Chapter Three

Kade took the exit off Route 22 for North Plainfield. For what must have been the hundredth time since leaving Asbury Park, he glanced in the rearview mirror, relieved to see Laia’s gray Ford Escape directly behind him.

He would have preferred they’d all driven in the same vehicle, but with the mobile computer, radios, and other gear obstructing most of the passenger seat, his Colt M4 rifle sticking up between the front seats, and Smoke’s specially outfitted K-9 kennel taking up the entire bench seat behind him, there wasn’t much room for anyone else.

Kade stopped for a traffic light and began tapping his fingers on the wheel, wondering if Laia had thrown any of that pretty lingerie into one of the bags she’d packed. Not that he had any designs on seeing her wear it, but how could he not wonder what she’d look like in it?

Amazing. No doubt about it.

The crotch of his tux pants tightened just thinking about running his fingers over that satin and lace while the warmth of Laia’s soft skin seeped into his fingers and…

Reality. Gut. Check.

Laia had practically rammed it down his throat that she wasn’t about to give him the time of day, personally, so how could he even think about a relationship, sexual or otherwise, with her? Because he couldn’t help it. Just as he couldn’t have helped it any time over the last six years. And lest he forget, there’d also be an adorably precocious little girl living under his roof. Laia and Rosa were staying with him for protection. Not so he could jump his sister-in-law’s bones.

At seven p.m., it was still light out as they turned into his driveway. He clicked the garage door opener, then parked his SUV off to the side near the back of the house. As an added precaution, they’d prearranged for Laia to put her Escape inside the garage next to his POV—personally owned vehicle—a navy-blue Chevy Suburban. Considering he hadn’t been in her or Rosa’s life for…well, basically never, no one would ever suspect they’d stay here, but still.

As he watched Laia pull in, worry stuck to his brain like a giant burr. The police might think this was a typical burglary. Kade’s gut said it was connected to Josh. When Laia talked about the man outside the daycare and being followed, he was sure of it. Laia knew it, too. He could see it in her eyes.

Kade unlocked the M4, then slung the strap over his shoulder. He grabbed his tuxedo jacket and overnight bag from the rear compartment and let Smoke out of the kennel. His dog trotted into the garage, circling Laia’s Escape as he waited impatiently for them to get out.

While Laia unstrapped Rosa from the booster seat, he lifted the Escape’s tailgate and retrieved their bags. Rosa scrambled off the seat, then crouched to throw her arms around Smoke’s neck. His dog sat, happily enduring Rosa’s attention and flicking his tail back and forth on the concrete. Where Rosa was concerned, Smoke’s love of children went into major overdrive.

Holding Rosa’s hand, Laia met him in the driveway, then looked up at his house. It wasn’t much, a two-story white clapboard with brick facing and a pathetic flower bed planted with evergreen bushes and grasses, plants that didn’t need much attention. Laia’s lips twisted.

“There’s really no need for us to stay here.” With her free hand, she gestured to his house, frowning and looking as if the idea of staying with him was as repugnant to her as renting a room at a roach motel.

“Is there a problem?” he asked, staring at her lips because yeah…that was definitely a brighter shade of lipstick, and it looked good on her. Christ, he didn’t want to still be so attracted to her. “My house may not be fancy, but it’s clean.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

“At what? Did you think I lived in a tent?”

“No. I expected you to live in a condo or a townhouse, someplace that would have freed you up more to enjoy your bachelorhood.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, if you didn’t have a whole house and property to maintain, it would leave you more time to…to…” She arched a brow. “You know.”

He narrowed his eyes as a spurt of annoyance shot through him. He understood what she meant but didn’t want to verbalize it in front of Rosa. Laia assumed that he was a womanizer who spent his nights trolling the bars for action. Although just where she would have gotten that impression he didn’t know, because he’d never been that kind of guy.

He tightened his jaw. “I enjoy my bachelorhood just fine, thanks. The house is mainly for Smoke. Before Smoke, it was for my K-9, Tango. Tango retired two years ago and spends most of his time with my parents.”

“Well. We wouldn’t want to be an imposition to you.”

“An imposition?” She had to be kidding.

