Chapter Twenty

Kade checked the rearview mirror again. They’d driven out of Laia’s neighborhood and were now flying south on Route 71 back to Manasquan.

Smoke had long since lain down in his kennel and gone to sleep. Beside him, Laia fidgeted with the book in her hands. She’d wanted to read it right then and there, but he’d insisted on putting some space between them and the duplex ASAP.

“Pull over, please.”

“We’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”

“I can’t wait a minute longer. I get sick reading in a car, and I need to see what’s in this book that’s so important it got my husband killed.”

How could a guy say no to that?

Kade took the next exit and turned off the highway onto a side road, not stopping until he found what he was looking for—a dark, deserted linen supply warehouse. Before parking, he drove around to the backside of the building to the employee parking lot.

“Can’t you just park anywhere?”

“I want to make sure there’s no overnight skeleton crew.” All the rear doors to the building were closed. No signs of employee vehicles, only company vans and trucks.

He parked in the farthest corner, in the darkest section of the lot but with the front bumper facing out so he could see anyone coming. They both unbuckled their seat belts. To avoid night blindness, he clicked on the same flashlight with the red filter he’d used earlier.

Laia tore off the plastic bag and dropped it to the floor at her feet. When she opened the cover, he aimed the light on the first page. It wasn’t what he expected. The only numbers he could identify with any degree of certainty were the deposit dates and dollar amounts. “This is your expertise. Tell me what I’m looking at.” Because most of the entries looked like undecipherable code.

She flipped to the next page, then the next. In all, he counted at least twenty pages of entries, each filled with his brother’s borderline illegible scrawl.

“See these?” She ran her finger down a column filled with numbers. “These are account numbers.” She did the same with the next column over. “These are country codes, most of which are in the United States. I don’t recognize any of the company names.”

Neither did he. No surprise there. “Probably shell companies. Drug dealers use them to mask their identities and to hide their money. What about these letters?” He pointed to another column and one line in particular with the letters VA.

Laia shook her head. “I don’t know. They don’t look like country codes or any bank code I’ve ever seen before.” She turned the page. “There are more of them. BA, KA, IA, SCP. They all have check marks next to them. I don’t know what that means, either.”

With each flip of the page, she ran her finger down the column with the running tally. “My god,” she breathed. “Josh laundered over a hundred million dollars for these people.” She flipped to the last page and dragged her finger down to the date column of the final entry.

Over the ledger, their eyes met. The last entry—for $20 million—was made the day before Josh was murdered. There was no checkmark beside the number, but there was a two-letter code: OA.

Kade swallowed the lump in his throat. Looking at his brother’s handwriting was weird enough. He still had difficulty believing Josh had gotten so neck-deep in with a drug cartel, but there it was in black and white.

Laia flipped through the rest of the ledger, the remaining pages of which were blank. But sticking out from a pocket on the inside of the back cover was an envelope. He tugged it out, again staring at his brother’s jagged scrawl. The letter was addressed to Laia.

Their gazes met as he handed her the letter. Technically, it was evidence, but he had a feeling whatever was inside was personal.

She took the envelope but didn’t open it right away. For several seconds, she stared at it. Finally, she slid her finger beneath the flap and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. Slowly, she unfolded it. In the blood-red glow of the flashlight, more of Josh’s handwriting stared up at them.

“Laia,” she began reading out loud. “If you’re reading this, I’m either in really big trouble…” Her voice trembled, and she blinked rapidly. “Or dead.” She covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head. Letting her hand drop, she handed him the letter. Her eyes glistened. “I can’t. You read it. Please.”

As he took the letter, his throat threatened to close up on him. This was a letter from the grave. Josh had known something might happen to him, and he’d been right. He focused the flashlight on the letter.

“I’m sorry for what happened between us,” Kade began. “I never should have asked you to marry me. I see that now. You were never in love with me, but I was so in love with you that I didn’t care. I used our unborn child to keep you, and it was wrong.”

A sob from Laia had Kade stopping, and he looked up to see tears leaking from her eyes and streaming unchecked down her face.

“Give this ledger to Kade,” he continued. “He’ll know what to do with it, and he’ll take care of you and Rosa. Maybe he’s what you need—what you’ve always needed. Deep down I knew that. I just didn’t want to admit it to anyone, especially myself. Kade’s a good man, the best man I’ve ever known, and I never should have said otherwise.”

A big, fat, burning tear rolled down his cheek. He hadn’t known Josh had felt that way about him. Hearing it now, this way—in a letter written by a dead man—had the equivalent effect of cracking open his chest, tearing out his heart, and squeezing it until there was no blood left inside.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, not knowing if he could keep reading.

Laia’s soft touch on his cheek opened up the floodgates. At no time in his entire life had this ever happened. Tears rolled freely down his face. Mercifully, she took back the letter and the flashlight.

“The key is to a bank box at our bank,” she read.

Key?

He snapped open his eyes and grabbed the envelope. When Laia shined the light inside, the beam reflected off a long, slim brass key.

A safe deposit box key.

“Keep reading,” he said in a hoarse voice.

“The box is registered in your maiden name. What’s in it is for you and Rosa. It’s the least I could do. Please know that despite everything that happened between us, I-I will…” She began sobbing openly. “Oh God, I can’t.”

Together, they read Josh’s last words in silence.

