Page 80 of Romeo

Fear ices through my resolve.“Absolutely not.He’s involved in this, and you’ll be walking right into his hands unprotected.”

“I won’t be unprotected.If you can’t come, then send one of your brothers.”

“Jules—” I trust each and every one of my brothers with the very beat of my heart, but with Jules, it doesn’t seem like it’s enough.The United States Army in its entirety wouldn’t be enough to put my mind at ease when it comes to her safety.

“Riley.”She takes a step closer.“I need to do this.I need to know the whole truth, and he’s more likely to tell me if you’re not there.Maybe he’ll say something that will lead us to the proof we need to put them both away.”

“You think he’ll talk to you if any of my brothers are there?He’ll shut right down.”

She considers.“Then put a wire on me—can you guys do that?Listen in and you can be right outside.”

I step closer.

She does too.And then we’re standing so close I can see flecks of gold in her green eyes.

“If things go wrong, then at least we’ll have the answers.”

“Why are you so quick to trade in your life?”

“If it means finding out what really happened?I’d do it.It’s worth it.”

“Nothing is worth your life,” I growl.It angers me to know that she thinks so little of herself.How can she not see what I do?

“Please let me do this.Let me face him and find out what he knows.He’s not going to talk to you, and you’re right—he likely won’t talk to your brothers.But if he thinks that I’m there to crawl back into his good graces, we might get something out of him.He views me as weak.Always has.Let’s prove to him I’m not.Not anymore.”

“And if it goes wrong?”

“Then you’ll be right outside.You’re quick on your feet, Riley Hunt.I have every reason to trust that you’ll come to my rescue again.”

“I ranthose other names Jules gave me,” Tucker announces as he drops down on the couch.

“And?”I set the book I was only pretending to read aside.

“They’re both dead.”

“What?”

“Dead.Within the last couple of months too.One in a car accident, and the other was killed in a home invasion.Sound familiar?”

“Someone killed them.”

“Someone doesn’t like loose ends.”I cross my arms.“We have the pieces—we just need the proof.Odie swaps the contracts and moves the money so Edgar can’t get himself out of it.”

“I have more too,” Beckett says as she comes into the living room.She’s changed into slacks and a white T-shirt, her dark hair loose around her face.“I just spoke to Edgar Landers’s attorney.Odie Landers came to him about six months ago and told him that Edgar was losing his rational mind.He said that his grandfather was living on conspiracy theories and was suffering from early-onset dementia.”

“What?”It’s news to me, and it rings with fallacy.

“The lawyer didn’t believe it at first, but Odie brought in a power of attorney as well as a doctor’s note documenting the mental decline.”

“Let me guess.Doctor Glen Dodger.”

“Bingo,” Beckett replies.

“So that’s how he was able to move the money and keep it from Edgar.He had a POA that granted him complete control over the assets.”

“Yes.According to Mr.Krumm—the lawyer—Edgar came to him claiming it was false.But with the doctor’s note and the POA, there wasn’t much that could be done.”

“The house?How did he get it in Jules’s name without Odie knowing?”

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