up on Nash’s part. Nash was supposed to be on top of things, and Driskell would wonder why Nash hadn’t known that the woman who’d tipped off the police was now married to the owner of the hotel they wanted to add to their ring.
Nash rubbed his hand down his face. Come to think of it, Madaris had asked questions, as if he were considering the idea, but he had wanted specific information about the operations. And in his eagerness to get the Grand MD, Driskell had let his guard down and said more than he needed to. If that meeting had been recorded they were in a world of trouble.
Maybe he needed to do what Ackerman had suggested and set up a new identity, leave the country, but he couldn’t do that yet. Nobody made a fool of him and got away with it. Now he had more than one person to get rid of. Not only would he get rid of the woman, but he would get rid of Madaris as well.
He pulled up the contact list on his phone. It contained several names of those in their network who could assist him in carrying out his plan. Names of people already in place working at the hotel.
* * *
Lee couldn’t wait until morning. As soon as he was certain Carly had gone back to sleep, he slipped from the bed. Closing the bedroom door behind him, he went into the kitchen and called Jake.
“Hello?”
“Uncle Jake, this is Lee. Sorry to call so late but I need your help.”
“You got it. Are you okay, Lee?”
He heard the concern in his uncle’s tone and knew Alex had kept Jake informed.
“Yes, I’m fine. But I do have a favor to ask.”
“What?”
“I want to send my wife to you. I need you to keep her safe until I come for her.”
“So it’s true? You did get married? Alex mentioned you had.”
“Yes, a couple of weeks ago, here in Vegas. I wanted to keep it a secret from everyone until I brought her home for Christmas. She was going to be my holiday surprise, but now the only thing I want is to make sure she’s protected.”
“Send her to Whispering Pines and Diamond and I will take care of her. Don’t worry about a thing. Just take care of yourself.”
“I will. Knowing she’s with you and Diamond will take a load off my mind.”
“And just so you know, my jet is on its way there.”
Lee lifted a brow. “It is?”
“Yes. Alex felt he needed to be there, and Trevor, Ashton, Sir Drake and Tori decided to tag along.”
With Carly safely out of harm’s way and Alex and the gang on their way, he felt better about the situation.
“What’s your wife’s name?” Jake asked, interrupting Lee’s thoughts.
“Carly.”
“Well, you can send Carly back on my jet. I’ll be there to meet it when it arrives at the airport.”
“Thanks, Uncle Jake.”
A short while later, when Lee slid back into bed beside Carly, she automatically shifted to snuggle closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and then closed his eyes to join her in sleep.
* * *
“Nash knocked off Grassley,” Weber reported back to Bracey.
Bracey wasn’t surprised. He adjusted his cell phone to his ear. “Where is Nash now?”
“I lost him in traffic. I think he knows he’s being followed.”
Bracey nodded. “Okay, just keep your eye out for the woman. You have her address, right?”
“Yes. I’m there now, but it doesn’t appear that she came home last night.”
“She has to come home eventually, so you just stay put. I’ll take care of Nash.”
After clicking off the phone with Weber, Bracey left his hotel room.
* * *
“But, Lee, I need to go home and pack. I can’t go to Texas with just the clothes on my back.” Carly had used his laundry room to wash and dry the clothes she had worn yesterday. However, she wanted to go home and get her things before leaving for the airport.
“I put in a call to Gause and he wants you to stay put until he sends one of his men to escort us to your place,” Lee said.
“Us?”
“Yes, us.”
“Don’t you have work to do today?” she asked, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Not until after I have put you on Uncle Jake’s jet to Texas.”
At that moment his hotel room phone went off. “Yes, what is it, Phyllis?” he asked, placing the call on speaker.
“Mr. Madaris, just a reminder that you have a conference call scheduled this morning with sheiks Valdemon and Yasir and Mr. Garwood.”
Lee rubbed a hand down his face. He had completely forgotten about that call. “I’m going to have to cancel that conference call, Phyllis.”
Carly reached over to press the mute button on the phone. “Don’t you dare cancel, Lee. You mentioned the conference call last week in Dubai and how important it was to talk to your new investors. Keep your conference call. I’ll be fine here until you get back.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she countered. “I promise not to answer the door for anyone. Besides, I need to call Heather, so I’ll probably be talking to her the entire time you’re gone.”
“Mr. Madaris? Mr. Madaris? Are you still there?”
He took Phyllis off mute. “Yes, I’m here.” He saw the stubborn look on Carly’s face. “Okay, Phyllis. Set everything up. I’m on my way.”
He hung up the phone. “Okay, I’ll do the conference call, but I don’t care who comes to the door. Don’t open it for anyone.”
“All right. All right. And what about the elevator?”
“You don’t have to worry about it. No one can get in here without a key card and there’s only two. You have one, and I have the other.”
She nodded. “Before you leave do I get a kiss?”
“Most certainly.” He pulled her into his arms and set her aflame.
* * *
Nash walked up to the woman at the hotel’s front desk.
