Erik’s eyes turned hard.
Ryan interjected before the man could respond. “Could we get back to my question? How did Nate plan to raise the twenty million?”
“Nate is a Shelton. He has friends. Connections. Only, it was more difficult than he could have expected. The option was about to expire, and he didn’t have anywhere near what he needed.
“And Smith would lose ten million dollars. A loss like that was not something Smith and the people he answered to would just write off.”
“So Nate faked his death and went into hiding.” Ryan cut to the end of the story.
Erik nodded. “Nate figured if he died in an everyday car accident, Smith wouldn’t have cause to be suspicious.” Erik shrugged. “Car accidents happen every day.”
“But Smith didn’t buy it?” Ryan said.
“It seemed like he had. But then Nadia told me about the men at her apartment and the fire at the hotel. Even then I wasn’t sure if any of this had to do with Smith until...” Erik’s voice trailed off.
Ryan could guess where this part of the story was headed.
“Until what?” Nadia looked from her uncle to Ryan, confusion clouding her eyes.
“Until Andrei Ledebev showed up at Nate’s apartment while your uncle was there,” Ryan answered for Erik. It was a shot in the dark, but it made sense that Erik could have been staying over at the apartment on the night Andrei broke in.
Erik’s gaze pleaded. “It was self-defense. He attacked me. I had no choice.”
Nate’s apartment was probably one of the worst places for Erik to have used for his overnight stays in New York under the circumstances. As soon as Smith realized Nate was alive, he’d have scoured the city real-estate records for other properties in Nadia’s or Erik’s name looking for Nate.
Nadia covered her mouth with her hand, the color fading from her face.
He hoped she wasn’t about to be sick. He needed her to hold on for a little while longer. Then he’d get her somewhere safe and bring Nate in. After that, he wasn’t sure what would happen. The best thing for Nadia would be if he turned Nate over to Smith, but Ryan was sure Nadia would object, and it would sign the man’s death warrant. No matter what Nate had done, Ryan wouldn’t aid cold-blooded murder. But first things first.
Ryan locked eyes with Erik. “Where’s Nate?”
The older man looked ready to argue for a moment before all the fight seemed to be expelled right out of him like air from a balloon.
“I don’t know.” Erik’s gaze listed left.
Nadia surged to her feet. “Enough lies, Uncle Erik,” she said, slamming her hand on his desk. Ryan rose to stand beside her.
Erik started, his chair rolling away from his desk. “I don’t know for sure. But he calls me weekly, just so I know he’s okay.”
“What’s the number?”
Erik shook his head. “It’s always a different number.”
“So you never call him?” Ryan asked.
“I’ve called him a few times. Always on the last number he used to call me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I called Nate yesterday to tell him about the note Nadia received at her office asking about him.”
“Give me the number you used to call him.” Ryan took a pen from a holder and tossed it on the desk in front of the man.
Erik puckered his lips but picked up his phone, scrolled for a moment, then scribbled a number on a sticky note.
“What else can you tell us?” Ryan asked.
“Nothing.” Erik held up his hands. “Nate has to be careful. I get the feeling he moves around a lot. The phone numbers he calls from usually have different area codes.”
That meant very little these days, with easily acquired burner phones and numbers, but he didn’t mention that to Erik.
“Nate’s never said anything about his location?” Nadia asked.
Erik hesitated.
“Uncle Erik, Smith knows Nate is alive. The only chance he has is if we find him and he goes to the police.”
“I really don’t know where Nate is. Not for sure. But a while back he complained about his boss. Some disagreement, I can’t remember over what, but it doesn’t matter. His boss shut him down and said something like ‘It’s the way it’s always been done at the Delaney, and it’s the way it always will be done’.”
Nadia gripped Ryan’s arm. “The Delaney Hotel? In Atlanta?” Her voice rose in excitement.
Erik looked as if he’d aged a decade since they’d walked into his office. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if he referred to a hotel, but that’s what I assumed.”
Ryan pulled up the website for the Delaney Hotel on his phone. “It’s a place to start. One more thing before we leave. How did you get those injuries?”
Erik hesitated. “I was in a car accident.”
Erik didn’t meet Ryan’s eyes when he spoke, but Ryan didn’t let his gaze leave the man’s face. He was already sure he knew the answer, but he wanted to see the older man’s reaction to the question. “It won’t be difficult to find out where you were yesterday.”
Silence hung in the room for several long minutes.
“Uncle Erik?”
Erik raised his head, his eyes watering as he looked at his niece. “I just wanted to keep you from going to Northpath.”
Nadia gasped and reached for Ryan. “You forced us off the road.”
“When you left that message saying you were going to Northpath to talk to the sheriff, I panicked. The sheriff was suspicious from the beginning. I couldn’t let her put those ideas in your head.”
Tears rolled down Nadia’s cheeks as she stood up. She speared her uncle with a look of contempt before turning her back to him and starting for the door.
Ryan followed suit.
“You may not believe this,” Erik called out, “but your brother and I love you. We did this to protect you.”
