Page 23 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Laia paused to take a breath, but she was only just getting started, and it occurred to her that she’d been holding in all this rage for a very long time. “The second the bank Josh and I worked for found out he’d been arrested, he was fired. A week after that, I was politely informed that my accounts manager position was being eliminated, a not-too-subtle way of shit-canning me, too. I was an embarrassment they couldn’t afford to have around. I had to revert to my maiden name just to get a job, and the only one I could get was as a bank teller, earning a fraction of the salary I’d been pulling in before.”

Unable to look into Kade’s softening eyes, filled with so much apology it gutted her, she spun the chair around to face the monitor and resume viewing images. Embarrassingly, her hand trembled over the keyboard.

“Laia, please—”

For what seemed like the fiftieth time, she hit the return button. Then gasped. The face staring back at her was young, no more than twenty-five. He had brown hair, brown, wide-set eyes, full lips, and a mustache. Curving down from his lower lip and continuing to his chin was a scar.

“That’s him.” She pointed at the monitor. “That’s the man who was waiting outside Rosa’s daycare.”

When Kade rested his hand on her shoulder, leaning over her to get a better look, this time she didn’t flinch.

Agent Dominguez peered over her other shoulder, then made a hmphing sound. “Jesus Montoya. He’s a low-level guy in the Colon Cartel. I arrested him myself less than a month ago. The little punk’s still on parole.” He pulled the keyboard closer and clicked the print button. “I’ll grab another agent and go talk to him. Don’t worry. We’ll find out why he was outside your daughter’s daycare.”

“Thank you, Agent Dominguez.” Laia breathed a little easier.

“Call ya later, Kade.” He grabbed what looked like a fishing vest from a hangar. “Yo, Cisneros,” he shouted over the top of his cubicle. “You’re with me.”

A moment later, he was gone, leaving her alone with Kade. She stared at the man’s image on the monitor. Why had this man been watching her? Was Rosa really in danger?

How could Josh have done this to us?

“I didn’t know you lost your job,” Kade said softly, watching her from where he sat on the far side of the desk. “My parents never told me.”

“That’s because I never told them. I didn’t want to add to their grief.” Finding out their son was a criminal had been enough of a brutal, ugly shock to her in-laws. Even Josh’s father, a stern military man, had wept alongside his wife at hearing the news.

“A lot of years have passed. Couldn’t you apply for another management position at a bank under your maiden name?”

“I thought about that, but to start over would mean long hours. Contrary to the phrase ‘banker’s hours,’ it takes time, long days to build up a good reputation and a solid resume. As a teller, I do have banker’s hours. That’s better for maintaining Rosa’s schedule, and it allows me to spend more time with her and still squeeze in my online courses at night.”

She stifled another yawn, inwardly cursing Kade and his generous offer to give her his room. Sleeping in his bed with his personal belongings and his scent everywhere had left her tossing and turning, imagining his powerful, naked body doing all kinds of erotic things to hers.

Ending this was the only thing that would save her from shoving aside her latent feelings of resentment and doing something stupid. Like acting on her lustful urges. Like throwing myself into his arms. But she’d stay with him for the next ten years if that’s what it took to keep Rosa safe. “Even if they offered me my old job back tomorrow, I’d turn it down.”

“All the more reason why you should have taken my parents up on their offer to come live with them. They love you, and they love Rosa.”

She shook her head, wishing life were that simple. “They were planning on retiring and moving to Delaware. We couldn’t be the reason for them changing their life plans. After Josh died, it was too painful for them to stay. Besides, I’ve only just learned to stand on my own two feet. I relied too much on my mother, then I did the same thing with Josh. It wouldn’t have been fair to transfer that responsibility to your parents.” And it only would have prevented her from pursuing her own dreams.

“Is that why you never cashed the checks I sent you?” Kade asked.

She looked at him, again desperately wishing time could have been their ally, but it hadn’t been and never would be. “I couldn’t accept your charity any more than I could have accepted your parents’. And I know that when they started sending me checks, you were giving them the cash.”

His voice took on a hard edge. “You should have cashed them. I told you that you’re family, and family takes care of each other.”

“Do they?” she shot back. “Do I really have to remind you of how many voicemail messages I left that you never returned? That’s why I didn’t cash your checks. It wasn’t because I didn’t need the money. God knows I did. You thought you could pay off family obligations with money. What I really needed back then was a friend, a shoulder to lean on, someone to talk to, and you weren’t there. You said we had a connection in that elevator. Apparently, that was bullshit.”

“It wasn’t bullshit. If you believe nothing else, believe that.” He drew in a deep breath, then dragged a hand down his face. “I meant what I said then, and I mean what I’m saying now. Family takes care of family.”

Josh had been her family. Had he really taken care of her and Rosa in the end? No. He’d let them down in the worst way possible. Then again, it had been the continual disintegration of their marriage that had paved Josh’s way to the cartel. Perhaps she was as much to blame as he was. She never should have let her mother talk her into—

Mother.

She jumped from the chair. “Do you think my mother is in danger? I need to call her. We need to go to her place and check on her.”

“No, we don’t. At least, not right now.”

“Why not? How do you know that?” She began digging in her purse for her phone.

The relationship she had with her mother had been a rough road, especially where her marriage was concerned, but other than Rosa, she was Laia’s only living blood relative, and she loved her nonetheless.