“Yes, sir? May I help you?”
He looked at the name on the pin she wore on her jacket. “Yes, you can help me, Helen.” Then in a low voice, he said, “I believe you received a call earlier with instructions about what I would need.”
She nodded and then pulled an envelope out of a drawer. After she handed it to him, she said, “Have a nice day. I hope you enjoy your stay at the Grand MD.”
He held her gaze, gave her a nod and said, “I’m sure I will.”
He crossed the lobby floor. After rounding a corner, he paused and tore open the envelope to pull out the elevator key card for the penthouse suites. Specifically the one owned by Lee Madaris. He smiled as he headed to the elevator bank.
* * *
“Are you sure that you’re okay?”
Carly smiled. “Yes, Heather, I’m fine. For Lee’s peace of mind I’ve agreed to go to his uncle’s place in Texas for a while.”
“And this is the uncle who’s married to Diamond Swain, right?”
Carly chuckled. “Yes, that’s him.”
“You lucky person.”
They talked for several more moments when she heard the ding from the elevator. “I hear the elevator, so Lee’s conference call must have ended early.”
“Okay. Call me when you get to Texas and let me know all about the Whispering Pines Ranch. I r
ead it’s a fabulous place.”
“All right. I will. ’Bye.”
“’Bye.”
Carly placed her phone on the table and left the kitchen. The moment she rounded the corner to the dining room she stopped. The man stepping off the elevator was not Lee.
He smiled and said, “So you’re the woman who wants to cause trouble.”
Icy fear twisted a knot in Carly’s chest. She recognized the sound of the man’s voice. She remembered the first time she’d heard it.
Backing up, she glanced around to see where she could run. He had her cornered. The only room she could escape to was the kitchen but there was no door. But she had left her phone on the kitchen table. Maybe she could at least get to it to call 911.
“I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” he threatened, as if he’d read her thoughts. And then she saw the gun he had pointed at her.
“I have no problem killing you right here and now, but I want to make your husband sweat a little before I kill you both,” he said in that voice she remembered so well. Heartless. Cold-blooded. Merciless.
She stopped backing up when she felt the breakfast bar at the curve of her spine. “I don’t know who you are,” she lied. “I think you might be in the wrong room, and—”
“Shut up!” he snapped. “I don’t want to hear your lies. Now come here. You’re going with me, and if you try any funny business, I won’t hesitate to kill you or anyone else who tries to help you. Just remember that. Let’s go.”
* * *
Lee hung up the phone. The conference call had gone well. The investors were all lined up. Now all he had to do was get things started with the property in Paris. He stood, stretched and moved quickly toward the door, missing Carly already. How would he handle it when she was in Texas? How long would she have to be there?
He left his office and walked into the lobby, where Phyllis was sitting at her desk. “Mr. Maxwell called as well as Mr. Gause. Both said they went up to your suite and didn’t get an answer. I believe they were under the impression someone would be there.”
Lee nodded. He’d told Carly not to open the door and she hadn’t. She didn’t know Alex, since she’d never met him, but she had met Gause. For her not to let him in meant she wasn’t trusting anyone.
“I’ll contact both of them to let them know I’m on my way back to my suite and they can join me there now.”
He paused in the hall to send the text messages to Alex and Gause. He then called Carly to let her know he was on his way up. He frowned when his call went to voice mail. Maybe she had gone back to bed. They had made love a good portion of the night. But still, an uneasy feeling made him increase his pace toward the bank of elevators.
“Rushing off to a fire?”
He glanced over his shoulder, then stopped walking and grinned when he saw Alex. “In a way, yes. I just sent you a text.”
“I know. I got it. I understand congratulations are in order.”
“Yes, they are. Come on. I want you to meet Carly,” he said, smiling, as they stepped onto the elevator.
“I can’t wait,” Alex said when the door swooshed shut behind them. “But what I really can’t wait for is when you present her to Mama Laverne. Now, that should be interesting.”
“Trust me, it will be.”
“Now I feel sorry for Nolan,” Alex said. “With you out of the way her attention will be on him.”
“Yeah, and I don’t envy him one bit.”
The elevator door opened into his suite and Lee immediately knew something was wrong. He could feel it. “Carly, we have company,” he called out.
When he didn’t get a response, he went into the bedroom. Everything looked just as he’d left it. He checked the master bathroom as fear crawled up his spine. He then checked the other two guest bedrooms as well as the inside pool and entertainment rooms.
He and Alex met back up in the living room. “I checked the kitchen and she’s not here,” Alex said. “But I found this on your kitchen table.” He handed the cell phone to Lee. “Would she have gone somewhere? Maybe she’s out in the hall.”
“She would not have left this suite and definitely not without her cell phone,” Lee said, but he moved toward the door to check the hall anyway. There were only two rooms on this floor. His and Angelo’s. And they were separated by a huge hallway with a fireplace.
“Where could she be?” Lee asked, coming back into the room. That was when he saw it. A cigarette butt on his kitchen counter.
