Page 29 of Devoted

I fist my hands in my hair. A smuggler? Roman seems too smooth for that. But…it fits. “I forgot to mention all his business trips.” I was just glad he was gone. “He goes to China, Philippines, Taiwan, Russia…”

Cannon leans across the couch and puts his hand on my knee. I can’t bring myself to look at him. He can see inside me, to everything I’m thinking. I lived with Roman. I was around him every day he wasn’t traveling. And I didn’t know.

“Which brings me to the life insurance policy.” Kase’s tone is gentle, but he’s not going to hold back, and I appreciate it. “It seems Roman Hughes wants it all, and that means that brokering the slave trade market on the West Coast isn’t enough.”

“He wants New York,” Cannon says.

“Big city, big money,” Kase concludes.

“How did you find this out?” I ask.

Kase grins. “This was all Jacobi. He’s been pulling eighteen-hour days getting shit on Roman.”

My heart rate jumps. “Will that put him in danger?” And London by default? I can’t drag her into this more than she is.

“Only if he gets caught.” Kase has all the confidence in the world. Cannon doesn’t appear concerned either. “Besides, he didn’t go through your husband’s records.”

“Don’t call him my husband, please. It’s only a sheet of paper protected by absurd legal intricacies and time lines.”

“Gotcha. Jacobi didn’t start with Roman. He started with your father’s company, planning to widen his search until he hit on something. But Cowles Shipping made sense.”

“Which is another reason why I’m here.” Kase’s grim demeanor returns. “I got in to Raina’s brother’s place and had a look around.”

An ominous feeling descends on the living room. How did we go from talking about smuggling to Raina? Dread weighs heavy across my shoulders. The answer isn’t going to be innocent.

“Raina didn’t just want to be on the news,” he continues. “She wanted to be more than a pretty face. She wanted to be a legitimate reporter. Big brother was logged on to his email, and I read his old ones.”

“From that long ago?” I don’t mean to interrupt, but I’m way out of my depth.

“Ever taken a long, hard look at your email, swan?” Cannon asks. “We do everything so quick on our phones. We use apps, we send messages and emails and are used to hitting delete and not thinking about them again. We’re in the present. But log on to your account on a computer and check how far back your emails go. Look in your sent folder. Everything you’ve sent since the dawn of the company is there and accessible to anyone who can simply get into your email.”

“And it was all there,” Kase says. “Old communications about Raina excitedly telling her brother that she’s on a big story. A tip from a girl she went to college with. Back then, Roman was hustling counterfeit cosmetics. It’s big money. But there’s only so much you can do in the States. Sell enough and someone’s bound to flag someone legit somewhere. Transactions regarding humans are all under the table.”

“This is crazy.” Was it a month ago my worst problem was creepy letters? Now we’re talking counterfeit products and human trafficking.

“It is,” Kase agrees. “Wish it’s the worst I’ve heard of. But Raina was good for being an amateur. She followed leads, researched, and asked questions. Then she sent her brother an email that said, ‘I need to talk to you about Roman.’ It was the week before she fell.”

I suck in a hard breath. “No.”

“I’m going to guess yeah,” Cannon says quietly.

“I think it’ll have to stay a guess,” Kase continues. “She fell where there was no security footage. The witnesses say they saw a distraught husband and his unconscious wife, but no one saw the deed. The investigation went nowhere, and the family didn’t question it.”

“And the brother didn’t go to the police?”

Kase spreads his hands apart. “She didn’t put any context into her message. She might’ve just learned how he was tied to the smuggling, but her brother could’ve thought they were talking about what to get Roman for his birthday.”

“She might’ve asked Roman, not having any idea that he would hurt her.” Trusting a spouse shouldn’t be dangerous. Poor girl. “Money over love. Sounds like him.” Roman’s a killer. It makes sense.

Cannon throws an arm over the back of the couch. “Not that I don’t want you to visit, but why the face to face?”

Kase’s unrepentant grin coaxes a small smile from me. He chuckles as he says, “I just really like the challenge.”

“You dick.”

Kase nods like he’s in total agreement. “I can give you some tips on security.”

Cannon doesn’t relax. “The point of living out here is to not need that level of security.”

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