“The cops aren’t in on it,” she said, her voice low as the man in the suit turned toward the bathrooms. “If anything I feel bad for the cop who broke chain of custody. I would have, too, if it had been my kid. I don’t blame anyone. It happened and sometimes the bad guys get away with it. That’s it. You’re the one who’s trying to kick a hornet’s nest but I’m the one who’ll get stung, Remy. Have you thought about that at all?”

“Have you thought at all about the fact that I’m doing this because I don’t want you to get stung? Someone has to. The feds are being useless.” He ran a frustrated hand over his head. “Just trust me. And I meant what I said. I’m not leaving until I know you’re safe.”

She let the words sit between them because they’d been so flavored with anger. Bitterness, like he resented being here a moment more than he absolutely had to.

Maybe the last few days hadn’t meant the same to him. Still, she could come up with one plan. “All right. I’ll go to Louisiana with you.”

His head came up. “What?”

It made sense. “You don’t feel like you can leave here until I’m safe. I might not be safe for a long time. I don’t know what will make you feel like I’m safe. I can only imagine it would be putting Vallon and his cronies behind bars. That could take a long time. You can’t take over your family business from here, and it sounds like someone needs to. Hell, I can even help you with it if you need someone to make sure the books are in order. And who would come looking for me in Louisiana? Therefore the logical solution to our problem is that I go with you to Louisiana.”

She said it all reasonable like, but inside her heart was pounding because damn but it solved the problem she had with him leaving her behind. It solved the problem of her broken heart.

The look on his face told her that wasn’t a solution at all and that her heart was definitely getting broken, and sooner than she’d expected. A look of horror came over his face and he pushed off the bar. “Absolutely not.”

She stared at him for a moment because there were no words. Only a few days before he’d tied her up and let her fly, his careful hands on her, telling her all the while how he wanted to stay with her. That night had made her think maybe he was too scared to ask her to come with him. She was dispossessed of that notion now. It had been stupid to think Remy would be scared. He was a man who knew what he wanted.