Page 8 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Long before Josh died, they’d ceased to be a family. But he’d taught her an important lesson that she’d never forgotten and never would.

That the only person she could truly rely on was herself.

And yet, despite all the resentment she’d built up over the years still shining brighter than the summer sun, when the shit had hit the fan, she’d thought of Kade. Dammit.

The second she’d opened the door and seen the mess, she’d been thrown back in time, two years ago to when federal agents had served a search warrant at their house in Rumson. All the shock and fear she’d experienced then had come back today with a mighty roar.

She’d been petrified for Rosa’s safety, so they’d run back to the car and driven around the corner to call the police. Then she’d reached out to the last man on earth she swore she ever would again.

Five minutes after making the call, she’d begun to regret her decision, doubting it had been the right thing to do. But Kade was a government agent in the drug world, and if this had anything to do with Josh, then she needed his help. Rosa’s safety was the only thing that mattered.

Josh had warned her about his no-show brother, relating derogatory tidbits she never would have suspected. That Kade was self-centered and egotistical, only thinking about himself. Over the years, she’d come to believe it, since it was screamingly apparent that he couldn’t be bothered with her. Yet today, he’d come when she’d called. When she’d finally heard Kade’s voice inside her house, she’d been torn between rushing into his arms and slapping his face.

“The upstairs is in pretty bad shape, too,” Officer Garcia added.

“Walk me through the house,” Kade said, rather than asked, and the cops obeyed as if he were their commanding officer.

Coming from a long line of military officers, both Kade and Josh had that way about them. Kade more so than Josh, really. Kade had that special something. Charisma.

Sergeant Braden led the way, followed by Officer Garcia. Laia had expected Kade to set Rosa on the floor, but she’d plastered herself to his chest with her little arms around his neck. Laia and Smoke took up the rear.

“So you’re the famous Smoke,” she said, running her hand gently over the dog’s thick black coat as he walked beside her. Rosa had always come back from her in-law’s house beaming and talking nonstop about Kade’s new dog and all the fun tricks she’d been teaching him. This was the first time Laia had actually seen Smoke. “Aren’t you a handsome boy?”

Smoke paused to twist his neck and sniff her hand before pinning her with intelligent, chocolate-brown eyes. He licked her fingers. Whether it was a sign of affection or merely sensory exploration she couldn’t be sure.

When he resumed walking, she couldn’t stop analyzing his gait. Was he limping? It could have been all the canine physiology books she’d been reading on the side in her spare time, but at a minimum, he seemed to be slightly favoring his right front paw.

“They broke in through the back door.” Sergeant Braden went into the kitchen, pointing to the damaged door. “Looks like they tried jimmying the lock, and when that didn’t work, they probably used a crowbar.”

Kade shifted Rosa to his other side but showed no signs that he was about to put her down. With Rosa growing faster than a weed, Laia couldn’t hold her for more than a few minutes at a time. The family resemblance between Kade and Rosa was obvious. Her daughter had Josh and Kade’s straight patrician nose and broad forehead, but her green eyes were all Josh’s.

“Did any of the neighbors see or hear anything?” Kade eyed the dishware that had been removed from the cupboards and stacked neatly on the counter. “Looks like they were trying to be quiet.”

Laia thanked God for that. Alvita was the only other person who had a key. If her friend had heard anything crashing to the floor, she might have come over to check and run straight into the burglars.

“I’d agree with that.” Sergeant Braden nodded. “Nothing in the house that would have made much of a noise was broken.”

Yet somehow, they’d managed to damage nearly every piece of furniture in the house. Bastards.

Officer Garcia glanced at her small spiral notebook. “Alvita Thomas, the next-door neighbor who lives in the adjacent side of the duplex, said she saw a cable company van driving away just as she was pulling up.”

Kade turned to Laia. “Did you have a service appointment with the cable company?”

She shook her head. “No.” And certainly not to trash my house.

“Anyone else see anything?” He looked through the kitchen window at the house visible across the tiny backyard on the other side of the picket fence.

Officer Garcia shook her head. “The Millers. Nobody there was home, and the neighbors across the street didn’t see or hear anything, either.”

Kade frowned. “Any neighbors have video cams or door cams?”

“One neighbor does.” Sgt. Braden pointed in the direction of the front door. “Across the street and three houses down, but there’s no one home. We’ll check in with them later in the day or tomorrow, see if their camera records footage.”

Smoke padded to Kade’s side, and again Laia noted him favoring his right leg, stepping just a bit more gingerly with it than his left one. Could be he’d injured the soft tissue in his elbow joint—between the humerus and the radius and ulna. Or his knee, which equated to the human wrist. But Laia guessed it was an injury to the pastern, a dog’s main shock absorber when running.

With his free hand, Kade absently stroked Smoke’s head. The touch was gentle and affectionate, and Smoke leaned into it. Someday she and Rosa would get a dog. Sadly, that day was far off in the future.

She might have completed her prerequisite courses, but if things went as planned, there’d be four years of veterinary school, followed by another year of specialty training as an intern. That was, of course, if she even got accepted to UPenn in the first place, and if she miraculously found the money to move to Philly, pay for her schooling and for Rosa’s care while she attended classes. So many ifs stood between her and her dream. And now this.