Page 36 of Sapphire Storm

An idea dawned. It wasn’t the solution to his problem, butit was a way to chip away at some of the control he’d foolishly given Dianaover his mother’s humble estate. “I’ll do it,” Roman said.

“Do what?”

“I’ll drive out to Victorville and get the stuff. You don’tneed to hoof it all the way out there in Sunday traffic.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I mean, what are you going to do? Text me a bunch oftimes asking me which old picture I want? I’ll just need the key.”

Hank nodded, considering this change of plan.

Then he disappeared around the corner into his cubbyhole ofan office. The converted pantry was windowless and full of monitors showingfeeds from the house’s security cameras. He returned, bearing a tiny brownenvelope. “Address is on there, but if you can’t read my chicken scratch it’sthe Extra Space on Yates Road right off the 15.”

Roman nodded and took the key, feeling like he’d just pulledoff an amazing sleight of hand, which was maybe overstating it.

“Oh, and we don’t say anything about this. ’Cause I’m notactually heading up to LA right off. I’m gonna run some errands she didn’t giveme time for this week, so if she asks, we went to the desert together. Got it?”

Roman extended his hand, and they shook. The more secrecyaround this handoff, the better.

“Ten thirty Wednesday morning. Don’t forget. She’s fired upto burn. Must have had a piece of cake or something the other night.”

Yeah, that’s not what she’s fired up about.Romankept these words to himself as he slid the little envelope into one of thebaggy pockets of Ethan’s gym shorts.

Hank shot him a trigger finger and disappeared into his tinyoffice.

Once he’d sped downstairs to his room, he checked the phonefor a response from Rachel but found none. He closed the door, leaned againstit and then began scrolling through old emails in search of any paperwork hecould find relating to his mother’s trust. When he finally hit the thread, hewas embarrassed by how unfamiliar it all looked. He downloaded the attachmentsto his phone, then sent them by text to the number Ethan had called him fromthe night before. A second later, it felt both cold and rude, beginning theirfirst official text thread with a document dump highlighting Roman’s youth andinexperience. And grief.

So he typed out a follow-up message.

Here’s the paperwork I could find. Thank yousooooooo much.

His fingers froze as he debated what emoji to follow thetext up with. Just then, a text popped up on his screen. From Rachel.

Of course, my love! Tue at SC sounds gr8! Time? Sorry it tookme so long to respond. Scott sent me 654 selfies from his hike this morningcause I’m supposed to decide which one goes on the gram. #men

The one where he falls off a cliff,Roman thoughtbut didn’t text.

Awesome. I’ll get back to you with a time!

She tapped back with a thumbs-up. Then, once he realized thedreaded meeting had been scheduled, and in enough time for him to drop the bombbefore he was supposed to see Diana again, Roman’s stomach turned to ice, andhe found himself struggling for breath.

The next text on his phone came from a number he hadn’tpaired with a name yet.

Ethan. It had to be.

Perfect. I will go through these today and get them to mylawyer friend as soon as possible. I’ll get back to you right away and see whatshe says and what the best course of possible action is. Stay tuned and standby.

Roman laughed. A long, articulate text devoid of emoji oreven abbreviations. It sounded official, which might have been off-putting, givenhow vulnerable they’d been with each other the night before. But it was alsocomprehensive. As if when it came to Roman Walker, Ethan Blake wanted to leaveno stone unturned.

How’s your back?

Better. Thank you.

Well, that’s abrupt,Roman thought.

He sent the emoji before he could stop himself.

The blushing one.

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