Page 5 of Devoted

CHAPTER2

Cannon

It’s wellpast sundown before Kase pulls into Jacobi’s drive.

Empty water bottles litter the back seat of his Range Rover. I ran through the fucking forest until I got to a cluster of houses. I picked the oldest and most run-down-looking place, hoping the resident would be naturally less suspicious of strangers. The biggest stroke of luck I had all day, other than not getting shot, was that the guy who owns the place is elderly and lonely.

He was happy to let me use his phone. He bought my story—a city kid who got lost on the trails. I lost my pack and my phone in the lake, blah, blah, blah. I probably could’ve told him the truth, he was so damn happy to have company.

Then we talked for three hours until Kase pulled in. The guy would’ve talked for three more hours, but we managed to extract ourselves and hightail it back to LA. Kase was astute enough to wait for the story until we got to Jacobi’s house, and he let me attempt to rest.

Jacobi meets us at the door, his expression grim. “London’s in bed. Go to my office.”

Jacobi’s not going to leave London out of this, but I’m grateful he’s kept it from her until we can come up with a plan.

In his office, I slide down the wall. Kase bought me a plain Welcome to California T-shirt at one of the gas stations. My shorts are covered in dirt and spots of blood. The floor is a better option for me than one of Jacobi’s fancy chairs.

I stuff my hand through my hair. The strands are thick from grit and sweat. I need a shower, but that can wait. I have to tell my friends I didn’t tell them the truth about something they thought they were helping me with. “I knew it was Roman trying to scare Penelope about the stalker shit.”

“What the fuck, Cannon?” Jacobi’s gaze darts to the door. Kase blinks and drops into the office chair London uses when she’s in here with her husband. In a lowered voice, Jacobi asks, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because you’ve gone straight and I wasn’t going to drag you back into illegal hacking.” I look at Kase. “And you have your own shit.”

The myths of fixers in Hollywood, people who do more than PR stunts to change public images, aren’t completely false. They’re rooted in fact, and Kase probably knows the entire history. It’s a family business he chooses not to tell us much about.

The Penelope thing is kind of like that. I’ve made it my shit and I don’t want it to spread to anyone else. But Roman’s pushed my hand.

Jacobi folds his hands over his abdomen. We look like three guys ready to hit the beach, all in shorts and T-shirts. But I’m haggard, and it’s the middle of the night. “Why would Roman secretly leave creepy letters and kill small animals to scare her?”

“I don’t know.” Acid gnaws through my gut. I don’t fucking know, and he outsmarted me. “I thought I’d be able to flush the information out of him.”

“How?” Kase asks.

“I went to talk to him. Then with each attack, I made sure he knew he couldn’t get through me to her.” They weren’t going to like the next part. “And I offered to kill her instead.”

Silence descends. My buddies have seen enough that they don’t often get shocked.

They are shocked now.

“I thought I had him. I thought I could help her disappear until I figured out what he was up to, but he got one over on me.” I tell them about the chase and how Penelope was taken. I end by thumping my head against the wall. All my damn experience, yet Penelope might be in more danger than she ever was.

“You’re sure Roman is up to something?” Jacobi shakes his head. “Never mind. He’s making her think she has a stalker.”

“It’s gotta be tied up in his business. I’ve researched him. There’s nothing to him but Hughes Financial. I think he married her to get her father’s business. But that can’t be why he wants her dead. Without her, Peter Cowles won’t feel obligated to stay in business with him.”

“Life insurance?” Kase asks.

I lift a shoulder. “That’s my best guess. But he doesn’t need the money.”

Jacobi scratches his chin. “Maybe he does. One thing I’ve learned about setting up cybersecurity for companies is that everything’s not as rosy as they make it seem in their marketing materials.”

I fist my hands in my messy hair. “His reasons aside, Penelope’s in danger. Those guys weren’t looking to kill and dump me. They had plans. Roman already has a paper trail to make it look like I got paid to kill her. What if he sets it up to make sure we’re both found dead and it looks like I murdered her and got killed in the process? They have my fucking gun.”

Silence falls again.

Kase’s chair squeaks as he swivels from side to side. “So we find her and retrieve her so he can’t do that.”

“She thinks I was trying to kill her.” What else would she think? I made her leave LA. I wouldn’t tell her where we were going. I messed up with Roman and with her.

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