Nadia turned back to her uncle. “No, he didn’t. His ego got him into this mess, and now his cowardice could get me killed.”
Nadia didn’t wait for her uncle’s response before striding from the room.
Ryan followed, unclenching his fists. He would have liked to have had a private chat with Erik, but he didn’t have the time to make the man understand how foolish it was to have tried to fake Nate’s death. Or how deeply he and Nate had hurt Nadia in doing so.
“I need to head to my office to put together a game plan for bringing Nate back to New York,” Ryan said once they were back in the car.
Nadia nodded. “Whatever you think is best.”
“I’m glad you said that, because I think you should stay here while I go to Atlanta.”
Nadia shook her head. “I told you I didn’t want to be left out.”
“I’m not leaving you out. But we don’t know what we’re walking into. We can’t call Nate and tell him we’re coming. He’s bound to be on edge since he’s on the run. It’s too dangerous to take you.”
She pushed her shoulders back. “I. Am. Going. With you.”
He shook his head, his jaw clenching.
“Nate won’t know you’re coming. Who knows how he’ll react? If I’m there, he’ll know you aren’t working for Smith.”
He could see her point, but his every instinct told him she should stay in New York.
“Nate’s safety isn’t my primary concern. Yours is.”
Nadia’s gaze was unreadable. “I’m concerned about Nate’s safety.”
After everything her brother had put her through, she still put him before herself. It was why he loved her.
He loved her.
Despite all the reasons he shouldn’t, didn’t even want to, he did.
“Please.” Nadia’s voice broke through his thoughts.
They still had most of the forty-eight hours Smith had given them to find Nate. But
they couldn’t be sure Nate was still in Atlanta or if he had even truly been there in the first place. Flying down there could end up being wasted time, but they had nothing else to go on.
Ryan navigated them through city traffic. “Okay. But you do what I say. I’m not taking any chances with your safety.”
Nadia reached over the console between them and took his free hand. “Thank you.”
While he drove them to the safe house, she called Olivia to let her know that they wouldn’t be back to the hotel today.
When they arrived, he ran his usual check of the premises, making sure the windows and doors were locked. Then he did what he’d been aching to do since they’d left Erik Jackson’s office. He pulled Nadia into his arms.
She stiffened for a millisecond before sliding her arms around his waist and burying her face in his neck. They stood that way for several minutes, her hot tears soaking his collar before Nadia stepped back out of his arms.
“I’m sorry.” A rueful laugh slipped from her lips. “I’ve been pushed into oncoming traffic, chased by madmen and shot at all within a week, and then I fall apart when I get good news. Nate’s alive. I should be ecstatic.”
He kissed her forehead before placing a light kiss on her lips. “You’ve had a lot thrown at you. It will take some time to process it all. Until then, you feel how you feel.”
“I’m going to lie down.” She turned away, but stopped and turned back before disappearing down the hall. “When will we leave for Atlanta?”
“I’ve got to coordinate some things with Shawn, but this evening.”
She nodded. “I’ll be ready.” Nadia headed to the bedroom before facing him again. “Thank you.”
The bedroom door clicked shut.
He didn’t want to go chasing after Nate. He wanted to wrap Nadia in his arms and spirit her away from all this madness for good.
That wasn’t an option right now, but soon. He’d do his best to get her brother out of the mess he’d gotten himself into, but getting Nate back to New York was only one piece of the puzzle. Getting him clear of Smith would be infinitely harder.
And when this was all over and Nadia was safe, he’d tell her how he felt. Because he knew now that this wasn’t just a passing infatuation spurred by the intensity of their situation.
It was the real deal.
Chapter Fourteen
Ryan tried the number Erik gave him for Nate, but the call went directly to voice mail. Nate Shelton wasn’t a stupid man. Even burners had GPS nowadays so their users could use mapping and directional apps. That meant that the phones could be tracked, even though it was much more difficult to track burners than standard phones since they weren’t associated with contracted carriers. Lucky for them, West Security did the impossible every day.
He made reservations for them at the Delaney. They’d probably get there too late to talk to many of the staff, but he’d booked a suite for two nights so they’d have a legitimate reason to be at the hotel all day tomorrow. Given the time crunch, he hoped they wouldn’t need to stay the second night.
Ryan let Nadia sleep for as long as he could, waking her when there was a little more than an hour to get to the airport. She’d showered, packed and was ready to go fifty minutes later. He drove them to a private airstrip in the Bronx.
A dark blue sky hung overhead as he drove into the airport, though the tarmac was amply lit. Nadia’s eyes grew wide as Ryan pulled to a stop beside a sleek white jet idling in front of one of the hangars, its steps already lowered.
They got out of the car and moved to the trunk.
Nadia looked from the plane to Ryan. “Does every security firm have a private jet on standby?”
He smiled, lifting his bag onto his shoulder. “The plane is a loan. A while back we rescued a wealthy client’s son from a group of kidnappers. The client was appreciative and offered his plane if we ever needed it.”
“You called in a favor for me?”