Rage filled Lee. He pointed at the cigarette butt. “Someone has been here, Alex, and whoever was here has taken Carly.”
Alex had already pulled his phone out of his jacket. He spoke quickly. “Trevor. Round up everyone. Yes, that means you need to pull Sir Drake and Tori out of the casino. Someone has kidnapped Lee’s wife.”
* * *
Bracey made sure he stayed a safe distance behind Nash as he followed the man away from the Strip and toward an isolated area of town. Nash had the woman and he appeared to know just where he was going, which meant he had scoped out the place.
Bracey looked at the clock on his dash. The last thing he needed was for Driskell to get worried, so he decided to make the call. He pulled out his mobile phone and punched in Driskell’s number.
“Bracey?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“I was beginning to get worried.”
“Don’t. I told you I was taking care of things.”
“I know. But a couple of our investors are getting nervous. News about Harrison is dominating the news. The FBI has sworn to bring those responsible to justice. They don’t like that.”
“Then tell them to cut the damn TV off,” Bracey muttered.
“What did you say? I didn’t hear you?” Driskell asked.
“Nothing. When do you meet with Madaris again?”
“I’ll give him a call in a few days, after this thing with Harrison blows over. Right now it’s freaking people out.”
“Well, don’t worry about a thing. I’ve got it all under control.”
“Good. You’re a man I can depend on, Bracey, and I appreciate that.”
Bracey smiled. “I’m glad that you do. I won’t let you down. I promise.”
Chapter 22
In less than thirty minutes, Lee’s suite resembled a command center. The FBI had set up in one part of the penthouse while Alex and his team used the other.
First, the penthouse had been thoroughly checked for fingerprints, and the butt of the cigarette was analyzed. It didn’t take long to conclude that Magnus Nash had been there. The DNA on the cigarette butt was a match. And there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the man had wanted Lee to know his identity, which made everyone wonder just what kind of game he intended to play.
Lee didn’t care about playing games; he wanted his wife back. He couldn’t help worrying about Nash’s sick mind, especially when it appeared that an automobile had been set on fire. Inside, a body had burned to a crisp. Dental records were being checked for the man’s identity, but already the speculation was that he was someone who had crossed Nash. The man had paid the ultimate price.
As for Driskell, the agents keeping an eye on him reported that this morning he’d eaten breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant and was now lying by the pool. Everyone wondered if he even knew what was going on, although his two top men, Nash and Bracey, were both missing.
Lee could feel Alex watching him. He was probably wondering how Lee had managed to marry a woman who turned out to be a star witness in a case against the mob. All of the others in the room—Trevor, Sir Drake and Tori—must be wondering the same thing. Only Ashton, who was leaning against the wall, looked as if he had all the answers. Hell, with his supernatural foretelling ability, he probably did.
“He’s going to play a game with you, Lee.”
Everyone turned to Ashton. He was looking at Lee but not seeing him. It seemed as if Ashton was seeing something beyond the room. “He’s evil. I can block it to a point.”<
br />
Lee lifted a brow. “Block it how?”
A small smile touched Ashton’s features. “Too complicated to explain.”
Lee ran a frustrated hand down his face. “I feel useless, like I let Carly down. I should have stayed here with her and not taken that conference call. I should have—”
“It’s a good thing you weren’t here,” Ashton said. “He would have killed you both.”
Ashton’s words, spoken as bluntly as only Ashton could speak, made Lee jerk.
“I want my wife back alive,” Lee said, feeling the pain of her loss all through his body.
“And you’ll have her back. Alive. I give you my word. I’ve seen your wedding. The one planned for Christmas. Nice, by the way. And the moment your great-grandmother meets your wife...” He lifted a corner of his lips in a smile. “Priceless.”
Lee stared at Ashton. He’d heard about his powers to see the present, the past and the future. Hope flared to life inside of Lee. He had to believe. “Do you know where he’s taken her?”
Ashton shook his head. “Not yet.”
Lee drew in a deep breath. Believing Carly would get rescued took a load off of him. “Thanks.”
Gause knocked on the door before he stuck his head inside. “We know how Nash got in.”
“How?” Lee asked, moving across the bedroom toward the door.
“Helen Pullman. She works the check-in counter. She’s part of the mob’s network. She made a duplicate key for him.”
“Where is she?” Lee asked, getting angry all over again.
“We have her in custody. She’s not talking now, but eventually she will.”
Just then, Lee’s cell phone went off. It was a number he didn’t recognize. He glanced around the room and upon Alex’s nod he quickly answered the call. “Hello.”
“I have your wife, Mr. Madaris.”
Lee swallowed. Everyone had discreetly moved into action. Sir Drake had installed a mobile tracker to pick up where the call was coming from; Alex had set a plotter on all the phones to record incoming and outgoing conversations; Tori was listening for any background noises that could pinpoint the location; and Trevor was studying a map of Vegas, all the empty warehouses and secluded locations. Ashton was standing beside him listening attentively.
A Madaris Bride for Christmas Page 24