Page 99 of Luck of the Devil

“What?”

“I checked the number on your phone yesterday afternoon and had Carter look into it. It’s Deveraux’s personal cell.”

My mouth dropped open. “You snooped on my phone?”

He grimaced. “I didn’t snoop, but I checked the number when it vibrated while you were asleep. I thought it might be your father or your friend Louise. I made note of it. I sent it to Carter after our fight, but it took him a few hours to get back to me last night.” He grimaced. “Right before we pulled up to my house. I admit, when he told me who it belonged to, I was furious, but I decided to see if you’d tell me.” He shrugged. “Of course, at that point, I only knew that he’d called you and you hadn’t answered. I didn’t know you’d been the one to initiate the call, or that you’d talked to him after I left. Now I know both.”

“So you trust me because I confessed?”

“You had no reason to confess, other than to prove I can trust you.”

“What if I only confessed because I thought you’d find out and I wanted to get in front of the situation?”

“Is that why you did it?”

I flinched. “It occurred to me that you’d probably think I betrayed you if you found out. But mostly I wanted to warn you that Deveraux might be sniffing around so you can watch your back.”

He gestured toward me with his cup. “I believe you.”

It felt too easy, which set me on edge. We both had trouble trusting—would we always be suspicious of one another?

“So why is Deveraux out to get you?” I asked.

“He blames me for losing his fiancée.”

“Rose Gardner?”

“Yep.”

“Are you to blame?”

He hesitated as though considering his answer. “If I’m honest, yes, I’m completely to blame. She had a skill set I could use to my advantage, and in return, I agreed to help find out who was trying to kill Deveraux.”

“That doesn’t sound like it was your fault.”

“It depends on how you spin it,” he said stoically. “But the truth is, when I first started using her skill set, I forced her into it.”

“You blackmailed her?”

“I was in a precarious situation, and she came to me asking for help with something. The first instance was a fair trade of services, but I contacted her again and, in that instance … let’s just say I forced her hand.”

I let that sink in. He’d been a crime boss. A little ruthlessness shouldn’t surprise me. “But she ultimately decided to work with you?”

He was silent for a moment. “Turned out she was very good at it and part of her liked it.”

“You both took down J.R. Simmons?”

“Simmons wanted Deveraux taken out, and I wanted Simmons taken out. It benefitted us both.”

“Simmons had Rose kidnapped?”

“Yeah, but we used it to our advantage.” Something about the way he said that told me he wouldn’t be expanding on the subject.

While I wanted to ask more questions, I decided to accept what he’d told me.

“You haven’t asked what her skill set was,” he said, eyeing me carefully.

“If you wanted me to know, you’d tell me,” I said. “You mentioned that some of your secrets are to protect people. I can’t imagine it would help Rose’s public image if it was widely known she’d worked with a crime boss. I suspect you’re protecting her because she helped you.”