Page 138 of Devil Mine

That tension from earlier returns in the way his jaw sets and his eyes darken. Whatever it is, it’s more serious than usual.

“Someone’s been attacking our shipments over the last few weeks. Based on the specific ones targeted and the frequency, it can’t be someone working independently.”

“So you mean…”

His mouth flattens into a grim line.

“There’s a mole in the da Silva cartel.”

I let him continue to guide us around the rooftop even as my stomach cramps at the thought of what that means. “Shit,” I say.

He snorts. “Shit is right.” He looks above my head, his eyes preoccupied. “And I’m pretty sure whoever it is is also stealing from me.”

I perk up. Moles and attacked shipments, I know nothing about. But finance? That’s my area of expertise.

“How do you know?”

“I don’t. But I strongly suspect it. I have since before I brought you back to London.”

“You’ve looked at the books?”

A storm rolls through his gaze. “Yeah, they’re all adding up, but it makes no sense. Some of our suppliers have reached out to me personally to say they haven’t been getting paid. Those payments to them are logged and the paperwork seems to track. I’ve been pouring over it for months but I can’t make sense of it. I need an expert to figure this out but I don’t trust anyone else to look at them, especially not the accountants since at least one of them is involved in some way.”

“Let me have a look,” I blurt impulsively.

His gaze slides down to mine, the emotion in them hard to decipher.

“I know what to look for when someone is embezzling from a company,” I continue, the words spilling out of me a mile a minute. “I’ve seen it before and I’m always on the lookout for it in our own reporting. All it takes is one person to pull this off and they can get away with it for years if they go unnoticed. But you’ve been alerted to it so the hardest part is already behind you. There are ways to catch them now. Traces and clues and digital footprints they likely left behind like breadcrumbs. I can help you, you just have to trust me.”

Thiago eyes me thoughtfully but says nothing.

Uncertainty grabs me around the throat and squeezes. I’ll be beyond embarrassed if he turns me down.

“I promise I won’t do anything with the information you share with me if that’s what you’re worried about. I can sign an NDA if you want. I just thought…” I pause, looking off to the side. “I don’t know, I just thought that I could help you.”

Seconds trickle by and then a finger tucks under my chin and turns my face back towards him. Golden eyes search mine inquisitively.

“If I give you access to the books and you help me, you’ll effectively be committing a crime.”

I nod, swallowing thickly. “I know.”

“You’ll be crossing a line and stepping into the Underworld, which you told me you hated. There’ll be no going back once it’s done.”

“I know.”

“You could be convicted as an accomplice of mine. You could go tojail.”

My eyes close. “I know!”

He nudges my chin, motioning at me to open my eyes. I do. “Then why do it?”

There’s such an easy answer to that question and it’s on the tip of my tongue, begging to be set free.

I’d do anything for the man I love.

Instead, I tell him a version of the truth.

“Because you need me and I have the skillset to help you, so I will,” I say fiercely. “Plus, I’m your wife which means I can’t be compelled to testify against you — or vice-versa — so I’m the perfect accomplice. It’s a win-win situation.”

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