Or was she? By ghosting her all these years he’d given her that very impression.

The truth was that not only were she and Rosa family but Laia was… What? His ginormous guilt aside, she would always be his sister-in-law and the mother of his niece. Leaving them unprotected was out of the question. “You and Rosa are family. You could never be an imposition.”

“No? You shut me out,” she said, her voice low enough that Rosa wouldn’t hear. “What kind of a man deserts his dead brother’s wife when she has no one else?”

His jaw clenched. She had him dead to rights on that score. Not that he didn’t want anything to do with her, quite the opposite actually. In fact, that was the precise reason he’d stayed away. He’d never forgotten those forty minutes in an elevator with her.

Sensing his roiling emotions, Smoke snorted, looking up at him with worried eyes.

Before he could respond, her gaze dipped down his tuxedo, then up. “Besides. Clearly we interrupted you in the middle of…something.”

“I was at a friend’s wedding in Maryland,” he grumbled.

Her expression turned to one of shock. “You left a wedding and drove all the way up here because I called?”

“Yes,” he said, irritated that she thought so little of him. He would have driven all the way from Alaska to get back here. Again, to protect her and Rosa. He had a familial obligation to them. There couldn’t be more than that. Ever.

Keep telling yourself that.

As she followed him up the steps, he glanced back. The smooth skin over the bridge of her nose had creased. Whether it was from anger or confusion he couldn’t be sure.

“I just thought that—” Her sexy pink lips pressed together in a firm line. “With everything that’s happened… Frankly, I hesitated to call you at all because I never actually expected you to show up.”

He exhaled a tight breath. There was no one to blame but himself for Laia’s current state of TPO—totally pissed off. Between his parting shot at the wedding, then his disappearing act, he’d unintentionally created that monster, and there was no slaying it now.

If he could go back in time and do anything differently, would he?

Nope. There had only been one path to take, and it had led him on a straight line away from Laia.

He dug the keys from his pocket and opened the front door. Inviting her and Rosa to stay with him was the exact opposite of what he should do, but their safety came first, and this was the best option. For now. As soon as he figured out what was behind the burglary and the people following Laia, they’d go right back to where they were before.

Apart.

At the thought of never seeing her again, he curled his fingers tighter around the straps.

Smoke trotted past them, heading inside and going straight for his water bowl in the kitchen and taking noisy slurps.

Kade opened a closet and stowed his rifle in the gun safe, then headed up the stairs. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”

Behind him, Laia closed the front door. Kade paused on the landing, taking in a view he never expected to see. Laia Velez in his home. Evening sun backlit her hair, making it gleam like volcanic glass and casting shadows beneath her high cheekbones.

“I didn’t realize Smoke needed an entire house,” she said.

“He doesn’t.” Kade continued up the stairs and stopped in front of one of the bedrooms. “But he does need a fenced-in yard and room to exercise, and it’s my duty to make sure he gets it. He might seem like my dog, but he’s actually the property of the U.S. government, and Uncle Sam pays me a stipend to care for him.”

“Well, isn’t that thoughtful of the federal government.” There was no mistaking the sarcasm in her tone, not that Kade could blame her for it. The Big G hadn’t exactly been kind to her.

Still clutching one of Rosa’s hands, she met him at the open doorway. “How many bedrooms are there?” she asked.

“Four.” Guilt swamped him. He’d been living here alone for years while she and Rosa had been forced to live in a tiny two-bedroom duplex that had seen better days. And his actions were partly responsible for that. “Rosa, this can be your room if it’s okay with your mom.”

Rosa peered into the room, her eyes going wide as she uttered a tiny gasp.

The bedroom was the smallest of the four but painted lavender, with pink floor and ceiling molding. A glittery, enchanted castle scene took up an entire wall, complete with a prince and princess dancing in the courtyard. There wasn’t much else in the room besides the double bed with a white bedspread, but it was definitely girly.

“Ooh, Mommy!” Rosa began jumping up and down, then Smoke joined in, pirouetting in place as he channeled her excitement. “Can I stay here? Please, please, pretty please?”

Kade couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiastic response. When Laia’s lips began to twitch, he took that as a yes and deposited Rosa’s bag on the bed.

