Even worse than downstairs.Her knees trembled as she took in the destruction.Everythinghad been destroyed. Family photos of her and her grandfather were smashed. Food from her refrigerator had been thrown on the floor—and the smell reeked. She should have noticed the foul odor sooner. Maybe she had and she’d just ignored it on her way inside. She fought the urge to gag as she stumbled toward the scattered food. “I need to clean up—”
“No.” Remy’s arm wrapped around her stomach, and he pulled Jacqueline back against his body. “Don’t touch a damn thing in here. We’re leaving. I’ll get an analysis team in here, and they can search for prints. Whoever did this—either Preston or the jerks who answer to him—they will pay. After the team is done, I’ll get a clean-up crew out here. You tell me how you want the place to look, and I will make it perfect for you, I swear it.”
She sagged against him. No, no, she couldn’t do that. Couldn’t just shudder and sag. She spun in his arms. “I’m more than mad.”
His dark eyes had narrowed to slits. “So the hell am I.”
“You were right, he did this to hurtme.”
“I’ll make him pay.” A grim promise.
“No,wewill.” She’d run from Preston, and she’d been hunted down. He’d destroyed her home. Her business. Preston thought he was going to destroy her. He thought he’d take everything away from her so that she had nothing left.
He was wrong.
“We need to work on our plan,” she told Remy even as she hated the faint catch in her voice. “Whatever you need me to do, whatever orders you have for me to follow, I won’t hesitate. I can do this. I will.” She might not have his experience or skills when it came to this kind of thing, but she was all in.
“The first step is simple, sweetness. You just have to trust me.”
A soft sigh slipped from her. “That’s easy. I’ve done that from the moment we met.” Blind trust? Maybe. But Remy felt right to her. “You’ve been honest with me all along. Solid. You’ve protected me and helped me, and I am so glad that I found you.”
He looked away from her. “I’m glad you found me, too. If you’d stepped into another bar, who knows what kind of lowlife might have been waiting for you?”
She shuddered. “Maybe someone even worse than Preston. Like that’s possible.”
Remy’s lips pressed together. “Let’s get out of here. We’ll get a hotel room, and I’ll tell you the plan I’ve got spinning around. Be warned, though, you might not like it.”
“If it brings down Preston, I willloveit.” She didn’t let any tears fall as they left. She held her fury tight.You don’t get to destroy me.
Instead, she would destroy Preston.
***
“The next part of our masterplan is simple,” Remy informed her a few hours later as he unlocked the door to what had to be the swankiest hotel room in the city. Top floor. Massive. And costingwaytoo much money, she was sure. “You sleep, you eat, you regroup. This hotel has top-notch security, and Constantine also texted to say he’s coming by to watch over you. You’ll be perfectly safe here.”
He'd just delivered a whole lot of “you” statements. While she was sleeping and eating… “What areyougoing to be doing, Remy?” He needed to sleep, too. And eat.
He sent her a smile that held a hard edge. “I’m going to have a friendly little chat with Preston Guidry.” He put their bags on the floor.
She gaped at him. “You’re not.”
“Oh, but I am. I can do friendly, I assure you. Or, at least, my version of friendly.” His head tilted to the right. “Though by the time I’m done with him, Preston may not agree.”
“You can’t just confront him on your own! You don’t know what he’ll do!”
Remy laughed.Laughed.“Of course, I can. According to Constantine and his many connections, Preston is currently having brunch at his country club. The man is hardly going to get violent with everyone watching. He’ll have an image to maintain in that environment.” Remy tapped his chin. “I, however, will have no image to maintain, so if I feel the urge to get violent, who the hell will stop me?”
Bad plan. Bad. “Remy! No! You can’t—”
“I can. Ever so easily.”
“No, I don’t want you getting hurt! You go in there, and he will have every security guard in the place swarm you.” This was bad. No way could Remy face off against Prestonalone.
The back of Remy’s hand slid over her cheek in a gentle caress. “Ah, sweetness, where is the trust?”
This wasn’t about trust. This was about safety. This was about him not getting attacked.“I don’t want you hurt!”
“I do the hurting. Never fear. I can handle him.”