Thank you for staying with me all these years. I will always love you and Rosa. Josh.

Kade didn’t know what to think or what to say. All he felt now was a desperate and numbing sadness. For all that had passed between him and his brother during the last five years of Josh’s life. For everything Laia and Rosa had been through. It never should have gone down that way, and it was too late to fix it. Any of it.

Laia clasped her arms around her shoulders, weeping, her body shaking. Kade wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms, but he couldn’t.

He set the letter on the seat between them. Though he and Laia were only inches apart, it might as well have been a mile.

Frustration rolled through him faster than an Army Thunderbolt jetfighter because even in death, Josh would always come between them.

…

Laia lost track of how long they sat there, saying nothing, each of them with their guts twisting in grief and guilt. It could have been seconds, minutes, or even an hour, so great was the overwhelming pain in her chest.

Kade cleared his throat. “I’ll turn the ledger over to Manny in the morning. He’ll get forensic accountants working on it. Maybe they can figure out the code. On the way to the office, we can stop by the bank.”

Whatever was in that box, Josh had intended for her to have. Assuming it was money, it was probably dirty. Drug money. “If there really is money in that box, then maybe this can all be over soon.”

“Maybe.” Oddly, he didn’t sound as enthusiastic as she’d expected.

“What do you mean maybe? You said that if we found the ledger, Fernando Colon could be charged with more crimes and be sent to prison again. Once he knows the government has the ledger, he’ll stop coming after me for it. And if we find money in the bank box, it has to be what Josh was skimming from Colon, right? We can turn that over, too. Won’t that eliminate all Colon’s reasons for following me?”

“I hope so.” In the dim light, she couldn’t miss his skeptical frown. “I think so, but it’s a little more complicated than that. He still thinks you have the ledger and the money. We need to work fast and turn everything over to the prosecutor, then make sure Colon’s attorney knows that you had nothing to do with it.”

“Then there’s hope. Right?” Hope for a future.

With Kade.

She refused to let anything from the past keep her from finally finding the joy and—dare she say it, love?—that she wanted. No, dammit.

Love that she deserved.

Sure, they’d have to find a way of keeping the past where it belonged. In the past.

If she could snap her fingers and bring Josh back to life, she would without hesitation. But his death was a glaring sign, blinking in bright neon colors and telling her that life was too short and too precious to screw up twice.

Emotions so strong and fierce raced through her blood. What she needed most right at this moment was reaffirmation of life. Finally, this was her chance, and she was taking it by the horns and never letting go.

Laia refolded the letter, then tossed it and the ledger on the dashboard. She shimmied across the seat, clasped Kade’s face, and drew his mouth down to hers.

“No, Laia. Not like this. Not now.” He tried pulling away, but she refused to release him.

“Yes, like this and definitely now. Don’t you want me?” She certainly wanted him, and it wasn’t just about the sex. Heavy, heart-wrenching emotions fueled the need to make love with him. Right here. Right now.

“Of course I do. I never wanted anyone more in my life.”

“Then kiss me.” When he didn’t, she began peppering his closed mouth with kisses, urging him to give in. She knew the exact moment that he did.

A low groan came from his throat, and he dragged her the rest of the way over the seat and on top of him so she was straddling his thighs.

The abrupt movement woke Smoke, who rose to his feet and tried sticking his head through the kennel opening.

“Sorry, buddy.” Kade closed the solid divider between the passenger compartment and the kennel. A sharp whine came from the other side of the divider.

He slid his hands along her thighs beneath her dress, then tugged aside her panties and plunged two fingers between her wet folds.

“Oh, yesss.” She rocked her hips forward and back in tandem with the thrust of his fingers. Her muscles were wound so tight, she forced herself to relax.

“That’s it. Relax,” Kade said against her open mouth just before pushing his tongue inside.

The taste of him—hot, minty, and all man—made her body throb with more need than she thought possible. She reached between them to unbuckle his belt and pull down the zipper of his shorts. Beneath the soft cotton of his undershorts, he was hard and pulsing as she cupped him, reveling in the steely strength of his erection.

Hooking the waistband of his underwear with her fingers, she freed him, stroking his hard length and rubbing her thumb over the tip. He cupped her ass, lifting her, then slowly lowering her onto him.

Her inner walls, though still sore from the intensity of what they’d done on the beach and again in the ocean, quickly moistened, taking all of him in a deep, slick, sensual slide. She moaned as he lifted her again. Slowly. Too slowly.

“Faster,” she whispered. Already, waves of sensation were building in her core.

Kade tugged down the straps of her dress, baring her breasts. He sucked one nipple into her mouth, holding her at the waist now as he surged upward inside her.

He released her nipple. “Look at me,” he commanded, his face harsh in the dim light. He was close. She could feel him holding back, waiting for her to come.

Her body trembled, then she grabbed his shoulders as the powerful orgasm ripped through her. “Kade!”

He pressed his face to the hollow of her neck as he came on a loud groan.

Still breathing hard, Laia smiled against the top of Kade’s head. She’d wanted a reaffirmation of life, and she’d gotten it.

The route to get here had been long and difficult, fraught with so much pain and anguish she’d never expected. The light at the end of her tunnel was now warm and bright, filled with possibilities.

It had taken a lifetime to get here. There was no doubt in her mind now.

She’d fallen hard for Kade Sampson.