“Okay,” Laia said finally.

“C’mon, Smoke!” Rosa ran to the enchanted wall where she ran her hands over the glittery castle and the princess’s blue ballgown. Smoke went to the bed and began sniffing the bag. Whether he was searching it for food or automatically switching to narco-buster mode, Kade wasn’t sure.

“I take it the previous owners had a little girl.” Laia followed him inside, inspecting the room.

“Yep.” Kade gestured to the door. “C’mon. She’ll be fine.”

They left Rosa opening her bag and emptying her clothes and books on the bed. Smoke stayed behind to verify there was no bacon in the bag.

Kade went to the end of the hall and stood aside for Laia. Before crossing the threshold, she froze.

“I can’t stay here.” She looked up at him, so wide-eyed one would think there was a herd of cockroaches stampeding up the wall. “This is your bedroom. Did you really expect me to stay here with—”

He held up his hand, interrupting her as he lowered her bag to the floor beside the king-size bed. “No, I didn’t. I’ll stay in one of the other bedrooms.” What kind of a presumptuous jackass did she think he was and why would she think that in the first place? “This bedroom’s bigger, and you’ll have your own bathroom.”

He went to the master bath and flipped on the lights. When he’d bought the place, his realtor had told him this bathroom was the house’s crowning glory. Judging from the look on Laia’s face as she’d reluctantly followed him, the realtor hadn’t been exaggerating.

Her jaw dropped. Slowly, she ran her hand over the silvery-gray, natural-stone wall tile that shimmered like diamonds, courtesy of the embedded shards of mica. Tiny mother-of-pearl accent tile ran in a three-inch wide swath around the entire wall. Equally glittery, light-gray granite countertops, shower and tub surrounds, and nickel faucets completed the look. But the icing on the cake was the crystal chandelier hanging over the giant soaker tub.

“Right?” He picked up a remote and pushed the button, lighting up the battery-operated, flickering candles on the chandelier. “This is a common tract house built in the seventies. Apparently, the last owners went all-out renovating the master bath.”

“I can see that.” Laia gazed lovingly at the tub. “I haven’t seen a tub like this since—” She cleared her throat. “Well, it’s been a while.”

Yeah, he knew what she’d been about to say. That she hadn’t seen a tub like his since the U.S. government had seized hers and Josh’s house, along with virtually everything else they possessed.

“I can’t stay here,” she repeated, shaking her head. “This is your room and your bathroom. You should enjoy it.”

“I don’t take baths,” he countered. “This tub is wasted on me. I bought the house for its location and the backyard.” When she began backing away, he reached out and stopped her. “Please, stay here. I want you to enjoy it.” Because you deserve it, and it’s the least I can do to make up for what happened.

She thought for a moment, then took a deep breath and sighed. “Okay, but this is only temporary.”

“Agreed,” he said, holding out his hand to shake on the deal.

When she placed her hand in his, he was instantly thrown back in time, to another day when she’d taken his hand as he’d pulled her to her feet. Seconds after that, his world had imploded.

Their hands remained clasped, hers so small and delicate in his. The woman standing before him was the same, yet so different now. Stronger and more confident. Maybe being married and becoming a mother had done that. More than likely, it was a strength born of necessity after her husband was arrested.

Then murdered.

Living with Laia would bring back all the bad memories and the guilt he’d lived with for two years. But he had no choice. Laia and Rosa were now his responsibility. A responsibility that he fully embraced.

“They’re searching for it, aren’t they?” she asked as they returned to the bedroom.

Kade had been about to turn off the bathroom light, but his fingers froze on the switch plate. There was no need to verbalize what “it” was.

The ledger.

The critical piece of missing evidence that could have been Josh’s get-out-of-jail-free card. Instead, it was the very reason he’d been murdered. That and his testimony.

He flipped off the lights. “I can’t be certain, but yeah. I think so.”

She sat on the bed. His bed. Another sight he’d never expected to see. “But why after all this time? The government looked for it. They searched our home, Josh’s office, every computer he ever touched. I even looked for it. How do we know there ever was a ledger?”

