Page 80 of His Ruthless Match

“I’m not bailing on you, Genevieve,” I said. “But I need you to work with me. If anything feels off, you tell me. Immediately. No hiding things or hoping it’ll blow over. We can’t afford that.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“I want to know exactly where you are. What hotel, what room number. And you’re not to leave, do you understand? I’m going to hire new bodyguards for you, and they’ll report directly to me. One of them will be posted outside your room at all times.”

“Okay,” she whispered, her voice small and fragile. “Okay. I’ll do whatever you say.”

Something about this didn’t add up, and I needed to figure out what it was. For now, though, I’d have to take her at her word.

“Send me the details,” I said finally. “And don’t make me regret this, Genevieve.”

“I won’t. Thank you, Eva. Thank you.”

Jareth burst through the door like a damn hurricane, nearly scaring the life out of me. My heart leapt into my throat as I spun around, still clutching my phone. “Jareth! What the hell?”

He was in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, his hair sticking out in every direction like he’d been in a fight with a windstorm. His eyes were wild, darting around the room before locking onto me.

“Here you are,” he growled. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I woke up and couldn’t find you. Not fucking cool, Delgado. You almost gave me a stroke.”

My pulse was still racing, but I held up my hand. “I’m on the phone, Jareth. Chill.”

“Chill?” His hands raked through his hair, and he started pacing like a caged animal. “You disappeared. After last night—” He cursed under his breath. “Never mind. Just don’t do that again.”

I turned back to my phone, barely able to focus on Genevieve’s sobs still trickling through the line. “Genevieve, I have to go. Send me those details. I’ll be in touch soon, okay?”

She sniffled. “Okay.”

Jareth was still pacing, his shoulders tense, his muscles flexing with every movement. Damn him. Why did he have to look so good when he was irritated? Memories of last night flashed through my mind uninvited—his lips, his hands, his body pressed against mine. Heat rushed to my face, and I had to look away before he noticed.

Focus, Eva. Get it together.

I focused on my phone again and sent a quick text to Gabe, telling him to assign his best men to protect Genevieve. I added that I’d send the hotel address shortly and demanded someone be posted at her door at all times.

When I looked up, Jareth was trying to smooth down his hair. It wasn’t working. He looked like a nervous wreck.

“Jareth,” I started cautiously, “I think we should talk about what happened last night.”

He stopped dead in his tracks and held up a hand. “Nope. No time for that.” His tone was clipped, but I heard the unsteadiness in it. “As much as I’d love to evaluate and analyze last night from all angles—and trust me, I meanall angles—we don’t have time.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Your brother called. He wants us at his estate. Immediately. And when he saysimmediately, he means yesterday.”

“Why?” The question escaped before I could stop it, though I knew it was pointless to ask. Raffaele never explained himself unless he wanted to.

“I don’t know. But he sounded pissed.”

A knot formed in my stomach. I clenched my hands to keep them from shaking. “You don’t think…” My voice trailed off as panic set in. “You don’t think he knows about?—”

“No!” Jareth snapped, but the flicker of doubt in his eyes betrayed him. “There’s no way. He can’t possibly…” He rubbed his jaw. “Shit. What if he does?”

“If he knows, Jareth…”

“I’m dead.” His voice was grim, his pacing more frantic now. “Dead. Do you understand, Eva? I’ll be six feet under, courtesy of your brother. Because not only did we cross the line, we obliterated it. We ran past it so far, it’s a dot on the horizon.”

“Calm down,” I said, though I wasn’t feeling very calm myself. “You’re spiraling.”

“Spiraling?” He let out a humorless laugh, throwing his arms up. “Eva, we aremilespast the line. The Shadow is going to kill me. He’s going to fucking kill me.”