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Burke stared pointedly at his brother “What Cole is trying to say in his Neanderthal way is that the elder Delgado was a very bad man and that a rival stabbed and killed him behind bars”

“He deserved everything he got The fucker trafficked young women He filled client orders and sold theirls to fulfill male fantasies, made them prostitutes and sex slaves” Cole never flinched

But Jessa did She paled visibly “Oh, od It’s so horrible”

“A single word can’t describe that kind of hell” Cole continued “We got involved because we did some security work for Bezakistan ere Navy SEALs Some extremists kidnapped Sheikh al Mussad, and we rescued him”

“Why? Is he a dictator? How does Delgado coether?”

Burke laughed at the thought “Talib? No He’s not a dictator, and he would never haro into business with Marco Though I will ad fe very happy brides, however Tal and his brothers were educated in London, so he runs Bezakistan like a business A ridiculously profitable business They’re a s on a wealth of resources Talib’s father decided to spread the wealth ets a portion of the le wealthiest country per capita in the world”

She bit into her bottom lip as she considered what he’d said “Then ould someone kidnap him?”

“The region doesn’t look kindly on the way the royal fa to some very old practices”

“Oh The polyandry Yeah, I know their neighboring countries think it’s a mortal sin”

“Yes” Cole smirked down at her “But the le wife dom or the wealth Anyway, overnment didn’t like the idea of a less friendly leader in control of all that oil”

Cole’s eyes went dark as they always did when he thought of that day Burke was pretty sure he was the only one to whom Cole had told the whole story “Tal was in bad shape by the time we rescued hiot away”

“Until you htmares

Cole shrugged it off “Saot hiot to be friends He does a lot of ith Black Oak Oil, the company Gavin and Dex run with their brother, Slade When they were looking for a firm to handle outside security, Talib recommended us”

“So when his cousin disappeared in New York City, he asked us to look for her,” Burke explained “The ado had a girl for us”

“So you used a fake last na Marco’s father,” Jessa said “You didn’t tell me the truth because…?”

“We were posing asto buy a slave,” Cole said bluntly “We had to build a whole cover story that would check out to Ricardo Delgado’s people Any loose end could have unraveled the whole case”

Burke winced at the indelicate way his brother put everything “We had to work very carefully to even get the elder Delgado to talk to us It wasWe took possession of our ‘slave’ about three hours after we left you thatand turned it over to the feds It started a whole shit storado compound and arrested Ricardo He was dead in prison six weeks later”

“And now his son wants you to feel his pain” Her fists clutched the folds of the blanket

“Yes He figured out that you were our weakness I’ us It wouldn’t have taken ator naone And apparently he bribed the PI to keep us apart”

“What do youfor answers

Cole scrubbed a hand through his hair “We got regular reports, Jessa We knew you went to Scotland, and Landry said that you’d gotten married there”

Bitterness welled inside Burke So ado had cost hiado had made sure he hadn’t been there at the birth of his child That he hadn’t held Jessa’s hand and comforted her That he hadn’t been there when Caleb woke up in theMarco had played them like pawns on a chessboard

Jessa rolled her eyes, a little huff co that Angus was my husband So this PI was on Marco’s payroll?”

“Right” Burke sighed “And Landry didn’t bother toto leave South America after we rescued Alea and coed “We didn’t have anything to co empty condo, so we decided to stay on and rescue as many as we could”

She shook her head “I went to Scotland early in March That was long after you left le phone call or e-mail Or even a shred of real information about you Don’t try to cover your asses now You could have contacted et that you were doing so iht I was I realize now that I ht sex meant love”

This hat he’d wanted to avoid “Jessa, we told you we love you I still love you Cole still loves you”

She stood, leaving the coffee and food behind “You also told ivedevotion hard to believe You lied about everything, Burke You’re two dangerous in as du conquest, but that’s all I was I’et this guy so I can get back to et on with your lives”

Cole reached out and grabbed her aro at the end of this, you don’t know us at all”

She pulled away “Yeah, well, since I just found out your real last name and occupation in the last twenty-four hours, I think I can safely say that you’re right I never really knew you Now let uys or so?”

As if he’d been burned, Cole released her She turned and walked to the bathroom, her face set in stubborn lines The door closed with a little slam

“That ell You know you could tone down the caveman act” Burke looked down at his sandwich, but his stomach turned He understood why Jessa didn’t want to eat

“Yeah, well, your nice guy act isn’t working, either I’s to us She’s theto sit back and wave as she leaves”

So stubborn “Neither a to work in this case”