#12

Three weeks ago

When a secretary was promoted to being the boss"s wife, it typically meant a move from working at the office...to living in the lap of luxury. But for Tahey"s first anniversary, however, what she asked for was her very own corner office...and the coolest gadgets and software to help her catch the bad guys.

Tahey"s skills lied in forensic accounting, which typically involved combing through spreadsheets until she found that one anomalous transaction used to illegally siphon funds from one account to another.

It was mostly repetitive but ultimately rewarding work except on a few special occasions, such as when her brother-in-law asked for Tahey"s help to empty one of the secret Cayman accounts of a former senator.

Tahey waited for Sasha"s nod before initiating the transfer, and her brother-in-law allowed several moments to expire before using their system, which was protected by numerous layers of security, to make an anonymous call.

"Who the fuck are you?" Rage had Aaron Bronn"s unnaturally shrill voice shaking as he spat out each word, and the sound, broadcasted as it was through the room"s speakers, reminded Tahey of a spoiled little boy throwing a tantrum.

"You sound angry, Mr. Bronn."

"You stole twenty-fucking-five-million dollars from my family," Aaron exploded. "You think I"m going to send you a bottle of champagne for that?"

"I told you I was capable of doing it. You were the one who chose not to believe this...hence the demonstration."

"Fuck you, asshole! Fuck—-"

"Do you want me to go after another one of your father"s accounts...or are you now ready to make a deal?"

"Just tell me what you want, damn you."

"What I want is simple. All you have to do is forget Sheena Pearson ever existed."

Aaron"s knuckles turned white at how tightly he was gripping his phone. "Are you fucking saying all of this is because of that—-"

"I"d advise you to stop there," Sasha warned between clenched teeth, "if you want to see that twenty-five million returned to your father"s account."

Aaron couldn"t remember feeling this impotent, and since he had already wasted thousands of dollars at trying and failing to find out who this fucking Devil was—-

"Do we have an understanding, Mr. Bronn?"

There was only one other person he could focus all of his hatred on, and it was the same person that the Devil wanted him to forget.

"Yes, damn you."

Aaron was about to hang up when he heard the asshole from the other end of the line release a robotic sigh.

"That might"ve sounded convincing to others, but I"m afraid it"s not enough for me."

"I already said yes, dammit—-"

"And you were lying when you said it."

How the hell did this asshole know that?

"If you want to continue living...do not go after her again, Mr. Bronn."

Sasha ended the call with a click of a button, and Tahey looked at him uncertainly. "Is it over then?"

"I doubt it."

Her brows furrowed. "Then..."

"I"ll have to kill him if he breaks his word."

Tahey knew she should be used to this by now, but it still had her wincing every time she heard her brother-in-law speak of death so freely.

When she first started working for Strakh, Inc., she had been just like everyone else in the way she could only see the noble side of Strakh: a secret organization ran by five modern-day Robin Hoods, and the youngest among them was Sasha, who had struck her as kind and boyishly charming.

It was only after she had gotten to know everyone better that Tahey had come to realize one thing: a person could never work for a company like Strakh without harboring some semblance of darkness to begin with, and neither she nor Sasha were exceptions to this.

"Just spill it out, Tahey." Sasha could tell by the way his sister-in-law was gnawing on her lip that she had something on her mind.

"This case isn"t like your usual, is it?"

Sasha"s expression turned disbelieving. "Bronn is just a boy. Are you genuinely worried I won"t be able to handle him?"

"No, it"s not that, at all," Tahey hastened to assure him. "I"m actually more concerned about, um, well...her?" She saw his gaze turn hooded, and Tahey knew right away her instincts were right on the mark.

"She"s special to you, isn"t she?" Tahey asked eagerly. "I"ve never seen you this invested—-"

"Tahey..."

"I know, I know. You always say you"re not looking for love, but what if you don"t have a say, since love"s already found you?"

Sasha"s expression turned pained. "Are you seriously trying to matchmake me with one of the Devil"s cases?"

"Can"t I?"

"She knows me as the Devil, Tahey."

"So? I"m sure she knows you"re not bad bad—-"

"I kill people, Tahey. How is that not bad?"

"Can I just be honest?"

"Since my older brother is likely to kick my ass if I say no..." Her brother-in-law subjected her to a dry look. "Yes, please, do be honest, Tahey."

"I have this feeling you"re being unusually sarcastic, but..." Tahey smiled brightly. "You did say I can be honest, so let me just say that you, dear brother-in-law, have always been too hard on yourself. You chose to become the Devil because you blame yourself for your sister"s death—-"

A smile wobbled to Tahey"s lips when she saw the way Sasha stiffened. "And we both know that"s not true at all."

"Don"t turn me into a saint, Tahey—-"

"Then don"t buy into your own hype and start believing you really are the Devil. You"re not evil, Sasha. You never were, never will be, so if this girl is really special to you—-"

"She is special," Sasha bit out, "and the only way she"ll stay special is if I get the fuck out of her life as soon as this is all over."