She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
"Was it really that difficult to say? And why did you take Russell's phone if you don't have a way to get into it?"
"Brenda gave me Russell's password just in case."
"Oh, well, that's a little too easy."
"It doesn't always need to be difficult."
He ran through Russell's texts. There were numerous messages between him and Lily, and it quickly became clear that Russell was sabotaging his wife's business. "Damn," he muttered. "They are trying to destroy Brenda's business."
"I told you they weren't having an affair."
"But he is definitely cheating on her," Devin replied. "He's selling his twenty-five percent of his wife's company to Lily Bright Beauty Products. In return, Lily is going to bring her multi-million dollar advertising budget to his agency."
"I guess we know why Russell and Lily were meeting in secret."
"And why Brenda knew that Russell was up to something," he said. "She was just wrong about what that something was."
"What a douche bag. He's selling his wife out for his own personal gain."
"He justifies it," Devin said, glancing down at the latest texts. "He sent a text to his lawyer saying that with the advertising revenue, he and Brenda will be better off in the long run. That giving up twenty-five percent of her company is nothing compared to what will be gained."
"I doubt Brenda will feel the same way. It's her company, not his. I can't believe he even has the right to do that without her consent."
"She obviously put too much trust in him."
"I'll say. And he doesn't care at all about his wife's business; it's all about him." Kate paused, frowning. "He literally tore her down to put himself up. What is wrong with him?"
"Probably more than this one act of greed. I've seen enough."
"What are you going to do?"
"Hand Brenda her husband's phone."
"Maybe we can give her Lily's phone, too," Kate said with a smile. "Even if she can't get into it, it will piss Lily off."
"Good idea." He started the car and pulled away from the bar, wanting to put some distance between themselves and the club before Lily and Russell both realized their phones were missing.
"That was actually kind of fun," Kate said. "And hopefully with this information, Brenda will be able to stop Russell from selling his shares."
"Maybe, but Russell and Lily seemed celebratory. It could be too late."
"I hope not."
He shot her a look. "Don't get too invested in this. There's a good chance that Brenda will do nothing but cry and tell her husband she forgives him as long as he promises not to ever do it again."
"She wouldn't do that. This isn't about sex; it's about betrayal."
"You'd be surprised what people do when they're in love."
"That's not love; that's stupidity," Kate declared.
He smiled. "For once, I agree with you."
She met his gaze. "If you keep an open mind, you might find yourself agreeing with me more than you think."
"We'll see."
Three
They met Brenda Walton in the parking lot outside her Pilates class. Kate waited in the car while Devin got into Brenda's Mercedes for a private conversation.
She couldn't see much, but after a moment the woman appeared to break down in tears. She was angry, too, slamming her hand against the steering wheel a few times.
She felt sorry for Brenda. The woman had worked hard to build a business for herself and to have her husband go behind her back and show so little respect for her feelings or her hard work had to be incredibly painful. It probably would have been easier for Brenda to hear that her husband was having an affair.
Kate sighed, thinking that men might be more trouble than they were worth when her phone rang. She was thrilled to see her twin sister Mia's name flash across the screen. "Hey bride-to-be," she said. "How are you doing?"
"It's getting a little crazy," Mia said with a laugh. "It's not easy planning a wedding in San Francisco when I'm hundreds of miles away."
"You could have gotten married in Angel's Bay," she reminded her.
"It would have been incredibly difficult to get the entire family down the coast. Ria is eight months pregnant and Sara is having a ton of morning sickness with the start of her second pregnancy."
Kate smiled to herself. Her cousins and their wives were definitely adding to the family tree. "There must be something in the water with all these pregnancies. What about you? Are you planning to have kids right away?"
"No. Jeremy and I want Ashlyn to feel a part of our marriage, our family, before we add any more children into the mix. I also love my work at the art gallery here, and there's so much to do. I have free rein with the exhibits, so I'm enjoying my job again."
"That's great. How does Jeremy like being a police officer?"
"He likes it more than he thought he would. It's not a fast pace, but after his years in special ops, I think he was ready for a break. At least for now it's good. If that changes, we'll adapt. As long as I'm with Jeremy and Ashlyn, I don't really care where I live."
She could hear the contentment in her sister's voice, and she felt both happy for her and a little envious. "You've got it all, Mia. You're going to be a wife to a great guy and a stepmother to an adorable little girl."
"I do have it all, and it scares me a little. I don't want to jinx it."
"You can't jinx it. You and Jeremy are perfect for each other."
"Who would have thought I'd be the first to get married?"
Since Mia was a few minutes younger than Kate, Mia was officially the youngest of the six siblings. "I'm actually not that surprised. You've always been the one most interested in building a nest."
"That's true. Probably because I spent a lot of time in the nest that Mom and Dad created. All those years I was sick and fragile, home was my safe place. I want to give Ashlyn that same safe place, not just with a house, but with a family, with parents who love her and who love each other. Anyway, here I am rambling on … how are you, Kate?"
"I'm great."
"You're going to make the wedding, right? No last-minute assignments?"
"I'll be there."
"By Wednesday," Mia said. "I want you and Annie and me to have dinner together before all the events start on Friday."
"Don't worry. I have the schedule."
"Yes, but I know how you are with schedules and how assignments suddenly take you to the other side of the world."
Which was one reason why she'd agreed to help Devin. This assignment would take her right up to the wedding festivities. "That's not going to happen."
"Okay, good. I can't get married without you, Kate. You're not just my sister; you're my twin. For these big life events, we both have to be there. We're connected in a way that no one else can understand."
"I know." She and Mia were very different in personality, but their twin bond could never be broken. She heard Mia blow out a breath. "What is wrong, Mia? Why all the anxiety?"
"I had a bad dream. You were in danger. You were running and then you disappeared into this really bright light, and I couldn't see you anymore, but I could hear you screaming. I woke up in a sweat. It felt so real."
She shivered a little at her sister's words. "That sounds awful, but I haven't seen any bright lights."
"You're not in danger?"
"Not at the moment. I'm sitting in a car."
"Doing what?"
"Waiting for a guy."
"A hot guy?"
"Good body but bad attitude."
Mia laughed. "He sounds like every guy you dated in high school."
"I'm not in high school anymore."
"But you're attracted, aren't you?"
"It's not a date. We're just working together on something. And even if I were interested, he's not. He doesn't like me much at all."
"I can't believe that's true."
"Trust me, it is. He's been trying to get rid of me since I got here."
"Got where?"
She hesitated. She really didn't want to alert her family to her presence in the city just yet. "I can't say."
"You and your classified secrets."
"It's part of the job. I have to go, Mia. Stop worrying. This is a happy time."
Mia laughed. "You're right. Go back to your hot guy. We'll talk soon."
Kate ended the call just as Devin returned to the car.
As he slid behind the wheel and turned to look at her, her chest tightened and a little flutter ran through her stomach. Damn Mia for making her look at Devin as a man and not as an assignment. And damn her stupid body for responding to him in any way.
As she'd told her sister, she wasn't in high school anymore. She wasn't a teenager who let her hormones take her across lines she shouldn't cross. She was a federal agent and she was not going to forget that, not where Devin was concerned.