If he counted the IOUs he owed his brothers, he’d already traded several favors helping her find Nate. He’d call in a hundred more if it would keep her safe, but now wasn’t the time to get into that. He simply answered “Yes.”
Nadia touched his arm, sending a tingle through him. “Thank you.”
His eyes locked on hers, and despite the time and place, the urge to tell her how he felt overwhelmed him. “Nadia, I’d do—”
“Mr. West?” A thin woman in a dark blue suit, white shirt and practical pumps approached from the hangar. “We’re ready to board you and your guest now.”
The woman made a sweeping gesture toward the plane, her practiced smile fixed in place.
He held Nadia’s gaze for several seconds then swung her bag from the trunk and followed her to the plane.
It wasn’t the first time West Security had borrowed a plane from this particular client, but since the client owned at least three private jets that Ryan knew of, he wasn’t surprised to realize he’d never flown on this plane before. Custom cherry woodwork and beige leather seats as soft as butter greeted them along with the flight attendant. Traveling the world by private plane was a life many people dreamed of having. Ryan thought back to the crisis that had brought his client to West Security. The maxim Be careful what you wish for sprang to mind.
He and Nadia settled in, and the pilot had them in the air quickly.
Once they reached their cruising altitude and the attendant deemed it safe, he tried calling the number that Erik had given them for Nate again. The call went straight to voice mail, and Ryan hung up without leaving a message.
He leaned his head back on the seat, intending to take a moment or two to just relax. He awoke with a start as the plane bounced along a patch of turbulence. A glance at his watch told him he’d slept for nearly an hour and a half. He’d intended to work for most of the three-hour flight, but he’d obviously needed the sleep more.
Ryan looked across the aisle to where Nadia sat on the leather couch across from his seat, looking out of the window at the passing clouds.
“You’re awake.” She turned to him, a half smile on her face.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. You must be exhausted.”
“I’d planned to work on the flight, but I did research the Delaney Hotel before we left. Given your industry experience, you could probably tell me more about the place than I learned, though. It’s an icon, according to the internet.”
Nadia’s half smile turned full. “It is. It was built in the 1920s—I can’t remember the exact year—and for a long time, if you were somebody and visiting Atlanta, you stayed at the Delaney.”
“And now?”
“Times changed. The family that owned it sold, and the brand lost its luster. And then the Great Depression hit.” Nadia shrugged.
“But the hotel survived.”
“It did. One of the big international chains eventually purchased it.”
Ryan raised a brow. “Aurora?”
His heart buoyed at her laugh. “Mike wishes.” She named one of the other well-known hotel chains.
“I’m sure you’ll find the building fascinating with your background in art. It’s on the historic register, and the brand’s been repositioned to appeal to guests who’ll pay a premium for the architecture and historic charm.”
A premium was an understatement. The room he’d booked had not been cheap.
“You know, we can’t be sure that Nate is still at the Delaney or if he ever was. Uncle Erik could have heard him wrong, or it could be another hotel named Delaney.”
Ryan studied her. He saw a woman conflicted. She wanted to find Nate, but finding him wouldn’t solve her problems. In some ways, it made them even worse. Smith had forced her into a position where she had to choose her brother’s safety or her own. Could she do to Nate what he’d, however unintentionally, done to her?
If it came down to it, could she sacrifice Nate to save herself?
“We don’t, but it makes some sense that Nate would start over in Atlanta,” Ryan said. “There’s a family tie, even if he can’t reach out to the family, and he’s somewhat familiar with the city from your childhood trips. It’s also a big enough city that he can blend right in. And with his knowledge of the hospitality industry, it makes sense he’d get a job at a hotel.”
Nadia didn’t look convinced.
He unbuckled his seat belt and moved to the couch where Nadia sat. “Hey.” He took her hand in his. “We’ll check in, get a good night’s sleep and hit the ground running. Who knows, by this time tomorrow we could be back in New York with Nate.”
Nadia’s eyes locked with his. “Then what?”
He didn’t have an answer for that, at least not one she’d want to hear. He pulled her close, and she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I don’t know if I’ve said it before, but thank you.” She didn’t lift her head as she spoke. “I don’t think I could have made it through all this without you and Shawn and West helping me.”
He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met. You’d have done fine if you’d had to go it alone, but you should know that you never have to. I’ll always be here for you.”
They sat that way, with Nadia’s head on his shoulder and his arms around her, until they landed.
* * *
IT WAS LATE by the time they arrived and checked in at the Delaney. Ryan had booked a suite, but this one didn’t have two separate bedrooms like the suite in Richmond. Not wanting to be presumptuous or place any pressure on Nadia, he’d intended to bunk on the couch. Not that he’d planned to get much sleep at all. He wanted to do more research before morning and maybe take a tour of the hotel to see if he couldn’t find a staff member or two willing to talk to him.
But by the time he and Nadia had eaten their room-service dinner, they were both exhausted. Nadia quickly disabused him of the notion of sleeping on the couch, and they fell into bed, wrapped around each other.
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