to mine I felt him nod. I hoped that meant he agreed. I was being stupid, nothing good was going to come from our time together. It would only lead to my heart being shattered.
But I’d take the broken heart for a few more days with Gabe.
Chapter 15
I was standing in a room full of co-workers. The video Delilah Watts had sent Garrett was playing on the wall-mounted screen in the conference room. I should’ve been paying attention to the grainy, black and white security footage yet my head was full of Evette, and not her reaction to seeing the man who had held a gun to her head.
No, my dumb ass couldn’t stop thinking about my colossal fuck-up—my idiotic confession. Why in the actual hell did I feel compelled to tell Evette about my past? When a few hours ago I’d been certain I’d never tell her.
The fuck of it was when I told her, I saw no pity. There was nothing but understanding behind her pretty brown eyes. That wreaked havoc on my resolve and I almost told her more. Thankfully, I stopped myself before I dug my hole any deeper.
“You’re sure?” Garrett’s voice jolted me from my thoughts.
I tore my gaze from the screen and focused on Evette.
She nodded then verbally added, “Yeah. Positive. That’s what he was wearing. I remember that gold chain.”
I glanced back at the frozen image on the screen. A man dressed all in black, average height and build. We couldn’t get a read on hair color, just that it was dark.
“Delilah has to be in Riverton,” Owen said. “She must have walked the streets around Evette’s apartment building noting all the security cameras.”
“Agreed.” Garrett tapped his keyboard and the screen on the wall split, bringing up footage he’d obtained from a convenience store across the street from Evette’s building. “This is all I have. No other businesses on Evette’s block have cameras.”
What Garrett had was a man dressed in black entering Evette’s building, head tipped down, face obscured. He had the same footage of the man exiting.
“So, Delilah went to California and cased the area,” Cooper added. “She walked around, found all the cameras, and what? Hacked them all and got lucky finding this?”
“She didn’t get on a plane,” Garrett countered. “I checked all the flights. My guess is she drove.”
“Why would she do that?”
And fuck me, Evette looked hopeful. She wanted to believe this Delilah woman was on her side. But I wasn’t ready to commit to that theory. Something was off.
“Or she could’ve helped plan the whole thing, told him where to park, and planted a camera,” I interjected.
“Seriously, Gabe?” Evette complained.
“Coop has it right, she got lucky, and I don’t trust luck.”
“Evette should reach out to Delilah,” Zane announced.
A nasty feeling started to twist in my gut, not liking where my boss’s line of thought was leading. I knew Zane Lewis. He would never put Evette in direct danger but he’d skirt the line.
“What do you want me to say?”
There it was—Evette was on board.
That nasty feeling twisted again. I had to shut this shit down before Evette jumped at the chance to draw Delilah out.
Who the hell was I kidding? Evette already had both feet in the air anxious to do her part.
“Delilah knows you’re with us—”
“Or she doesn’t,” I cut Zane off. “And the woman’s fishing. It wouldn’t be hard for Delilah to find the plane ticket Evette bought. She used her credit card and real name to fly. A quick search would also find Evette’s connection to Anaya. Anaya would lead to Kyle. Kyle to Z Corps. While it’s a safe bet to assume Evette would come to us for help, it’s still an assumption. Now you’re asking Evette to confirm she’s with us or at least in contact with us.”
Zane leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed, eyes narrowed and assessing. He could stare me down all he liked, I was used to it, it was a signature look for my boss. What I didn’t like was the smirk that was forming.
“So Delilah doesn’t know.” Zane shrugged. “And Evette reaches out, confirms she’s with us, and we draw them—”
“No.”
Zane’s smirk grew into a wide smile.
“What? It’s a perfectly sound plan. Evette has protection, all she needs to do is dangle something in front of Delilah and if she takes the bait and sends an assassin we’ll know where Delilah stands. The added benefit to that is one of you gets to take out a