Page 90 of Her Darkest Possession

The footage is undeniable.

While Ryan Bennet was being murdered across town, my husband was here, painting a nursery with me, and planning our future.

But just as I'm beginning to feel relief, another thought snakes into my mind.

"Security footage alone won't be enough to clear Anatoly."

"What do you mean?" Roma frowns.

"The security footage only proves that Anatoly didn't personally kill Ryan. But it doesn't prove that Anatoly didn't order someone to kill Ryan." I bite my lip, thinking. "We might need to provide phone records too, show that he didn't make any suspicious calls."

Roma's expression falls immediately. "Absolutely not."

"But—"

"If we hand over phone records," he cuts me off. "We're opening a window of opportunity for the police to start combing through everything about us. They could uncover our entire network, from informants to members to even business fronts that launder our money for us." He shakes his head firmly. "We can't risk that level of exposure. Not even for the pakhan"

I take a deep breath, rubbing my temple. He's right. We're going to have to find another way.

"Okay. So we look for another way." I nod slowly. "But we need another way to prove Anatoly's innocence. Tell me exactly how Ryan was killed. Maybe there's something else we can use."

"From what I've been able to get out of our people at the hospital," Roma says, rubbing his eyes, "it seems that Ryan was poisoned."

I lean forward in my chair. "Poisoned? Do you know what kind of poison it was?"

Roma shakes his head. "Not yet. Even if they find out, they're not liable to share it with us."

A cold feeling settles in my stomach as a terrible thought crosses my mind. "Roma... lilies are poisonous plants. And Anatoly had you send white lilies to Ryan, right?"

Roma freezes, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. He slowly turns to look at me, his expression shifting from confusion to horror.

"You don't think..." He trails off, then sits back heavily in his chair. "Could Ryan have poisoned himself? Maybe he knew we were coming for him eventually and..." Roma runs a handthrough his hair and his face twisted with guilt. "Blyat!What if I accidentally caused this? If he ate those lilies because of what I sent?—"

"Let's not jump to conclusions yet," I interrupt, placing my hand on his shoulder to keep him from spiraling. "We don't have any information that confirms Ryan's death was caused by lily poisoning. It could be something completely different."

Roma nods, but the worry doesn't leave his face.

"Do your contacts at the hospital have access to Ryan's room?" I ask. "Maybe they could find out more about the poison, or even check if our lilies are still there. That would at least tell us if they were involved."

"The room will have been cleaned out by now," Roma says. "And getting hospital security footage would be difficult, even for us. Those places are locked down tight, and our contact doesn't work in security."

I shake my head. "We don't need security footage just yet. We just need to know who else might've visited Ryan."

Roma raises an eyebrow. "How do you plan on getting that information?"

"The hospital maintains a visitor log," I explain. "Everyone who visits a patient has to sign in at the front desk. It's standard procedure."

"And you think this log would tell us the truth?"

"It'll tell ussomething. And we have to start somewhere." I lean forward, feeling a spark of hope for the first time since Anatoly was taken away. "Roma, who's your contact at the hospital?"

"Dr. Espina," Roma replies. "But she was already taking a huge risk just telling me about Ryan's death. The hospital's crawling with police right now, and there are news vans parked outside. It's turning into a media circus in there."

I freeze, recognition washing over me. "Jocelyn Espina?"

Roma looks surprised. "You know her?"

"She was my doctor when I was admitted to St. Barnabas after I escaped from Grisha." My mind races back to that day, how Dr. Espina helped reassure me when I was terrified about my baby's safety after Lola tried to force that pill down my throat.