her face. Not a single scratch marred the surface. “Do I need a degree to run this thing?”
“You figured out the computer I gave you,” Cassie answered. “Pretty sure you can handle a few screen swipes and flipping through contacts.”
A freaking iPhone.
And he’d handed it over as casually as a toothpick.
She swiped the screen and a host of apps flashed back at her. Her brain picked that second to finally filter through all of Roman’s comments. “Hold up. What do you mean ‘if it becomes necessary’ to search my apartment. Have you learned something about Kev and Dad?”
His mouth twitched as though sorely tempted to smile. “I mean, whether or not a visit to your apartment will be necessary depends on what happens after I pick up my brothers.”
“And what is it you’re doing after you pick them up?”
This time he did smile, the edge behind the slight tilt of his lips both thrilling and terrifying. He stepped back from the table, buttoned his jacket, and started toward the door. The gravity of his answer as he left rang heavy as a gavel. “I’ve located where Pauley Mitchell lives. The three of us will be paying him a visit.”
Chapter Four
A family full of drinkers, thieves and con artists.
Roman leaned against the fender of Sergei’s BMW and watched for his pakhan’s arrival through the terminal’s glass walls. While Kir hadn’t had sufficient time for a complete background check before boarding in Houston, he’d found enough about Bonnie’s family to paint a very shaded picture. A mother with a string of petty theft arrests who’d crashed her car into a tree while intoxicated and high. A father with even more arrests—most tied to brawls and public intoxication—and a brother with a questionable hacker-for-hire reputation.
But for Bonnie? Not a thing out of place. Steady grades in high school until she dropped out mid-semester her senior year. A GED completed two years ago, but no college records. Meager tax returns filed. Zero dings on her limited credit and a bank account with steady deposits.
Of course, the withdrawals against her account had been steady, too. No doubt to cover her father’s debts.
For the life of him, he couldn’t factor how Bonnie fit into it all. Either she was legitimately a straight shooter in a family of thieves and cons, or she was equally shady and the best hustler he’d ever seen.
He uncrossed his arms from his chest, jammed his hands into his pockets and forced his shoulders to relax. No, she wasn’t a hustler. Genuine fear, the likes of what he’d seen in her eyes when he and Cassie had first arrived and again when she’d surveyed Sergei’s estate, was impossible to feign. He’d forced that fear onto more souls than he could count. Watched as each of them acknowledged their death was at hand and that he would be the last face they looked upon.
He was the enforcer.
The reaper without benefit of a scythe or a hood.
On the other side of the glass wall, two figures emerged from the crowd, both clad in suits and striding unerringly toward the exit.
His brothers.
As ever, Kir was a light and affable presence next to Sergei’s dark menace, but both of them stood out from everyone else. Commanded those milling in their paths to part without a single word or look shared.
They were the only two people in this country who knew the extent of the crimes Roman had committed. Of the evil he was truly capable of.
And they accepted him anyway.
For that and for the families they’d built and shared with him, he’d kill or die for either of them.
They exited the building, and Roman straightened from the car. He opened the back door for Sergei as they approached. “A good flight?”
“As good as commercial travel can be.” Sergei slid into the backseat. “I’ve grown accustomed to Trevor’s charters.”
Kir chuckled and opened the front passenger door as Roman rounded to the driver’s side. “I have a feeling we’ll be talking to our brothers in Dallas about a Louisiana expansion soon.”
It would certainly make things easier. With how often Evie and Cassie visited the Haven women, Trevor’s crew was making monthly flights in one direction or the other already. Roman snapped his seat belt in place and fired up the car.
“So,” Sergei said as Roman exited the loading zone and steered them toward the highway. “Tell us more about Cassie’s friend. Why are we involved?”
Roman glanced at Kir. “We’re involved because our brother’s bride was intent on helping