Page 35 of Their Virgins Secret

“Wow, he knows a lot of bad words,” Jessa said, eyes wide.

“And he’s not afraid to use them,” Burke drawled. “What does the message say?”

Cole put the phone down and picked up his own—the disposable, untraceable phone Dex had given him. He dialed a number and continued cursing.

Jessa watched Cole, but spoke to Burke. “It said that he knew you two would try to get me out of the country, but that if you called in favors to have me taken abroad, he would have no choice but to go after Caleb. ”

Burke closed his eyes, cursing mentally, using all the same words his brother had. “Marco knew we’d eventually come up with this plan. ”

“You were really going to send me away?”

He hated the way her lips trembled, the hurt in her voice. He hated the fact that she was so scared. “Yes. We talked about it while you were sleeping. We were going to send you with some friends who could have kept you safe. Once you were in their country, Gavin James was going to fly Caleb to Bezakistan himself. We didn’t have enough time to pull it off at the onset, and the fucker knew it. That’s why he only gave us twenty-four hours. But it still might be the best plan. ”

She shook her head. “No. I believe him. He’ll come after us. ”

Burke raised an arrogant brow. “He couldn’t get to you in Bezakistan. ”

“I can’t stay there the rest of my life,” Jessa said, frustration evident in her tone. “He wants to kill me. I don’t get why, but I have to fight this. I can’t risk letting him come after my son, not even for a second. Unless you manage to kill this asshole, we’ll be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives, worried that he’s gunning for us. ”

“I will kill him, Jessa. I won’t let anything happen to you or our son,” Cole vowed, hanging up the phone.

She was quiet for a moment. “Exactly who is this man?”

“Fucking dead,” Cole said, his face still red.

Jessa turned to Burke. “Could you please tell me? Without the gorilla chest thumping. ”

He didn’t want to. It would have been so much easier if he’d just been able to pack her off with Rafe and Kade, then pick her up when it was over. Then he wouldn’t have to admit just how much they’d screwed up.

“Tell me! I have the right to know why this man wants me dead. ”

“We usually handle security problems for corporations,” Cole explained. “But in this case, we were helping our friends from Bezakistan find their cousin, like we explained. ”

“Alea, yes. ” She waved him off, hugging the blanket to her chest. “Now give me the rest of the story. ”

Burke took a long breath and plunged in. “Marco believes we’re responsible for his father’s death. ”

“That’s bullshit. I wish I had been. I would have fucking enjoyed pulling the trigger,” Cole growled. “But no, I was a good boy and sent the asshole off to prison. If I had known he’d be dead so soon, I would have put a bullet in him myself—and Marco right after him—and ended everyone’s goddamn misery. ”

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 them to brothels all over South America. He bought and sold girls to fulfill male fantasies, made them prostitutes and sex slaves. ” Cole never flinched.

But Jessa did. She paled visibly. “Oh, my god. 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 when we were Navy SEALs. Some extremists kidnapped Sheikh al Mussad, and we rescued him. ”

“Why? Is he a dictator? How does Delgado come into this picture? Were they in business together?”

Burke laughed at the thought. “Talib? No. He’s not a dictator, and he would never harm a woman. And he’d certainly never go into business with Marco. Though I will admit his family has a long history of kidnapping females. The women all ended up being 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 small country, but they’re sitting on a wealth of resources. Talib’s father decided to spread the wealth many years ago. Every citizen in the country gets a portion of the money from the oil they put out. It’s the single wealthiest country per capita in the world. ”

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

“The region doesn’t look kindly on the way the royal family runs the country. They cling 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 mortal sin of all the brothers in a family sharing a single wife means there’s no need to divide the kingdom or the wealth. Anyway, my team was sent in to rescue the sheikh. Our government didn’t like the idea of a less friendly leader in control of all that oil. ”

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