Without thinking, he sat on the bed, too close to Laia’s beautiful bare shoulders and sleek bare legs. All he had to do was reach out and he could caress all that soft, glowing skin. He swallowed, doing his best to focus on the wall over his bureau. “Every accountant keeps a ledger of some kind somewhere. Even money launderers have one. They answer to the person they’re working for and have to keep track of all incoming and outgoing funds.”

“I know that,” she said. “I used to be an accounts manager. But why do they think I have the ledger?”

Kade followed the movement as she pressed a hand to the tops of her breasts. Clearing his throat, he forced himself to look away. “I don’t know. Josh has been gone for two years. Fernando Colon has to know the government never found any trace of a ledger, or he would have been slammed with a significantly longer prison term.”

“I never really understood something.” She pivoted to face him, bending one leg on the mattress and giving him a tantalizing glimpse of her tanned, bare thigh. “Fernando Colon was already sent to prison. He was charged and convicted of many crimes. What does the ledger have to do with him getting sentenced to more time?”

“Jail time isn’t determined solely by the crime itself. Other things factor in, such as laundering large amounts of money that was the proceeds of manufacturing, importing, or distributing narcotics. The more money involved, the more jail time. That’s the way the federal sentencing guidelines work.”

“Just how much money do you think Josh was laundering for the cartel?”

So much that even if his brother had lived and turned over his ledger to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in exchange for leniency, he still might have received several years in jail himself. Or been forced to go into the Witness Security program.

But Laia didn’t need to know that.

“Enough to send Colon away for over twenty years,” he answered.

Her eyes widened. “No wonder he wants the ledger.”

“Exactly.” But why now, and why did Colon think she had it? Something must have happened, something to trigger that belief and push him to break into Laia’s home and have her followed.

“I’d better go downstairs and feed Smoke.” And put some distance between him and Laia. Kade pushed from the bed and went to the door, turning at the last second. “I’ll figure out what’s going on, and in the meantime, I’ll keep you and Rosa safe. I promise.”

Smoke met him in the kitchen, prancing and panting as he anxiously awaited his gourmet meal of kibble and ground beef. After setting his dog’s dinner on the floor, Kade shoved his hands in his pockets and went into the hallway.

Staring back at him from the wall were family photos. Four generations of Sampson military men. Him and Josh on their graduation days at West Point. Their father during the Gulf War. Their grandfather in Vietnam. And their great-grandfather in World War II. Fighting for this country and doing the right thing was ingrained in him straight down to the cellular level.

Kade touched his fingers to the faded, graying image of his great-grandfather in the South Pacific during the war. Beneath the photo was the proverb: A hundred years cannot repair one moment’s loss of honor.

Kade and Josh had never met their great-granddad, but that phrase had been kept alive by their grandfather and father. Their father, in particular, loved reminding them of those words every time they did something wrong. Which, when they were kids, seemed like pretty much all the time. Yet it had been Grandpa who’d turned out to be the most hardcore of them all.

Great-granddad fought directly under General Douglas MacArthur. Both Kade’s great-grandfather and grandfather had attended MacArthur’s retirement at West Point. Duty. Honor. Country. “Three hallowed words,” as MacArthur had said in his speech that day, “that reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be.”

Kade looked at the photo of the man he’d revered and feared. Grandpa Mike had taken the eye-for-an-eye thing to extremes, pitting one grandson against the other in fistfights meant to teach life lessons and that had often ended with Kade and Josh bruised and bloodied, lying on the ground while their grandfather towered over them spewing: Never let your heart interfere with your honor or duty. If you do, you will fail.

He rested his hands on the wall on either side of Grandpa Mike’s photo and stared into the eyes of a man who’d died only last year at the age of eighty-seven. Seemed like Kade’s whole life had been centered around honor and duty and still was.

As he had the day Laia had married his brother, Kade would continue doing the honorable thing and keep his confused feelings in check because there were more important things that took priority, and failing wasn’t an option.

If he did, Laia and Rosa could get caught up in the same deadly game that killed his brother.

His heart pounded furiously in his chest.

They already were caught up in that game, and it was up to him to keep Laia and Rosa alive.